Swing and a Miss

I was in a bit of an Emily Henry kick after enjoying Happy Place. During a recent Hamptons weekend with girlfriends I picked up Henry's novel Beach Read from Sag Harbor Books. I wanted another light book. However Beach Read didn't exactly do the trick. I didn't buy the storyline nor the dialogue. The whole thing was too contrived: two college frenemies with sexual tension happen to land in houses next door to each other in a sleepy midwestern lake town, after becoming established authors? And there's a thread about a cult? And one author is writing about a circus? Some of the details didn't make sense, either. Why would a writer have calloused hands? The protagonist was also very frustrating to me. She didn't want to ask questions or read mysterious letters, so there was an element of forced suspense.

The saving grace of Beach Read was actually the Readers Guide "Behind the Book." Henry called out The Shining for being about writer's block, Jack Nicholson's manuscript having the same sentence written over and over. Well-written and inspiring, the guide spoke to me as a writer and provided sound advice. Henry ended on a helpful note: "And when we're brave enough to do so, we can make something beautiful. Something we didn't know we were capable of before we began. So yes, sometimes making art is a horror story. But other times, you fall head over heels in love. Either way, you'll probably laugh."

AES