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Ruoho on aina vihreämpää
Entä jos sittenkin?
Ruoho on aina vihreämpää on Ruth Jonesin tarkkanäköinen hyvän mielen romaani elämän käänteentekevistä taitekohdista, jotka pakottavat pohtimaan rakkauden mahdotonta yhtälöä.
Parikymppinen Kate ajautuu intohimoiseen suhteeseen naimisissa olevan miehen kanssa. Romanssi päättyy katastrofiin, josta toipuminen kestää ikuisuuden. Seitsemäntoista vuotta myöhemmin Katen elämä on kulkenut eteenpäin: hänestä on tullut menestynyt näyttelijä, joka asuu Lontoossa aviomiehensä ja pienen tyttärensä kanssa. Sitten Kate kohtaa nuoruudenrakkautensa uudelleen.
Edessä on ratkaiseva valinta: kulkeako omia polkujaan ja jättää menneet taakse – vai uskaltautuako selvittämään, onko ruoho todella vihreämpää aidan toisella puolen? Elämässä harvoin tarjoutuu toisia mahdollisuuksia. Jos sellaiseen tarttuu, vaikutukset voivat yllättää.
Ruth Jonesin hyvän mielen romaani Ruoho on aina vihreämpää on kipeänsuloinen tarina rakkauden kipinästä, joka ei ota sammuakseen.
Ruoho on aina vihreämpää on Ruth Jonesin tarkkanäköinen hyvän mielen romaani elämän käänteentekevistä taitekohdista, jotka pakottavat pohtimaan rakkauden mahdotonta yhtälöä.
Parikymppinen Kate ajautuu intohimoiseen suhteeseen naimisissa olevan miehen kanssa. Romanssi päättyy katastrofiin, josta toipuminen kestää ikuisuuden. Seitsemäntoista vuotta myöhemmin Katen elämä on kulkenut eteenpäin: hänestä on tullut menestynyt näyttelijä, joka asuu Lontoossa aviomiehensä ja pienen tyttärensä kanssa. Sitten Kate kohtaa nuoruudenrakkautensa uudelleen.
Edessä on ratkaiseva valinta: kulkeako omia polkujaan ja jättää menneet taakse – vai uskaltautuako selvittämään, onko ruoho todella vihreämpää aidan toisella puolen? Elämässä harvoin tarjoutuu toisia mahdollisuuksia. Jos sellaiseen tarttuu, vaikutukset voivat yllättää.
Ruth Jonesin hyvän mielen romaani Ruoho on aina vihreämpää on kipeänsuloinen tarina rakkauden kipinästä, joka ei ota sammuakseen.
512 pages, Paperback
First published April 5, 2018
2063 people are currently reading
8212 people want to read
About the author
Ruth Jones
46 books852 followersJones is a Welsh television actress and writer known for her work on shows such as Gavin & Stacey and Stella.
Note: There are multiple writers with this name.
Note: There are multiple writers with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,589 reviews
May 9, 2025
After all the publicity hype for Ruth Jones’ debut novel I finished this feeling disappointed. The basis is a good story line, which does keep you wanting to know what happens next, but I felt her undeniable skills as a writer would have been far better used creating a TV drama from this plot & not a novel. For me, the book lacked backbone. The characters & their emotions are only skimmed over on the surface & you don’t get a real ‘feel’ for them. This is understandable given that she usually writes for actors who would do that part of the story telling for her. The sex scenes (of which there are sooo many- why??) were pretty funny & not at all believable. I felt they’d been thrown in as an afterthought to try and beef the storyline up. I did quite like the ending though; it was predictable but not overtly cheesy. In fact the last 10 % of the book was stronger than the first 90%. I do struggle to believe this would have been published (particularly with such publicity) if written by an unknown author. Let’s just say it was an ‘OK’ read which was enjoyable in places but there are so many other novelists I would rather be reading. I know it’s had lots of rave reviews. Maybe I’m missing something, but it just didn’t float my boat.
March 31, 2018
Sometimes a book comes along that totally steals my heart away. I become engrossed in the story, the characters begin to take over my life and when I turn that final page, I find myself feeling bereft that I won't be in their company again. Never Greener is one of those books. It's a big fat book filled with writing that is warm, witty and oh so wise.
This is a story of second chances in life. Ruth Jones expertly details just how unexpected a second chance can be as Kate and Callum meet again; seventeen years after the end of a relationship that almost tore both of them apart.
The reader doesn't know everything about the past but is a first-hand witness of the total turmoil that takes place as Kate and Callum reignite their relationship. This author's characterisation is exquisite.
Kate is an actress at the top of her game; she's married to the wonderful Matt and mother to five-year-old Tallulah. Callum is an older guy, a schoolteacher with three grown children, and obviously in love with his wife Belinda. Kate and Callum's lives couldn't be more different, yet when they meet again, all these years later, that spark is still there and despite any attempts to resist, it seems inevitable that the spark will create flames that could destroy so many lives.
I have to admit that Kate's husband Matt and his old friend Hetty were by far my favourite characters and I hurt when Matt hurt and I wanted to cry when he cried. I loved Hetty for her absolute loyalty to him and was desperately sad when even their relationship when awry for a while.
I couldn't and didn't like Kate, even when the author reveals details of her past, I couldn't bring myself to support her. However, this doesn't mean she's not an excellent character - oh, not at all; she's actually wonderfully wicked, spoiled and totally self-centred and perfectly created.
Ruth Jones' writing is so impressive. She captures the everyday lives of her characters, she injects humour and laughter in with the total devastation and sadness, she keeps it incredibly real and believable.
So, is the grass greener on the other side, well I have to urge everyone to buy this, read it and find out how the grass looked for Kate and Callum. It's an absolute stunner of a read, and I just know that this one is going to find a spot in my best reads of the year list.
This is a story of second chances in life. Ruth Jones expertly details just how unexpected a second chance can be as Kate and Callum meet again; seventeen years after the end of a relationship that almost tore both of them apart.
The reader doesn't know everything about the past but is a first-hand witness of the total turmoil that takes place as Kate and Callum reignite their relationship. This author's characterisation is exquisite.
Kate is an actress at the top of her game; she's married to the wonderful Matt and mother to five-year-old Tallulah. Callum is an older guy, a schoolteacher with three grown children, and obviously in love with his wife Belinda. Kate and Callum's lives couldn't be more different, yet when they meet again, all these years later, that spark is still there and despite any attempts to resist, it seems inevitable that the spark will create flames that could destroy so many lives.
I have to admit that Kate's husband Matt and his old friend Hetty were by far my favourite characters and I hurt when Matt hurt and I wanted to cry when he cried. I loved Hetty for her absolute loyalty to him and was desperately sad when even their relationship when awry for a while.
I couldn't and didn't like Kate, even when the author reveals details of her past, I couldn't bring myself to support her. However, this doesn't mean she's not an excellent character - oh, not at all; she's actually wonderfully wicked, spoiled and totally self-centred and perfectly created.
Ruth Jones' writing is so impressive. She captures the everyday lives of her characters, she injects humour and laughter in with the total devastation and sadness, she keeps it incredibly real and believable.
So, is the grass greener on the other side, well I have to urge everyone to buy this, read it and find out how the grass looked for Kate and Callum. It's an absolute stunner of a read, and I just know that this one is going to find a spot in my best reads of the year list.
April 15, 2018
‘Never Greener’ is a 2018 UK women’s fiction novel by television writer, Ruth Jones. Jones wrote the award-winning television series ‘Gavin and Stacey’, in which she played the incorrigible Nessa, and ‘Stella’, in which she played the titular role. ‘Never Greener’ is Jones’s fiction debut, the first of two novels sold off in a 10-way bidding war amongst UK publishers back in 2016.
