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Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Review: Stiltsville by Susanna Daniel

Title: Stiltsville
Author: Susanna Daniel
Genre/Age: Women's fiction, literary, adult
Publication: 2010
Source: For review, TLC

Stiltsville is a stunning portrait of a marriage from its inception all the way to its tragic demise.

Frances meets Dennis on a trip to Miami in the late 60's, while visiting Stiltsville, a community of stilt homes in Biscayne Bay. Their romance takes off, and soon they are married. Frances moves to Miami, and starts a life with the young lawyer. Together, they raise an exceptional daughter, deal with miscarriages, live through riots, hurricanes, and face illness.

The book is broken into sections with each section being a different year in their lives, and covers almost 30 years of their marriage. It does not cover every year, but skips ahead quite often - however, you never feel like you're losing anything, and get a sense of what their lives were like during the years that aren't covered.

A great aspect of this novel is that it is infused with real life events that occurred in Miami from the 1960's through 1990's, with these historical events running parallel to the marriage. We see how Frances and her small family deal with such events as the race riots, Hurricane Andrew, and University of Florida murders. I looked each of these events up while I was reading the novel, and thought it was fascinating that Daniel's combined these real life events with her fiction. It enhanced the reading experience for me.

I loved this book so much and will consider it a new favorite. Since I got to peer into almost 30 years of Frances' life and marriage, I felt like I truly knew her. My heart broke with her and soared with her. I experienced her marriage with her, her ups, her downs, her heartbreak, her joy. I loved having an intimate look into a realistic marriage as well as seeing them raise their daughter from birth to her own marriage.

This story is breathtakingly beautiful. It moves at a slower pace, but is elegantly written, and full of heart. The first 100 pages didn't hook me immediately, but was setting up the story. After that, I couldn't stop reading. Really. I stayed up until 1:00 AM to finish this book, and I am almost always in bed by 10:00 or so (yeah, yeah, I'm an old lady, so what?). I felt a true connection to Frances and feel that she is one of the best developed characters I have ever read.

This book will stay on my bookshelf for years to come, and will be treasured for a lifetime. I know I will re-read it when I get married myself and find comfort in the story, even through the sadness. Highly, highly recommended! I want everyone I know to read this book!

My Rating: 5/5

11 comments:

  1. This is on my wish list. After reading your review I will have to put it on my must buy list! It made you stay up until 1:00? Yep, it must be a good read!

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  2. This sounds really good! Adding it to my PBS list now!

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  3. Steph, you have really had an amazing year of reading, either you are choosing better or it is just your year :-)

    I am still slowly making it through Bitter is the New Black :-0

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  4. The breadth of this novel -- taking in a marriage over its 30 year progression -- reminds me a little of David Nichols' One Day, which I really liked. He also was able to fill in the gaps of the missing time, like you say the author does here, so that when you rejoin the couple you have a good sense of what went on in their lives in the intervening time.

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  5. Hi Steph,
    Sounds like a great book. I'll have to check it out. Thanks for stopping by my place. Have a great day!

    Sherrie
    Just Books
    http://sherriesbooks.blogspot.com/

    P.S. I see we are doing the 2011 reading challenge at Goodreads. I'm doing 200 books.

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  6. Wow, you really captured your love for this one. I'll definitely have to check this one out, since it sounds like a beautiful and moving read. (Gah, when I read "inception" in the first line, I immediately though INCEPTION the movie. lol.)

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  7. Great review. It doesn't sounds like my type of read, but I'm glad you really loved this one. :)

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  8. This book sounds fab! I am intrigued by anything 1960s these days and the fact that you loved it so much is really selling me on it!

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  9. You convinced me Steph!! This is totally my kind of book. I like books that explore the complicated relationships between partners.

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  10. Wow, sounds like a great read! I'm so glad to see it is a new favorite for you. Thanks for being a part of the tour.

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  11. Sounds like a great read. Thanks for sharing!

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