3.5* ( )

Hadley is a writer I will definitely be trying again. Her writing is very thought provoking while still being straightforward. This story takes a very realistic look at the lives of two couples, Christine and Alex, Lydia and Zachary, who have known one another since their college years. When one member of the foursome dies, their dynamic shifts, but frankly in ways that are foreshadowed by the years before.

Hadley is very impressive in terms of how she moves the reader from the past to the present, building up the relationships between the four protagonists. Her insights on the human condition are terrific, and I highlighted so many lines in my Kindle version.

Unfortunately, as much as I liked the writing itself, this book had the feel of a long form version of a short story to me. Even though I was given so much information about the characters, I never felt an emotional connection to any of them. In a short story, I don't really mind that lack of intimacy with the characters, but here I did. Even though I understood the choices made by the characters and the motivations underpinning them, I never felt emotionally invested. The characters all lacked charisma, except unfortunately, the one who dies. Upon his death, the lynchpin of the relationships was removed, and that let them spin in a new direction . . .but somehow it just seemed clinical to me.

The next book I reach for will be Hadley's short stories because I have a feeling with her tight, thoughtful prose and intellect, that I will love those.

( )

Han sido amigos inseparables durante treinta años. Christine, la discreta pintora; su marido Alex, poeta maldito en su juventud y ahora director de escuela; el exitoso marchante de arte Zachary y su extravagante esposa Lydia. Una apacible noche de verano Christine y Alex reciben una llamada; es Lydia, alterada, desde el hospital: Zach acaba de morir. Un mismo sentimiento invade a los tres: han perdido al más generoso y fuerte de los cuatro, el ancla que los mantenía unidos, precisamente aquel a quien no podían permitirse perder. Desconsolada, Lydia se muda con Alex y Christine, y en los meses que siguen, la pérdida, lejos de fortalecer sus vínculos, trae a la superficie antiguos deseos y agravios hasta ahora enterrados en el equilibrio que les brindaba la cuadratura de su amistad. La voz delicada y poderosa de Tessa Hadley se adentra en las intrincadas y quebradizas redes que sostienen la amistad y el matrimonio.

Two couples are friends. One of the husbands dies. This is a story of their past and their present. It would make a good read for a book club. Lots of word pictures and things to discuss about reactions. ( )

Zachary and Alex were best friends at school, as were Chris and Lydia. In later life, after brief relationships between Alex and Lydia and Zachary and Chris, Alex married Chris and Zachary married Lydia. The four remained close friends, but around 30 years later this is all disrupted when Zachary suddenly dies. In Tessa Hadley’s sensitive contemporary novel, she explores the changes that this brings about as well as looking at the couples’ earlier relationships. This reveals a fascinating portrait of modern life for some, as their friendship waxes and wanes over the course of time and makes for a wholly engaging novel as it explores and contrasts how the four change and develop but still retain much of their character from their earlier lives.