| Title | : | A Secret Kept |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0312553498 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780312553494 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 319 |
| Publication | : | First published April 2, 2009 |
Trapped in the wake of a family secret shrouded by taboo, Antoine must confront his past and also his troubled relationships with his own children. How well does he really know his mother, his children, even himself? Suddenly fragile on all fronts - as a son, a husband, a brother and a father - Antoine Rey will soon learn the shocking truth about his family and himself.
By turns thrilling and seductive, with a lingering effect that is bittersweet and redeeming, A Secret Kept is the story of a modern family and the invisible ties that hold it together.
A Secret Kept Reviews
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I’ve realized that Ms. de Rosnay’s books are a bit like cheap bottle of wines – when you’re immersed in them, they’re hard to put down. Then you finish them, have some time to think things over, and realize they really weren’t that great and it was more that you were caught up in the moment. A Secret Kept shares quite a few similarities to Sarah’s Key, although I did find this novel’s plot the stronger of the two. Following a car accident that leaves his sister seriously injured, a man spirals into a midlife crisis (let me recommend reading as little about the plot as possible if you do plan to read it: too many summaries give away some of the important details). Similar to Sarah’s Key, there are some beautiful passages and some wonderful scenes that capture the complexities of life and how decisions inform life. Unfortunately, also similar to Sarah’s Key, I found many of the characters unlikable – they come across as shallow, self-centered whiners (although not having to compare these characters to a child uprooted by the Holocaust made it slightly easier to tolerate them as compared to the protagonist in Sarah’s Key), and, once again, the ending left me wanting. I’m not sure if I’ll pick up another novel by Ms. de Rosnay – there’s much to like about her, but her books tend to leave me frustrated and wanting more. As I said in my review of Sarah’s Key, there’s a beautiful, complicated story lurking within these pages, but the book as is fails to live up to its potential. Quasi recommended.
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Wow. I never read Sarah's Key, so I cannot compare. But I thought this book was written at least 50 years too late for the big reveal to actually matter. If I hadn't been listening to the audio on a long road trip, this would have been a book I put down right away. Let me just say that I'm not surprised that our bookstore didn't sell A SINGLE COPY of this book in hardcover, and though the paperback has been on the bestseller list for a couple of weeks already, we've not sold one paperback copy yet, either.
**********************SPOILERALERT****************
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If you pay attention to pronoun use (and I do when reading) you're gonna
guess this early on anyway. But the big secret--the one that makes her daughter drive off the road, nearly killing herself and her brother when they're all grown up and their mother is dead anyway--is that their mother didn't love their father but actually loved another woman. Wow. How positively 1960s of the author. Really? THat's the tragedy that has marked these people's lives and made them miserable way into their adulthood? I thought the French were supposed to be so sophisticated, anyway. They can handle heterosexual love affairs with aplomb but not lesbian ones? Somehow, I don't think that's the case. -
I think I'm turning into a crotchety old lady. I was really looking forward to reading
A Secret Kept. I had read a preview and really liked it. I loved
Sarah's Key by the same author. I'm sad to say that I was disappointed.
I'll start with the positive. De Rosnay does a fabulous job of setting the scene. I've never been to France, but I was able to imagine what it was like living in Paris and visiting a resort island with a road that gets submerged at high tide. De Rosnay also gets people right. Each of her characters, especially Tonio's insufferable children, seems quite real. It seems that French teenagers are very much like American teens.
So, that brings me to the reasons why I gave the book three stars instead of four. (I'm trying to give fewer books 5 stars these days, so 4 stars means it's really good.) First, Antonio was such a spineless girly-man. He just let stuff happen to him and rarely stood up for himself. He was the king of non-confrontation. I just wanted to smack him and say, "Man up, dude." Even in relationships, the women take the lead. And, surprise, he's unhappy.
