Review: The Beachcomber By Josephine Cox
Posted by Jessica on September 19, 2011
Before I start picking this novel apart, I have to acknowledge that it has without doubt one of the most powerful openings I’ve ever read. The book begins with the hero Tom in the car with his wife and young children, while a faceless lunatic tries to ram them off the edge of a cliff. My heart was in my mouth the entire time, willing Tom to keep the car under control, feeling the terror of his family. Although I’d only known these characters for the space of a few paragraphs, when the car does finally plunge off the road, it has a profound impact.
After this dramatic opening, however, things spiral progressively downhill. the story follows Tom, the sole survivor of the accident, as he comes to terms with the loss of his family, discovers the truth of why they died, and ultimately falls in love. A wonderful premise for a novel, but I felt it to be poorly executed. There were just too many problems for me to totally enjoy it.
Firstly, I felt it was too long. Now, I have no issue with long novels, but an author has to justify the length of time they expect readers to spend reading their novels. Every scene, every word has to move the story forward. In The Beachcomber I felt there to be far too much time given over to description and analysis of people’s self-evident emotions and reactions, where just a few well chosen words would have sufficed.
My main fault with this novel, though, was the characters. Both Tom and the heroine Cathy were too perfect. Of course it helps if characters are likable, but I also want them to be real. None of us is perfect. We all have unworthy thoughts. We can be selfish and unkind, and don’t always do the right things. I want my characters to reflect this. In the case of Tom and Cathy, they were both so sickeningly nice that I didn’t believe in them, and as a result, failed to engage with their story.
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