What do you think?
Rate this book
The Electric Affinities
The Electric Affinities A Novel by Wade Stevenson The Electric Affinities examines the interior lives and motives of six affluent, artistic friends as they struggle to find love and meaning in the summer of 1969, “the year that changed everything.” Set in the Hamptons and New York City, the novel brilliantly captures the decadent, freedom-loving lifestyles of characters trapped in a “prison of opulence.” Andre, a film director with a volatile temper and Robert, a romantic, yet self-absorbed, Vietnam War veteran, are obsessed with the enigmatic Maya, a former Vogue model; free-spirited Carolina, seeks solace in a quest for spiritual transcendence while her own relationship crumbles; French-born Louise sacrifices her own dreams in a self-appointed role as Maya’s protector; and Ben, the older, wildly successful architect, avoids confronting his own loneliness as he fills his Sag Harbor home with lovely, yet broken souls. The paths these characters take mirror the disillusionment inherent in the late ‘60’s, as they turn inward in a quest for self-understanding that presages the attitudes of the “Me Generation” of the 1970s. The Electric Affinities encompasses the excitement of youth, sexual freedom, mistakes, and ultimate losses that lead to the sober awakening from a dreamlike existence to a clear-eyed understanding of the realities of life.
327 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
1 person is currently reading
4 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 13, 2014
This is my review for The Electric Affinities. All opinions included are my own and were in no way influenced by anyone else.
This book is a beautifully written book and flows a bit like a stream of consciousness book as opposed to one that follows more rigid plot structure. I can't really say whether it's good or bad, because it's really not either. I think it's more that it's simply not my cup of tea and not really the type of book I enjoy. I think I'm more of a conventional girl who likes her books to have a real beginning, middle and end with a plot that makes sense to me.
The story follows a group of seemingly unrelated people who seem to have nothing in common other than Ben, who is the unconventional patriarch of the group. They have gathered at his home in Sag Harbor to party the away the summer of 1969. Ben is an affluent architect who has adopted this group of young people as his surrogate family, replacing the one he no longer has. He lives vicariously through their youth. Andre, the violent tempered and troubled filmmaker and his girlfriend Maya. Louise the wallflower who is Maya's friend and surrogate mother. Ben, the idealistic and disillusioned Vietnam vet and his girlfriend Carolina, a free-spirit, summer of love hippie.
You follow them as they go through months of discovering themselves and rediscovering themselves. There is the obligatory "free love" that ends up turning into a rather tragic love triangle within a triangle. The resolution of this tangled web is unfortunately unsatisfying and rather conventional. Sex and drugs are ever present as is the discussion of the meaning of life, why are we here, how can I change, how can I be more free? Each person seems to be on their own journey to figure out who they are and what they want to be.
This is a rather difficult book to follow because it doesn't really flow the same as most other books. I don't think it's a necessarily bad thing, but it does make it a bit more of a difficult book to get into for some people. It took me much longer than usual to get through the book and I think I'll have to go back and read it again in the future just to make sure I "get" it.
If you want a book filled with beautiful prose, descriptive language, interesting people and a time warp back to 1969, this would definitely be the book for you.
This book is a beautifully written book and flows a bit like a stream of consciousness book as opposed to one that follows more rigid plot structure. I can't really say whether it's good or bad, because it's really not either. I think it's more that it's simply not my cup of tea and not really the type of book I enjoy. I think I'm more of a conventional girl who likes her books to have a real beginning, middle and end with a plot that makes sense to me.
The story follows a group of seemingly unrelated people who seem to have nothing in common other than Ben, who is the unconventional patriarch of the group. They have gathered at his home in Sag Harbor to party the away the summer of 1969. Ben is an affluent architect who has adopted this group of young people as his surrogate family, replacing the one he no longer has. He lives vicariously through their youth. Andre, the violent tempered and troubled filmmaker and his girlfriend Maya. Louise the wallflower who is Maya's friend and surrogate mother. Ben, the idealistic and disillusioned Vietnam vet and his girlfriend Carolina, a free-spirit, summer of love hippie.
You follow them as they go through months of discovering themselves and rediscovering themselves. There is the obligatory "free love" that ends up turning into a rather tragic love triangle within a triangle. The resolution of this tangled web is unfortunately unsatisfying and rather conventional. Sex and drugs are ever present as is the discussion of the meaning of life, why are we here, how can I change, how can I be more free? Each person seems to be on their own journey to figure out who they are and what they want to be.
This is a rather difficult book to follow because it doesn't really flow the same as most other books. I don't think it's a necessarily bad thing, but it does make it a bit more of a difficult book to get into for some people. It took me much longer than usual to get through the book and I think I'll have to go back and read it again in the future just to make sure I "get" it.
If you want a book filled with beautiful prose, descriptive language, interesting people and a time warp back to 1969, this would definitely be the book for you.
March 6, 2014
I got the distinct impression a lot of drugs were done during the writing of this book. As I was not alive during the 60’s and 70’s I can only assume this was not uncommon based on the history books, but wow, it must be nice to have lots of money to buy lots of drugs to help you ponder the meaning of life and be able to get it wrong so many times and start over. Honestly, it was a well written and fabulously descriptive in its characters, particularly in their unstable emotional states, but I just found myself really not rooting for anybody. The book kind of answered the question nobody asked, at least nobody who is not completely preoccupied with their own internal turmoil. And really who has time for that? A story just as good and only a paragraph long was the Preface, about how the author found the notes for the book in a long lost cave in Paris. I actually thought that was more esoteric and fateful than the “resolution” of the Robert and Maya story. Still, if you are looking to get your groove on, this is the book for you.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews