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The Fountain: A Novel
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Manufacturer: William Morrow
List Price: $21.00
Our Price: $2.59
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From the bestselling author of The Gazebo and The Observatory comes a romantic tale of the conflicting seductions of contentment and passion. What if you had a second chance at love that was denied long ago? This is exactly what happens to Casey Becket two days before she and her husband, Michael, are to celebrate their twentieth wedding anniversary. For there, suddenly, standing in her backyard by the fountain, is Will Combray, the man she once deeply loved and was engaged to marry, who jilted her on their wedding day. Older and wearier now, yet still handsome and unpredictable, Will tells Casey that he's come back in order to try to piece together his own life, which has been a series of emotional failures. He knows in his heart that everything went wrong for him the day he left her.Will's reappearance throws chaos into Casey's ordered life. Her marriage to the kind and faithful Michael Becket, who has been her best friend since childhood, has been a source of great comfort, if not passion. Long ago, after Will's cruel and inexplicable disappearing act, which was followed by a family tragedy, Michael promised to take care of Casey and give her a happy life, and he has kept his word. But now, with Will's sudden return after more than twenty years, Casey is forced to ask herself a difficult question. Which is the better life. one that is calm and contented or one unpredictable and deeply charged?Tugged in one direction by faithfulness and honor, and in another by pure desire, Casey Becket must relive her own troubled history to discover which choice will satisfy her heart.
The Fountain is Emily Grayson at her shimmering, heartfelt, romantic best.
PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS:
Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780060184865
ISBN: 0060184868
Label: William Morrow
Manufacturer: William Morrow
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 208
Publication Date: 2001-08-01
Publisher: William Morrow
Release Date: 2001-07-24
Studio: William Morrow
SIMILAR ITEMS:
• The Gazebo: A Novel
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• The Observatory: A Novel
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• The Last Promise
CUSTOMER REVIEWS:
Has potential but ultimately fails -
Though it is prettily written and nicely fluffy, I have many problems with this novel. I will discuss them in this review, devoting more time to it than this beach book is probably worth. I've read this novel many times because sometimes my book just wants to read a dumb cotton candy story, and each time it makes me angry. So I guess after all this time, I'm venting. Prepare yourselves; I've gone over in my head why this book is an ultimate failure each and everytime.
I initially bought it at a department store because the concept interested me. It was an almost philosophical idea, I thought, the concept of passionate love vs. comfortable love. But the book isn't a general case like that; it's very specific. That normally wouldn't be a problem, but... okay, let me divide things into parts. These parts, ironically enough, consist mostly of the characters themselves!
First off, Casey. The editorial review states that you end up hating this selfish woman and not caring about what happens to her. Couldn't be more true. She starts out okay, but then she just ends up spiraling downwards until you want to slap her. Emily Grayson tries to make us like her, you have to admire her effort, but we can only take so much before deciding "Yeah... this girl is not worth caring about." Basically, she has issues that Michael grew up next door to her and Will is so "different"--plus he's a total hottie. Everything that she has with him is purely physical--I can freaking tell this, and I'm still a teenager! She also cheats on Michael without even caring, which is absolutely disgusting, and acts like "Oooh, no one understands how I feel 'cause I'm a *romantic*!" Casey's even surprised that Michael has an artistic side; it's like she has really stereotypical views of everyone in her town. In her eyes, everyone except for her piano teacher and her don't know what the heck they're talkin about. By the end of the novel, you are absolutely convinced that she doesn't deserve Michael and most sane guys would have dodged that bullet, fast (more on Michael's doormat syndrome later)
Will. Everything about him was sleazy and unlikable. Okay, he was apparently really cute and he flirted well. And he was an incredible lover, too. Great. It takes Casey twenty years to find out that he is a jerk; it took me about five minutes. I think the dead giveaway was the fact that he slept with a girl who had a boyfriend. Then he leaves her at the altar. Later on, when he shows up, Casey is stupid enough (and apparently still in "love" enough) to actually consider leaving her martyr of a husband for him. Also, he was a terrible writer. Did you read that journal entry of his about the slugs? Wow, that was absolutely *brilliant.* Only not. Guess reading Flaubert didn't improve his vocab that much. No wonder he ends up a lonely businessman.
Michael. I'm torn between liking him and being disgusted by him. He's this great intelligent, handsome, talented guy. He is an absolute sweetheart. At first I really liked him, even though his comments were cheesy (but what are you expecting in a novel like that?) But then he pulled that whole thing with marrying Casey even though she had CHEATED ON HIM and BROKE HIS HEART and she would NEVER LOVE HIM. What kind of guy would offer himself to a girl who doesn't want him? It's not romantic or sweet; it's disgusting. And then later on he says "Will and me? Neither of us deserve Casey Stowe." Which is the most untrue statement we'll ever see; Casey and Will deserve each other, but Michael deserves better. I lost a lot of respect for him when he sacrificed some of his happiness to be with a woman who every night was dreaming of someone else. I don't CARE if he loved her and was happy enough just being with her; it's hard to see a guy do that and then feel sorry for him when he thinks his wife has left him. Then he realizes how dumb he was to do that. Yeah, I could have told you that TWENTY YEARS AGO.
