|
 |
No deep thinking involved with
Second Chance By Christine
Welsh There exists a distinct class difference between a mystery, a black comedy and a trashy romance novel. Some would even argue that a love story and a trashy romance novel are not the same thing, but merit categories of their own. For our purposes, however, let's stick to good versus bad within the category of trashy romance novels. Before delving deeper into that distinction, it is appropriate to declare that in no way is the category's title intended to be indicative of the quality of the writing. (A "trashy novel" is only comparable to hospital waste if it genuinely is crap.) After all, one man's trash is another man's treasure, and a Boston rocker, tossed away by one, may be just perfect in someone else's living room. Barbara O'Neill's "Second Chance" is a first class trashy romance novel of the new couch for the den variety. Set in Boston and Burlington, Vermont, "Second Chance" is the type of entertainment for which a complex analysis of each character is utterly unnecessary. The two people we get to know are Chance Macauley and her recently returned former love, Nick Tremaine. All we need to bond with is the need they still feel for each other. The rest is appropriately omitted. There is no real political statement to be taken from this novel, nor is there any hint of the kind of issue-ridden internal personal conflict that rears its ugly little head in so many of today's acclaimed novels. Instead, Nick Tremaine finds work at a Boston-based advertising firm called SLF, where his job is to win a very important diet foods manufacturer's account. To his surprise, that is not all he wants to win at SLF; he is working alongside the woman whose heart he left behind five years ago. The two set to work sharing creative brainstorms and trying to align their differing ideas to make a winning advertising scheme to propose to their client, Martin Foods. Chance Macauley, the dame, knows that she still hears fireworks at the sight of the man she once loved. After five years of trying to get over him, Chance just cannot decide if true love indeed means she should give Nick Tremaine another chance. A few sweet words and a kiss, however, and he has her hooked. Aside from that, the grandest struggle endured in "Second Chance" is a sprained ankle. Okay, so that is not exactly all there is to it. Nick's reason for leaving five years ago was that he had reason to believe he had a debilitating and fatal genetic disorder. He never told Chance that, however, and now that he has an opportunity to win her heart once again, he feels he owes her the truth. The beauty of a trashy novel is that all problems are resolved - in record time - and it doesn't detract from the quality of the book. In fact, a trashy novel accused of being meaningful or complex would be forced to hang its head in shame and never make it into anyone's beach bag. Likewise, without some conflict, the story would be completely uninteresting. O'Neill weaves minor tangles into "Second Chance" without burdening the reader with them. Nick Tremaine's confession goes off with remarkably little difficulty. When he breaks the news to Chance that he never stopped loving her, Chance feels hurt that he did not put more trust in her loyalty. Nick explains (in his most heartfelt tone) that he simply did not want her to have to watch him die. He and Chance, naturally, find themselves together in many a successfully steamy sex scene thereafter. Barbara O'Neill's first novel, "Second Chance", is light reading at its best. The publisher, Periwinkle Press is the author's own small press and they can both be found in Danville. Copyright © 2000 HIPPOPRESS LLC. All rights reserved. |
|
|||||