The other thing that I didn't like was that the mystery part of the story wasn't very mysterious. We know pretty early on that the mother was having an affair before she suddenly died. The only mystery there was who her lover was. Well, that secret is revealed halfway through the book. Then, we think that there's another, bigger secret that's part of the secret that was just revealed. But, that second secret turns out to be a big nothing. (How's that for not spoiling the plot?)
Ultimately, I think the thing that disappointed me most was that I was expecting a mystery about a big, dark family secret, and I was expecting it to follow mystery conventions in a literary way. However, this is entirely a book about feelings and about the ways in which people don't communicate with those to whom they are closest. I just wasn't in the right frame of mind for a feelings book.
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I do need to thank Sarah at MacMillan for sending out a second copy of this book for me. I won it through FirstReads on Oct. 1 and realized in early January that it was way past due. Sarah was very helpful. -
Entirely set in France in the present day and in 1974, A SECRET KEPT begins when Antoine Rey, a divorcee in his mid-forties, takes his sister, Mélanie, to their childhood vacation spot, Noirmoutier Island, for her fortieth birthday. Passage to the island is made on a causeway called Le Gois, a road that is only passable at low tide and which becomes treacherous in moments once the water rises. They make the passage and spend an idyllic time on the island, but the devastating events following their holiday set in motion a search for clues surrounding the untimely death of their mother when they were children.
I found myself thinking of Le Gois often while I read the book and watched Antione and Mélanie untangle their family secrets. The more they discover the more their findings threaten to drown them. The revelation of secrets causes Mélanie to pull back the way a cautious driver would at the edge of Le Gois as the waters rise. Antione, on the other hand, races recklessly forward, unable to stop his quest, and gradually becomes empowered by his discoveries.
One of the most intriguing aspects of A SECRET KEPT is Tatiana De Rosnay’s convincing voice as a male narrator. Through Antoine’s family struggles with his teenagers, the wife he loves who left him for another man, and a relationship with a fierce, sexy mortician named Angèle Rouvatier, his mid-life crisis is revealed in raw, potent language.
Another strength of the book is De Rosnay’s portrayal of the difficulties of family life–from sibling relationships, to the aftermath of divorce, to the difficulty of raising children amid crises. She holds nothing back, and while some scenes are painful to read, they are authentic.
For lovers of De Rosnay’s novel SARAH’S KEY, this book is very different from its predecessor, but to me, every bit as enjoyable. In A SECRET KEPT, Tatiana De Rosnay shows her skill at tackling different kinds of fiction with originality and honesty. With a cast of characters I won’t forget and an ending that made me cheer out loud, I highly recommend A SECRET KEPT. I look forward to reading more of Tatiana’s books. -
After having read Sarah's Key and somewhat enjoying the writing as well as the story, I was looking forward to this book. Unfortunately it was quite a disappointment. The story, involving a mysterious love, death, and the aftermath it left on the children involved, had fine concepts to work with. However, the story became bogged down and drawn out into what ultimately became a love story (I think) with middle aged angst with teenage angst thrown in as well.
This story was told by the narrator Antoine, who to me seemed to whine his way through the book and ultimately became a character I disliked. There were the gratuitous sex scenes that seemed to be put in there to enliven a dull read. Unfortunately, they didn't work. I personally do not like a book where a character meets someone and five minutes later is having great sex with them. I prefer my characters to develop a little relationship before they head down that road!
Ultimately, I call this book total fluff. So, if you want to read something that takes no time and no brain to read, I recommend this as a possible novel to fill that need. -
This book is a quick read, but pretty insufferable. Aside from being poorly written - overly descriptive, convoluted perspectives, clunky use of adjectives, etc. - the plot is uneven and uninteresting, and as many reviewers have pointed out, the secret referenced in the title is not worth waiting for. The characters are one-dimentional sketches, and many of the mini plot-twists serve no point, building up to nothing, and are quickly discarded.
