BOOK REVIEW: BAREFOOT by Elin Hilderbrand

WARNING:  Reading this book at the beach may give you a bad case of sunburn.  It's that kind of page-turner!

Three women step off of a plane.

Thus begins the bittersweet journey of three women, each burdened with dismal life circumstances, as they escape to Nantucket Island for the summer:

         -- Vickie, a wife and mother of two small children, is struggling with effects of treatment for lung cancer as well as the effects it has on her marriage.

         -- Her sister, Brenda, a celebrated professor, is fired from her job for having an affair with a student.

         -- Their longtime friend, Melanie, after several failed in vitro treatments, finally becomes pregnant, only to be devastated by her husband's affair.  And he doesn't even know she's pregnant.

A young man named Joshua, with his own set of problems, is working at the airport where the women deplane.  He finds himself drawn to them, sensing a story for his college writing class.

Initially I wanted to vote Brenda off the island.  She's the character I loved to hate, whose whining and selfishness made me want to bury her in the sand at high tide.  However, and cleverly, I might add, if it weren't for these unsavory attributes, Joshua would never have won the opportunity to immerse himself into the family's daily routines as a babysitter for Vickie's children.  Over the course of the summer, his presence changes them in ways that affect their entire outlook on life.

I came to love and empathize with each of this women (yes, even Bratty Brenda!) as the author examined each facet of their lives, where they'd been and how they've evolved up to this point, sharing a cottage on a sleepy little island.  In spite of myself, I started rooting for these women as if they were friends I'd play bunco with on Friday nights.

There's level-headed Vickie, a consummate list-maker, who began making lists of things that don't truly matter after all in the greater scheme of things.  Will she survive her insidious disease?  Will her husband ever see her as the vibrant woman she once was before she became "the patient"?

Sweet Melanie, expecting a baby at long last, has the backbone of a slug.  Will she stand up to her cheating husband?  Will she ever tell him about her pregnancy?

Will Brenda get her job back?  Will she finish that screenplay?  Will she continue to pursue the older student, a sexy Australian with a divine accent, even though their scandalous affair rippled throughout the world of academia?

The author must've been a travel agent in a past life.  Elin Hilderbrand painted the island with its laidback charm, clamshell roads, salty air, beach picnics with box lunches, sand in your shoes.  As I've never had the fortune to visit Nantucket, the author's vivid paint strokes had me yearning to quit my job, pull on my clam-diggers, grab the next flight out, and undertake a career on Nantucket Island selling seashells by the seashore.

If you're looking for fluff, this book is not for you.  This is the kind of book you curl up with in a comfy recliner, to explore the lives of three women whose monumental challenges make you pretty darn grateful for the stack of dirty dishes in your kitchen sink.

Bottom line:  A well-paced summer read that's also perfect as a year-round read.