Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsEH plus #metoo & BLM & Holocaust
Reviewed in the United States on June 5, 2021
She's at her best on Nantucket in the summer. The winter ones are awful & the Caribbean ones are worse. Even her last few summer ones have been unreadable - especially when she doesn't even write in complete sentences & just uses bullet points. I gave this a try based on the title - Golden Girl - because Silver Girl was one of her best.
This was a welcome return to her whodunnit format w/Chief Ed & the familiar litany of Nantucket restaurants, stores, & beaches & that was perfectly fine. In fact, the contrivance of having Vivi (the murdered author/mom aka EH) looking down from "above" wasn't necessary. The story told itself through the characters and their entanglements. Vivi's take on what went on w/o her was unnecessary.
But, the chief suspect has to be black - because he's the only black kid on the island apparently - & the promiscuous bartender daughter having an affair w/a married man dares to think she's a #metoo victim when an over-served customer wants a kiss. The plan for a girl's first summer in Nantucket is to hide in a secret room off her college friend's bedroom like ANNE FRANK. EH manages to belittle BLM, #metoo, & the Holocaust.
There's also a missing plot point in that Vivi says she didn't leave a will yet she's supposed to have made enough money to support her house w/a pool plus 3 children, pay a whopping alimony to her ex-husband who runs an ice cream shop yet has a great house, & buy top-of-the-line everything. Life carries on as before she died w/no mention of who is paying or how the ex even has a roof over his head. IRL the state would appoint an executor to oversee her estate & children would inherit everything, but there's not a word about who's buying groceries in the meantime. Why not just leave out Viv's comment about a will?
I did enjoy EH's jab at her publisher in the Facebook Memorial Comments Page when readers offering condolences also suggest that the publisher return to all the author's books & correct all the copy editing errors that riddle a book that sells for $29. In fact, I found one in my copy on p. 5.
It's not a bad story if you ignore EH's general smugness about her great life & wealth & her attempts to be "topical." The Anne Frank part is unforgiveable, but that will be removed from digital & future print editions as EH has called it "a poor choice that was tasteless & offensive." For those of us who've read it, we can't unread it.