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Title: The movie was better, and the movie didn't thrill me.
Review: You've read the summary, so I'll just cut to the chase. First of all, loved, loved, loved Hoffman's 'voice' and use of language: Gillian's passion for her new biology teacher lover melts all the butter in the house, a woman pounds on her lover's door until she literally breaks her hand -- Hoffman is very good at powerful, evocative images, at gliding on the surface and gazing at the tempestuous emotions below her.However, everything else about this novel began to irritate me before long. Hoffman was obsessed with pairing everyone up, down to the last obnoxious teenager, and the only romance that held any appeal for me was the one between Gillian and Ben. Gary (Sally's love interest) was boring and entered the story much too late for me. (He doesn't seem to be a very good investigator, either.) Also, the swearing seemed unnecessary, as if it came out of a different book. I might try Hoffman again, but I won't be re-reading this one.
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