Sunday, September 12, 2010

Danielle Steel: Matters of the Heart

It's been years since I read something by Danielle Steel (high school I think) so I was interested to read something again when the chance appeared in the form of a Summer reading challenge.

Well, I can certainly say the book was a surprise. I seem to remember her books having a happy end even though the characters usually face some kind of adversity. It's not that this book has a sad ending but it's not the traditional happy one. I'd say the book is not really a traditional Steel novel. I mean, when did she start writing scary stories?

Ok, so it's not really a scary story but it got me a bit scared at one point.
I just wish there wasn't a quote at the beginning of what a sociopath is - that kind of gave the story away and made me re-think if I want to read it because I was expecting a love story. And it is a love story but a scary one and one every woman should read (especially if wealthy and/or alone) because it warns of some human aspects we should all avoid.

At the beginning, I couldn't see where the sociopath could appear from and then some situations started happening and I got worried a bit because almost all guys I know have a tendency to display some jealousy at the beginning of a realtionship and I was thinking to myself that it really can't be described as a symptom of sociopathy but then things started getting a bit troublesome.

I think everyone should warn young girls/women about falling in love and going with everything their partner wants from them. You should always stick with your character and what you feel is right for yourself but I see how often women disregard that in the name of love. But love is/should be reciprocal and your partner should never ask of you something that you obviously don't want to do. Or women making all the excuses for male behaviour. I don't feel men try to understand women so much as we do them, but that's another story.
Anyway, Hope (an extremely strong woman) goes through many difficult situations in life, only to culminate with the most dangerous one for her.

I'm sure if you cannot guess the end, it wouldn't require much to get you on the right path so I'll say it. Of course she deals with the situation in the end and I'm happy to say shows how it's done for many people who might read this book. The greatest things in life are based on very simple ideas. And spiritual healing is something we should all learn how to do for ourselves - it probably will require some outside help (by that I mean talking to someone, even if that someone is imagined) and I did feel a bit inspired in the end of the book to face life with my head held high and with hope that being true to yourself will always bring the necessary outcome for one to grow and heal.


P.S. I feel like this review is completely scattered but I can't re-write it. It just came out like that. :)

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