The Beach House: A Novel

I find Jane Green hit or miss. Typically, I either really like one of her books or I really don’t like it. This is one of the rare that falls in between. It’s a good story, but predictable. I’m not sorry I read it, but won’t read it a second time.

While on a beach vacation, I looked for some beach-themed novels to read while away. I never heard of Jane Green, but her book, The Beach House, looked interesting. What a fun read this turned out to be. The plot and characters were more developed than in a typical summer read, although it was a bit predictable in spots.The Beach House is actually Windermere, a grand old lady-of-a-house on Nantucket, owned by the eccentric Nan Powell. Nan is a widow who is having trouble making ends meet. At one time, the Powells were one of the wealthiest families on Nantucket, but that was before her husband gambled away much of their fortune and bad investments took care of the rest. She decides to rent out rooms to bring in some income. And of course, she has to first spiff up her aging home. Her renters are a mixed bag and you kind of figure where this story will end. The viewpoints switch between characters. In addition to Nan, Daff is a divorcee with an out-of-control teenaged daughter. Bee and Daniel seem to be the perfect couple, but Daniel hides a dark secret. And Michael, Nan’s son, lives in New York City where he’s a jeweler. He can’t seem to find a lasting relationship. When he starts an ill-fated affair with a married woman, it will change and maybe even destroy his life. Just about every character discovers what they’re searching for at Windermere. Yet, even though it is predictable in spots, it takes quite a while for this novel to develop and there’s a real shocker toward the end. The Beach House proved to be a great book for the beach.I never heard of Jane Green before reading Beach House, but I learned that she has a number of good novels and a loyal following. This novel will definitely not be my last by Green.

Since some of us are commuting more, Jane Green wrote a great page turner for the summer. The Beach House is for the beach, the train or the plane. Nan, a 65 year old beautiful eccentric, lives in "old money" Nantucket, the widow of Everett who committed suicide decades ago. Everett left Nan with a financial mess but she persevered and raised her son, Michael, and managed to live a fun life.When her finances become dire once again as she nears 65, Nan attempts to recapture the joy of her past. Her large old house, placed in the perfect location, draws developers and realtors anxious to buy and build on the property. Instead, Nan opens a bed and breakfast and is lucky to have attracted honorable summer visitors. The reader is introduced to this cast of characters before their arrival to the Beach House. This technique made the book more interesting and readable. Instead of describing the characters as they arrived for the summer, we knew all about them already.She creates a diverse group: newly divorced single mother, her handsome single son, a father who comes to terms with his sexuality and even an angry teen age girl who plays both parents for attention. Not all of Green's characters are guests at house. An ex-husband, new girlfriends and almost ex-wife play important roles in the plot also.The end is clever with sort of a mystical percursor to the final scenes. Have a good time reading this summer fiction.

Nan is in her 60's and has been living as a widower on Nantucket for decades. She is quite eccentric (think swimming naked in the neighbor's pool when they aren't around). Her financial adviser tells her she is in dire straights financially and needs to sell her beloved home. She resists and harks upon the idea to rent some rooms as a bed and breakfast. Enter Daniel, newly separated from his wife Bea, and struggling with many internal issues. Daff, a newly divorced woman who is having so many problems with her teen daughter Jessica. Jessica insists on living with her dad and his new girlfriend, Carrie, so Daff decides to take a much needed vacation. Michael, Nan's son, is escaping a horrible relationship and his job and needs to come for a refresh. It doesn't take long for these guests to bond and become their own family and support system. Nonjudgemental Nan always has an open ear, takes everything in her stride, and is kindness itself. Jessica comes to stay and turns over a new leaf by helping babysit Daniel and Bea's girls and helping Nan with the garden. Unexpected romances begin. But underlying is Nan's financial difficulties. Mark, a developer, offers her a way out. But is he being truthful and honest? We also see that as much as Nan seems to be a free spirit, she isn't dumb or a pushover.

Fictional book about how an elderly woman converts the beach house on Nantucket that once belonged to her husband's wealthy family to a large bed and breakfast. A few marketing efforts attracts many boarders who are each trying to get relief from various personal problems. The beach atmosphere with community living somehow helps each to resolve a myriad of personal problems. At first the book seems to jump around from character to character but the author manages to bring them altogether, resolve all their issues and end with a happy ending.

