The Divide - Nicholas Evans

There's no doubt that Evans can write well and you can't deny the impact he achieves with the opening scene of The Divide, the mood and tone perfect for the discovery of a body by two skiers in the Montana wilderness, or the emotional force he achieves with the gut-wrenching reaction the discovery has on the parents of the dead girl. 

The correctness of tone and quality of the writing is maintained throughout the main section of the novel, a flashback sequence which recounts the events leading up to the present. There's a strong thematic coherence as well, capturing in the break-up of the Cooper family the deep sense of a divide and shift in attitudes between class, generations and their relative values in modern-day America, particularly with regard to environmental issues. The division between the old world and a post 9/11 loss of innocence however seems a bit forced. 

It is all a little neat - particularly the well-wrapped conclusion - but Evans manages to capture this well without overemphasis, and keeps the reader involved in the family's progress - the conflicts between the parents and their in-laws, the development of the children and their coming of age, their love-affairs and their disappointments. But no matter how well-drawn the characters are and how well described their pain - and it can be deeply wrenching in places - it's all a bit "textbook". At heart The Divide is just a big family relationship drama and not a particularly original one either.

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