Strangely, for the first couple of chapters I kept picturing the narrator, Antoine, as a woman, and I think this is due to the author's inability to get into a male mindset. It almost feels like she wrote a female character, and decided to change her at the last moment to a man. I'm not sure why she didn't make Melanie the narrator and change up the story a bit. I also found the relationship between the narrator and his sister to be kind of creepy - am I the only one?
Antoine's new girlfriend is presented as a savior - someone who swoops in and instantly makes him feel better about his emotional immaturity and his dysfunctional family. But this woman is painted as a one-dimensional, emotionally unavailable, overly-sexed, type-A, biker-chick caricature. Not sure how someone so seemingly shallow is able turn his life around so profoundly.
For most of the book, brother and sister are in this together, sleuthing and uncovering clues about their family's past- and out of nowhere Antoine decides he isn't up for sharing his newest discoveries with Melanie, then he finds out that she somehow already knows everything he knows, and THEN she tells him she doesn't want to know any more, should he find anything. So incongruous!
Having loved "Sarah's Key", I was especially disappointed in this follow-up novel. I hope this author is not a one-hit wonder. -
I was fortunate to be asked to blurb this book. That's always a bit nerve wracking. What if I don't like it? I shouldn't have worried. De Rosnay is such a sure and strong writer and she knows her characters well. Most enjoyable to me was reading a story about deep family relationships written from the point of view of a sympathetic male character. Beautifully done. However, the reader really must try to separate this book in her or his mind from Sarah's Key. They are worlds apart and impossible to compare. Both excellent, but an apple and an orange.
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This is just a okay book for me. It is family drama that is told by a middle-aged man Antoine Rey who's living a dreary life: his wife divorced him, his grown up children starting to rebel against him, his parents are gone and so hoping to bring back the life that he used to know, he invited his only sister Melanie Rey on the occasion of her 40th birthday. The place is on the beach where their family used to go on vacations when they were kids. On the way to the venue, the two met an accident on the road and while in the hospital, Melanie made a decision to reveal her long-kept secret about their mother. I will not divulge about that secret because I don't want to spoil your fun as it is too much of a spoiler.
My problem with this book is that it is too predictable. Also the long narration of Antoine about what is happening with his life is just a bit too dramatic. I mean, I don't know where that comes from. I am also a middle-aged man but I don't spend so much time regretting what I did - mistakes particularly. It is those mistakes that make us who we are and as long as we learn from them, they should not be mistakes anymore. They are life lessons. Also, most of what Antoine laments about are his own doing so I don't feel emphathy towards his character. I'd rather do something about my problems rather than wallow in sadness and despair.
The plot is okay and conflicts are good enough. So, I am giving this book a 2-star rating that in Goodreads means "It's okay!" -
3.5 Mixed feelings about this book in spite of very good writing. Forty-something, recently divorced Antoine Rey surprises his sister Melanie for her 40th birthday and takes her to the seaside resort they visited as children. During their stay, memories of those childhood vacations and their mother, who died when they were young children, surface. Melanie remembers something that really shakes her. Before she has a chance to share the memory with Antoine there's a circumstance that erases the memory.
Antoine is floundering, still in love with his ex-wife, missing his children and daily family life, feeling lonely and unmoored. He is a man who has difficulty getting close and sharing feelings until he meets a very interesting woman, a mortician named Angele. The development of their relationship is one of the strengths of the story. Their are a lot of family secrets and tragedy's along the way. Because we meet the character's through Antoine's point of view, his detachment keeps them at a distance that made it hard to know and care about them. That dimmed the suspense of some of the family secrets for me. -
Audiobook #199
I adored Sarah's Key. I did not adore A Secret Kept. At some point I stopped caring what the secret even was. The main character male was unlikeable to me. Just unappealing I wasn't even excited for him when he finally got laid. He had negative relationships he couldn't get over his divorce whine whine whine -
Hmmm, what to say...On the positive side, I felt it was a realistic portrayal of family dynamics. The story is narrated by Antoine. In his 40's, divorced with two teenagers & a preteen, still pineing over his ex-wife, close to his younger sister and estranged from his father. His mother died when he was 10. A lot of the narrative is about his inability to come to terms with his divorce, his rocky relationship with other family members and the typical problems with raising teenagers. Not the "secret" of the title. So where does that come in?
