"An Improbable Pairing" follows a graduate student from the US, Scott Stoddard who is traveling to Switzerland to get his degree in international relations in the 1960s. The book begins with him seeing a beautiful older woman on the boat he is traveling on. He dates various younger women his own age before finally reaching out to and getting together with Desiree, the older but rich and beautiful Countess.
This book was really hard for me to get into. The characters felt very flat and the writing felt very aloof. I did not feel like I was engaged with the story or the people in it. Scott was a bit meandering and a little rude to the women he dated. He seemed to give them little pause, and I do not think I cared for him much. As such, particularly since he is the character from whose point-of-view the story is told, it made it that much harder to get into.
Adding onto that, despite the fact that the story is from the 1960s, it had the air of a much older time period. I didn't feel like I was in the 1960s but would have found it more believably the 1860s. I did not feel engaged with the setting either. There was also meant to be a thing about women's equality, but I just didn't see it much. Maybe, if I squinted really hard, I could pick up some small pieces of it. For instance, when they first go out and she pays for the meal without him knowing and he expresses displeasure as he wanted to pay and then immediately backs down when she says it makes her happy because he doesn't want to reduce her pleasure. Sure, fine, but it doesn't really get into the core of the issues or why or even that it's about any equality. She is an older, divorced woman with a lot of money, and he is a young student, so I should think these things would be more common.
In terms of the romance, I did not really feel any of the passion. He comments on her beauty, but the attraction didn't really come through in the book. It felt a little flat, almost like being told from a great distance without any of the elements that would really draw you into their story.
For me, this book was just not my style. I imagine there's an audience for it as the writing is good grammatically and the storyline is intriguing, but for me, it was just too flat.
Please note that I received an ARC from the publisher through bookish first. All opinions are my own.
This book was really hard for me to get into. The characters felt very flat and the writing felt very aloof. I did not feel like I was engaged with the story or the people in it. Scott was a bit meandering and a little rude to the women he dated. He seemed to give them little pause, and I do not think I cared for him much. As such, particularly since he is the character from whose point-of-view the story is told, it made it that much harder to get into.
Adding onto that, despite the fact that the story is from the 1960s, it had the air of a much older time period. I didn't feel like I was in the 1960s but would have found it more believably the 1860s. I did not feel engaged with the setting either. There was also meant to be a thing about women's equality, but I just didn't see it much. Maybe, if I squinted really hard, I could pick up some small pieces of it. For instance, when they first go out and she pays for the meal without him knowing and he expresses displeasure as he wanted to pay and then immediately backs down when she says it makes her happy because he doesn't want to reduce her pleasure. Sure, fine, but it doesn't really get into the core of the issues or why or even that it's about any equality. She is an older, divorced woman with a lot of money, and he is a young student, so I should think these things would be more common.
In terms of the romance, I did not really feel any of the passion. He comments on her beauty, but the attraction didn't really come through in the book. It felt a little flat, almost like being told from a great distance without any of the elements that would really draw you into their story.
For me, this book was just not my style. I imagine there's an audience for it as the writing is good grammatically and the storyline is intriguing, but for me, it was just too flat.
Please note that I received an ARC from the publisher through bookish first. All opinions are my own.