Title: The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper
Author: Phaedra Patrick
Genre: Fiction
About the book…
On the one year anniversary of his wife’s death, sixty-nine year old Arthur Pepper faces the challenge of cleaning out her wardrobe. When he finds a charm bracelet he’s never seen before hidden in one of her boots, his curiosity is peaked. Little does he realize that calling the number on one of the charms will start of a journey of discovery about his wife, himself, and what living really means.
What I think…
This is not normally the sort of book I read; It takes place in present day, it’s a little sappy, it’s not particularly quirky or eclectic, and it’s not fantastical, it’s just very modern, but I liked the cover and the premise, so I decided to give it a go
My one problem with it is at times I almost felt like I was reading a children’s or YA book with adult themes in it, although it wasn’t at all badly written.
Furthermore, while I really liked the premise and understood what the author was going for, it did lag at certain parts probably due to the style of writing (I’m not a huge fan of shorter sentences).
Those two things aside, there were still quite a few positives to this book. The characters are endearing, each flawed in such a way that they add to the overall theme of constant shifting and changing that occurs with living the life one wants to lead or accepting what life throws at you and making the best of it. I also really like how Patrick chooses to use a wide range of ages for her characters instead of focusing on one age set, which I felt gave the story more meaning.
As a side note, I think this would make a fairly good light weight movie if done right.
To sum it all up…
A charming (I couldn’t help myself, sorry) read about life and living after the death of a loved one. While this isn’t one I’d add to my list of books to revisit, it’s a pleasant and quick summer read. ♥
That is such a wonderfully neat premise for a book. As a vintage jewelry lover, it appeals to me all the more. Shame though, that writing was at times more YA feeling than geared towards an adult audience. I wonder, where they to make a movie based on this novel, if it would come across more grownup-ish or still have that almost Disney-esque quality?
ReplyDeleteMany hugs & absolutely giant thanks for each of your wonderful recent blog comments,
♥ Jessica
I could see it having similar qualities to the movie "Everybody's Fine" (although I may just be thinking of it since it's about a man who goes on a trip and his wife has passed away). It could really easily tip either direction, though, dependent on who directed it.
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