Fault Lines

by Anne Rivers Siddons

Approaching exhaustion after years of caring for her family, Merritt Fowler joins her daughter and sister in California, where an earthquake brings them closer together

Genres: Fiction, Chick Lit, Southern, Romance, Family, Womens Fiction, Drama

602 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1995

About the author

Born Sybil Anne Rivers in Atlanta, Georgia, she was raised in Fairburn, Georgia, and attended Auburn University, where she was a member of the Delta Delta Delta Sorority.

While at Auburn she wrote a column for the student newspaper, The Auburn Plainsman, that favored integration. The university administration attempted to suppress the column, and ultimately fired her, and the column garnered national attention. She later became a senior editor for Atlanta magazine.

At the age of thirty she married Heyward Siddons, and she and her husband lived in Charleston, South Carolina, and spent summers in Maine. Siddons died of lung cancer on September 11, 2019

Reviews

[Suzy Black · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm an Anne Rivers Siddons fan, and this book was my absolute favorite - I keep a copy of it on my Kindle so that I can refer back to a couple of my favorite passages - passages that still mean a lot to me on a personal level - and ones that make me cry every time I read them. I'm not sure it would be everyone's favorite (I'll have to admit that it's a bit sappy), but I loved it

[Lorna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fault Lines by Anne Rivers Siddons was an intense and powerful book about three women from Georgia on a life-changing road trip up the California coast with all of its awe and beauty. The protagonist Merritt Fowler is the wife of a prominent physician but after eighteen years of marriage, they have their issues, including their sixteen-year old daughter wanting to pursue acting dreams like her beautiful Aunt Laura in Hollywood. And Laura the bohemian younger sister of Merritt seems to always have a crisis needing the attention of her sister, Merritt. When circumstances bring them together in California, there are plans for a trip up the coast as they travel to the mountains above Santa Cruz in the midst of the giant and majestic redwood trees, there are warnings of an earthquake. What transpires is a riveting and powerful story. While I enjoyed much of the book, parts of it were a little much moving this into the realm of chick lit, not my favorite. But all in all the ending of the book made up for any faults.

This is such a beautiful part of California, that I will leave you with the following quotation:

“It was like walking through a Japanese watercolor. The edges of everything were faded and blurred, but a few details—the feathery lower branches of the redwoods, the dry-brush tips of the great ferns, here and there a stump or a boulder with its base wreathed in flowers and more fern fronds—swam into focus now and then, as sharp and clear as if they were emerging from developing fluid. The fog stilled the sound of the rustling undergrowth and the calls of the morning birds, even my footsteps in the gravel.”

[Esther · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m not quite sure why I picked up this book - blurbs like “circumstances that will forever change the lives of all three women” are kryptonite to me. People ‘finding themselves’ is not my thing especially when an affair is used to get a marriage back on track.

It started off better than expected and in the first few chapters I so wanted to smack Pom I found it upsetting.
By the time Pring was also turning out to be a total rat I was getting a little weary with the women tangling themselves in knots trying to cope with this behavior and Ms Siddons was using the word alabaster too frequently.

Then the scene moves to the Redwoods where our main character is obviously going to find herself, and also earthquakes.
At this point the language switches from bordering on the flowery to repetitive dialog, particularly the inner dialog. Seemingly endless paragraphs are spent discussing feelings and how these feelings make them feel and how these feelings make them act and how they feel about how these feelings are making them act or feel or …. Heck only knows because I had stopped paying attention.

The romance was dry and dull. The tragedy was extremely predictable and left me unmoved.
Everyone else lived happily ever after (except Forrest - nobody seemed concerned about the poor rat) and the only character I really wanted to make it out alive was Curtis the dog.

I would recommend to some who likes a better class of chic-lit with a half-decent language style and more concerned about feelings than fashion.

[debbicat *made of stardust* · Rating 5 out of 5]

Man! The woman can write!!! It’s been a long time since I’ve read an ARS. My favorite by her is UpIsland I’ve read it more than once. I’m not one to read a book 📚 more than once too often.

