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| Plot Summary of Down By The Water |
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"
HarperCollins, Jul 2001, 25.00, 393 pp.
ISBN: 0060185686
In Long Island Realtor Hope Collins-Calder has enough on her plate selling houses that she has no time to care for her children, the oldest being only eight. She knows she can obtain no help from her first husband, the father of her older two kids because he lives in California and even less assistance from her present spouse Eddie who resides more in Manhattan especially during the week. She hires nannies, but they seem to come and go rather quickly.
Eddie obtains the services of a forty-seven year English spinster with limited experience at best. English expatriate Annabel Quick accepts the job to flee her nightmares of a failed love affair and the death of her mother due to a fire. As Eddie and Hope have extra marital affairs, Annabel begins taking reasonable care of her charges and suitors soon appear. Will Eddie run off with his assistant? Will Hope return to her first husband? Will Annabel find happiness in America? Only one thing seems certain, the English nanny and her three wards make a happy family together.
DOWN BY THE WATER is a well written relationship drama that works because Caroline Upcher never allows the story line to turn into a soap opera or a cartoon style plot. Instead, the author cleverly provides a full perspective on the goings-on in the Calder-Collins household to include that of the critical secondary players. This, in turn, allows the audience to fully understand the desires and worries that motivate the key cast members. Ms. Upcher adroitly furnishes an intelligently graceful tale that will make her a fan favorite.
Harriet Klausner
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Harriet Klausner, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Down By The Water |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Love Triangles/Polygons
Yes
What kind:
- one man-two women
- one woman-two men
Marriage/Married
Yes
Marriage subplot:
- seduction of someone else's wife
- seduction of someone else's husband
Making a living subplot
Yes
Making a living:
- office romance among coworkers
If one lover chases another...
- they alternate
Misperception that
- he/she loves when he/she doesn't
- he/she loves someone else
Family focus?
Yes
Family, loving
Yes
Main Male Character
Profession/status:
- small businessman
How sexual is this person?
- several sexual encounters
How romantic is this person?
- sly seducer
Sex has bad effect on him
Yes
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Very much smarter than other characters
Physique
- average physique
Main Female Character
Age/status:
- 40's-50's
How sexual is this person?
- very picky
How romantic is this person?
- somewhat romantic
effect of sexing
- confused
Sex has bad effect on her
Yes
Sex has good effect on her
Yes
Effect of sexing
- blissful
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- Northeast
Style
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- no torture/death
How much dialog
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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