The Matchmaker
by Elin Hilderbrand
An Elin Hilderbrand novel is a necessary accessory for the summer. I read, sympathized, and completely understood the author’s note included in The Matchmaker, but I still couldn’t make it through the book. It’s extremely sad, and had I known the direction the book would take, I wouldn’t have tried to read it in the first place. Books with dying protagonists are never my cup of tea.
On Nantucket, there’s an exceptional woman who succeeds in everything she sets out to accomplish. The model wife, mother, friend, and pillar of the community, she also is responsible for setting up most of the couples in town. The start of every chapter includes a very sweet anecdote detailing one of her matches. However, she starts getting these mysterious pains; and when she repeatedly ignores these signs without consulting the doctor the reader is supposed to get the message: stop putting others ahead of yourself and check up on your health! But wouldn’t it make more sense, storywise, for her to get her priorities in order, change the way she lives her life, and get well? Her family and friends can rally around her, instead of her always rallying around them, and we can all dab so daintily at our glistening eyes with our handkerchiefs.
This is not that type of book. This is an ‘I’m facing death’ book that primarily focuses on the heroine getting her affairs in order – and she still prioritizes others before herself. I understand why the author took this turn (from reading the author’s note) but this isn’t the beach read we all expect every summer.
On Nantucket, there’s an exceptional woman who succeeds in everything she sets out to accomplish. The model wife, mother, friend, and pillar of the community, she also is responsible for setting up most of the couples in town. The start of every chapter includes a very sweet anecdote detailing one of her matches. However, she starts getting these mysterious pains; and when she repeatedly ignores these signs without consulting the doctor the reader is supposed to get the message: stop putting others ahead of yourself and check up on your health! But wouldn’t it make more sense, storywise, for her to get her priorities in order, change the way she lives her life, and get well? Her family and friends can rally around her, instead of her always rallying around them, and we can all dab so daintily at our glistening eyes with our handkerchiefs.
This is not that type of book. This is an ‘I’m facing death’ book that primarily focuses on the heroine getting her affairs in order – and she still prioritizes others before herself. I understand why the author took this turn (from reading the author’s note) but this isn’t the beach read we all expect every summer.