At first I wondered where this book was going as there is quite a character list and not a lot seems to happen in the early chapters. In fact, it takes more than half the book to actually get everyone together on Nantucket Island, but, I found myself starting to become really involved in their disparate back stories.Daniel and Bea have two young daughters and a crumbling marriage. Bea seems to think a romantic summer spent in a holiday rental at Nantucket will fix things, even if Daniel will only be there on the weekends thanks to his work. The couples therapy doesn't seem to be working so she is more than willing to try anything. Daniel has a huge secret that he has plucked up the courage to speak to the therapist about and now he is more convinced than ever that the marriage is over.Richard and Daff have split up and their daughter Jess is floundering. Both of them are tiptoeing round the teen and giving her the space they think she needs. Unfortunately, Jess doesn't need space, she needs firm boundaries and the more she gets away with the further she pushes things. When Richard starts dating again Jess really disintegrates and Nantucket seems like the ideal solution.A few drinks too many and Michael makes maybe the worst mistake of his life with his married boss. He is free and single and at first seems to enjoy the thrill of the affair but he soon realises that his actions are so very, very wrong. The only solution seems to be a hasty retreat back to his mother's Island mansion.Nan is the Island eccentric. Still suffering from the loss of her husband decades ago her money has run out and now it looks like she is going to lose her home. In an attempt to salvage things she draws on her reserves of inner strength and decides to open a rooming house for the summer.It could all have been a bit bleak if I'm being honest. Lots of lives in turmoil and people floundering to make it through to the next day. Somehow I found myself really enjoying it all. Some of the characters are more relatable than others but there are so many that even if one irritates the hack out of you there is the sure and certain knowledge that we will be moving on to another one in a few pages. Normally the themes of adultery and stroppy teens would turn me off a book in short order but although these are pushed to their limits in certain sections (Jess's tantrums spring to mind) they have enough empathy and truth to them that I soon became engrossed. It does all make for uncomfortable reading in places as it cuts a little close to relationships that I see around me.This is the first Jane Green that I have read and it definitely won't be my last. Complicated characters that are allowed to speak for themselves and have real world problems and insecurities. Throw in an idyllic summer retreat and you have the almost perfect holiday read.

This book is weird; a mish mash of characters and storylines all interlinked with a beach house and its wise old owner... Sounds like a great read but it really isn't.All characters are two dimensional and thus unlikeable.Nan is in her sixties yet comes across as a batty ninety year oldJess the whiney tween-ager is so spoilt I want to slap her and both her parents... Awful, just awful.I could overlook all of these points if it weren't for the fact that this book is just so bloody boring!I found myself either falling asleep whilst attempting to read, or skim reading!Oh and don't get me started on how working class, yet at the same time somehow filthy rich and upper-class everyone is.Avoid, avoid, AVOID!!!!

If you're a JG fan, go for it. But only if you want an easy, one-eye-open read for a holiday or something equally lazy. If you're new to JG, DON'T buy it - buy something from her early days (Bookends, Jemima J, Spellbound, Mr Maybe, The Other Woman, etc) or you'll never pick up one of her books again!The first Jane Green book I ever read was "Spellbound" which had come free in a magazine. I was an immediate 'fan' and went on to read everything else she'd written up until then, loving them all. Unfortunately the "Jane Green Gravy Train" then started to take over with "Life Swap" - I really struggled with it - as I didn't feel like JG was really TRYING any more, rather churning out rather lazy, cliched stuff, perhaps because the publisher was trying to cram too many books into each year - who knows? My loyalty seriously wobbled but remained based purely on her older stuff that had captivated me so much.The Beach House is still uncomfortably cliched in places - English Jane has become quite the East-coast-ophile - but the story was sweet and, for the first time in quite a few JG books, I cared about what happened to the characters.Curiously enough, her latest inside bookcover mentions her new husband and their 'blended' families - I wonder if the 'lost' years of JG happened while her first marriage was breaking down and her new life was being established, and whether the themes of those stories were actually based on what she was going through at the time. In which case, JG, all is forgiven!

I really enjoyed this book. I have read the author books previously and enjoyed them. This story was lovely, entertaining and hard to put down. The only thing that bothered me slightly but as I got further into it was ok, was instead of starting a new chapter when going from one area of set of people it just carried on on the page and I had to think, who is this now and where are they. However once I got everyone straight in my head, I could just enjoy the book.

Fabulous book so good I read it twice on different occasions it fabulous how things are all wrong at first and at the end everything and everyone is happy