Review/recenzija: Judith McNaught: Remember When/ Sje�a� li se...
Recenzija na hrvatskom nalazi se ispod recenzije na engleskom ?
If you've been following this blog, you may remember how the last novel by Judith McNaught left me all happy and amazed. A few months ago I was writing about Something Wonderful, so it was time for me to find yet another novel by this author. My expectations were high, because so far, Judith never left me disappointed. Until Remember When.
Diana Foster is engaged. She is to be married, until one day she finds out not only did her fiancee find another woman, he married her. She read about his nuptials in a magazine. He didn't even tell her.
Cole Harrison reads the same news and cannot believe something like that could happen to Diana. She was always nice, polite and loving. She didn't deserve to be treated like that. But then again, neither did he deserve things that are happening to him...
But what if their difficulties are actually a circumstance that could help both of them? Cole approaches Diana with an idea so crazy that it could actually work. Foster's Beautiful Living magazine and Coles business empire are both at risk and the only way to save them could be for the two of them to get married.
Will the two of them say "I do" for the sake of everything they have been working for for their whole lives?
Similar description to the one I just wrote can be found on Goodreads, and it is what this novel 'is about'. However, I have a question about it: why is it that we have to read more than half of the book (and the book has 418 pages!) to get to that story?
It all sounds so interesting, this thing between Diana and Cole, but before they even unite and the real love story emerges, I had to put up with more than 200 pages of what? An introduction into their lives?
It's a pretty cute story about Foster family that McNaught have created, but why is it so important for the relationship between Diana and Cole? Honestly, I can't see its relevance, and therefore, for me it was unnecessary (read: boring). It looked like the author loved Fosters so much she forgot they are not the center characters of this novel. We (because we were promised a romance story) weren't her for Fosters, we were here for Diana and Cole.
So when they, in fact, start their relationship, it's all squeezed into the rest of the 200 pages. We have the first 50% of the novel with all the setting and no plot, and then we get the next 50% with all the plot, but with no possibility to relate with the characters. Their love story got lost between dozen of other problems they had to work out first. There are no moments of emotional intimacy between the two of them so I couldn't take their 'love' seriously. Where is the romantic (interior) conflict of this novel? What scenes describe the rising action and the main (emotional) climax?
The name of the novel, Remember When, was probably aiming to relate the young Diana and Cole with their older selves, to remind about what they had before. But what was that? It certainly wasn't love.
The more I try to look at this book from different perspective, the more difficult it gets. I'd love if some of you, who absolutely loved this novel, to share with me your opinion about the first half of it. I'm not saying the first half of the book shouldn't exist, I'm merely asking why do you think it's so extensive? Why so long?
I'm a fan of Judith McNaught and have read many of her books, so I have to ask, Judith, ummm, what happened to this one? You left me with a bitter taste in my mouth.
What about you? Do you love it? No?
Rose ??
Romani Judith McNaught na na�im policama vi�e nisu nikakva novost. Autorica je ve� odavno osvojila svoju publiku i to ponajprije povijesno-ljubavnim romanima u nakladi Mozaik knjige, tako da je Sje�a� li se... odre�ena vrsta novosti- prvi njezin prevedeni roman smje�ten u suvremerno doba.
Dianu Foster ostavlja zaru�nik tako da o�eni drugu, �to ona saznaje tek kad vijest o njegovom braku i njezinoj sramoti osvane u novinama. Cole Harrison tu istu pri�u �ita s neugodnim osje�ajem u �elucu, jer Dianu poznaje od malena i zna da takvu nepravdu nije zaslu�ila. Ali istodobno, nije ni on zaslu�io onu koja se njemu doga�a.
Neprilike u kojima su se oboje na�li mo�da �e se najlak�e mo�i rije�iti ako njih dvoje budu sura�ivali. Cole odlu�no pristupa Diani s idejom koja je toliko suluda da bi zapravo mogla i uspjeti.