Right. So. Fair-warning; this novel is going to be a problem for some readers. If there’s one universally problematic ‘trope’ in books – particularly romance, women’s fiction, or “chick lit” generally – that is despised, it’s cheating. There are scores of reviews on Goodreads, for instance, and tags denouncing a work if there’s even a hint of infidelity and designed to give plenty of forewarning to fellow readers. Well – fair warning – there is cheating in ‘Never Greener’. It’s there in the blurb and I am telling you, it happens within the first three pages … in which we first meet Callum MacGregor and Kate Andrews in 1985, when she’s a 22-year-old aspiring actress and he’s a married 39-year-old school teacher with two children, and one on the way. Yup. The hero cheats on his (heavily) pregnant wife within about five hours of meeting the young heroine – when Callum is helping out at his brother’s pub, and Kate comes in to work her first shift of a summer job.
The book leaps between 2002 and 1985 – describing Kate and Callum’s intense love affair when it first began (then ended in heartbreak) and again when it’s rekindled in 2002 after a chance encounter, when Callum is now in his 60s (still happily married to his wife) and Kate is a famous British actress with a husband and five-year-old daughter.
And listen, the cheating wasn’t an issue for me. It’s not a NEVER-EVER trope that I avoid. It’s certainly not the reason I disliked this novel… which was really more just about it being a muddled mess in need of a firmer editorial hand for the writer, whom I admire greatly for her television work, but found severely lacking in the novel-writing stakes.
Let me explain …
On the face of it, this sounds like a novel to slog through of hard-to-like characters making harmful and hurtful decisions. But I was okay with that, going in. After all, Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s brilliant ‘Fleabag’ TV series showed us the bitingly funny and complex humanity behind “toxic” people and their self-destruction. Something of ‘Never Greener’ also reminded me of British drama shows that had explored infidelity thoughtfully, and from many angles. ‘The 7.39’, starring David Morrissey for instance, and a David Tennant episode of ‘True Love’ that’s about a happily married-man bumping into ‘the one that got away’ and getting a brief, second chance with her. Both of these were examples of solid storytelling that didn’t reduce people down to ‘good’ and ‘bad’, but looked at the myriad ways we choose love, and exist within the ramifications of our choices.
And maybe that could have been ‘Never Greener’ too. It was certainly what I wanted. A David Nicholls-esque novel about the very adult mistakes that make us and break us, and that damages other people along the way – told with comedic flair, well-balanced drama and tender heart, from the woman who perfected it in two highly-successful TV series about the wonderfully funny complexity of ordinary people. Heck, Jones even has an endorsement quote from Jojo Moyes who romped this romantic quandary in ‘The Last Letter From Your Lover’! Alas … ‘Never Greener’ is not the novel I thought it’d be. It’s not even a novel I liked very much.
I had such high hopes for this book, and I did come away disappointed … but I don’t think I had unreasonably high expectations. ‘Gavin & Stacey’ was a solid British comedy; ‘Stella’ was a more blue-collar drama, but no less charming. ‘Never Greener’ though reads like someone who is very green when it comes to novel-writing.
For starters –it’s not just Callum and Kate we’re following in this tale. No, there’s Kate’s husband Matt and his best friend Hetty and Callum’s wife Belinda too … And we get *everyone’s* perspective with the omniscient third-person narration. We can even start a chapter following one person’s interiority, but when they make a phone-call to someone else, we’ll then get that person’s side of things too. It’s baffling that these basic fiction foibles weren’t edited and corrected, because they are confusing and quite clearly a TV-writing holdover (especially from Jones’ ensemble-cast writing) that she needed to be rid of.
And the really frustrating thing is that while we follow everyone in narration, that doesn’t actually lead to us learning more about any them. Kate and Callum between them make some pretty radically awful decisions in the spur-of-the-moment, but we only read the action, not the internal reasoning. So one moment Callum is refusing an attempted kiss from Kate, then while she’s on the phone to someone, Callum suddenly has a hand on her leg that’s creeping up her skirt… it’s completely baffling that these moments are communicated in such sparse sentences (actually very similar to the directions of a script?) but never interrogated by the characters themselves, in the moment. It reads very much ‘Slot A into Slot B’.
This also means that unlikeable characters who are unlikeable for their actions remain so. Kate comes across like an absolute psychopath, and Callum reads like a middle-aged cliché. That their relationship is concocted of mostly sexual encounters on the page also erodes our ability to care about them … when they meet, Kate is a 22-year-old aspiring actress and Callum is 39 with three children, a schoolteacher. You’d think they’d have little in common – and because we literally only read about them shagging (or talking about how they’ll rendezvous to shag again) that’s certainly how it comes across (which further lends Callum to the cliché). Because of this they are – frankly – utterly boring. It’s a hollow horniness, if you will – of two dull people who are single-minded only in their own selfish desires for carnality. And it’s not well written sex either. Ruth Jones said in an interview with the Guardian that “the sex scenes were quite a challenge” and I can only think they were too hard, so she never actually wrote them. Because they’re not scenes – but summaries of sexual encounters. And honestly, they read like vague porn descriptions along the lines of “and then they shagged for 36-hours straight!”. Even when Kate and a 60-something Callum rekindle their romance, it’s straight back into the 3-hour long bonk sessions that are terribly erotic and wonderful – really! – we’re told. Callum not flagging at all. Uh-huh.
It’s a tough slog to read this unfolding “romance”, and certainly not a story about the nuance of affection and affairs (Ruth Jones is no Liane Moriarty, or Mhairi McFarlane – for instance – both of whom regularly unearth the murkiness of lust and love). In fact, the entirely of Callum and Kate’s intense sexual chemistry (we’re told) seems to be down to the fact that Kate is really really ridiculously good looking. Just really stunningly gorgeous. And Callum is a fit ex-Rugby man. Again – because we really don’t read them relating to one another as people, just the (summarised) very brilliant sex they’re having, it’s a real stretch to believe their fiery passion …
Another drawback of Ruth Jones never actually developing these characters is that with Kate in particular, it’s clear she’s trying to hint at something deeper and more disturbing going on in her psyche … but without a more realised internal monologue, we’re completely in the dark. Sure, we get some interesting interactions of Kate on set feeling the pressure of always being “on” and aware of people scrutinising her, but it’s a fleeting exploration of what drives this character.
I think part of the overall ‘Never Greener’ problem is … it’s telling the wrong story. Kate and Callum are boring. They’re humping lunatics, frankly (who are having the very good sex) – with no redeemable or credible qualities. The only real character of interest is Callum’s wife, Belinda. A Welsh stalwart, her background is far more interesting (even how she and Callum first met, briefly hints at a more realised heroine than all of what we read in Kate!) and lends itself to an obvious re-emergence arc. Her husband has an affair with a stunningly beautiful actress who she then has to see on the telly in innumerable British dramas and then at the BAFTAs. Frankly, the actress in that scenario is not interesting – the wronged wife is the more natural protagonist for women’s fiction narrative – and given Ruth Jones’s background with ‘Stella’, it’s who I think would have been the more natural conduit for this story from her.
The timeline also jumps around quite a bit. We can go from Callum and Kate having a tryst at a Travelodge, to the next chapter is her back on-set and then she’ll recount how she got home … it flits and flies about, again – almost like Jones is used to on-set locations filling in the context with visual-cues, and not having to map her character’s whereabouts in timeline.
Now, I wondered if I was just being really harsh on this book – because my hopes were up? But then I read this Guardian books review, and I was relieved to find someone else who had the same frustrations; “Jones may have a good novel in her, but even her spark can’t set this soggy material alight.” Ouch. But – accurate.
Fair-warning too – there are no happy-endings here. There’s also no big ‘Fleabag’-esque climax that reveals real emotional and social consequences for the hurt caused prior, nor a sense of moving forward. It just kind of … ends. With a thud. And while the last 60 or so pages do have a better feeling of pace and urgency, it still all amounts to – well – not a lot, really.
