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    The Innocents
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    The Innocents
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    The Innocents
    Audiobook11 hours

    The Innocents

    Written by Laura Lippman

    Narrated by Linda Emond

    3.5/5

    ()

    Unavailable in your country

    Unavailable in your country

    About this audiobook

    A story of troubled adults, tormented by a secret they shared as children. STAND BY ME meets THE VIRGIN SUICIDES.

    ‘As five we were mighty, the points on a star…Once we five joined, it was never boys against girls…Two of our triangles cut themselves off and ran away together, and we were never whole again. Never.’

    Years ago, they were the best of friends. But as time passed, they grew apart, became adults with families of their own, and began to forget about the past – and the terrible lies they shared.

    But now Gordon, the youngest and wildest of the five, has died and the others are thrown together for the first time in years.

    Could their long-ago lie be the reason for their troubles today? Is it more dangerous to admit to what they’d done or is it the strain of keeping the secret that is beginning to wear down on their souls.

    Dark, provocative and beautifully written, Laura Lippman’s genre defying novel will appeal to fans of Lionel Shriver, Megan Abbott and Kate Atkinson.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins Publishers
    Release dateJul 5, 2012
    ISBN9780007478095
    Unavailable
    The Innocents
    Author

    Laura Lippman

    Since Laura Lippman’s debut, she has been recognized as a distinctive voice in mystery fiction and named one of the “essential” crime writers of the last 100 years. Stephen King called her “special, even extraordinary,” and Gillian Flynn wrote, “She is simply a brilliant novelist.” Her books have won most of the major awards in her field and been translated into more than twenty-five languages. She lives in Baltimore and New Orleans with her teenager.

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    Reviews for The Innocents