This one had all the feels. Seriously. I loved it. I laughed. I cried. Related easily. Easily to the protagonist and her sister Laura. I saw myself in both. Even Glynn the 16 year old daughter took.

So glad I had the time to read this during quarantine. I’ve missed Siddons. I just didn’t know it. If you love her too let me know.

I feel so good after just finishing this. She writes about strong woman. Women like me.

[~☆~Autumn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first half of this was mostly annoying but I persisted so it had something and was rewarded as it got better and better. I really liked T. C. and his dog. The other characters not so much. The setting at the end in CA was wonderful to read about.

I carried this with me when we went to Seattle but was unable to read much at all as I was too worried and distracted.

[Suzanne]

Not sure how to rate this. Enjoyed the first 2/3 of it well enough for what it was, but the last 1/3 just fell off a melodramatic cliff. Liked the overall message, though, that love can only expand us and our world, no matter how messy things get

[Claire Fullerton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I consider Anne Rivers Siddons one of the select few of masterful, contemporary Southern writers, and Fault Lines is the tenth novel of hers I've read. Fault Lines is another of Siddons' fine examples of a seamlessly crafted story, wherein palpably developed characters find themselves in a plausible predicament. Beginning in Atlanta, Merritt Fowler is the second wife of a doctor, whose mother, who lives with them, has a more advanced stage of Alzheimers than her husband is willing to acknowledge. Their sixteen year old daughter has growing pains, and Merritt's bohemian younger sister, Laura, who is an actress on the wane in California is a constant worry. When Merritt's daughter flees to California, on the heels of a family rupture, Merritt finds herself a fish out of water on the west coast and begins to like the possibilities of a life away from the unworkable sameness of Atlanta. Realizing she has always been a fixer and a rescuer to those around her, Merritt tests her wings when she meets the renegade caretaker of a property in Northern California's Santa Cruz Mountains. It is here that Merritt begins to experience an unexplored side of herself and begins a life-altering romance, though it is built on unstable ground.

[Kw · Rating 2 out of 5]

The beautiful prose drew me in, but the soap opera about 2/3 in was really a bit much. I suppose people behave that way, but ugh! (Integrity - doing the right thing even when no one is watching.) I liked the main character until all this mess. Skipped all the scientific earthquake info - too dull - and read the end, which was satisfying. But not a book I'd share or recommend.
No one was anything but skinny in this story. An anorexic and two perfect figures, one nearly 50. Really? Not a single figure flaw or a wart on her nose? Come on!!

[Deanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Definitely not my favorite Anne Rivers Siddons book. In fact, compared to other books I have read of ARS, it was a real disappointment. I didn't find any of the characters particularly likeable and the plot itself was completely unbelieveable. Once it finally got to the part about the earthquakes, I found myself pretty much skimming the pages, so that I could be finished with it.

[Vicky · Rating 2 out of 5]

Starts out promisingly but soon descends into soap opera and bathos. When Siddons describes landscape, natural phenomena, or animals, she's at her best-- in fact, sometimes profound-- but her people are paper dolls, and the "dialogue" is straight out of Dr. Phil. The plot was interesting enough to keep me hooked, but by p. 250 the novel had devolved into an embarrassing bodice-ripper, unfit for grownups.

[Cindy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Where shall I begin? Overwrought, pretentious, melodramatic, kinda like wearing flashy jewelry, full makeup, a stiff hairdo and stiletto heels to a hayride. I seem to remember now from previous Siddons books I'd read long ago that her style is a bit blowsy with completely unrealistic dialogue and wildly improbably scene-setting. The premise was interesting but for me she blew it with the artificial speech from her characters.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intrigueing plot and character development. I think it speaks to our "wild side" -- that part of us that would sometimes like to throw off our responsibilities and our orderly lives and just experience something new, exciting, daring, romantic -- even though to do so puts our lives and our relationships at great risk.