I still believe that Ruth Jones has a few good stories to tell, that’ll come across in novel-form. But I think her publisher and editor need to help rid her of the lazy ways she seems stuck in TV-mode, to the detriment of these fiction attempts. Her star alone can’t carry a bad story, awkwardly told.
Right. So. Fair-warning; this novel is going to be a problem for some readers. If there’s one universally problematic ‘trope’ in books – particularly romance, women’s fiction, or “chick lit” generally – that is despised, it’s cheating. There are scores of reviews on Goodreads, for instance, and tags denouncing a work if there’s even a hint of infidelity and designed to give plenty of forewarning to fellow readers. Well – fair warning – there is cheating in ‘Never Greener’. It’s there in the blurb and I am telling you, it happens within the first three pages … in which we first meet Callum MacGregor and Kate Andrews in 1985, when she’s a 22-year-old aspiring actress and he’s a married 39-year-old school teacher with two children, and one on the way. Yup. The hero cheats on his (heavily) pregnant wife within about five hours of meeting the young heroine – when Callum is helping out at his brother’s pub, and Kate comes in to work her first shift of a summer job.
The book leaps between 2002 and 1985 – describing Kate and Callum’s intense love affair when it first began (then ended in heartbreak) and again when it’s rekindled in 2002 after a chance encounter, when Callum is now in his 60s (still happily married to his wife) and Kate is a famous British actress with a husband and five-year-old daughter.
And listen, the cheating wasn’t an issue for me. It’s not a NEVER-EVER trope that I avoid. It’s certainly not the reason I disliked this novel… which was really more just about it being a muddled mess in need of a firmer editorial hand for the writer, whom I admire greatly for her television work, but found severely lacking in the novel-writing stakes.
Let me explain …
On the face of it, this sounds like a novel to slog through of hard-to-like characters making harmful and hurtful decisions. But I was okay with that, going in. After all, Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s brilliant ‘Fleabag’ TV series showed us the bitingly funny and complex humanity behind “toxic” people and their self-destruction. Something of ‘Never Greener’ also reminded me of British drama shows that had explored infidelity thoughtfully, and from many angles. ‘The 7.39’, starring David Morrissey for instance, and a David Tennant episode of ‘True Love’ that’s about a happily married-man bumping into ‘the one that got away’ and getting a brief, second chance with her. Both of these were examples of solid storytelling that didn’t reduce people down to ‘good’ and ‘bad’, but looked at the myriad ways we choose love, and exist within the ramifications of our choices.
And maybe that could have been ‘Never Greener’ too. It was certainly what I wanted. A David Nicholls-esque novel about the very adult mistakes that make us and break us, and that damages other people along the way – told with comedic flair, well-balanced drama and tender heart, from the woman who perfected it in two highly-successful TV series about the wonderfully funny complexity of ordinary people. Heck, Jones even has an endorsement quote from Jojo Moyes who romped this romantic quandary in ‘The Last Letter From Your Lover’! Alas … ‘Never Greener’ is not the novel I thought it’d be. It’s not even a novel I liked very much.
I had such high hopes for this book, and I did come away disappointed … but I don’t think I had unreasonably high expectations. ‘Gavin & Stacey’ was a solid British comedy; ‘Stella’ was a more blue-collar drama, but no less charming. ‘Never Greener’ though reads like someone who is very green when it comes to novel-writing.
For starters –it’s not just Callum and Kate we’re following in this tale. No, there’s Kate’s husband Matt and his best friend Hetty and Callum’s wife Belinda too … And we get *everyone’s* perspective with the omniscient third-person narration. We can even start a chapter following one person’s interiority, but when they make a phone-call to someone else, we’ll then get that person’s side of things too. It’s baffling that these basic fiction foibles weren’t edited and corrected, because they are confusing and quite clearly a TV-writing holdover (especially from Jones’ ensemble-cast writing) that she needed to be rid of.
And the really frustrating thing is that while we follow everyone in narration, that doesn’t actually lead to us learning more about any them. Kate and Callum between them make some pretty radically awful decisions in the spur-of-the-moment, but we only read the action, not the internal reasoning. So one moment Callum is refusing an attempted kiss from Kate, then while she’s on the phone to someone, Callum suddenly has a hand on her leg that’s creeping up her skirt… it’s completely baffling that these moments are communicated in such sparse sentences (actually very similar to the directions of a script?) but never interrogated by the characters themselves, in the moment. It reads very much ‘Slot A into Slot B’.
This also means that unlikeable characters who are unlikeable for their actions remain so. Kate comes across like an absolute psychopath, and Callum reads like a middle-aged cliché. That their relationship is concocted of mostly sexual encounters on the page also erodes our ability to care about them … when they meet, Kate is a 22-year-old aspiring actress and Callum is 39 with three children, a schoolteacher. You’d think they’d have little in common – and because we literally only read about them shagging (or talking about how they’ll rendezvous to shag again) that’s certainly how it comes across (which further lends Callum to the cliché). Because of this they are – frankly – utterly boring. It’s a hollow horniness, if you will – of two dull people who are single-minded only in their own selfish desires for carnality. And it’s not well written sex either. Ruth Jones said in an interview with the Guardian that “the sex scenes were quite a challenge” and I can only think they were too hard, so she never actually wrote them. Because they’re not scenes – but summaries of sexual encounters. And honestly, they read like vague porn descriptions along the lines of “and then they shagged for 36-hours straight!”. Even when Kate and a 60-something Callum rekindle their romance, it’s straight back into the 3-hour long bonk sessions that are terribly erotic and wonderful – really! – we’re told. Callum not flagging at all. Uh-huh.
It’s a tough slog to read this unfolding “romance”, and certainly not a story about the nuance of affection and affairs (Ruth Jones is no Liane Moriarty, or Mhairi McFarlane – for instance – both of whom regularly unearth the murkiness of lust and love). In fact, the entirely of Callum and Kate’s intense sexual chemistry (we’re told) seems to be down to the fact that Kate is really really ridiculously good looking. Just really stunningly gorgeous. And Callum is a fit ex-Rugby man. Again – because we really don’t read them relating to one another as people, just the (summarised) very brilliant sex they’re having, it’s a real stretch to believe their fiery passion …
Another drawback of Ruth Jones never actually developing these characters is that with Kate in particular, it’s clear she’s trying to hint at something deeper and more disturbing going on in her psyche … but without a more realised internal monologue, we’re completely in the dark. Sure, we get some interesting interactions of Kate on set feeling the pressure of always being “on” and aware of people scrutinising her, but it’s a fleeting exploration of what drives this character.
I think part of the overall ‘Never Greener’ problem is … it’s telling the wrong story. Kate and Callum are boring. They’re humping lunatics, frankly (who are having the very good sex) – with no redeemable or credible qualities. The only real character of interest is Callum’s wife, Belinda. A Welsh stalwart, her background is far more interesting (even how she and Callum first met, briefly hints at a more realised heroine than all of what we read in Kate!) and lends itself to an obvious re-emergence arc. Her husband has an affair with a stunningly beautiful actress who she then has to see on the telly in innumerable British dramas and then at the BAFTAs. Frankly, the actress in that scenario is not interesting – the wronged wife is the more natural protagonist for women’s fiction narrative – and given Ruth Jones’s background with ‘Stella’, it’s who I think would have been the more natural conduit for this story from her.
The timeline also jumps around quite a bit. We can go from Callum and Kate having a tryst at a Travelodge, to the next chapter is her back on-set and then she’ll recount how she got home … it flits and flies about, again – almost like Jones is used to on-set locations filling in the context with visual-cues, and not having to map her character’s whereabouts in timeline.
Now, I wondered if I was just being really harsh on this book – because my hopes were up? But then I read this Guardian books review, and I was relieved to find someone else who had the same frustrations; “Jones may have a good novel in her, but even her spark can’t set this soggy material alight.” Ouch. But – accurate.