    3.5/5

    261 ratings70 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Downloaded this book to read on vacation as I imagined it to be "light" and easy to read. It was easy to read -- and hard to put down and definitely not just "light." I loved Wharton's "Age of Innocence" and I believe I loved this one equally as much. Although we are living in an age when we think there is no innocence, some cultures create their own version. I felt the depiction of the closeness and closed-ness of the Jewish culture to be very interesting and, although I have no first hand knowledge, believable.There is also some food for thought here: does family closeness automatically mean a lack of freedom? Is freedom really what everyone desires or is it as Janis so aptly said "nothing left to lose?" Just because the "establishment" finds something wrong; does that automatically make it right? What is the real value of family closeness; what does one give up rejecting that?In short, I really liked this novel much more than I even thought. Highly recommended whether or not one has read the "Age of Innocence."
    • 5/5
      I loved this book. The tension between community and individuality, the interplay of generations and how they have been shaped by the Holocaust, the unforgettable characters, the Jewish holidays and traditions forming the structure that holds it together and moves it along.It is an astounding debut novel. This is a book I will recommend to friends.
    • 4/5
      The Innocents shows what life is like in the Jewish community of NW London. It’s this lifestyle that has shaped Adam. Adam’s only thoughts seem to be about doing what is expected of him…but he doesn’t see these thoughts as an expectation, so much, as just a given. He doesn’t question it consciously, but unconsciously I think he does. What wakes him up out of this fugue state is the arrival of the “wild child” cousin, of his fiancé, who has been raised and basically abandoned in New York.Family and work obligations force Adam to spend time with Ellie. It isn’t long before Adam starts to look for opportunities to spend time with Ellie. Ellie unknowingly forces Adam to examine his life and he’s not thrilled with what he discovers.Adam is such a lovable guy. He is man of worth, honorable, moral, smart, good looking…he is a real catch and doesn’t even know it. He is so entrenched in everyone’s expectations for him but yet doesn’t realize it. When he wakes up and starts to think about what he may actually want, it becomes an internal battle.Rachel is Adam’s equal, she loves her life and wants the same marriage her Mom and Dad have. She is more concerned with wedding prep, and then being the perfect wife and mother, that she is oblivious to what is going on with Adam. I did get frustrated with her at times, but I believe that was intentional.Segal based this story on Edith Wharton’s Age of Innocence, which I have not read. Segal’s writing is superb…I loved all the explanations the author gives for everything. She wants us to really understand the world Adam is living in and why he makes the choices he does. In fact it was the Jewish culture that drew my attention to this book. This was a tremendously engaging read that I would highly recommend.
    • 3/5
      A Jewish angst-fest about Adam, who is getting married to Rachel, but finds himself drawn to her cousin Ellie. That's the novel in a nutshell, really. I appreciated the insights, good and bad, into the North London Jewish community - especially the food! - and found all of the characters to be believable if not sympathetic, but the whole plot is more of a drawn-out short story from a woman's magazine than a novel. Well written, but too introspective to get through in one sitting. (Edited to add: might have found the experience more stimulating had I realised while reading that this is a modern re-telling of Wharton's The Age of Innocence! D'oh!)
    • 4/5
      Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence is one of the saddest books in American literature: the story of a man who sacrifices happiness for duty in a tradition bound society. In Francesca's debut novel she translates this story to the tight-knit Jewish community of northwest London with skill and grace.Adam Newman is engaged to the lovely Rachel Gilbert whom he loves for both her innocent trusting love and also for her family's embrace of him into their lives. He has a nice position in the family law firm and the prospects of a secure and prosperous life ahead of him surrounded by family and friends that he has known all of his life in their rather insular tradition bound Jewish community.Into this idyllic setting comes the worm into the apple - Rachel's cousin, Ellie Schneider, the victim of a horrible tragedy in her youth and now fleeing New York City after a scandal that has caused her to be expelled from the graduate writing program at Columbia University. AT first Adam is appalled at Ellie - at her seemingly indifference to their values and mores of the community that he holds dear. But at the same time he finds himself drawn by both her beauty and vulnerability and comes to view her as a means to escape his own claustrophobic world.Of course, if you've read the original, you know what happens, but Ms. Segal writes with a deft hand and holds the reader's interest without her book devolving into a cheap parody of the original. This book should provide book groups everywhere with lots to talk about. Which is better? Dependence or independence? Security or adventure? Tradition or embracing the unknown of the new?
    • 3/5
