Peeking Between the Pages

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Book Review: A Change in Altitude by Anita Shreve

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A Change in Altitude is the latest by Anita Shreve. I’ve been an Anita Shreve fan for a while with my favorite remaining The Pilot’s Wife. In A Change in Altitude, Shreve takes us on a journey through a couple’s relationship and a climb up Mount Kenya which she in fact did herself and this in turn ended up giving us a much more vivid view in our minds of what this must have been like for them.

The story is about Margaret and Patrick, a young couple who decide to move to Kenya for a year for Patrick to further his career in medicine. They’ve only been married a few months and things are difficult for Margaret as she has no job and things are much different for her in Kenya compared to home. Eventually she takes up photography again and this takes her on a journey through Kenya in which she is able to see both the good and the devastating living conditions of some.

They meet another couple, Arthur and Diana, who invite them to climb Mount Kenya with them. Margaret, despite serious misgivings finally gives in to the pressure Patrick is exerting on her to agree to go. Margaret doesn’t do too well on the climb up as she isn’t in the best shape for this kind of thing. However it isn’t this that throws the whole trip into chaos – it is the unimaginable tragedy that occurs – a tragedy that not only splits people apart but leaves a young marriage in turmoil.

Margaret and Patrick return home and try to pick up the pieces of their lives but they are left with serious questions about each other and are having trouble working their way back to the happily married couple they first were. Patrick buries himself in his work and Margaret in her photography and a new friendship which is making her question her marriage and what it means to her.

Shreve definitely paints a vivid description of Africa and the climb up Mount Kenya and that I enjoyed but what was missing in this novel for me was the connection I like to feel to at least some of the characters. I had trouble with Margaret’s and Patrick’s relationship; for a newly married couple it just didn’t seem right. Margaret didn’t stand up for herself as much as I would have wished and I found Patrick mean and arrogant at times in his treatment of her.

Ultimately this novel is about relationships; something that Shreve writes well. It shows how one small moment in which one loses trust in their partner can throw a whole relationship upside down and how they can try to work their way back if they’re determined enough. While this isn’t one of my favorites of Anita Shreve’s, it was still a good read for me. You can buy A Change in Altitude here in the US and here in Canada.

My Thanks…
—to Hachette Book Group for my review copy of A Change in Altitude by Anita Shreve

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  1. I mentioned in other reviews of the book that the plot seems to be similar to E.M. Forster's A Passage to India, an English classic published in the 1920s.

  2. I had my eye on this book. I was wondering what it was about. My favorite was "White on Snow" have you read that one?

  5. Darlene, thanks for the review on this book. I love Anita Shreve, so I guess I'll be adding yet another book to my wish list!! My husband never has to worry about a Christmas book list does he-LOL!!!

  6. I hate to say it but it seems Anita Shreve has slipped a notch since A Wedding in December and hasn't yet managed to regain her footing. I'll still read this one but I'm in no great hurry. With the exception of All He Ever Wanted (didn't really care for that one either) I found her earlier novels hard to put down, finishing in days rather than weeks. The Weight of Water is my favourite!

  7. I just finished Testimony, my first book of hers and am interested in reading this one next. Great review!

  9. I thought this book sounded a little different than the other Shreve books I've read, and I have to ask…was there a Shreve twist? She always seems to throw in a doozie somewhere!

  10. Your blog is very pretty… Anyway,
    I would like to tell you that I am soliciting book reviews for my blog and I will be giving away jewelry set in exchange for book review. For details, please visit my blog: http://mylastread.blogspot.com/2009/01/blog-post.html

    Your review has to be a review of a book that I had not read or reviewed. (let me know what book your review is about and I will tell you if it's one that I had read or not)

    Hope to hear from you soon.

  11. I'm glad to see you liked this one because I trust your opinion and the reviews seem to be mixed.

  12. A friend, who has read every Shreve book, says Shreve is back with this one. Sounds like you might not totally agree.

    And can I just say how much I love your header every time I open your page!

  13. I like Shreve too and I know that I will eventually read this one. Great insights on this one Dar!

  16. Does this one carry any of the same characters or places that her other books do? That's what I kind of liked about the ones that I've read except I wish I would have known that going in and read them in order. I think Weight of Water is my favorite but liked Pilot's Wife, too.

  18. What a great review, Dar! I loved The Pilot's Wife. This one sounds so good too. There is something about the cover that just makes me want to hug someone, lol.

  21. I had a hard time with the only book I have read by Shreve, and I am a little wary of reading her in the future, but I thought your review was really interesting well written.

  22. I really liked this one too! Probably a bit more than you because I just took their relationship from what it was. They seemed haphazard and disconnected from the beginning so I liked the Margaret was exploring for answers. Great review!

  24. Shreve seems to be hit or miss for me. I still have Testimony in my tbr, but I think Fortune's Rocks is my favorite.