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Review
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When
Gordon meets Annie in London and falls in love with her, he finally
desires something strongly enough to sever his co-dependent ties
with his mother. Gordon and Annie marry, and Maureen and her
latest beau bestow upon the new couple a honeymoon trip to Venice.
This trip is delayed for a year, and is compromised by the fact
that Maureen and her significant other accompany Gordon and Annie
on the trip. Tensions between the two couples mount as Maureen
begins to assert herself over Gordon and Annie's relationship, attempting
to fall back into the old patterns of her relationship with her
son, demanding constant attention, concession, and compromise.
The story reaches its climax in an event that alters the lives of
the two couples irrevocably.
The conflicts experienced
by the two couples in The Honeymoon seem melodramatic
and overblown, and this is complicated by the fact that they are
experienced by characters that are not compelling, and in some cases,
are wholly unappealing. The reader simply does not care about
the fates of Gordon and Annie or Maureen and Gerhardt. Consequently,
the conflicts they must endure take on an almost farcical quality.
In the final analysis,
this does not condemn The Honeymoon. Justin
Haythe is a skilled writer, experienced in writing screenplays,
adept at structuring his scenes in interesting and compelling ways,
layering in the details and images to conjure up the appropriate
mood and tone in the manner of an innate storyteller. The
reader may not fall in love with Gordon and Annie, or care about
the fates of Maureen and Gerhardt, but he continues to turn the
pages of this successful debut novel because of the bursts of sheer
beauty that can be found throughout Haythe's writing.
The Honeymoon
is not one of the best novels on this year's Booker Prize longlist,
and does not deserve a place on the shortlist, but it hails the
advent of a talented novelist to watch in the coming years.
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