      I'm wavering between a three-star rating and a four-star rating. The writing is fantastic. Quite lovely, especially since this is the author's first novel. It's just unfortunately one of those stories in which very actually happens... I was very drawn to the tightly-knit community, especially set in London. This novel is modeled after Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence, which is also a well-written book in which nothing much happens. I actually had no idea until I had finished the novel, and the reading notes alluded to it. (I've never read The Age of Innocence, surprisingly enough.) The hebrew words sprinkled throughout the novel tripped up a non-Jew like myself, but the descriptions of the Jewish traditions and holidays were very enlightening and interesting.
    • 4/5
      This novel surprised me in the most pleasant sort of way, I’d heard mixed things about it and was a little worried I would be bored by it, and I’m happy to say that wasn’t the case. I’ve seen quite a few reviews complaining that nothing happens in this book, and it’s a fair criticism, but this isn’t a book about a bunch of things happening. The whole point is to tell a story of what happens when you’re born in a place and pretty much stay there your whole life – and what could happen if someone realized there was more outside that community.Adam seems happy with the idea that he’s really only ever dated Rachel, hasn’t known a real relationship outside of her, and seems like he’s going to be content with that life until Ellie comes around. I liked Adam quite a bit, and would like to hope that he would have realized there could be more to life even had Ellie not come along. However, Adam’s awakening and actions after that are frustrating and somewhat disappointing to me. He’s a man who knows he could have more, but doesn’t ever seem to get the courage to take any action. This is something I find frustrating both with characters in books, as well as in real life, so it was difficult for me to continue reading this inaction.That frustration aside, I still enjoyed Adam and the book as a whole, though I had a difficult time understanding what was so appealing about Rachel. She was a character I could never really get behind, didn’t feel much connection to, and she felt flat to me. Granted, the story isn’t really about her, but her behavior made me more and more irritated as time went on, and made Ellie seem all the more appealing. It made a lot of sense that Adam would struggle with affections for both of them – the history with Rachel coupled with the mysterious newness and freedom that Ellie represented.I also didn’t know much about the Jewish community in London before this, so it was an interesting look into how closely knit their lives really are. The families are both endearing and excessively annoying at the same time. I don’t think I could handle that much hovering all the time, but perhaps I’m more like Ellie than any other character in the book. The idea of everyone knowing everything that is going on in my life makes my skin crawl, which made it difficult just to read about it and feel like you’re going through it by being that engrossed in the novel.I found the average, somewhat mundane aspects of this novel to be comforting, simply because it’s nice to see a community come together and face whatever life throws at them. While I hoped for different things for Adam, I can also understand his course of action and I did love to see his personal drama unfold. It was also a fast and interesting read, something I would love to take to a park or out on the patio, so I say pick it up!
    • 4/5
      This is a beautiful book about family, dreams, desire, great sadness & innocence lost, sublime... Adam & Rachel come from a close knit London Jewish society & have known each other since kindergarten. they always knew they would be together. Recently engaged they navigate their way through family, friends and the life they know they want, or do they? Rachel has always known just what she expects from life and will tolerate nothing else. When Ellie, Rachel's exotic beautiful cousin comes to visit from New York City, everything Adam thought he knew he wanted starts to skew slightly...I found this book very sad. The path we choose in life. What is happiness? is it freedom, children, love...
    • 4/5
      There’s every likelihood that I never would’ve read this book had I not won it as an early reviewer on LibraryThing. I would’ve missed a good one.“The Innocents” is the story of Adam Newman, 28, who is newly engaged to his childhood sweetheart, Rachel Gilbert. Both are members of a tight-knit Jewish suburb of London, and each has a separate view of the impending nuptials.For Rachel, it is a dream come true, another step in the pre-ordained life journey she will take as a member of the Temple Fortune community. Embraced by her immediate family, surrounded by extended family and friends, Rachel seems content to exist in the insular world in which she was reared.Adam, on the other hand, struggles against the very boundaries that made their lives so sweet and secure. There is a whole world to be explored! Part of him cherishes the warmth and security of all that he has known; part longs for more.Enter Rachel’s striking, beautiful, but troubled cousin, Ellie. Despite the mess she has made of her life, or even, perhaps, because of it, Adam is drawn to her with a passion he has never known. He struggles with that passion, alternately embracing, then wrestling it silently amid the warmth of familial ties, of the community that has surrounded him since the death of his father many years before.All of this occurs amid an affectionate study of Jewish kinship, culture, values and beliefs, but Segal is deft enough with the material to give her reader an intimate look without seeming ponderous or heavy-handed. Those very values and the community that embraces Rachel and Adam give the book a depth and texture that raises it above a simple cautionary tale.
    • 4/5