It goes on like this! The reader realizes all of these things in a heartbeat while it takes the rest of the characters two decades! You wish that you could make yourself an omnipresent being in the book just so you could wring several necks at one time.
The worst part to me was the ending, though. Talk about a Deus Ex Machina. Casey's problems with Michael were that she never really loved him in the way she loved Will. She also didn't find Michael a very good lover. Then she finds out that Will is a jerk (quick one, she is!) and Michael got violent in her name and honor (well, Michael seems to think Casey has some anyway.) She finds this incredibly romantic and decides that this makes Michael worthy of her love. If you're reading this and rolling your eyes, you're not alone! Then, magically, this knowledge makes her fall passionately in love with Michael even though it was established that she just didn't have that type of connection with him. Okay, that kind of connection with someone can't just be established with one surprising revelation. If you don't have it with someone already, it takes a while to form; I imagine Will and Casey would have lost that physical connection eventually (since it was merely physical) and Michael and Casey would have formed it (since theirs was emotional.) But I'm not here to ponder about love, I'm here to review a book.
Does this book have its moments? Ehhh... to an extent. I like it best at the beginning; things get weird after Casey's parents die and Michael's all "Hey Girl Who Broke My Heart and Doesn't Regret It, come live with me and marry me even though chances are you'll never love me like I deserve to be loved!" Yeah, I have a big issue with that. Killing off Casey's parents was a dumb move. I could have come up with a better way to get Michael and Casey married than that. Maybe one a little more endearing than pretty much a marriage of convenience.
Really, come to think of it this book is just painful to read. It tells you nothing that you didn't already know, and you can't get connected to the characters at all. Casey especially, and she's the one we're supposed to be sympathizing with. I mean, at the end she figures out that Will is a jerk and Michael is this absolutely wonderful guy who put up with her all of those years. The reader, hopefully a little more intelligent and having figured that out ages ago, sighs in consternation. The reader then rolls eyes at the ending which said that Michael for the first time, at the age of 40, led his bride out. Because that is just plain depressing. Casey sucks because she is a selfish brat, Will sucks because he is a total manipulative jerk, and Michael sucks because he not only puts up with all of this but also readily involves himself in it. The plot sort of sucks because it has so many deus ex machinas and plot devices that it isn't even funny.
On the plus side, it's prettily written and full of random musings like "humans are just plumbing." If you want a book to relax and kill some braincells, definitely pick this one up. If you want a deep, character-driven story about the very nature and types of love, despite how it tries, it never quite achieves this level.
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Okay Relationship Book -
This book opens with Casey Becket two days before her 20th wedding anniversary with safe and steady Michael. She looks out the window to find the man, Will, who left her at the alter over 20 years ago and who broke her heart. He was wild and passionate and different from Michael who she had known her entire life. While this is an interesting enough book, I was never quite caught up in it the way I think it was intended. I felt disappointed that Casey would pine for Will for 20 years and then he would just show up and ask her to leave with him and she would agree. I thought the ending was the most interesting part of the book and redeemed it a bit.
Engaging contemporary relationship but... -
Two decades ago in New York, Will Combrey simply vanished while his teenage fiancee Casey Stowe lovingly waited for him at the altar. Not long afterward, Casey's parents die in an accident. Distraught, she marries Michael Beckett, her next door neighbor. He was her neighbor since she was born and his parents are delighted with their marriage plans and hers folks would have been ecstatic as well if they lived. Over the next twenty years, the duo shares a contented life raising twin girls and one boy. The girls are at college and the boy will start in the fall. Casey is also a highly regarded teacher.
Into her Eden returns Will, whose personal life consists of two divorces and no meaningful relationship today. He has come back to start over at the point where he feels he failed, jilting Casey. He wants her to return with him to his San Francisco home. The temptation is great as a part of Casey always wondered what would have been if Will had married her.
THE FOUNTAIN is an engaging contemporary relationship tale centering on choices. The interesting premise is well designed, but the problem resides with the key cast because this tale is not choosing between a devilishly handsome "bad boy" and a steady mate. Will is pathetic instead of the confident cocky lover while Michael has been near perfect to Casey for years. Throw in their three teens and readers will not accept Casey's thought processes. Emily Grayson is a talented writer who entertains the reader with a well-written story line, but the characters fail to make the plot appear plausible.
Harriet Klausner
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