Play Book Tag discussion

I’m not big on love stories involving really young people – say under about age 20. I just think that most (not all, I admit) of these people are too inexperienced, and maybe still too much under the influence of hormonal surges, to make lasting decisions. There’s growth to be experienced with every 4 or 5 year interval of life, but a whole lot of change, one hopes, happens between ages 15 and 25. So I was indisposed to take seriously the supposedly searing summer affair between rich-boy Gabriel and village-lass Beth. One knows from the start that Beth winds up married to Frank instead, along with their doomed son Bobby, and I rolled my eyes a bit when Gabriel, having become a dashing and famous author, shows up divorced, back in the village with his own son. I liked the gentle bucolic portrait of lamb farming but Frank and Gabriel were clearly very different and it was hard to imagine what had happened that resulted in the situation. I was also bit impatient with the deference shown to Gabriel’s irresponsible younger brother, clearly an alcoholic with a bad temper. All my reservations were eventually addressed, however, with some great plot twists. And I thought the author did more than just sort out the plot satisfactorily; in the end she made me believe in the depth of the characters and the many conflicting emotions they experienced. I especially grew to love Beth’s parents. I vacillated 4 and 5 stars for this. Settled on 4.5.