Bookwhit

Title: The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper

Author: Phaedra Patrick

Published: May 3rd 2016 by MIRA

Genre: Mystery, Adult, Contemporary Fiction

Stars: 3.5        Content Rating: 1

Synopsis:

Sixty-nine-year-old Arthur Pepper lives a simple life. He gets out of bed at precisely 7:30 a.m., just as he did when his wife, Miriam, was alive. He dresses in the same gray slacks and mustard sweater vest, waters his fern, Frederica, and heads out to his garden.

But on the one-year anniversary of Miriam’s death, something changes. Sorting through Miriam’s possessions, Arthur finds an exquisite gold charm bracelet he’s never seen before. What follows is a surprising and unforgettable odyssey that takes Arthur from London to Paris and as far as India in an epic quest to find out the truth about his wife’s secret life before they met–a journey that leads him to find hope, healing and self-discovery in the most unexpected places.
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Today was our second meeting for my book club. It was a small group but that was fine! I love getting together but this book was harder to talk about. I should have been more prepared with topics and questions! I’ll make sure I am in the future. Our last book was so easy to relate to and empathize with the characters. There were so many different things to get a discussion going that I didn’t worry about writing things down to talk about. Now this one was harder but still had it merits. It was slow going at first and a little bit harder to relate to since the main character is an older man, but a still a good one I think.

We all agreed that this would make a more interesting movie than book. I’d love to watch this old man on these adventures. His character and expressions would be great to see on the big screen. Arthur has never wanted to leave England, let alone his little town. He is happy with the simple things. He has his little routine and it never varies. To watch some one learn and grown and try new things at his stage in life is pretty interesting. His personal growth was good to see. Like I said, it was slow in the beginning but once you got into it a little bit it turns into more of a mystery. Arthur started out sad and depressed. Not wanting to leave his house or get dressed. Once he decided to learn about the charms and his wife’s past it got him out of the house. Being social and meeting people and doing things he would never have done. I was very impressed with his character meeting all types of people and never judging them but trying to help them. His relationships with his friends and family grew stronger and he met new friends along the way.

This isn’t a book I devoured but I thought the message was a good one and that it really was a charming read. It was interesting enough to hold my attention with the little bit of mystery and I like reading British books. The different words are fun. To me this one would have been a great vacation read. In the end this book was Arthur’s adventure to self discovery and I liked it.

Thanks for reading!