The Last Time They Met: A Novel
by Anita Shreve

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Book Reviews of The Last Time They Met: A Novel

Book Review: .........About Moments of No Return
Summary: 5 Stars

By now most folks know the gist of the plot, Thomas and Linda, lovers for the ages, meet again at a writer's conference. Despite their relationships in the past, they have only crossed paths three times and the book is divided into three sections, "52", "26", and "17" that correspond to their ages at the time they are involved with one another. The catch is that Shreve tells the story in reverse, beginning with age 52 and ending with age 17. At the very, very end, in Shreve's words, the whole story is turned on it's ear. So no peaking at that last page.

Two things I liked about this book. First of all, Linda. Her character grows in complexity as the story goes on ( and the ending explains why ). Hence, she is more complex when she is younger, and maybe that is true of life. She is sort of ho-hum at age 52, a little more involved at age 26, but complex and somewhat dark at 17. Strangely, Linda is devotely religious as a teen but hates God passionately when she is older. She has a dark secret that is alluded to throughout the book and it's not too hard to figure out. But it's the character development as she gets younger that really intrigued me.

The second thing I liked is that Shreve accomplished something that very few authors can do. Elizabeth George can do it, James Michener could do it. And that is write from the viewpoint of the opposite gender. When she takes up the pen as Thomas, especially the part of the story that takes place in Africa, she really IS Thomas. When Thomas runs into Linda at the fruit market in the town in Kenya and "watchs her walk away and all the blood in his veins follow her" Shreve is reminding us that when it comes to lost love, men can be such fools. Linda and Regina meet and Thomas wants to separate them as soon as possible so that his conversation with Linda can go on for as long as possible. Linda mentions her husband's name ( Peter ) and the sound of it is "like a slug in his chest". I mean Thomas could have sat in Linda's cottage forever.

The second part of the book is, to my mind, the best written. Shreve spent time in Africa in the 1970s and it shows throughout this section. She captures the romance ( small R ) of the dark continent. Yet, it is the third section that, to me, moves the quickest, maybe because Linda is more proactive. I read about 40-50 books a year but this may be the one that I enjoyed more than others because it just wasn't what I expected. Well done Ms. Shreve. And this is from a guy reviewing it.

Summary of The Last Time They Met: A Novel

The novel does get off to a slow start, with an unnecessarily drawn-out description of a luxury hotel. But it picks up speed as it moves backward in time, from the lovers' vividly evoked interlude in Africa, to their adolescent years in the Massachusetts village of Hull, and finally to Linda's deepest, darkest secret. Only then does the author unveil her final revelation, which should leave most readers somewhat out of breath, and possibly even obliged to turn back to the first page and read the book over again. Shreve is a canny storyteller, and she knows her characters inside and out. (As well she might: Thomas is the husband of Jean, the photographer in The Weight of Water.) And The Last Time They Met is yet another example of the kind of book she does best--one that's as skillfully plotted as a thriller, but with writing that lingers long after the last plot twist is unfurled. No matter whether people actually have affairs like these. Reading this book only makes you wish that they did. --Mary Park

Literature & Fiction Books

• Books > Subjects
• Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers > Psychological Thrillers
• Romance > Contemporary