Antoine takes his sister Melanie to the island of their childhood to celebrate her 40th birthday and recall happier times. As they traipse down memory lane, they both think of the last time they were there with their beloved & beautiful mother (whom Melanie apparently is the spitting image) and wonder why after she died no one spoke of her and all photos & memorabilia disappeared. On the last night of their celebratory weekend, Melanie has a memory that disturbs her. As they drive home, she decides to tell Antoine what she remembered, she is emotional & before she can say it they have a terrible accident. Melanie survives but does not remember what happened. This sends Antoine down the rabbit hole of trying to discover what happened to their mother. Once he discovers the secret, he becomes more obsessed over her death. I'm not sure why. Did he think her death was perhaps foul play? He never says that.
The island of Noirmoutier is accessed on a causeway that becomes submerged by the tides and is a significant feature in the narrative. I know there must be some symbolism in this. Are the characters drowning in their lives, does their journey have them emerge again into life as the Le Gois does at low tide?
I had a hard time connecting with any of the characters & some of the turns the narrative takes the reader. I felt the most unrealistic relationship was the one that Antoine develops with Angele, yet she is the most interesting character in the book. -
I gave it one star because it was an easy read. De Rosnay really doesn't know how to tell a story properly. I really dislike her writing style. Right off the bat I was annoyed because she starts off writing in the first person, then randomly changes to the third person for two chapters, and then back to the first person. Equally annoying she throws a few random love letters in at the start of several chapters, but then stops. This was so distracting and it added nothing to the story.
Overall, I found the whole book was contrived and extremely uneven. De Rosnay kept changing tracks with where she was going. A bunch of seemingly-random and unconnected events happen at the same time, all BIG and tragic. Then nothing happens for a while, then another series of BIG unrelated things happen, then the book ends, (actually that was the highlight for me!). None of the characters were likable, so I did not even care about all these BIG tragic events, I was just glad that it ended. This book needed a good editor! -
I always enjoy a good family mystery/drama and this book was most definitely that. There's something about a family with hidden secrets that intrigues me and just pulls me right in. I also quite enjoyed that it was set in France, I thought it went well with the story and added a little extra. And I absolutely loved Angele's character, she made the book for me! All in all I really enjoyed this story and sped right through it!
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4.0 out of 5 stars A journey of discovery and a tale of a family..., August 14, 2010
By Denise Crawford "DC" (Missouri, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: A Secret Kept (Hardcover)
I really enjoyed this very interesting story about a French family and the unraveling of the "secret" that was at the heart of the mystery in this novel. Although set in modern day France, the narrative has a timeless quality about it as a forty-ish, newly divorced man, Antoine Rey, starts investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of his mother, Clarisse, after his sister Melanie is injured in an automobile accident after suddenly remembering something dramatically suspicious about their mother while the two of them are off on holiday.
While his sister is hospitalized and during her recovery from her injuries, Antoine becomes compelled to find out more about his mother and who she was and how she died since both of her children feel as if they never really knew her and the subject has never been talked about within the family. In the course of his inquiries, he discovers and faces the truth about a mother he loved deeply but lost far too soon.
Antoine is a very complex man who is simultaneously dealing with his love and longing for his ex-wife and their three children-- two of whom are surly and distant teenagers -- and with the sudden urge to finally know more about his mother. He suffers loneliness and self doubt, bored with his career as architect, and morose about his lack of close relationships with his children and his father's family. I found him an interesting character with a lot of depth and sentimentality that led to many moments of self examination and introspection. The other supportive characters were not so well drawn, but did provide the means for Antoine to interact with and to push the narrative along.