Fair-warning too – there are no happy-endings here. There’s also no big ‘Fleabag’-esque climax that reveals real emotional and social consequences for the hurt caused prior, nor a sense of moving forward. It just kind of … ends. With a thud. And while the last 60 or so pages do have a better feeling of pace and urgency, it still all amounts to – well – not a lot, really.
I still believe that Ruth Jones has a few good stories to tell, that’ll come across in novel-form. But I think her publisher and editor need to help rid her of the lazy ways she seems stuck in TV-mode, to the detriment of these fiction attempts. Her star alone can’t carry a bad story, awkwardly told.
May 7, 2021
Puh, schwer auszuhalten was die Protagonisten sich zumuten gegenseitig. Anders als erwartet und mit Sogwirkung. Insgesamt hat mich die Geschichte etwas runter gezogen, aber ich hatte auch meine Lieblinge, Matt und Hattie waren großartig! Selten hat ein Buch in mir so polarisiert, so sehr zwei Seiten zum Schwingen gebracht.
April 16, 2018
I'm so conflicted with this, on one hand I sped through it wanting to find out more but on the other hand I really didn't like Kate or Callum and am struggling to understand their reasons for acting so badly.
It felt like we only got glimpses of insight, Kate is definitely carrying a great deal of darkness but why? The most interesting character is Belinda and I almost feel that this story would have been better told from her personal perspective, but that has been done before.
An interesting debut and I'd definitely pick up her next one.
It felt like we only got glimpses of insight, Kate is definitely carrying a great deal of darkness but why? The most interesting character is Belinda and I almost feel that this story would have been better told from her personal perspective, but that has been done before.
An interesting debut and I'd definitely pick up her next one.
October 29, 2018
Needed something a little lighter after a few heavy serial killer books and this hit the spot.
March 27, 2020
I decided to read this novel after enjoying her second novel 'Us Three'. This is her debut novel Never Greener and tells the story of two marriages. One couple who are enjoying married life and the other one less so mixed with an old affair that is rekindled and threatens to rip them apart.
This book is very well written and the characters are exceptionally strong, making them easy to love, hate and maybe even relate to.
Callum is married to Belinda and they have two children with another on the way. Everything seems to be going well now after surviving an affair twenty years ago when he cheated on Belinda with aspiring actress Kate, just hours after meeting her. It's an affair that threatened to end their marriage and hurt so many people. So when seventeen years later Callum and Kate meet by chance, marriages and lives are threatened again. On reuniting they both find it impossible to stay away from each other and the troubles begin.
The story is told by leaping backward and forward in time and the details of Kate and Callum's lives are told together with their partners. Great story telling and excellent character's that are brought to life by the writing of Ruth Jones.
This book is very well written and the characters are exceptionally strong, making them easy to love, hate and maybe even relate to.
Callum is married to Belinda and they have two children with another on the way. Everything seems to be going well now after surviving an affair twenty years ago when he cheated on Belinda with aspiring actress Kate, just hours after meeting her. It's an affair that threatened to end their marriage and hurt so many people. So when seventeen years later Callum and Kate meet by chance, marriages and lives are threatened again. On reuniting they both find it impossible to stay away from each other and the troubles begin.
The story is told by leaping backward and forward in time and the details of Kate and Callum's lives are told together with their partners. Great story telling and excellent character's that are brought to life by the writing of Ruth Jones.
May 16, 2018
2/5 stars.
Nothing groundbreaking - definitely engaging if you enjoy the subject matter (see here: affairs) but I don't think I really understood what this novel was going to be. Just not for me.
Nothing groundbreaking - definitely engaging if you enjoy the subject matter (see here: affairs) but I don't think I really understood what this novel was going to be. Just not for me.
September 23, 2021
Eieiei, da hat die Autorin ja mal ein heikles Thema angepackt. Frei nach dem Motto "Geschichten, die das Leben so spielt" und über die man eigentlich das Tabu-Deckchen legt. Besonders gut hat mir gefallen, dass keinem der Charaktere eine Ich-Perspektive verpasst wurde, sodass man allen gleichwegs neutral gegenüberstehen kann. Ich fand's lesenswert.
March 13, 2018
I had complicated feelings about this book, because I really didn't like either Kate or Callum, which made me question whether I wanted to continue to read it. I suspect this is a testament to the quality of Jones' ability to write realistic characters, which she does incredibly well. Ultimately the lives depicted here were too messy and sad for my tastes, but there's no denying Jones knows people.
March 15, 2021
Maybe 3.5. I enjoyed the writing and the plot a lot, and though I can't say I liked the characters, they were all well drawn!
April 10, 2018
It has been seventeen years since Kate and Callum last saw one another. Then, she was a young woman with a dream of becoming a famous actress and he was a husband to a loving wife and father to two kids with a baby on the way. They started a passionate affair which eventually stampeded a path of distraction through everything. Both bearing broken hearts, they sculpted new lives from the wreckage and now they are new people. Or so it would seem. Kate is a successful actress, loving wife and mother and Callum is a teacher, happily watching his kids grow up with wife Belinda. When Kate is invited up to Edinburgh to visit her old school, she and Callum are thrown back together and this time they must decide whether to once again go their separate ways or recapture what they had all those years ago.
I fell completely in love with this book from the very first page. The characters of Kate, Callum, Matt and (especially) Hetty will stick in your mind far past the final page. They’re flawed but I think this is what makes them so relatable. No one is perfect, Kate and Callum certainly aren’t, they are just human, and Ruth Jones’ moving portrait of life and the way these two characters find their way is extraordinary. I think I have to quickly mention a bit more about my absolute favourite character, Hetty. She is just the sweetest, funniest, most loyal friend. I loved her to bits. Every book should have a Hetty 😉
Fuelled by tension, passion, love, sadness and happiness, this book marries some quite heavy themes such as depression, loss, heartbreak and infidelity with fantastic humour and a joyous voice. The last chapter broke my heart and I know I’m going to miss these characters so much. Ruth Jones has written such a wonderful, wonderful book.
Suffused with a warmth, wit and wisdom that will steal into your heart and fill you with myriad emotions, Never Greener is a gorgeously written book from an immensely talented author about making mistakes, redemption, second chances and sometimes realising that the grass is greener right where you are.
Moving. Humorous. Brilliant.
I fell completely in love with this book from the very first page. The characters of Kate, Callum, Matt and (especially) Hetty will stick in your mind far past the final page. They’re flawed but I think this is what makes them so relatable. No one is perfect, Kate and Callum certainly aren’t, they are just human, and Ruth Jones’ moving portrait of life and the way these two characters find their way is extraordinary. I think I have to quickly mention a bit more about my absolute favourite character, Hetty. She is just the sweetest, funniest, most loyal friend. I loved her to bits. Every book should have a Hetty 😉
Fuelled by tension, passion, love, sadness and happiness, this book marries some quite heavy themes such as depression, loss, heartbreak and infidelity with fantastic humour and a joyous voice. The last chapter broke my heart and I know I’m going to miss these characters so much. Ruth Jones has written such a wonderful, wonderful book.
Suffused with a warmth, wit and wisdom that will steal into your heart and fill you with myriad emotions, Never Greener is a gorgeously written book from an immensely talented author about making mistakes, redemption, second chances and sometimes realising that the grass is greener right where you are.
Moving. Humorous. Brilliant.
