Author: Phaedra Patrick
Length: 336 pages
The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper
$0.00
AVAILABLE!
AVAILABLE!
Description
“Sixty-nine-year-old Arthur Pepper lives a simple life. He gets out of bed at precisely 7:30 a.m., just as he did when his wife, Miriam, was alive. He dresses in the same gray slacks and mustard sweater vest, waters his fern, Frederica, and heads out to his garden.
But on the one-year anniversary of Miriam’s death, something changes. Sorting through Miriam’s possessions, Arthur finds an exquisite gold charm bracelet he’s never seen before. What follows is a surprising and unforgettable odyssey that takes Arthur from London to Paris and as far as India in an epic quest to find out the truth about his wife’s secret life before they met–a journey that leads him to find hope, healing and self-discovery in the most unexpected places.”
Janet Dore –
⭐️⭐️ 1/2
“Arthur thought about how it was possible for memories to shift and change with time. To be forgotten and resumed, to be enhanced or darkened as the mind and mood commanded.”
Well, I honestly don’t think I’ve read a sappier, gooier book than The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper…and, this is coming from a major mush.
Apparently, this mush has a bit of a dark side because I found myself groaning and Good Lord-ing on almost every page I labored through. This book came close to being tossed on my virtual DNF pile, but I powered through it…only to find exactly what I knew I would find. More goo and no surprises.
“Curmudgeon Fiction,” a term coined by a fellow book club member, is one of my favorite genres, so I had high hopes for this one. But, this is a story with no surprises, no twists, no raw emotions, no shadows. The dialogue is extremely unrealistic…almost as if it was written for children or the simplest of adults. As an seasoned (and apparently snobby) reader, my intelligence was a little bent out.
So, why not give it a one star then? Because, I have a heart. The message underneath all of the goo was solid.
If your dog has died, if your partner has dumped you, if you’re battling a health issue and you need a gooey place to fall where everything works out perfectly, this may be a good option for you.