      It's always interesting to see what modern authors do when they use the framework of a classic and update the story. Francesca Segal has taken Edith Wharton's brilliant novel Age of Innocence, modernized it, and moved it to an insular, traditional conservative North London Jewish community, a society both very different and at the same time similar to the wealthy New York society Wharton immortalized in so many of her works. Although it shares much thematically with the original, it doesn't follow exactly, updating and changing the questions of morality, expectation, and conformity presented within its pages. The novel opens with Adam and Rachel, having dated for twelve years, newly engaged and attending shul on the holiest of holies, Yom Kippur, when Adam discovers that Rachel's scandalous cousin, Ellie, is also in the synagogue and causing murmurings in the congregation not only because of her unexpected presence but also because of her inappropriate and intentionally provocative attire. Ellie's reappearance in this tightly knit community causes shock waves to course through both the community as a whole and also through the finally settled future of Adam and Rachel. Anyone who knows the original Wharton story knows the bones of the plot to come and Segal stays true to the expected conflicts. The childishly sweet and patient Rachel ignores Adam's growing fascination with Ellie, content in the solidity of her expectations and their ability to overcome anything that might intrude unpleasantly on her long awaited marriage. Adam himself feels a loathing attraction to Ellie and a compulsion to defend her unconventionality and passion to those who would condemn her for her choices. Strangely enough, that she is seen as an almost pariah in the world he's lived in his whole life only heightens his fascination and lust. Although Ellie is younger than he is, she is far more worldly than Adam is and certainly more mindful of the cost of a life outside of the stated mores of a particular community. Not only has Ellie grown up away from the strictures of this conservative enclave, living in America, but she appeared nude in an art house film (or porn flick depending on who is passing judgment on the movie), she's done drugs, and is having an affair with a married art dealer. She is portrayed very much as a bad girl unconcerned with how her actions reflect on others, especially her family. And yet she is not unaware of the reactions to the scandals of her life and she does care, very deeply in fact. But no matter how desperately obsessed Adam becomes, he will have to decide between the security of the known, duty, and complacency versus an exciting spark, flaring passion, tortured emotions, and defying the expectations of the world that has nurtured him his whole life, folding him into its embrace especially tightly after the early, unexpected death of his father. He must decide what is most important, the momentary excitement of the unknown or the long planned for future stretching out before him. Segal's debut novel revisits the timeless themes of Wharton's work although she hasn't quite managed to transfer the tale entirely convincingly to the present given the enormous difference in societal mores now as compared to then even in a closed community like the one in which Adam and Rachel live. And she shies away from the almost crushing poignance at the end of the original. But the novel is well written and interesting with sharp insights into temptation, relinquishment, and socially prescribed denial. Adam and Ellie's attraction doesn't have the requited urgency and repressed passion of the original and Rachel is not nearly as naively innocent either, instead coming off as falsely childish. Despite these differences, as a stand alone novel rather than just an homage to Wharton, this is a very fascinating anthropological look at the strictures of the conservative North London Jewish community and what constitutes right and good behaviour and the privilege of membership within it.
    • 4/5
      Interesting debut novel based on Whartons "The Age of Innocence."This time, takes place in London's jewish enclave of Golders Green/Hampstead Garden Suburb and revolves around the Gilbert Family: father and mother Jaffa and Lawrence, daughter Rachele who is engaged to be married to Adam Newman. In this closed knit environment everyone knows everyone else since birth, and they all look out for eachother. Especially when Rachele's cousin Ellie comes from NYC kicked out of Columbia for making an "art house" film. Who does Adam really want?
    • 3/5
      annoying
    • 5/5
      I really enjoyed this book. It is a modern retelling of Edith Wharton's "The Age of Innocence" but you don't need to be familiar with that story to enjoy this one. "The Innocents" is set in a tight-knit Jewish community in North London. The characters and their neighbors have been intertwined for generations. The book does a great job of describing this community and its traditions and celebrations. it also shows what happens when outside forces interact with the community, be-it a wild cousin returns from New York or a pension fund scandal. I highly recommend this novel.
    • 4/5
      The fact that this is a more modern translation of Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence was a point lost on me, as I have never read the original. So, my lack of knowledge on this front, may color my review. I was coming at this novel cold, without any other reference. Though that does explain the title, which I felt somehow did not properly fit. This is a moving, deeply felt novel about human emotion, duty, passion, and love. It had me wishing at times that I was Jewish, specifically part of the tight-knit Jewish community of Temple Fortune, a suburb of London. There was something appealing in the almost smothering love and concern shared by all members of the community for one another. Yet at times it seemed claustrophobia-inducing. I suppose this is exactly what the main character, Adam, felt. Safety, warmth, and security can be binds to chafe against. The author tells his story with such grace. He is flawed. Deeply so. But no more than the rest of us. His passion is palpable and so is his reality of being stuck in a gilded cage. Something many of us can relate to, even if the circumstances are not exactly the same.I enjoyed this book. It was difficult at times, because of my lack of knowledge about Jewish traditions and Hebrew words, to really get as far into the emotions that the author was attempting to evoke. But overall, the book touched a nerve. Every one of us has experienced love, sacrifice, loss in our lives. And her descriptions of Adam's passionate obsession are spot on. I knew what he was feeling and my heart broke for him.