May 26, 2019
Callum ha una relazione extraconiugale con Kate, interrotta solo quando viene scoperto da sua moglie Belinda. Ma, dopo 17 anni, imperterriti, i due si ritrovano e ridiventano amanti. Il tempo intercorso tra le due relazioni, viene svelato capitolo dopo capitolo, in modo da meglio capire le dinamiche, gli avvenimenti, le scelte fatte dai protagonisti che, nonostante tutto, non si sono mai dimenticati. Kate è la rovina famiglia, l' amante, talmente egoista da mettere in secondo piano il benessere di sua figlia pur di riavere il suo vecchio amore. Matt è il marito, un uomo buono, padre affettuoso e amorevole. Belinda è la moglie tradita, che ha molto sofferto per il rifiuto del marito, ma l'ho apprezzata per le sue ferme decisioni e la forza mostrata. Callum l'ho odiato. Ha distrutto la sua famiglia, suo moglie e i suoi figli, portandoli alla condizione di non volerlo più rivedere. Particolarmente struggente sono stati l incontro, dopo che è andato via di casa, con suo figlio, e il dolore della piccola Tallulah quando Matt ha scoperto il tradimento e, distrutto, è ripartito da solo
L'autrice è stata brava a far vivere le emozioni dei protagonisti e a creare un epilogo non scontato..
Hetty è un personaggio secondario davvero esilarante, i suoi siparietti hanno smorzato la tensione durante la lettura, mi fa fatto sorridere per davvero .
L'autrice è stata brava a far vivere le emozioni dei protagonisti e a creare un epilogo non scontato..
Hetty è un personaggio secondario davvero esilarante, i suoi siparietti hanno smorzato la tensione durante la lettura, mi fa fatto sorridere per davvero .
September 14, 2022
Never have I been more frustrated and enraged by the actions of book characters than the stupid decisions taken by the people in this book.
March 28, 2022
***********************************SPOILERS*************************************
I've read this one now twice and I'm going into it a third time. Thank you, Miri, for a solid rec. I do get some of the criticism of other readers stating that the author is a screen writer, thus relies on her actors to convey emotion and depth. Still, I'm drawn to this book and as I read again, am able to project my own emotion into it. I hope to be able to join the discussion, but so far it's been a great book to lose myself in. Sadness has been my overall feeling with the book. Sadness for the loss of a family, sadness for the loss of a great marriage during the time when marriage is most needed, old age. Triggers: cheating, mental illness, alcohol dependence, discussion of abortion, stupidity on a grand scale. That last one is not a trigger, per se, but it triggers me ~ big time. Looking forward to reading through JP and Miri's thoughts. I wouldn't call this romance, more chick it. ~~ Amazon, .99 cents.
I've read this one now twice and I'm going into it a third time. Thank you, Miri, for a solid rec. I do get some of the criticism of other readers stating that the author is a screen writer, thus relies on her actors to convey emotion and depth. Still, I'm drawn to this book and as I read again, am able to project my own emotion into it. I hope to be able to join the discussion, but so far it's been a great book to lose myself in. Sadness has been my overall feeling with the book. Sadness for the loss of a family, sadness for the loss of a great marriage during the time when marriage is most needed, old age. Triggers: cheating, mental illness, alcohol dependence, discussion of abortion, stupidity on a grand scale. That last one is not a trigger, per se, but it triggers me ~ big time. Looking forward to reading through JP and Miri's thoughts. I wouldn't call this romance, more chick it. ~~ Amazon, .99 cents.
February 12, 2019
RECENSIONE QUI: https://thereadingslove.blogspot.com/...
All’improvviso arriva quel libro che riesce a rubarti il cuore sin dalla prima pagina, una di quelle storie intense e coinvolgenti dove i protagonisti cominciano a prendere sopravvento e una volta arrivata all’ultima pagina, vorresti che la storia non finisse più. Ancora noi è uno di quei libri che rientrano in questa categoria dove si intrecciano il romanticismo, il divertimento e l’amore sofferto. È una storia sugli errori commessi, sulla redenzione e soprattutto sulle seconde possibilità della vita quando l’amore arriva inaspettato e capovolge ogni certezza. Il lettore non sa tutto del loro passato ma lentamente viene svelato ogni tassello. Sono passati diciassette anni da quando Kate e Callum si sono visti per l’ultima volta e si sono lasciati con il cuore spezzato. Ora, entrambi sono persone diverse con vite diverse o così sembrerebbe. Conosciamo la protagonista Kate, un’attrice di successo al vertice della sua carriera, un’amorevole moglie e madre, ma soprattutto una donna eccentrica e viziata e perfettamente caratterizzata. Callum invece è un insegnante, è sposato e ha una famiglia felice e custodisce segreti sepolti nel passato che dovrebbero rimanere nascosti. Le vite di Callum e Kate non potrebbero essere più diverse, eppure quando si incontrano nuovamente dopo tutti quegli anni, la scintilla e l’attrazione sono ancora lì e nonostante i loro tentativi di resistere, sembra inevitabile che l’inferno che ne verrà fuori, potrebbe consumare tutto e tutti. Mi sono completamente innamorata di questo libro, delle emozioni che è stato in grado di regalarmi e di tutti i personaggi caratterizzati perfettamente e resi reali. Nessuno di loro è perfetto, Kate e Callum certamente non lo sono, sono solo umani, e il ritratto della loro vita e il modo in cui questi due personaggi trovano la loro strada, è straordinario. Devo ammettere che il marito di Kate e la sua amica Hetty sono alcuni dei miei personaggi secondari preferiti. Ho sofferto quando Matt ha sofferto e ha pianto, ho amato Hetty per la sua assoluta lealtà nei confronti di Kate, sa essere l’amica più dolce, divertente e sincera. L’ho amata quando è andata in pezzi e penso che ogni libro dovrebbe avere una sua Hetty. Nel libro ci sono momenti romantici e momenti divertenti che vi lasceranno col fiato in sospeso e vi faranno porre domande. Alimentato da tensione, passione, amore, tristezza e felicità, questo libro sposa temi piuttosto duri come la depressione, la perdita, l’infedeltà e la disperazione intrecciati ad un perfetto umorismo che rende ancora migliore la storia. Ruth Jones non è solo una grande attrice ma anche una scrittrice fantastica…
CONTINUA SUL NOSTRO BLOG. VENITE A TROVARCI
https://thereadingslove.blogspot.com/
All’improvviso arriva quel libro che riesce a rubarti il cuore sin dalla prima pagina, una di quelle storie intense e coinvolgenti dove i protagonisti cominciano a prendere sopravvento e una volta arrivata all’ultima pagina, vorresti che la storia non finisse più. Ancora noi è uno di quei libri che rientrano in questa categoria dove si intrecciano il romanticismo, il divertimento e l’amore sofferto. È una storia sugli errori commessi, sulla redenzione e soprattutto sulle seconde possibilità della vita quando l’amore arriva inaspettato e capovolge ogni certezza. Il lettore non sa tutto del loro passato ma lentamente viene svelato ogni tassello. Sono passati diciassette anni da quando Kate e Callum si sono visti per l’ultima volta e si sono lasciati con il cuore spezzato. Ora, entrambi sono persone diverse con vite diverse o così sembrerebbe. Conosciamo la protagonista Kate, un’attrice di successo al vertice della sua carriera, un’amorevole moglie e madre, ma soprattutto una donna eccentrica e viziata e perfettamente caratterizzata. Callum invece è un insegnante, è sposato e ha una famiglia felice e custodisce segreti sepolti nel passato che dovrebbero rimanere nascosti. Le vite di Callum e Kate non potrebbero essere più diverse, eppure quando si incontrano nuovamente dopo tutti quegli anni, la scintilla e l’attrazione sono ancora lì e nonostante i loro tentativi di resistere, sembra inevitabile che l’inferno che ne verrà fuori, potrebbe consumare tutto e tutti. Mi sono completamente innamorata di questo libro, delle emozioni che è stato in grado di regalarmi e di tutti i personaggi caratterizzati perfettamente e resi reali. Nessuno di loro è perfetto, Kate e Callum certamente non lo sono, sono solo umani, e il ritratto della loro vita e il modo in cui questi due personaggi trovano la loro strada, è straordinario. Devo ammettere che il marito di Kate e la sua amica Hetty sono alcuni dei miei personaggi secondari preferiti. Ho sofferto quando Matt ha sofferto e ha pianto, ho amato Hetty per la sua assoluta lealtà nei confronti di Kate, sa essere l’amica più dolce, divertente e sincera. L’ho amata quando è andata in pezzi e penso che ogni libro dovrebbe avere una sua Hetty. Nel libro ci sono momenti romantici e momenti divertenti che vi lasceranno col fiato in sospeso e vi faranno porre domande. Alimentato da tensione, passione, amore, tristezza e felicità, questo libro sposa temi piuttosto duri come la depressione, la perdita, l’infedeltà e la disperazione intrecciati ad un perfetto umorismo che rende ancora migliore la storia. Ruth Jones non è solo una grande attrice ma anche una scrittrice fantastica…
CONTINUA SUL NOSTRO BLOG. VENITE A TROVARCI
https://thereadingslove.blogspot.com/
April 22, 2018
I think because I love Ruth Jones screen writing so much I expected so much more from this book. It was okay, but I felt it was very "surface" with the potential to go much further and the characters were not very deep. A shame, it could have been great but fell short of the mark for me.
