A Risk Worth Taking

Like others, I have read many Rosamunde Pilcher books and that certainly brought me to Robin Pilcher. But, no need to compare ... This is my second after An Ocean Apart and I loved both. I love the characters and the dogs!! The characters all have their stories as do we all and I enjoy that there is some background on all that comes through the telling of the main story. The thing that I think IS in common with both Pilchers writing is that even the characters that are bad have some likeable qualities and we are given enough info to have some understanding of their flaws. This book - like Oceans Apart - I was not ready for it to end. Oh, I also love the Scotland setting. And I guess the other commonality is that I will re-read these as I re-read Rosamundes books.

This is a delightfully, well written story. The characters feel like friends and caring about their lives is easy and thought provoking. Thanks for a great book. Didnt want it to end.

Well, I struggled through this one, putting it down several times for a week or more at a time. The biggest problem with this book? The characters engage in pages-long soliloquies in order to fill in the story. I know it worked for Shakespeare, but it just isnt working here. If I ever engaged in a conversation where the other person was giving me five-minute speeches like this I would go to sleep, or go hang myself. The next biggest problem? Very sterotypical & flat characters. The wife is your stereotypical angry witch-wife. The protagonist is your stereotypical good-guy-trying-to-deal-with-angry-witch-wife. No story or relationship is that simple. It would have been much more interesting to read if these main characters had been realistic, or had realistic interactions. Neither one of the main characters inspires your pity or your interest. What is interesting about reading about a dysfunctional family & crumbling marriage -- all of which is failing because of two completely selfish & self-serving people? They cant even be bothered to take proper care of their children. This sort of family tragedy is all too common & isnt appealing when it is glorified as just a life choice & portrayed so unrealistically in its affects on the people involved. I was also appalled that the character was so moved by the events of 9/11 that he felt inspired to abandon his marriage & family, and that this is portrayed as perfectly reasonable & good behavior--all while remaining extremely critical of his wife for doing the same thing. This book was hard to read because of its long, unrealistic character speeches, its unrealistic characters acting like stereotypes. And the ending is just disappointing & makes me feel a bit pessimistic about the whole human condition.

I liked this book very much. I have read a few of his books and liked them. I still like his mothers books a lot. Thank you.

Interesting, zippy story about an area I have never visited. Great characters, believeable, and it is about true friendship and how you may find it in the least expected places.. Pilchers style of writing is smooth and interesting. This is the kind of book you want to have on a day when you really want to relax and be self-absorbed if only for a short while.

very fine

Rosamunde Pilcher is one of my favorite authors. Sadly, her son, Robin Pilcher, cannot pull off a writing coup such as his mothers immortal Shell Seekers or Winter Soltice, books guaranteed to give you a long, cozy read, full of well-crafted characters, meticulous descriptions and highly enjoyable narrative. Robin Pilchers work provides nothing but doom and gloom, with stiffly written characters, forced plot lines, inconclusive and feeble endings, and a boring storyline. I read this entire book because I kept hoping it would get better, but unfortunately it did not improve. I find Pilchers writing stilted and his characters shallow. His plot is obvious, the conclusion even more so. For more enjoyable reading, check out the wonderful writings of Rosamunde Pilcher, acclaimed British novelist.

Robin Pilcher is the son of a famous female novelist, but despite laboring under that burden, he seems to have developed into a good writer. I ve only read one of his books, but A Risk Worth Taking is a good novel about the fork in the road we can find ourselves in in middle age. Dan Porter is a victim of the Dot Com bubble bursting and taking his job and most of his money with it. So at age 50 he finds himself jobless, on the dole so to speak while his beautiful wife of 20 years, Jackie, keeps her upper crust job and has to become the supprt of the family. In a common scenario, Dan is blind to whats going on around him. He doesnt see Jackies increasing contempt for the failure whos lying around the house while she becomes the man of the house. He doesnt notice that she has no time for him anymore, no time or interest in sex and not much in their three children. She is just plain unhappy at home. She is happy only at work where she labors beside a good looking young man who has become her partner and emotional support, a young man who has wanted her for more than sex for years and is just biding his time until the cracks develop in her dying marriage. And then one day Dan sees a story in a magazine about a little company that is producing a wildly popular clothing line in the wilds of Scotland and decides to take a chance on buying it and revitalizing his life and his marriage. That falls through, but in the process of traveling to the North, he meets a dying man who runs a seafood business about which Dan knows absolutely nothing. But the owner likes Dan, sees a kindred spirit, and invites him to work for him for four months while hes short handed. Having not much better to do, he tells his wife hell be staying in Scotland for four months. Dans son joins him and develops an interest in and talent for the new business, as well as finding a new girlfriend. And for the first time, Dan has a chance to get to know his son and the kind of man he is becoming. While most readers can see whats coming, Pilcher does a good job of making the pieces come together into a picture of what Dans life could be, if he could persuade Jackie and their children to join him in the wilds of Scotland. Dan is an attractive and likeable character and the reader is rooting for him to make a new life, and for his eyes to be opened to who and what Jackie has become while he wasnt paying attention. I liked the book, but I only gave it four stars because it isnt the book it could have been, or should have been. This is an era when readers are supposed to like short, easily read novels. Pilcher develops a great linchpin character in Dan, and some other likeable characters like the owner who gives him a new chance at life. But nobody else really comes to life. Theyre sketchy characters designed to take up space around Dan. And, worst of all, Jackie is a cliched zero. She is THE BITCH. Thats basically her function. In a movie, viewers would hiss when she comes on screen. This is a woman who has been Dans partner in life for 20 years, the mother of his children. Dan loved her at one time.There must have been a reason. And he hasnt fought for her because he never even knew there was a fight to be waged. Im sure this happens a million times a day around the globe, but a story about two people who loved each needs to have SOME conflict. There needs to be even a hint of what the two of them had at one time. But its basically just ho hum. I lost my wife. Too bad. I think Ill go up to Scotland and see if I can find another woman. What Im saying, I guess in my long winded way, is that this is a good novel, with a very, very crappy ending.