    • 4/5
      I've never Wharton's Age of Innocence, so I didn't know what to expect. Suffice it to say I was pleasantly surprised by Segal's engaging novel. It swept me away with its dramas and loves - I truly enjoyed it. What a great treat to read. Its also made me want to seek out Wharton's classic.
    • 2/5
      I recevied this book through Early Reviewers. ~ I struggled to finish it, as the story didn't capture my atttention, like I had hoped it would. The story was compaired to The Age of Innocent by Edith Wharton, which I do not agree with at all.
    • 5/5
      In Francesca Segal's novel, The Innocents, Adam Newman is finally engaged to Rachel, his girlfriend of twelve years. They live in Temple Fortune which is a Jewish suburb in North West London. This is a place where everyone knows everyone. Even so, there are surprises and secrets. Adam's father died when Adam was young. His mother did not remarry. Rachel's parents enveloped him into their immediate and extended family. To them he is the perfect man for their beloved daughter. Adam adores Rachel-he is charmed by her kindness and innocence. He is confident that they will learn and grow from new experiences. The entire community welcomes their union.Complications develop. Rachel's beautiful cousin, Ellie, returns to London from New York City. She is totally different from anyone else in the tightly knit community. She has appeared in a film that may or may not be labeled as an art film. Her college career has ended without a degree and there is the matter of her long relationship with a married man who gave her a fair amount of money. Adam is drawn to her for what she represents. She is both independent and a free thinker. He becomes convinced that he loves her and that she, and not Rachel, is the woman he wants to spend his life with. However, it is Rachel that he marries, but this is not where the story ends. A financial scandal surfaces that affects much of the community, Rachel's and Ellie's beloved grandmother suffers a stroke and Adam and Ellie reconnect. And then comes an unexpected surprise.The author brings to life a large cast of characters. She deftly describes them and she tells their story with warmth and humor. She is an accomplished story- teller and she has written honestly about loyalty, temptation and enlightenment. This is a very readable novel and I highly recommend it.I received this book free of charge from Library Thing Early Reviewers and I give this review of my own free will.
    • 4/5
      “At sixteen, Adam had been able to see in her eyes the home she would make for him at fifty. Rachel knew who she was.” (Ch 2)I was more than a little curious when I learned that Segal’s debut novel is a retelling of Wharton’s classic, The Age of Innocence. Wharton is a tough act to follow, and I needed to know what Segal was going to do about that. The Innocents is set in contemporary and affluent Jewish North West London, its plot evolving around the impending marriage of Adam Newman and Rachel Gilbert. As the novel opens, the couple, along with extended family and community, attend Yom Kippur (interesting choice) prayer service. All eyes are on the Gilberts/Newmans: “The engagement cast their family into the spotlight this Yom Kippur – absolute propriety was required beneath its glare.” (Ch 1) Propriety is Rachel’s domain: bred to be the perfect wife and mother, she is confident, demure, and adoring of Adam and her family. She does not know, or wish to know, a way of life other than the one she has always lived, lovingly bound as it is by tradition, religion, and expectation.Present to interrupt “absolute propriety” is Rachel’s first cousin, Ellie Schneider: a “hot mess” to Wharton’s disgraced Countess Ellen Olenska. Raised in New York by her widowed father, Ellie’s independent, unconventional choices threaten the predictability of the closed and privileged Jewish community of her family. Keenly aware that she does not live up to her family’s expectations, yet unable to be that “nice Jewish girl,” she is something of a lost soul: “… everyone here wants me to leave everything behind and pretend to be something I’m not and abandon my whole life, or at the very least conceal my whole life, which is just so fucking lonely.” (Ch 7) Adam, Newland Archer if you haven’t already guessed, who has never understood the appeal of unpredictable women, or imagined a partner other than a “steady and loyal co-pilot,” is enamoured of Ellie’s spontaneity. All that has been, at least up to now, comfortable, secure, and predictable becomes stifling: “Such was the way in Jewish North West London – no one ever disappeared. Instead his contemporaries circled in its gravity, returning from college to rent houses in Hendon, or buy first flats in West Hampstead, held in orbit by the hot sun of the community. And during brief periods away – a year seconded to a law firm in Shanghai, for example, or a residency at an Edinburgh hospital – their parents were still in place and in contact, so that everyone’s coordinates remained logged. It had only been at university that he had understood just how unusual it was that he could list the whereabouts of all of his nursery school classmates. He could say if they were married or fat or employed by the civil service. He knew, for the most part, their sexual histories. Unless from a very small village, his fellow students found it incomprehensible. Even in a small village, in fact, when people leave there is little expectation of return.” (Ch 1)I think I would likely have enjoyed The Innocents somewhat less had I not been familiar with The Age of Innocence. But Segal does a good job of retelling Wharton’s classic, and I was interested in her modern portrayal of a closed, staid society – and the ways in which characters’ lives are thus influenced and governed. There are parallels other than the few I’ve mentioned here, also well done by Segal. And I was impressed that Segal neither condoned or condemned elite, traditional society – she simply told her story. An impressive effort for a debut novel. Recommended with the suggestion that readers first experience The Age of Innocence.