January 24, 2022
I am honestly struggling to remember if I've ever read another book in which I disliked the main character so much.
This is the story of (the aforementioned) Kate and Callum. They met in his his late 30s, her early 20s and had an affair behind his wife's back. It eventually ended, but 17 years later, now both married, Kate and Callum get their second chance.
And if most happy stories are based on finding reality better than a dream, this is not a happy story. At least theirs is not.
And Kate is such a despicable human being. I've come to terms that she decided at some point to cheat her husband, but to gloat on that... yuck! Too much! She was such a caricature of a human being.
Great story though, good writing, sort-of-unexpected ending. All in all, an excellent reading experience.
This is the story of (the aforementioned) Kate and Callum. They met in his his late 30s, her early 20s and had an affair behind his wife's back. It eventually ended, but 17 years later, now both married, Kate and Callum get their second chance.
And if most happy stories are based on finding reality better than a dream, this is not a happy story. At least theirs is not.
And Kate is such a despicable human being. I've come to terms that she decided at some point to cheat her husband, but to gloat on that... yuck! Too much! She was such a caricature of a human being.
Great story though, good writing, sort-of-unexpected ending. All in all, an excellent reading experience.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 18, 2023
Bought it because it was Ruth Jones…won’t make that mistake again. Probably should have read the blurb as books with cheating as their main storyline don’t sit well with me. Awful, selfish main characters with no redeeming qualities = lots of eye rolling! On my copy, Jojo Moyes said “I felt for every character” really Jojo, really? I hope what you felt was disgust because you didn’t specify. So, that and a mixed up timeline and confusing narration - don’t bother.
May 24, 2020
Thoughts to follow
April 7, 2018
Such a brilliant book, just as I knew it would be ! 10/10 :)
June 19, 2018
Gosh this is going to be a difficult book to review. I’m going to start by saying that I did enjoy Never Greener, the debut novel by actress Ruth Jones but I didn’t love it and I am unsure whether it was the fact I was reading it as an audiobook (is that right? Am I reading it if I am listening to it?!) but I struggled with it a little in places.
Never Greener is about Kate and Callum who meet when she starts to work in his brother’s bar. They are instantly attracted to one another and embark on a passionate relationship. Two problems though, there is a hefty age gap between them and Callum is married with two children and has a third on the way. Their affair takes place in the mid 80s and when it implodes Kate leaves the area and becomes a succesful actress. Fast forward to 2002 and she returns to her childhood primary school as a special guest for its centenary, bumping into Callum whilst she is there and they discover that the spark is well and truly still alive.
My struggles with the book were mainly with the way Kate is written as a contemptible person whilst Callum is quite likeable. Kate is in her early 20s when their affair begins and Callum is in his late 30s yet she is seen as a seductive temptress and Callum is just a hapless man who cannot resist her charms. I got annoyed with myself for liking Callum when he was as much to blame for their affair (it takes two to Tango after all). I am unsure whether this was intentional by Ruth Jones and whether she is holding up a mirror on the portrayal of women in this sort of situation but if she was it wasn’t immediately obvious to me.
Saying that though, Ruth Jones really can write people and she writes them incredibly well. Kate is brittle, fake, toxic and a huge contrast to her kind, loving, compassionate husband Matt (who I really liked). Callum and his wife Belinda are both brilliantly written and the insights into relationships of both couples are drawn with an expert eye and deft touch. It is also laugh out loud funny in places with clever observations of emotions and the complications of life.
This isn’t a book that romanticizes infidelity by any means – it really is warts and all, and examines the effect of an affair not only on those involved but on those on the periphery. It is difficult and upsetting for all concerned and wasn’t an easy read/listen at times especially as Ruth Jones highlights the selfish nature of affairs and the almost disdainful way in which those having the affair treat the people they have hurt. My heart broke for both Matt and Belinda – their sadness is palpable.
There is a huge cast of characters whose viewpoints are examined which did make the book drag a little and I felt the book lost its momentum slightly at times (I wondered if I felt this way because it was an audiobook and pacing is so important when listening rather than reading.) I do like a book with multiple viewpoints though and felt that it really added to getting under the skin of the characters and the impact of the affair upon them.
I know this review sounds like I hated the book but I really, really didn’t! I found some parts of it uncomfortable and felt it dragged slightly at times but overall it is a solid read. I would recommend it as beach read as you really can lost in it – the amount of times I sat outside work to listen to the end of a chapter was unreal (I’ll soon find out if my boss reads my blog won’t I?!) and it is entertaining with vividly drawn characters.
Never Greener is about Kate and Callum who meet when she starts to work in his brother’s bar. They are instantly attracted to one another and embark on a passionate relationship. Two problems though, there is a hefty age gap between them and Callum is married with two children and has a third on the way. Their affair takes place in the mid 80s and when it implodes Kate leaves the area and becomes a succesful actress. Fast forward to 2002 and she returns to her childhood primary school as a special guest for its centenary, bumping into Callum whilst she is there and they discover that the spark is well and truly still alive.
My struggles with the book were mainly with the way Kate is written as a contemptible person whilst Callum is quite likeable. Kate is in her early 20s when their affair begins and Callum is in his late 30s yet she is seen as a seductive temptress and Callum is just a hapless man who cannot resist her charms. I got annoyed with myself for liking Callum when he was as much to blame for their affair (it takes two to Tango after all). I am unsure whether this was intentional by Ruth Jones and whether she is holding up a mirror on the portrayal of women in this sort of situation but if she was it wasn’t immediately obvious to me.
Saying that though, Ruth Jones really can write people and she writes them incredibly well. Kate is brittle, fake, toxic and a huge contrast to her kind, loving, compassionate husband Matt (who I really liked). Callum and his wife Belinda are both brilliantly written and the insights into relationships of both couples are drawn with an expert eye and deft touch. It is also laugh out loud funny in places with clever observations of emotions and the complications of life.
This isn’t a book that romanticizes infidelity by any means – it really is warts and all, and examines the effect of an affair not only on those involved but on those on the periphery. It is difficult and upsetting for all concerned and wasn’t an easy read/listen at times especially as Ruth Jones highlights the selfish nature of affairs and the almost disdainful way in which those having the affair treat the people they have hurt. My heart broke for both Matt and Belinda – their sadness is palpable.
There is a huge cast of characters whose viewpoints are examined which did make the book drag a little and I felt the book lost its momentum slightly at times (I wondered if I felt this way because it was an audiobook and pacing is so important when listening rather than reading.) I do like a book with multiple viewpoints though and felt that it really added to getting under the skin of the characters and the impact of the affair upon them.
I know this review sounds like I hated the book but I really, really didn’t! I found some parts of it uncomfortable and felt it dragged slightly at times but overall it is a solid read. I would recommend it as beach read as you really can lost in it – the amount of times I sat outside work to listen to the end of a chapter was unreal (I’ll soon find out if my boss reads my blog won’t I?!) and it is entertaining with vividly drawn characters.