[Barbara Nutting · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW that was quite a ride. I can only describe it as classic Chick Lit by a master storyteller. Three women from a very dysfunctional family (murder and divorce could have fixed that right up front) lead us on a not so merry chase. From Atlanta to the cesspool of the Hollywood movie industry and then on to the redwoods of Northern California the plot thickens and thickens!

Meredith - a helicopter mother with DOORMAT tattooed to her forehead.
Glynn - an obnoxious teen who turns into a mall slut.
Laura - the sister from hell who is totally self absorbed.
Put ‘em together and what have you got? - a simmering, seething, steaming plot!!

As a native Californian, I am well acquainted with earthquakes, but I did enjoy some of the geological info. Just a side note - I had to laugh when Stuart had his Waterford damaged during a tremor. The same thing happened to mine. My crystal goblets were hanging on a wine rack and all of a sudden they were chiming like the Bells of St Mary’s as the room swayed. Four of them sustained chipped rims. Drink carefully!!

I loved the description of their day at Point Reyes - spot on. I could feel the wind and shivered in the fog. One of my most favorite places. I even climbed the 301 steps to the lighthouse.

The only characters I liked were Curtis, the dog and Stuart. The rest were all hateful.

After 602 pages (LP) I was disappointed by the ending. A bit over done and too long. But it was a great otherwise.

[Miranda Summerset · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 STARS! This is my 2nd book from this author, & I really enjoy her writing. This is a tale of a family in peril, & wanting to be someone else for a while. I enjoyed the story, & the 3 women, all hot messes imo, but that made it feel more real. I really liked how this progressed, & the growth of the characters in the end. Good book for sure! I had fun with it.

[Carol · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay just about sums it up for me.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

The last few books were too shallow and Zi did not enjoy them. I’m glad I found this for sale at our library. It was not shallow but deep and very interesting. Some of the story was unrealistic bu I enjoyed it.

[Connie B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read it if u love CA

Read it, if you love California. A bit extreme in its drawing of our treasured nature, but a fascinating story.

[Mira · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've finally managed to finish an Anne Rivers Siddons novel and the jury is out. I felt like I read two vastly different tales of four women, one of whom is cast aside only to be revisited with one sentence of closure on the second to last page... characters are built up and left, like loose change on a dresser. The male antagonist shows up in the last paragraph whimpering sans thought or dialogue... my favorite character... Curtis. And, btw, what happened to Forrest? I do like the challenge of rich vocabulary and the visuals that are created by detailed descriptors. Perhaps I'll try one more ARS tale to see if she's branded a formula that consistently leaves the reader hanging... hopefully not.

[☮Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though I found it hard to really identify with any of the three main characters, I liked this book a lot. It is very much a book about women and the roles we play in our loved ones' lives. The story goes from Atlanta, where Merrick does nothing but take care of everyone -- her mother-in-law with Alzeimer's who almost sets the house on fire, her teenage daughter recovering from anorexia, and her often-absent doctor husband -- to Hollywood, where Merrick's younger sister is trying to become an actress and also will need her help. Merrick slowly realizes that she needs to start taking care of herself too, but it is a long, wild, journey.

[Louise · Rating 1 out of 5]

Siddons has always been one of my favorite authors. She creates charaters that are believable. I usually find that I can identify with aspects of all her characters...not this one. I could not wait to get it over with. This was the worst book by Siddons I have ever read and I have read quite a few of them. Perhaps it is because it is an earlier book but the characters seemed shallow and completely self-involved. While there was a bid at the end to change this attitude it did not ring true. It was predictable and had nothing surprising or revealing. I would not recommend this one to anyone except by way of comparison to much better novels by Siddons, such as Outer Banks.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this book. It was well-written, to be sure (although I think Siddons uses the word "presently" too much), but entirely unrealistic to me -- both the journey that Merritt takes, how quickly she falls in "love" (lust is more like it), and the ending -- which I won't spoil here. All that said, I thoroughly enjoyed entering a fantasy world for awhile and traveling along with her on an emotional and sensual journey, even while my practical side was saying "this could never happen". 3.5 stars, but I rounded up to 4 since the ending made me cry, so I did get emotionally involved.