“It was more than possession, more than union, more than love. It was absolute confidence. It was certainty, and a promise of certainty always.” (Ch 1)
    • 5/5
      I'm incredibly impressed with this book - there are passages, especially early on, that follow Edith Wharton's Age of Innocence so closely I could feel them coming before they got there - Ellie's shocking debut in public with Rachel's family, Jasper's savage comment cruelly placing her within the context of her mortifying scandal, Adam Newman's musings on how supportive he is of women's independence, as long as it doesn't pose a threat to himself, the vivdly brave and nonconformist grandmother firmly supporting Ellie, a wealthy and reclusive couple giving Ellie shelter, Adam and Ellie's forbidden rendezvous in Paris, and a Madoff scandal shattering the snowglobe of identity and tradition holding them all together so tightly. Check, check, check, check, check, check.But it isn't Francesca Segal's close adherence to the original that I loved, it was her fantastic departures: The setting is a Jewish community in London, two generations removed from the diaspora after World War II (meaning: now). The musical weaving of German, Yiddish and Hebrew words, without patronizing the reader with translations, food described so marvelously this novel could serve as an Ashkenazi newlywed's menu planner, the plot advancing through the Jewish holidays rather than Wharton's tiresome New York social season...and every once in a while, just when you start to wonder why departures from the norm would be so catastrophic for these 21st Century characters, why they can't just get a grip and jump out of the nest - a piercing and genuinely moving reference to the intifada in Israel or the devastation of the Holocaust.Segal's modernizing touches ring true and set some of Wharton's plot twists in a better light - the Madoff scandal hits a more dramatic target, Ellie's scandal is modern, credible, and is the kind of scandal that would evoke the sort of revulsion, embarrassment, protectiveness and fascination that the character's had towards Wharton's Eleanor. What astounded me about Edith Wharton's original was how shockingly modern and immediate it was, even though it's 100 years old: An overly cherished young man afflicted with ingratitude and fickleness (he's the fictional equivalent of every man ever put on The Bachelor's bidding block), a New York society that hasn't changed since, and a ponzi scheme that borders on prophesy. What made me place Francesa Segal's version above Edith Wharton's was the opposite - she gave Adam a real reason for his infatuation with Ellie, and rather than embracing modernity, she showed all the ways these families are playing out the trauma and recovery after the Shoah. The Innocents is a gift to readers who think literature, like history and culture, should live on forever, transformed by the times, and passed from one generation to the next.
    • 3/5
      A story about appreciating what you have and wondering what might be . . .A slogging and slow story that never really grabbed me. The locations were hard to follow at times (could be because I'm not familiar with London) and the characters did not all seem fully developed, nor could I understand what made them "tick". It wasn't until the end that I truly appreciated the story (although I never liked any of the characters).
    • 3/5
      I'm not going to review this book based on the fact that it is a remake of "Age of Innocence." I haven't read Wharton's novel, only this one, so I can't compare the two. I also can't come in to reading this with the idea in mind that this is going to be an amazing thing because it is the remake of what everyone says is an amazing thing. I can come into this saying that I picked it up only because it was on the Women's Prize longlist and I am trying to read all of the books that have been in contention for that prize. I can also say that this book wasn't bad, but it wasn't my style either.The story is one of a man who is about to get married to one woman, but can't keep his mind off her cousin. I felt sort of cranky the entire time I listened to it. (I have the audio version.) I can't really explain why I felt this way, because I generally enjoy a book that looks at relationships within a family or between friends. This story though, I felt was more fussy than thoughtful. I loved the writing, just couldn't find myself enjoying the story enough to let the writing bring me out of slump that the story had thrown me in. I'd love to give it another try some time, I think it deserves that chance.
    • 3/5
