The Tangled Webs We Weave

'The Heights'
Author: Peter Hedges


Format: Audio Book
Published: Penguin Audio; Mar. 2010
Narrated By: Peter Hedges, Amy Ryan and Alison Pill
Genre: Literary fiction
Rating: A
Source: Library


Synopsis: Hedges's first novel in more than a decade reads a lot like Tom Perrotta minus the satire or Jonathan Tropper with less humor, but Hedges's excellent characterization and writing render it a worthy outing. Tim Welch and Kate Oliver are happily married, living the urban dream in Brooklyn Heights, until the wealthy and beautiful Anna Brody moves in nearby, forcing them to question if happiness is enough. Anna's arrival coincides with the forced retirement of Tim's father, a celebrated women's basketball coach, due to a sexual scandal; a lucrative job for Kate; and the reappearance of Kate's former love, now a television star. And while the entire neighborhood is fascinated with Anna, it's Tim and Kate she pulls into her orbit—intent on taking Tim as a lover—causing the seams of their marriage to fray and forcing them into situations they never would have predicted for themselves, even if the reader isn't exactly surprised at how things play out. The plot tends toward busy, but Hedges (What's Eating Gilbert Grape) keeps it under control, his sympathetically real characters holding down the novel's solid center.


My Take: When I saw this pop up as an option for download from my library as an audiobook I was intrigued. I had seen many reviews of this out there and they were all pretty mixed. Some liked it and some did not so it wasn't a 'must read' for me. But heck, if I could listen to it for free then sure, there's no damage done there. Also, my library has very few 'new' books for download on an iPod so I got to take what I can get. I had my misgivings, there were multiple narrators after all for this one, and I hadn't had good luck with that in the past but I soon discovered that it didn't bother me this time because for the most part, the production wasn't elaborate. They were just the voices for the main characters, not switching it up for all of the characters.


So what's it all about anyway? Holy crap, is it about some serious, down home drama in the big city! Husband loves wife. Wife loves husband. New, hot, rich woman moves to town who is not happy with her life/husband/child/fill in blank. This woman, let's call her Anna, befriends happily married wife, let's call her Kate. The women get to talking as they do about their personal lives and soon discover that while one may have all of the material things in the world the other has all of the intrinsic things in the world and Anna wants them. 


So the plot thickens! Anna introduces herself to husband, let's call him Tim. Tim, I would say, is a bit blind, or maybe self-obsessed? Yes, he undeniably loves his family but he has been working on his dissertation for years and, generally stuck in a rut for a while so I think Anna maybe showing any attention was more than he knew how to handle. A proposition is thrown out on the table. Does he accept?


But there's a twist! What twist? A proposition of another kind is thrown on the table to the wife, Kate! Does she accept? If they both accept what does it mean for their marriage because this whole book we've heard how in love they are! Can you really just have one night? Oh, well maybe it's just one of them who accepts? Do they confess? Do they confess that they thought about it? What if they got caught?


I'm telling you, in turns reading like a modern day soap opera, or just like sitting around having a glass of wine with your girlfriends while they tell you the latest gossip, this book was good! If you have a book club, you are going to want to suggest this because the ending is so twisty and it will really call some things into play!


Cover Lust: It doesn't do much for me. I'm not opposed to it. I guess it's The Heights in Brooklyn where it's set but it's just a picture all the same.