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Thursday, June 27, 2013

Book Review of An Unexpected Guest by Anne Korkeakivi


An Unexpected Guest by Anne Korkeakivi

From: http://www.annekorkeakivi.com/an-unexpected-guest-by-anne-korkeakivi/
"On a lovely spring day in Paris–post-9/11 and several months after the London Underground bombings–Clare Moorhouse, the Irish-American wife of a high-ranking British diplomat, is arranging an official dinner crucial to her husband’s career. As she shops for fresh stalks of asparagus and works out the menu and seating arrangements, her day is complicated by the abrupt arrival of her son from boarding school in England and a disquieting encounter with a man on the street. More unnerving still is a recurring face in the crowd, one that belonged to another, darker era of her life, long buried.
Like Virginia Woolf did in Mrs. Dalloway, Anne Korkeakivi brilliantly weaves the complexities of an age into an act as deceptively simple as hosting a dinner party."

My review:
I had this book on the shelf and decided to read it; I have had it for awhile and never got around to reading An Unexpected Guest.
I am going to tell readers to stay with the book and read all of it. I really found it interesting about 2/3 of the way. The book held my interest to a degree because there is some historical history but it really caught me nearer the end.
Clare goes back into time when her mind is wanders and then comes back to what she has to do for the day which is prepare for a dinner party. She has a list of projects to be done; hairdresser, buy flowers, buy asparagus and so forth. I also have a list of things I need to do and I could relate to it.
The flashback of her past and what she did wrong stays with her because she thinks she keeps seeing someone from her past who is supposed to be dead. Her past is catching up with her; a past she has kept from her husband.
The book takes place in a day and follows Clare in her day and evening activities. Some quiet suspense in this book. As a reader, I kept thinking something will happen.
I did find I was uncertain about their son, Jamie. He needs to grow up and be more responsible even thought he is a teenager.
I will say I have been in Paris and have seen the traffic jams and wondered how Clare do as much as she did by going place to place.
There is some bad language and mild descriptions of any sex scenes.
I was back and forth on the rating to give An Unexpected Guest and decided to give it a 4 star.
You may find Anne Korkeakivi at www.AnneKorkeakivi.com
Leona Olson
www.mnleona.blogspot.com


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