      Received for ReviewOverall Rating 2.5Story Rating 3.0Character Rating 2.0NOTE: I think Francesca Segal has a beautiful writing style. This is the first book I have read by her and I will read her again.What I Loved: I loved learning more about the Jewish culture in England. The story weaved in details that were so rich and amazing that you could imagine what the daily lives of these particular people were like. I was pretty much WOW'd by the amount of rich detail that Francesca was able to include without making you feel hit over the head with it!What I Liked: Jaffa (I probably spelled that wrong the book is not in front of me) was an amazing character. She was wise, caring, and was able to see things that other people missed. She took people at what they were and did not feel the need to judge them on what anyone else thought about them.What wasn't for me: Pretty much every other character in the story was unappealing to me. I thought I would like Ellie (the outsider) but we just never got enough of the story from her POV to make me want to be her champion. I felt sorry and/or pity for Rachel BUT towards the end I felt like she let her life happen to her. Adam was utterly unlikable to me from the beginning and I never warmed up to him. In fiction, I need someone to root for and I just didn't have that in this story.Final thought: This book is very well-liked by others and you should take that into consideration. When characters are a problem for a reader, it often means these same characters will appeal to other readers. That is such a personal thing! Francesca's writing though was beyond beautiful and the story flowed effortlessly. You really should give it a try.
    • 3/5
      From the very first page to the final chapter of the book, the reader knows that Francesca Segal’s The Innocents is a deft modern retelling of Edith Wharton’s Age of Innocence. Adam Newman and Newland Archer are two peas in a pod: both trapped within the social constraints of their communities; blindly at first, then angrily and resentfully later in the story. Both are engaged to sweet, innocent, and somewhat bland women; and both have their eyes opened to the harsh, messy, beautiful and electrifying possibilities of the world by “ruined” and unsuitable cousins. Segal does a lovely job of updating the cultural circumstances of the story. The Innocents is set in a close-knit Jewish community in London, where conservative elders are still shocked and disapproving of promiscuity and scandal. In our world divorce is so common that it’s almost expected, but the reader has no trouble believing that Adam is trapped in an engagement, with the responsibility for the happiness and well-being of an entire community resting on his shoulders. This isn’t to say that Segal’s book is an exact replica of Wharton’s. Segal’s characters are more self-aware than Wharton’s, and the reader gets the impression that these modern characters are trapped more by their own indecision than by any vulnerability to social rise or ruin. Also (not to give anything away) Segal chooses to end her story somewhat differently than Wharton did. In conclusion, fans of The Age of Innocence should enjoy the parallels, while Wharton newbies will look forward to every new plot twist Segal brings to the page.
    • 2/5
      I read this book because of rave reviews in the press. I even finished it because I hate to abandon a book unless it is really terrible. It is well written but just another story of 20s something angst in a closed society and the difficulties and comforts that conformance to societal norms produce. In this case, the closed society is the London Jewish community. Segal does a reasonable job of describing that community. However, I found the book boring ... if that is the correct antonym of "page-turner". I thought perhaps it is more of a female book than a male book, but my wife hated it and abandoned it.
    • 4/5
      Booker Prize winner Howard Jacobson is probably the name that currently springs to mind if one is looking for novels about the experience of being Jewish in modern day Britain. Unfortunately, I have so far failed to warm to any of his books that I have started. Segal's book is a less self-consciously serious creation that is more likely to be shortlisted by Richard and Judy than by a Booker panel, but I do not think that is a bad thing. For me it was an entertaining read, that offered me an insight into a community I knew little about.The novel is split into two parts. The first concentrates on the strengths of the close-knit community in which Adam and Rachel have spent most of their lives. This is a community in which everyone knows everyone, where most people still know their classmates from school, where mothers are all powerful, and where people's personal and professional lives are also closely intertwined. There may be clear signs of danger for the pair's long-lasting relationship, but the predominant tone of this part of the book is one of safety and continuity.There are, of course, few novels in which things run smoothly from start to finish: that is not the stuff of which drama is made. Accordingly, things take a turn for the worse in the second part. One element of this has been clearly flagged from the start, but the dangers of that blurred line between the professional and personal provided, for me at least, a more surprising additional crisis.The least convincing element for me was the use of the premature death of his father to excuse Adam's behaviour. I got the impression that his actions might actually be better be explained as a by-product of gliding through life without ever really taking risks and only ever doing what was expected.Food is obviously a significant part of Jewish life. One of my favourite lines (which I did not note and have not been able to find) suggests that all Jewish festivals are essential about the same thing. It goes something like 'they tried to kill us, they failed, so let's eat' - a rather neat summation of a few thousand years of history.
    • 3/5