January 7, 2020
I just... didn’t really like it. I didn’t like the main character at all. Which would have been fine if I could at least understand her behaviour and choices but I feel like I never really got to know her. Which is weird considering the lenght of the story. The storyline was predictable and overall I just felt disappointed.
January 24, 2021
Enjoyed it overall, especially towards the end where it picked up a lot of pace and the ending was satisfying. Would make a good holiday read. Only giving 3 stars because the references to the English schooling system when part of it was set in Scotland (i.e Talk about GCSEs and other things) really annoyed me.
April 14, 2025
*Expectations*
**3.5 Stars**
Ruth Jones’ debut novel is a heartfelt tale of love, heartbreak, and redemption. Although I had enjoyed her book ‘Us Three’, I decided to give this one a try. Unfortunately, ‘Us Three’ was a better fit for me.
The story is set primarily in Edinburgh and follows Kate, who met Callum 17 years ago. He was married, and they were obsessed with each other. However, their relationship ended in heartbreak, and Kate was left heartbroken.
Callum moved on with his life, kept his marriage, and continued his life with his wife. For Kate, Callum remained her one and only, and she never fully recovered from their breakup. Despite moving away to London to put distance between them, she never stopped thinking about him.
Now, Kate, who has always been passionate about acting, is successful in her field. However, she has married Matt, who seems to be overcompensating for her lack of prioritising him or her daughter. Kate never fully gave him her all, and her behaviour stems from her unresolved issues. They also have a daughter, Tallulah.
Kate returns to Edinburgh and makes an appearance at the school where Callum is a teacher. Determined to win him back, she sets out on a mission.
But when they finally meet, is there anything left between them, or will they both rue the day they ever met? Is the grass really greener on the other side, or will they be the exception to the rule?
**3.5 Stars**
Ruth Jones’ debut novel is a heartfelt tale of love, heartbreak, and redemption. Although I had enjoyed her book ‘Us Three’, I decided to give this one a try. Unfortunately, ‘Us Three’ was a better fit for me.
The story is set primarily in Edinburgh and follows Kate, who met Callum 17 years ago. He was married, and they were obsessed with each other. However, their relationship ended in heartbreak, and Kate was left heartbroken.
Callum moved on with his life, kept his marriage, and continued his life with his wife. For Kate, Callum remained her one and only, and she never fully recovered from their breakup. Despite moving away to London to put distance between them, she never stopped thinking about him.
Now, Kate, who has always been passionate about acting, is successful in her field. However, she has married Matt, who seems to be overcompensating for her lack of prioritising him or her daughter. Kate never fully gave him her all, and her behaviour stems from her unresolved issues. They also have a daughter, Tallulah.
Kate returns to Edinburgh and makes an appearance at the school where Callum is a teacher. Determined to win him back, she sets out on a mission.
But when they finally meet, is there anything left between them, or will they both rue the day they ever met? Is the grass really greener on the other side, or will they be the exception to the rule?
February 25, 2021
Sooooo gooood!!! Would definitely recommend this book!!
It’s written like a TV show/film, you can picture everything in detail but you still get the joy of being in the characters’ heads.
If you’re not an avid reader I would recommend this as it’s very easy to read and difficult to put down!!
It’s written like a TV show/film, you can picture everything in detail but you still get the joy of being in the characters’ heads.
If you’re not an avid reader I would recommend this as it’s very easy to read and difficult to put down!!
May 28, 2025
A nice, easy read from Ruth Jones
April 4, 2019
voto 3.5
Ciao readers,
Oggi ho recuperato una lettura che avevo in lista ma che non riuscivo a leggere. Finalmente ho avuto un po' di tempo libero e mi sono dedicata ad “Ancora noi” di Ruth Jones, edito Sperling&Kupfer.
Imposterò questa recensione diversamente da come ho sempre fatto. Non mi è possibile spiegarvi un po'di trama prima, perché è un libro un po' complicato. Tutto ha inizio nel 1985 quando Kate ha ventidue anni e incontra Callum, un uomo sposato con una donna stupenda e con tre figli. Tra i due la passione scoppia all'improvviso e non riescono a stare lontani. Quella che doveva essere una storiella diventa amore. La storia, grazie ai salti temporali, ci porta al 2002.
Kate è diventata un'attrice famosa, ha un marito e una figlia, ma il suo animo è tormentato, non riesce a godersi le gioie della vita. Quando rivede Callum dopo diciassette anni, la stessa passione tra i due scoppia ancora. Fino a quando non vengono ancora una volta scoperti. Le loro vite cambiano e questo non per forza positivamente.
Questa storia è un intreccio di molte storie e molti personaggi. Non tutto gira intorno alla storia d'amore, ma su tutti i personaggi che toccano anche di sfuggita la vita di Kate. Questo vale per la famiglia di Callum, quella di Kate, ma anche gli amici. Conosceremo i personaggi a tutto tondo e ci sembrerà di leggere molti libri che alla fine riconducono ad uno solo. Per la prima volta non ho fatto il tifo per la protagonista.
Kate è fredda, sa cosa vuole e come ottenerlo e non tiene conto delle persone che ama. Perfino quando viene alla luce la sua storia clandestina, è poco interessata a scusarsi con il marito o la figlia, la sua giustificazione è che ama Callum. Nonostante si evidenzia una personalità disturbata e l'aver superato molto nella vita, ciò non giustifica i suoi comportamenti. Callum è un uomo senza polso. È dolce, ama la sua famiglia, ma appena Kate schiocca le dita lui cede. Sono cosciente che esistono uomini che per il sesso perdono il lume, ma in lui si evidenza l'amore dolce che lo lega alla moglie Belinda. Anche se ammetto che in una scena mi ha fatto veramente schifo. Attenzione, potrei spoilerare.
La moglie vuole fare l'amore con lui (giustamente, essendo suo marito) e lui si sente in colpa di tradire Kate e pensa a lei durante l'amplesso. Ho pensato: "ma non ti fai schifo come uomo? Questa donna ti ha amato, perdonato e ha cresciuto i tuoi figli e tu hai il coraggio di riempirla di bugie per una donna che ti fa perdere il senno?".
Molto dignitosi ho trovato i consorti, che nonostante l'amore che provano per i protagonisti hanno la forza di rialzarsi perché non tutto è perduto, la loro vita va avanti. Ho amato tutti i personaggi per le loro debolezze, sentimenti e forza d'animo. Nonostante non siano perfetti sono reali e di sicuro non ci si aspetta determinati comportamenti, ci sorprendono. Voglio chiarire che nonostante i salti temporali e le varie storie che si intrecciano, l'autrice non ci permette di annoiarci. Ogni storia è collegata alle altre e non si smette mai di leggere. Il finale l'ho trovato un po' troppo facile per la complessità della storia, ma devo ammettere che dopo l'altalena di emozioni che si vive durante la lettura forse l'autrice ha voluto semplicemente farci rilassare. Solo per Callum io non avrei avuto pietà. Mentre Kate è decisa nelle decisioni che prende e nelle giustificazioni che dà, al contrario Callum è un uomo senza spina dorsale, consapevole di avere una moglie che lo ama, consapevole di amare la moglie, ma comunque sottomesso ad una donna che lo vuole come amante.
Non ammetto il tradimento in nessuna occasione, specialmente quando a subirne le conseguenze sono persone innocenti, come Belinda, la moglie di Callum, che ammetto di aver amato come personaggio e ho compreso a malincuore molte sue scelte.
Penso davvero di avervi detto tutto. Questo non è un libro che si legge in poche ore o che vi farà passare il tempo. Qui avrete a che fare con persone reali che intrecciano rapporti interpersonali, leggerete delle conseguenze che hanno delle azioni che non sempre hanno un risvolto positivo. Leggerete uno stralcio di realtà vera e cruda.