I read the novel in one sitting. I don't think the story is so much about the revelation of the secret or even the nature of it, but more about the process of discovery and about the importance of exploring the bonds of family relationships and about knowing each other. Do children really ever know their parents -- and should they know everything? It is human nature to question and to want answers to the age-old question -- "why"...
Recommend. -
This story could have been good if the writing wouldn't have been so unbelievably bad. And if it hadn't expressed so old-fashioned views on sexuality and gender, but I'll get to that.
The way du Rosnay writes makes me feel like she thinks I'm an idiot. Seriously, I can understand how people feel without her telling me all the time. The whole book is full of unnecessary remarks like "I felt sad, because of this and that", stuff that you understood anyway. I just wanted to edit the shit out of this book. And that, my friends, is NOT a good reading experience.
And then there's the way the author describes people. About the lesbian lover she writes "she doesn't look butch". Really? I thought all lesbians were butch, how very chocking that this one isn't! Asshole. Also, the view on manhood expressed on the train when the protagonist goes "I was happy to be a man, because I felt more like groping a stranger's breasts than crying". (I rephrased it a little to make it shorter.) How appalling is that?!
It only gets two stars because I think it could have been a good story if told differently. With all the deaths, plus a mortician, it could have been dark and interesting. As it is, however, it's just really annoying. -
This novel started off great. I even had to return it to the library and checked it back out as soon as I could, so that I could finish it and see what happened.
Sadly I should have just let it go, and let it be one of those books that I remembered I wanted to finish. Antoine and his sister, Melanie visit a hotel by the beach for the her birthday. A hotel they use to visit every summer with their parents before their mother passed away in 1973. On the way home Melanie crashes the car just after she mentions that she remembered a secret from their past.
The next 300 pages are spent with Antonie wondering if he should push the issue with his recovering sister, dealing with his three children who seem to be slipping further and further away from him, his allying distant father, and his ex-wife.
First off, I predicted the "secret" pretty early on. And the revel of the secret is very very VERY ill timed. When Melanie finally remembers what she was trying to tell her brother, it doesn't feel important or to even matter with what is actually happening RIGHT THEN. This was 35 years ago, their mother is dead, does this really matter. Yes I can imagine it would come as a shock, but with the current life Antoine is living it just really doesn't matter.
The author also switches her POV's for no good reason. It doesn't happen very often, but every so often the next chapter will be told in third person instead of from Antoine's perspective.
Also the French words were very distracting for me. I realize that this will not be the same for all readers, especially ones who understand the language, but I found them irritating.
I really liked the authors writing style, but they way the story unfolded was not done well. I wouldn't recommend this novel. -
A Secret Kept bears no relationship to
Sarah's Key, by this author. It is also set in France, where the reader discovers the wonders of the countryside, the power and beauty of the sea and the culture and bustle of the city (mainly Paris).
De Rosnay has skillfully narrated this novel in the voice of a male, successfully capturing his emotions throughout. In addition to facing a mid-life crisis, he has unresolved feelings of loss and love for his failed marriage, his difficult relationships with his adolescent children and many problematic issues with his own parents.Despite his numerous dilemmas, I found him likable and interesting. It was also a pleasure to view his closeness and devotion to his sister.
Throughout the narrative there is the thread of a mystery, which I will not divulge here. Although this is not a heart-pounding thriller, deRosnay was able to sustain interest and seductive suspense for the reader. Her prose and character development were compelling and complex. -
A very good book by this author. Second book I've read by her. This one is a family drama, involving a family secret, of couse. The main characters are a brother and sister who were very young when their mother died and they never knew the circumstances of her death. But the brother figures it out with the help of his girlfriend, Angele, who is my favorite character in the book. Definitely a good read. I recommend.
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2.5 stars rounded up.
The book was very different from Sarah’s Key which I really liked (and I swear I wrote a review for several years ago which has now disappeared??) Although I see many readers have shelved it as Historical Fiction, I would not label this book as Historical Fiction at all. A man and his sister begin to realize there is a secret in their family that has been kept for over 30 years, so they look into the history of their family, but this isn’t a story taking place in history.