      A story about Adam getting married to his perfect woman, Rachel and the complications when he is confronted with his own desires for the not-so-perfect cousin Ellie. The book is advertised as a modern version of Edith Wharton’s “The Age of Innocence,” which is does a good job recreating the social constraints necessary in Wharton’s book by setting the story in a very close knit Jewish neighborhood in London with all the customs and cultural restraints attached. The unfortunate part of this comparison is that the book is compared to Edith Wharton and that is a lot for a writer to be compared to. Overall, a compelling story about desires and constraints, though I think this would be a better read for readers unfamiliar with the original work.
    • 4/5
      The Innocents by Francesca SegalThe Innocents, the story of a group of young Jewish friends, offshoot acquaintances and their families living in London, is at times quirky, funny, sad and quite humorous. Even through the sadness of parts of the story one can see the selfishness yet also the redeeming qualities of most of the characters in this book.Adam, our protagonist is in his late twenties and has been seeing & dating Rachel since their mid-teens. When they finally get engaged, which everyone had been waiting for, all of the Jewish community around them celebrate the event and are very happy that it has finally come about. Adam is an attorney who works for and with Lawrence, Rachel's father who loves Adam like a son. Rachel works as a teacher if my recollection is correct. They have a tight knit group of very good friends with whom they go out, have intellectual conversations with and enjoy spending time with.Into their lives comes Ellie, the American cousin of Rachel. Orphaned at a young age she was raised by family members. Ellie is the girl whom everyone wants to think of as 'the bad girl'. And matters do indeed get into a twist upon her arrival. The young men all think she is hot and the women all can't wait to gossip about her and her past and what they think will happen now that she is here. Adam becomes very confused in what/who he wants and there is a pulling back and forth within himself throughout most of the book. He agonizes over decisions that he cannot make. Also in the story there are events that were all consuming to me as I read them; some of them very intense. Almost all the reviews I have read about this book compare it to Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence but I have to admit that though I have read the Wharton twice, I didn't give it a thought while reading The Innocents. I loved how Segal grew her characters so simply and easily that one knew them before one realized the character had gone from A to B and we didn't see the changing until we had that realization. I found all of her characters to be very interesting and well suited to the story. Also I loved the writing in this book. It flowed very nicely.I do recommend The Innocents and rated it a 3 1/2 out of 5 stars.
    • 4/5
      I am a big fan of Laura Lippman's work. This story about five friends; Gordon (GoGo), Mickey, Gwen, Sean and Tim was very character driven with a slightly weak plot.The five friends make a habit of playing in the woods near their homes, until a tragic event occurs which alters their lives and their parents lives forever.The story drags between past and present without a clear understanding of whose story is being told.
    • 3/5
      ‘As five we were mighty, the points on a star…Once we five joined, it was never boys against girls…Two of our triangles cut themselves off and ran away together, and we were never whole again. Never.’Years ago, they were the best of friends. But as time passed, they grew apart, became adults with families of their own, and began to forget about the past – and the terrible lies they shared.But now Gordon, the youngest and wildest of the five, has died and the others are thrown together for the first time in years.Could their long-ago lie be the reason for their troubles today? Is it more dangerous to admit to what they’d done or is it the strain of keeping the secret that is beginning to wear down on their souls.My Thoughts:What appealed to me about this book was it’s cover and the fact that mark Billingham has found the book compelling and suspenseful. That alone is good enough for me.However I just can’t make up my mind about it. I enjoyed the story of the children growing up, running around wild and free in the woods until that fatal day. The second half of the story focused I think on every character in the book which I found a bit too much. The final section had the big reveal which having read this far I just had to find out. Which infact wasn’t really so big as what I hoped it would be.Did I like this book, well maybe but there were things that I didn’t like. I felt I was watching one of them movies that I just had to watch to see how things were going to end and then I felt well why did I bother. What bugged me was that there was another person who narrates the first part about the children and that person is never known and never revealed. If there were clues then I just didn’t find them.Books like this niggle me because I never can make up my mind if I liked it or not. Part of me says yes and part of says no way. The more I muster on it the more I think I am going to say no I didn’t enjoy it but maybe if it were made into a tv series/film then I would watch it to see how it is potrayed.
    • 5/5
      It can be a dangerous thing to take on a retelling of a much beloved classic. Witness the ravaging P.D. James has suffered at the hands of the Jane-Austen-ites. Francesca Segal has bravely taken on "The Age of Innocence" which had made Edith Wharton the first ever female Pulitzer Prize winner. A huge Wharton fan, I was curious as to how the tale would survive modernization. I am happy to reporting was successful on all counts. Segal's setting within the clannish environs of a London Jewish community mirrors nicely with the same inbred protective sensibilities of upper crust Gilded Age New York City. I bought this volume at the bookstore at The Mount, Edith Wharton's Lenox MA estate. I believe should would approve of this lovely effort.