Today I am very excited to welcome a great friend of mine, Angie, to do a guest post. Like me, Angie is an avid reader. We have been friends since college and have often shared a drink (or many) while discussing books. The last time we did this Angie started talking about her love of a couple of books by Marisa de los Santos that I hadn't read before and how much she loved them and I invited her to share her passion for them here. Please give her a warm, amusing welcome because I hope she'd like to come back again!
By Marisa de los Santos
Format: Paperback
Published: Plume; Nov. 2006
Pages: 307
Synopsis: Philadelphia cafe manager Cornelia Brown drifts effortlessly through her unattached life, unapologetic for idealizing romance and breathlessly recommending The Philadelphia Story—to the reader and everyone else. Eleven-year-old Clare is a child of divorce whose mother, a successful party planner, is quickly going to pieces. In alternating chapters of Cornelia's first person and Clare's free and direct third, poet de los Santos, making her novel debut, tells the story of their finding each other.
By Marisa de los Santos
Format: Paperback
Published: William Morrow; Apr. 2008
Pages: 400
Synopsis: Cornelia Brown, heroine of de los Santos's bestselling Love Walked In, returns. Cornelia and her husband, Teo, move to suburban Philadelphia, where she finds it difficult to fit into the sorority-like atmosphere. Seemingly shallow and vicious, neighbor Piper shows her kinder side as she struggles through her best friend's fight against cancer. Though the extreme of Piper's two-facedness isn't convincing, her moments of sincerity invite genuine empathy. Cornelia also yields narrative time to Dev, a precocious teenager whose father is missing and whose mother develops a friendship with Cornelia.
Angie's Take: I loved 'Love Walked In' and, especially, 'Belong to Me' so, so much that I leapt at the opportunity my pal, Leah (known to you as Amused!), gave me to expound on their fabulousness and, just possibly, get some other people on their warm and fuzzy bandwagon. To me, these books are total comfort reading, with enough emotional heft to make me feel like my world view might just be expanding the teeniest, tiniest little bit, which, I think, is quite a feat.
According to my extensive research (i.e. briefly scanning the back of the book), the author, Marisa de los Santos, is a poet, and I think it shows in the best possible way. I would never, ever describe myself as a poetry fan, but the phrasing she uses is beautiful. It’s flowery and eloquent, without being overwrought or confusing. It seems like every word was intentionally, consciously chosen to create just the right atmosphere and description. For example, from 'Belong to Me', “When the sun was out, the leaves caught in Dev’s rake were the reddest and goldest things he’d ever seen, so much color rubbing up against itself on the surface of each leaf, Dev imagined he could smell smoke.” Good, right? It’s making me contemplate rethinking my previous position on poetry, which has always been N-O combined with glazed, rolled eyes.
The writing is great and all, but, I think, my favorite aspect of these books is the characters. I love that everyone that populates them is fully three dimensional. They’re complete people, with nuances, flaws, and habits. Characters that I initially loathed revealed themselves to, at the very least, have understandable motives to their actions, even if they didn’t completely win my heart by the end. Martin from 'Love Walked In', I’m totally looking at you. By the same token, I respect that not everyone ends up smelling like clichéd roses. Also, Teo is totally fictionally crushable.
Additionally, these books treat kids with tons of respect. The adolescent characters are complicated human beings, with complicated thoughts and emotions, and extreme intelligence. They’re fully sympathetic and lovable to boot. I really wanted to give both Clare and Dev fictional hugs.
Also, all of the characters are incredibly thoughtful in both books, and I mean that both in a “caring” and “full of thoughts” way. For example, from 'Belong to Me', “And even though neither of us moved, even though the same four feet and twenty years that had separated us before still lay between us, we were suddenly right next to each other, inches apart, bumping elbows in the same small boat of loving Clare.” It’s really inspiring me to look deeper into people and the meanings between words and expressions.
So, in conclusion, 'Love Walked In' and 'Belong to Me' are potentially inspiring me to read some poetry and try to be more insightful, which, when you think about it is pretty impressive. Who knows? If Marisa de los Santos writes another book, I might be inspired to wear berets and participate in poetry slams.
I say, go for it and write some poetry :D
ReplyDeleteWelcome Angie and thanks for the reviews of these two books. I've had Belong to Me on my shelf to read for about a year. I didn't realize there was a prequel. Since I like to read things in order I really want to read Love Walked In first.
ReplyDeleteWelcome Angie! I read Love Walked In a few years ago and loved it. You are right - the characters really make the book. I need to read the sequel - thanks for the reminder!
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to meet a fellow fan...I loved these books, too!
ReplyDeleteGreat review, Angie! I read Love Walked In last year and loved it, so I went right out and bought Belong to Me. I haven't made the time to read it yet. I need to rectify that.
ReplyDeleteI read Love Walked In a couple of years ago and Belong to Me earlier this year and absolutely loved them both! I am definitely intending to read whatever else this author brings out because her books are funny, they are warm, they are deep and they are just all round great reads!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post.
Oh, I loved these books, too! You're so right: Marisa de los Santos' status as a poet really shines through in her novels. Her prose is so lyrical and lovely.
ReplyDeleteI loved the first one and hope to get to the second one soon.
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