I must confess to being thrilled at having been gifted the opportunity, to holiday vicariously, through Rebecca Rasin’s new book, ‘Summer at the Santorini bookshop’. What better chance to soak in the sights and sounds of beautiful Santorini, without leaving the house!
It sounded to me as though our daydreaming Heroine, Evie, had the best job in the entire world – being paid to sit and read books, deciding if any warranted being made into a movie! I did find myself hating Evie’s boss, Hank though – in that he made Evie question her own ability. Surely Evie was better off not working for that rat, now that he as an ex boss!? It certainly will be interesting to see, once Evie is packed off to Greece on Granny-sitting’ duty, whether her Gran really is behaving out of order, or whether the family are jumping to conclusions and over reacting. I know which outcome I would bet on! Evie’s choice of reading, Gerald Darrell’s ‘My Family and Other Animals’, certainly seemed inordinately appropriate!
This book made me laugh in places, but I was particularly amused at Evie’s pontification as to whether or not the young man ‘Gran’ was arguing with might be her new husband or not! My amusement came from the fact that Evie was considering that her Gran might be able to hook up with such a young man, while Evie herself struggled! Also just the thought of peanut butter and a ‘glaringly unseduced’ Georgio now causes me to have to suppress the giggles! As for mistaking Evie’s ‘sexy’ voice, for an asthma attack…………! Transversely, Gran’s plan for Evie to help stall her financial woes sounded like a disaster, guaranteed to cause pain to all involved, devoid of laughs.
Divine. A word I am going to use twice. The bookshop sounded utterly divine; just the place to while away a few hours, under the auspice of shopping. Georgios – I can think of no other word to sum up his gorgeous good looks and apparently endearing manner, than divine. Quite simply divine! Oh the double divine hours I could spend with the divine Georgios, in the divine bookshop! Even the dogs love Georgios, so he must be a decent chap! I liked the idea of being able to inhale the wonderful sounding pastries Georgios had brought with him – but then couldn’t help but imagine the ethereal, almost heady effect of being able to inhale Georgios, the bookshop and the loukoumades all in one breath!
Poignant. The air was thick with poignancy after Gran announced that after 9 marriages, she had found the place she wanted to stay! This was her explanation for overspending – she wanted the bookshop to be the perfect place to live out her days and a haven for bibliophiles. I wanted to stay there too – testament to Rebecca Raisin’s superlative writing, in making the shop sound like such an amazing hideaway.
Compassionate. I like the way that the author highlighted the ongoing problems of street dogs on the Greek Islands. Gran was amazing, if not somewhat impulsive, in adopting 6 such mutts; however I did think that although this is a work of fiction, it could well have some impact on the real world outcome for these kinds dogs and their many friends.
Passionate. Both Gran and Evie are passionate about books, and Gran is passionate about making a go of her life in Santorini, to the extent that she has even given up her New York apartment and had her precious book collection shipped over. I felt as though Gran believed in happy relationships – she loved having a man about the house – and she can hardly be blamed for all her previous husbands shuffling off their relative mortal coils, Put simply, is she in love with the idea of being in love?
Relentless. Life had been fairly relentless on Gran, having got through far more Husbands than is usual. I did so feel for her though when the gossip wagon launched itself in order to bring ‘intel’ on her latest Husband, who was meant to be working on an off sea oil rig. I did so hope that the rumours about him being seen flashing wads of cash around in a casino were unfounded – on two counts. Firstly Gran felt settled for the first time in her life and truly believed that her new Husband was working on the oil rigs to help repay her debts. Secondly Gran needed Konstantine’s salary in her hand, paying off debts, rather than being waved around anywhere, but especially not at a casino! Please let there be smoke without fire for once and let this just be malicious gossip! It is again a nod to Rebecca Raisin’s fabulous writing, that I find myself caring so passionately about these characters. I had best pinch myself, in order to remind myself that I am reading a fantastic, fabulously written book, and these people are not real!
Memorable. I like that Evie has so many memories of time spent with Gran – most of them seemingly happy memories. The relationship they have reminds me of the happy times I spent with my Grandmother. It felt great that the pair were making yet more memories, albeit in Europe. I sincerely hoped that this aura – a seemingly impenetrable bubble of happiness – was not about to be burst. At Gran’s age, you need to be making as many happy memories as possible; there is no room for anything less than happy!
Empathetic. Georgios was an interesting, compelling character, far from the stereotypical slot that Evie seems to have allotted him. How wonderful that he ‘gets’ what our intrepid heroines have done, in terms of the shop – although it is far more than ‘just’ a shop. Stuff the pretend dating – Georgio seemed the perfect match for Evie, with them even working in the same industry. I just hoped that they would both realise how perfectly aligned they are before it’s too late and things have been said that cannot be unsaid. I prayed they would have no misunderstandings in their relationship, if it moved from a ‘pretend’ coupling, to something real.
Whilst I was reading, I kept on coming up with questions; I had to read on, in order to find out the answers!
- Is Gran coping, or is she putting on an elaborate front?
- Can one woman genuinely (and legally) be widowed quite as many times as Gran?
- Is there something to the mysterious note that Evie finds?
- Why does the man with the donkey keep visiting the book store?
- Where exactly is the anomalous Konstantine?
- When will Evie admit that she genuinely likes Georgio?
- Does Georgio really like Evie, or could he have been goaded into trying to find out more about Evie and Gran by Yannis (Georgio’s Grandfather and Gran’s landlord)?
- Is Evie suffering from an overactive imagination, when it comes to Gran’s new cement path in the garden?
- Where is Houdini stashing the cash?
If you want to meet these eclectic characters and find out the answers to these questions and more, then you will need to read this sunbuster for yourself.
Eatwell Reads-Well 