Two and half stars. This book was okay. There is an odd sense of urgency and impending doom in Anita Shreve's writing (or maybe it was just in the narrating, as I was listening to the audio book) that I don't quite enjoy or connect with. This story struck me as somewhat disjointed, and overall I just didn't love it. ( )

I think, reviewers, you have got it right. This is worth 3.5 stars. The book is promising as we travel with Patrick and Margaret to Kenya, But for it me, the book had potential and nothing more till the hike was underway, more than 1/3 of the way through the audiobook. I was interested in how Margaret felt during this expedition most of all - being left behind by her fellow hikers, looking for comfort where she could, and so forth. I liked that there was a kind of Conrad-esque sense of menace about the climb, but this was not sustained unfortunately. My impression of Margaret's personality was very much shaped by narrator Anna Stone's tonality: pleasant, somewhat innocent and feminine. ( )

I love Shreve's work. I love how at the end of every book she always leaves the reader slightly unsettled, as if there is more to the story. She refuses to wrap up the ending in a solid "Hollywood-happy" resolution.
Margaret and Patrick are newlyweds; only married for five months and yet I personally found their relationship flat and dispassionate. He, a doctor, travels around Kenya in exchange for research data on equatorial diseases. She, an out of work photographer, hopes to freelance around Nairobi and capture landscapes unfamiliar to her American eye. Together Patrick and Margaret join two other couples in an effort to climb Mount Kenya. Almost immediately, there is an imbalance to their chemistry. Margaret's feminist sensibilities were threatened when she couldn't earn her keep with a job and now she can't keep up with the mountaineering climb. The others continuously leave her behind. Her companions have a much easier go at it. She is further insulted when the men in the group display subtle attitudes of sexism towards her. Arthur repeatedly claims he will take care of her while Wilfred casually refers to the women in the group as "girls." Her climbing partners are snobbish; questioning the Masai tribe that has been around for centuries. All the while Margaret doesn't fit in and stays quiet. She has something to prove but does little to promote her capabilities. Oddly, it is only after tragedy strikes is she then able to find her voice. This tragedy will carry consequences long into the future; long after Margaret finds a photography job with a controversial newspaper; long after Patrick and Margaret have new troubles in their marriage.
I couldn't get a read on Margaret. It was weird, but I found her to be a bit unemotional. She was strangely calm when the couple's only car is stolen or when she is attacked by fire ants. [The fire ant scene made me itch for days.] ( )

This one grabbed me in a way others have not done for a while. I can't say why. Somehow I responded to Margaret's situation and her response to it.

Margaret and Patrick, new married couple, go to Africa. Specifically, to Kenya. Patrick has a chance to study equatorial medicine while Margaret simply wants to see Africa. She quits her photography job in the US to go, and eventually finds herself another one, as freelance photographer for a controversial newspaper in Kenya.

Before she finds this job, however, she and Patrick are living in a little house behind a big one, and the owners of the property invite them to go with them on a climb of Mount Kenya. Patrick is excited about the climb and Margaret, less enthusiastic, goes along. An incident happens on the climb that changes everything, that radiates outward and affects many people.

This is something Shreve does regularly, according to reviewers (I have only read a few other books of hers): create small events that cause cracks that become canyons. I love this because it is so often such small things that send us in different directions.

We follow Margaret as she copes with changes and tries to adjust, to get things back where they were. But is that possible? ( )

I really liked the theme of this book Consequences of being unprepared for a strenuous mountain climb can have tragic consequences and how our thoughts and actions affect each other for good or bad. This is the first book I have read by this author, and I'm looking forward to reading more. ( )