I really liked some parts of this story: the exploration of the dad and his difficult children, the connection of a grown brother and sister, the nostalgia of visiting the old family vacation place, trying to figure out what the secret was and how it all pieced together. However, this book has a bunch of sex that was overly descriptive and did not really add to the story. The one-night stands, affairs, and insta-love were too much. Also way too many f-word for me. All of that kind of killed it for me. -
It all started with a simple vocation, when a brother and sister are forever changed by a tragic accident. Antoine Ray thought of the perfect surprise for his sister Melanie's who has a big birthday coming up. Planning on to take her to the sea of Noirmoutier Island where the two grew up with happy childhood memories and many summers staying out in the beach. It has been thirty year since the last time they captured the beauty of the island the bond they shared. During that time, their beloved Mother,Charise dies suddenly. Although they shared many happy memories on the island,Melanie is haunted by a deep secret about her mother, on the ride home to Paris, but before she tells her brother she loses control of the wheel. Now the only thing that is left is her fractured body and her brother's self blame.
Trapped in a a world of guilt, Antoine tries to figure out the secret that Melanie had on their mother, but he must forced to move on with his life, while his sister life hands in the balance. As a divorced father,his kids are devoted to ignoring him and he secretly misses Astrid,his ex that left him for another man. After many one night stands, he founds love when he least expects it but not is able to appreciate it, until his sister recovers. Not to mention his father disdain from him and the shocking secret that he is keeping. Once his sister is back home, she confesses the painful truth about their mother and both of the,must decide whether they are going to leave their past behind or face the future ahead of them.
Suspenseful, enlightening, tragic and unforgettable are the few words to describe this powerful book. The characters were so rich, I felt myself sympathizing with most of them and find myself wanting them to all find true happiness. I never related to so many characters in my entire life, to say I simply loved this book will be a major understatement! -
Татяна дьо Роне определено не е надминала себе си в този роман. "Ключът на Сара" е много по-добър, по-многопластов, по-болезнено истински, докато тук имаме баналната история(с опити за оригиналничене) на аристократичното семейство, което таи тайни под перфектно изработената маска на благоприличието.
Историята на едно семейство без привързаност между членовете, без общуване и комуникация, в което вратите към другия са винаги затворени. Причините за това могат да са много, както е казал прекрасният Лев Толстой: "Всички щастливи семейства си приличат. Всяко нещастно семейство е нещастно по своему.“ Така и тук, семейството има своите подбуди да е такова, каквото е, но това не оправдава последствията. Последствия, твърде сериозни, за да бъдат пренебрегнати.
Белегът, който е оставен върху потомците, тези които градят животите си и се опитват да излязат от сянката на миналото, е неизличим.
Дойде ми твърде преекспонирана темата за тийнейджърството, колко е труден този период, решенията, които трябва да се взимат. Въпреки идеята и посланието, които носеше, беше леко в повече.
Още нещо – каква досада ми причини този главен герой. Може ли един мъж, постоянно да търси упование в силните жени около себе си и да не е в състояние едно свястно решение да вземе сам? Това се подразбира(поради гореспоменатите липси в семейството), но все пак не можеше ли този човек да се развие? До края той си остана дълбоко разчитащ на силната жена до него(дали ще е сестра, съпруга, приятелка – няма значение).
И все пак – книгата ми хареса. Носи своето послание, което никак не е маловажно. Без общуване и комуникация, няма истинска цялост в семейството. -
I really enjoyed this book which dealt with family relationships, family secrets and death of loved ones. It begins with a brother and sister who are obviously close. Their mother died when they were children and their father never again talked of her, all pictures of her seemed to vanish and it is almost as if the family drops all memories of her. It is now 30+ years since her death and Antoine invites his sister to the coastal community where they vacationed with their mother and grandparents as children.
