EricaO

The premise of this book snagged me as much as the cover (I know not to judge a book by it's cover. Shut up about it already). A woman's husband dies in an accident and she's miserable until she finds out he didn't really die...that he is actually still alive somewhere and, even weirder, his grandson who looks just like him is the one to tell the wife? How could this be? I SO wanted to read the book based on that.
Unfortunately, I think the book was a bit confused. The story could have been told in a serious fashion, like The Time Traveler's Wife or it could have been told in fairy tale fashion. It could have been lighthearted and whimsical or it could have had serious underpinnings of depth and mixed emotions. It tried to do both and I think that's where it mainly failed. It's not light, cute chick-lit and it's not sci-fi/fantasy and it's not serious. There's just nothing to hold onto.
I had a problem with the language, as well, in general. Bits like, "He wiped the sweat from his brow. A cloud drifted overhead. The air cooled enough for a breath of hope." This describes a guy who is going home, not sweating in the hot afternoon sun. It's unnecessary to build up to the part where he feels estranged from his family...because the big build-up comes right after the little build up: "He had left as a husband and a father but on each return he felt more and more like a stranger. Maybe this reunion with his family would be different. The sun broke through. Salt dripped into his eyes. MORE WELLED IN THEM." Really? It's just too much for me, too high school, too trying-too-hard.
Another problem I had was that there were too many short stories. A story within a story is fine...it's fairly common so we're used to it. But a story within a story during another story? Shelley's present + Shelley and Max's past + All of Max's pasts throughout the ages is too much.
I didn't like Shelley. She does nothing to distinguish herself. She's flaky and pouty and childish (not in an endearing way) I do not believe she'd have caught Max's eye. Max is rather flat, as well. He's flippant and cute and charming...which probably wouldn't be the case for a guy who'd been around for umpteen hundred years. Their conversations are often stilted and contrived. His set-ups to historical information sound as if they were copied-and-pasted from Lonely Planet guides.
I think I should have been glad that Shelley, at very long last, finally did something for herself (she never had to do anything for herself throughout the book; all decisions were made for her) and took a stance. I would rather have had her kidnapped and tortured by the other immortal guy, but I was ok with her finally doing something with her life, even if it was melodramatically romantic.

However, it was a quick read (despite my taking a month to get through it) and as I said before, the premise was so fascinating to me, so it wasn't a total bust.