Mi dispiace essermi dilungata troppo, ma questo libro andava spiegato per bene e spero di esserci riuscita. Buona lettura
Ciao readers,
Oggi ho recuperato una lettura che avevo in lista ma che non riuscivo a leggere. Finalmente ho avuto un po' di tempo libero e mi sono dedicata ad “Ancora noi” di Ruth Jones, edito Sperling&Kupfer.
Imposterò questa recensione diversamente da come ho sempre fatto. Non mi è possibile spiegarvi un po'di trama prima, perché è un libro un po' complicato. Tutto ha inizio nel 1985 quando Kate ha ventidue anni e incontra Callum, un uomo sposato con una donna stupenda e con tre figli. Tra i due la passione scoppia all'improvviso e non riescono a stare lontani. Quella che doveva essere una storiella diventa amore. La storia, grazie ai salti temporali, ci porta al 2002.
Kate è diventata un'attrice famosa, ha un marito e una figlia, ma il suo animo è tormentato, non riesce a godersi le gioie della vita. Quando rivede Callum dopo diciassette anni, la stessa passione tra i due scoppia ancora. Fino a quando non vengono ancora una volta scoperti. Le loro vite cambiano e questo non per forza positivamente.
Questa storia è un intreccio di molte storie e molti personaggi. Non tutto gira intorno alla storia d'amore, ma su tutti i personaggi che toccano anche di sfuggita la vita di Kate. Questo vale per la famiglia di Callum, quella di Kate, ma anche gli amici. Conosceremo i personaggi a tutto tondo e ci sembrerà di leggere molti libri che alla fine riconducono ad uno solo. Per la prima volta non ho fatto il tifo per la protagonista.
Kate è fredda, sa cosa vuole e come ottenerlo e non tiene conto delle persone che ama. Perfino quando viene alla luce la sua storia clandestina, è poco interessata a scusarsi con il marito o la figlia, la sua giustificazione è che ama Callum. Nonostante si evidenzia una personalità disturbata e l'aver superato molto nella vita, ciò non giustifica i suoi comportamenti. Callum è un uomo senza polso. È dolce, ama la sua famiglia, ma appena Kate schiocca le dita lui cede. Sono cosciente che esistono uomini che per il sesso perdono il lume, ma in lui si evidenza l'amore dolce che lo lega alla moglie Belinda. Anche se ammetto che in una scena mi ha fatto veramente schifo. Attenzione, potrei spoilerare.
La moglie vuole fare l'amore con lui (giustamente, essendo suo marito) e lui si sente in colpa di tradire Kate e pensa a lei durante l'amplesso. Ho pensato: "ma non ti fai schifo come uomo? Questa donna ti ha amato, perdonato e ha cresciuto i tuoi figli e tu hai il coraggio di riempirla di bugie per una donna che ti fa perdere il senno?".
Molto dignitosi ho trovato i consorti, che nonostante l'amore che provano per i protagonisti hanno la forza di rialzarsi perché non tutto è perduto, la loro vita va avanti. Ho amato tutti i personaggi per le loro debolezze, sentimenti e forza d'animo. Nonostante non siano perfetti sono reali e di sicuro non ci si aspetta determinati comportamenti, ci sorprendono. Voglio chiarire che nonostante i salti temporali e le varie storie che si intrecciano, l'autrice non ci permette di annoiarci. Ogni storia è collegata alle altre e non si smette mai di leggere. Il finale l'ho trovato un po' troppo facile per la complessità della storia, ma devo ammettere che dopo l'altalena di emozioni che si vive durante la lettura forse l'autrice ha voluto semplicemente farci rilassare. Solo per Callum io non avrei avuto pietà. Mentre Kate è decisa nelle decisioni che prende e nelle giustificazioni che dà, al contrario Callum è un uomo senza spina dorsale, consapevole di avere una moglie che lo ama, consapevole di amare la moglie, ma comunque sottomesso ad una donna che lo vuole come amante.
Non ammetto il tradimento in nessuna occasione, specialmente quando a subirne le conseguenze sono persone innocenti, come Belinda, la moglie di Callum, che ammetto di aver amato come personaggio e ho compreso a malincuore molte sue scelte.
Penso davvero di avervi detto tutto. Questo non è un libro che si legge in poche ore o che vi farà passare il tempo. Qui avrete a che fare con persone reali che intrecciano rapporti interpersonali, leggerete delle conseguenze che hanno delle azioni che non sempre hanno un risvolto positivo. Leggerete uno stralcio di realtà vera e cruda.
Mi dispiace essermi dilungata troppo, ma questo libro andava spiegato per bene e spero di esserci riuscita. Buona lettura
April 2, 2018
Many will have come to love Ruth Jones for her role as Nessa Jenkins in the hit TV comedy Gavin and Stacey and also her other roles she has become so well known for as well as a script writer, but now we can add author the list. Released on 5th April is Ruth Jones’s debut novel Never Greener (Bantam Press).
I must be one of the luckiest people around who gets the chance to read books before they hit the shops and every now and then a book comes along that just knocks me over. Never Greener is one of those books it is big and oh so wise. A book telling the story of second chances and also at times funny. Ruth Jones is not just a great actress she is also a terrific writer.
The characters are so real that you just do not want to let them leave your life. We meet Kate and Callum who had a passionate affair, Kate was young in her early twenties and Callum old and married, he should have known better, was he looking for some excitement in his ‘mid-life’ what was Kate really hoping for? Sadly, for Kate it ended and left her bereft and heartbroken. Callum carried on with his life his secret hidden.
Fast forward seventeen years and life is about to get very complicated. Kate is now doing very well for herself, a successful actress in her own right. Well known wherever she goes. Callum is still married and has a family and happy in Edinburgh. Secrets buried in the past never to be spoken of.
Kate and Callum now meet again Kate the successful actress is invited back to her old school and this is where Callum is a teacher, and so it begins again their passionate affair, this is more than just a spark. It is an inferno that could consume all and everything. No spoilers from me as to what happens to Kate and Callum. Go and buy the book and see for yourself what happens next.
Superbly written with great characters. They be floored characters but I just loved reading about them, affairs generally always tend to end in disaster with a trail of destructing left in its wake. But let’s not detract from a fantastic debut novel that many will love. There are funny moments and moments that will leave you wincing and just wondering what that hell next. There is so much packed into over 400 pages. Every emotion possible pours out of the pages. A brilliant novel.
416 Pages.
I must be one of the luckiest people around who gets the chance to read books before they hit the shops and every now and then a book comes along that just knocks me over. Never Greener is one of those books it is big and oh so wise. A book telling the story of second chances and also at times funny. Ruth Jones is not just a great actress she is also a terrific writer.
The characters are so real that you just do not want to let them leave your life. We meet Kate and Callum who had a passionate affair, Kate was young in her early twenties and Callum old and married, he should have known better, was he looking for some excitement in his ‘mid-life’ what was Kate really hoping for? Sadly, for Kate it ended and left her bereft and heartbroken. Callum carried on with his life his secret hidden.
Fast forward seventeen years and life is about to get very complicated. Kate is now doing very well for herself, a successful actress in her own right. Well known wherever she goes. Callum is still married and has a family and happy in Edinburgh. Secrets buried in the past never to be spoken of.
Kate and Callum now meet again Kate the successful actress is invited back to her old school and this is where Callum is a teacher, and so it begins again their passionate affair, this is more than just a spark. It is an inferno that could consume all and everything. No spoilers from me as to what happens to Kate and Callum. Go and buy the book and see for yourself what happens next.
Superbly written with great characters. They be floored characters but I just loved reading about them, affairs generally always tend to end in disaster with a trail of destructing left in its wake. But let’s not detract from a fantastic debut novel that many will love. There are funny moments and moments that will leave you wincing and just wondering what that hell next. There is so much packed into over 400 pages. Every emotion possible pours out of the pages. A brilliant novel.
416 Pages.
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