Memories are uncovered throughout the novel which further separate some family members. New friendships and relationships, however, help to heal deeply held feelings of resentment. Told in the voice of Antoine, this book examines his relationship with his father and with his children, his ex-wife, his sister, his new lover and his business associates. And it looks at death from many angles - family members, close family friends and strangers, newly and long deceased as well of close escapes from death. There is even a character who deals with death daily as a mortician. So given all of that, the story could be morbid and depressing, but it is not. Instead, it is fresh and hopeful. -
Fiquei bastante desapontada com este livro, infelizmente. Depois da leitura de Chamava-se Sara, que adorei, estava muito expectante em relação a este Um Segredo bem guardado. É mais um para a série “gostava de ter gostado” e, talvez por isso, o tenha lido até ao fim, sempre à espera de uma aguardada reviravolta que me prendesse às páginas de modo compulsivo, como aconteceu com o livro anterior.
Mas tal não sucedeu e este é mais um exemplo em que o peso das expectativas não permite que se disfrute de uma leitura, assim como o peso de Chamava-se Sara, que foi sempre uma sombra comparativa da qual não me consegui libertar.
É difícil construir um enredo tão arrebatador como o do livro anterior, por todas as condicionantes que o cenário da II Guerra Mundial permite, assim como pela sua envolvência, pelo que é difícil não achar este livro bastante inferior. Apesar da aura de mistério e suspense que a sinopse promete, o “segredo bem guardado” é óbvio desde as primeiras páginas. Confesso que prossegui a leitura esperando que houvesse mais qualquer coisa para revelar, algo bombástico para abanar o livro. Mas não. O que tive à minha espera foi uma sucessão de dramas familiares e pessoais bastante banais.
Além de ter ficado bastante aquém do que prometia, os graves erros de tradução e revisão tornaram, em alguns trechos, a leitura dolorosa.
http://planetamarcia.blogs.sapo.pt/um... -
It fell a little flat - but nothing beats Sarah's Key so far for me.
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Nothing like
Sarah's Key and really not much of a mystery or plot. I don't know if the writer got into the main character's "skin", a woman writing as a man. He was an awfully wimpy guy, had problems w/his teenagers, job, ex-wife, etc. until the lust (well, it wasn't love) of a cool motorcycle chick got him kickstarted back to life. I obviously didn't get all the Parisian references listed, which I don't remember being a problem in Sarah's Key. (copied review) This stunning new novel from Tatiana de Rosnay, author of the acclaimed New York Times bestseller Sarah’s Key, plumbs the depths of complex family relationships and the power of a past secret to change everything in the present. It all began with a simple seaside vacation, a brother and sister recapturing their childhood. Antoine Rey thought he had the perfect surprise for his sister Mélanie’s birthday: a weekend by the sea at Noirmoutier Island, where the pair spent many happy childhood summers playing on the beach. It had been too long, Antoine thought, since they’d returned to the island—over thirty years, since their mother died and the family holidays ceased. But the island’s haunting beauty triggers more than happy memories; it reminds Mélanie of something unexpected and deeply disturbing about their last island summer. When, on the drive home to Paris, she finally summons the courage to reveal what she knows to Antoine, her emotions overcome her and she loses control of the car. Recovering from the accident in a nearby hospital, Mélanie tries to recall what caused her to crash. Antoine encounters an unexpected ally: sexy, streetwise Angèle, a mortician who will teach him new meanings for the words life, love and death. Suddenly, however, the past comes swinging back at both siblings, burdened with a dark truth about their mother, Clarisse. Trapped in the wake of a shocking family secret shrouded by taboo, Antoine must confront his past and also his troubled relationships with his own children. How well does he really know his mother, his children, even himself? Suddenly fragile on all fronts as a son, a husband, a brother and a father, Antoine Rey will learn the truth about his family and himself the hard way. By turns thrilling, seductive and destructive, with a lingering effect that is bittersweet and redeeming, A Secret Kept is the story of a modern family, the invisible ties that hold it together, and the impact it has throughout life. -
"Sarah's Key" was such a good book that I can only hope this mediocre effort is just a sophomore jinx for Tatiana de Rosnay. So many other authors have experienced poor second efforts so this may not be a sign that de Rosnay was a one hit wonder so we will have to wait for her next book before we judge her too harshly.
