A Change in Altitude by Anita Shreve

Of all books that I have read by Anita Shreve, this is the one that is my least favorite. While I appreciate Shreve as a writer, this story did not particularly speak to me.

This book begins with a couple who has been invited to climb Mount Kenya by their landlord and his wife with two of their friends. Right away, I was set on edge because of the relationship between these six people. The main character, Margaret, seems unhappy with her husband, her landlord, Arthur, is a bossy rich guy, and his wife, Diana, is a snobby, mean rich woman who is suspicious of Arthur's feelings toward Margaret, and the other couple seems to be in the same class as Arthur and Diana. During the beginning of the book, I kept wondering why the heck Margaret was wasting her time with these people! During the climb up the mountain, thought, tragedy strikes and a life is lost. This impacts Margaret and her husband's relationship, obviously, but causes them to grow apart. This aspect of the story also bothered me a bit. I did not like the way that the two become jealous of each other and start lying back and forth. It was painful to have to read about a couple going through this.

The good parts of the book, though, were when Shreve describes Margaret's work. She is a free lance photographer who is hired by a newspaper that speaks too much of the truth, eventually putting people in danger. Because of Margaret's unique position, she is able to view her surroundings and get to know the people of Africa as she and her husband move from place to place.

I also found it interesting the details that Shreve included in this book. In the interview afterward, Shreve said that she did, in fact, live for a time in Africa, working as a journalist, and also climbed Mount Kenya. When authors write based on experience or research, they are able to include realistic deatils that fill out a story, which allows the reader to see the reality of the story. While this book was not my favorite of Shreve's, I did enjoy these aspects.

Sea Glass by Anita Shreve

Anita Shreve is my new favorite writier...she tells stories very well by creating realistic scenarios, genuine, well developed characters, and interesting twists in her stories.

This book involved several different characters and how they all come together during the beginning of the Great Depression. The main character, Honora, gets married, and she and her husband buy a beach house, which becomes the headquarters to a group who is trying to organize a labor union in a factory. While the story's elements were not the most interesting to me, it is apparent that Shreve puts a lot of time researching information that she includes in her novels, which provides the reader with a rich experience, even if the subject matter is not what attracts them to the book in the first place.

This is the first of Shreve's books that I have read in which she uses symbolism. Honora walks the beach often and picks up sea glass, which she collects and displays in her house. My understanding of the sea glass is that it represents Honor's inner self. This is the one thing that she can have to herself, and she often sits and sorts through the glass, noticing each color and shape, and finding beauty in each one. The other characters react to this hobby as they interact with Honora herself, some appreciating the glass's beauty, and some growing frustrated and annoyed with it. At the end of the book, Honora moves to another house and begins a new life, taking the sea glass with her.

Each of Shreve's stories are uniqe, and her characters are all women to whom I can relate. The experiences they have and how they grow and change as people is what keeps bringing me back to Shreve's books.