A Summer Affair

I am way too lazy to have an affair. Of course I have a moral objection to having one as well. But even if I could completely disregard the pain it would cause Hot Guy, the dishonesty I would have to employ and the utter selfishness it would entail, I still couldn't have an affair. I don't want to work that hard for a few hours a week with anybody I didn't give birth to.

I know this for sure after reading Elin Hilderbrand's A Summer Affair, courtesy of Mother Talk. In the novel, Claire, mother of four and artist, has an affair. Usually while her clueless husband babysits the kids and her high school sweetheart (who's now a famous rock star) pines for her. Seriously. Despite the fact that Claire has a piece in the Whitney Museum, is skinny, has an au pair and a dream sister-in-law, you can't help but like her. Even when you want to smack her.

Claire's affair begins soon after she's stopped working on her art. Her husband doesn't respect her talent - he doesn't even want to have a real conversation with her. Consequently, Claire is vulnerable. And thus begins the affair. The novel chronicles it while chronicling a huge fundraising event - THE fundraising event - for the people of Nantucket. It also weaves in storylines from Claire's sister-in-law and a few other characters.

The novel is well-written, but not brilliantly so. The plot can be predictable in some places, but mostly it's fun in a soap-opera-y way. The characterizations are probably what elevate the novel above and beyond typical beach reading. It feels like I would see these people if I went to Nantucket next weekend (wouldn't that be nice?). Some of them are still stuck in my head, even. Normally I wouldn't be interested in a novel about an affair but because I cared about the people I was open to wherever the author took them.