The main problem with the story is that nothing much happens and the main characters aren't the least bit likable. Antoine, the narrator of the story, is a jerk who moans about his pitiful life as he goes through his mid-life crisis. But everything works out wonderfully as he gets his revenge on his ex-wife and finds a beautiful woman 15 years his junior who wants to have mad, passionate sex with him on an hourly basis. Yep, just like every 45 year old man's life. Even Melanie, the sister who reveals the secret, is not particularly interesting or likable as she decides to hide from knowing what turns out to be a secret barely worth knowing. de Rosnay also does what she did in her first book, killing off a key person who is in on the secret 20 years before the book starts. In fact, she kills off two key characters that were in on the secret. That works in her first book but here it just removes what could have been the first interesting character.
Anyway, don't expect anything near de Rosnay's first book. The book has nothing much to offer and THE SECRET really isn't much of a secret. When the secret is finally revealed it's more of a "that's it?" moment leaving you thinking that there must be more. But there isn't. I can't recommend this book and can only hope that de Rosnay's next effort is better. -
Is that all there is?
Don't get me wrong, de Rosnay's writing was as solid as ever but somewhere the plot of Secret Kept failed. Perhaps the publishers did an injustice in naming the book and leading the reader to believe some big secret would be exposed by reading’s end. Originally named Boomerang in France, this seemed a more fitting title.
Even though I can't rave about Secret Kept and didn't get as involved in the story as Sarah's Key, I'm hoping I can judge it on its own merits. There were things I liked about this book but other things that drove me nuts.
What I liked:
The opening scenes grabbed me and were promising
Learning about the ile de Noirmoutier
The strong relationship of Antoine and Melanie Rey(sister/brother)
The mortician Angele
Supporting characters of mother, Blanche and father,
What drove me crazy:
Not knowing who was who initially as characters were called by their first names
In the end I knew little about a key character, Clarisse, Antoine & Melanie's mother
The secret. I just didn't think it was any big deal.
Antoine’s wife and children and his dealings with them. Too wimpy and whiny in my book.
Melanie’s part in the secret.
That a book with a great premise and good characters went flat and didn’t deliver. -
Although the blurb for the book describes it as a story of a man searching to unravel a long buried family secret, the book in fact is much more about a 40 something man attempting to navigate his life in the midst of a midlife crisis.
Much of the novel revolves around Antonio's struggle to come to terms with his divorce and his wayward adolescent children. It is through the search to understand who his mother was and the details surrounding her death that he begins to understand himself.
The novel does keep up the suspense of finding out about his mother and learning about the deep, dark secrets of an upper class Parisian family, but Antonio's "woe is me" attitude it at times tiring. In addition, sometimes the language seems a bit contrived. However, as the book progresses, Antonio begins to grow on the reader as he himself begins to grow up. A good, quick read with a plot that will keep you entertained, as long as your not expecting a deeply involved mystery book. -
This will be my last Tatiana de Rosnay, thank you very much... *If* i can keep myself from being sucked in like a moth to a flame! I really should have known better after my previous 2* read (which was even worse than this one), especially with a male lead! The way he checks out his sister and focuses on her body and beauty is just gross. Also quite repetitive and would explain things way after they needed to be explained. Oh really, you called your Mom by her first name... Yeah, duh.
She certainly pulled a switcheroo because you think the story is going to focus on the sister's recovery but she is just wallpaper - magically gets physically better, heads home really fast and is able to take care of herself and her emotionally damaged brother without complaint until suddenly she stops but we don't know why.
Well at least her brother found a sexy lady to screw.
Meh.