Na kocki je budu�nost njezinog obiteljskog �asopisa i cijelo Coleovo poslovno carstvo. Vi�e od svega, na kocki je sre�a jedne obitelji i dvoje mladih ljudi koji moraju na�i na�ina da za�tite svoj obraz i nevinost pred licem javnosti.
Opis knjige sli�an onome koji sam i ja navela mo�e se na�i na koricama romana i on jest problematika s kojom se protagonisti hrvaju, ali...
Za�to je potrebno pro�itati polovicu knjige (a knjiga ima 488 stranica, ljudi moji!) da bismo do do�li do relevantnih zbivanja?
Tekst na koricama zvu�i zanimljivo, ali prije nego �to se uop�e do�e do toga da se Diana i Cole ujedine, zna�i, prije nego �to uop�e po�ne odvijati bilo kakva ljubavna pri�a, trebamo istrpjeti vi�e od dvjesto stranica... �ega? Bi li se to moglo zvati uvodom u okolinu zbivanja? Upoznavanje likova? Zgodna je to pri�ica koju �itamo skoro do polovice romana, ali gdje joj je va�nost za vezu Diane i Colea? Djelovala je vi�e kao da se autorica zaljubila u likove koje je stvorila pa je u opisu svih tih dirljivih obiteljskih odnosa zaboravila da je prvotni cilj bio napisati ljubavni roman. Kad se toga napokon sjetila, ode 200 stranica...??
Cjelokupna slika toliko mi je rastegnuta da mi Dianina i Coleova ljubavna pri�a djeluje doslovno strpana u ostatak romana, pa imamo onih prvih pola knjige s doslovno 0% radnje i 100% okoli�anja, i drugu polovicu u kojoj poku�avamo shvatiti za�to se odjednom oni uop�e vole. Uop�e nema vremena da se ta dva lika zbli�e jer su zaokupljeni brigom da jedan od njih ne bude strpan u zatvor i desetak drugih problema. Mogu�nosti uranjanja u romanti�ne emocije nema jer nema ni pozornosti posve�ene zapletu njihove ljubavne pri�e i samom klimaksu.
Roman je nazvan Sje�a� li se vjerojatno zato da se �itatelja potakne na stvaranje veze izme�u tinejd�erskih emocija koje su likovi dijelili i njihove sada�njosti, ali �to to zna�i? Da autorica mo�e zanemariti razvoj emocija me�u likovima u sada�njosti s izlikom da je o njoj ve� pisala kad su bili mla�i?
Kako bi i to moglo pro�i ako Cole nikad nije bio zaljubljen u Dianu niti dijelio ikakve druge romanti�ne emocije prema njoj?
�to vi�e poku�avam pogledati na ovaj roman iz druga�ijih perspektiva, time mi to slabije ide. Voljela bih da netko tko je u potpunosti zadovoljan ovim romanom podijeli sa mnom svoje vi�enje pogotovo tih po�etnih scena. Da naglasim, nisam protiv njihovog postojanja, samo me mu�i �to su toliko opse�ne. Sve se to moglo strpati u puno manje prostora, a da se ne izgubi iz vida poanta.
Ljubiteljica sam Juditheinih knjiga i pro�itala sam svaku koja je dostupna na hrvatskom pa se moram pitati, Judith, du�o, �to li ti se s ovom dogodi?
Nakon romana Ne�to prekrasno od kojeg se nisam mogla odvojiti, evo me ovdje, zbunjena jer ne opet s vama podijeliti isto odu�evljenje. Svejedno vas pozivam da pro�itate i ovaj roman, pogotovo ako ste stari ljubitelj Juditheinig pri�a, jer mo�da vi u njemu na�ete ne�to �to �e vas osvojiti. Podijelite sa mnom svoja iskustva i uka�ite na ne�to zanimljivo �to sam mo�da propustila.
Va�a Rose ??
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