[Margaret Wallace · Rating 2 out of 5]

Don't bother to read this highly predictable book. Not only was it simple it was insulting to the power of women. Every decision was a reaction to a man. I had to finish it because I just could not believe it would continue to the end.

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book exploring relationships, Siddons always at her descriptive best.

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a novel of life reevaluation and finding a new path.

[Russell Sanders · Rating 5 out of 5]

A teenager’s coming of age is a time-honored theme in literature. But Anne Rivers Siddons puts her own special spin on it. For, in many of her novels, she has a middle-aged upper class woman, who somehow missed her teen rite of passage, come of age after the central experience Siddons creates for her character. In Fault Lines, Merritt Fowler is the wife of an Atlanta doctor from a prominent family. When their teenage daughter runs away to her aunt, Merritt’s sister, in California, Merritt goes to fetch her back home. In a sense, both mother and daughter are running away from a particularly bad home situation, but the mother, not having fully reached her potential even in mid-life, does not know she is running. In California, Merritt, her sister, and her daughter begin an adventure that has consequences that not only precipitates Merritt’s coming of age but her daughter’s as well, and in many ways, the sister/aunt’s realization. Siddons is a masterful writer using beautiful and evocative imagery, unexpected plot points, and the metaphor of an earthquake that is both thrilling and powerful. The story is a wild ride with unexpected twists. A listing for the novel I saw while reading it gave categories in which it was placed. Among them was “chick-lit.” Admittedly, I don’t know the meaning of the term, but it evokes in me an image of a book that is light, airy and bright, appealing to women who need a beach read. I was enraged when I saw this, for Fault Lines does not fit that description at all. It is fine literature, written by a master. And it changed my life somehow. I don’t really know how right now, but somehow I feel when I need its message, it will be waiting for me.

[Kim R. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I gave this a 2 rating as the last half of the story was just too unbelievable to me and written almost like soft porn or a Harlequin romance type story. Merritt and T.C. fall so madly in love with each other that they spend a day totally doing everything in the nude (sleeping, swimming, eating, lounging around, etc.) and making love all day. Merritt wants sex constantly! They "do it" at least 5 times in one day. THEN I realize they have only known each other for THREE days! That's when they talk about being on the pill and not having any STDs. WHAT?? How about page 321 when Merritt is getting ready to go back home and her sister is going to clean up the lodge she stayed in she says "Maybe I should hide my dirty underwear where he'll never find it. Make him smell me every time he turns around." EW! That was way too much for me. Call me an old fuddy duddy, but c'mon!
I felt for Pom and his denial of his Mom's dementia, but, again, c'mon - he is a DOCTOR and should be more aware and in tune with someone exhibiting these dangerous behaviors (almost set the house on fire). Glynn (16 y/o dgt.) was in the middle of this dysfunctional family and she acted out accordingly. But the part about her getting the lead part in a movie just because "she looked gorgeous"? The studio execs fawning all over her like they had absolutely no other person to give this part to? Really?
The ending with the earthquake was predictable and the last few pages were just too sappy.
After reading over my review, maybe I should have given this book a "1" rating!

[Dana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember nothing about this book, only that I read, and loved it. We are talking about nearly 30 years ago, so I probably should reread it, but rarely do that. There are so many books I hope to read, and never enough years left on earth to read them all, so I probably will not reread this one, but wanted to update my Goodreads account. There WAS not Goodreads in 1995, and I was not yet familiar with the internet, so I certainly was not tracking my book reading. I always read voraciously, and Anne Rivers Siddons was a favorite author of mine from the time I discovered her until her death. I am currently going back through a list of all her books, and trying to figure out which I missed and whether they are of interest to me now. If you are new to the author's works, my favorites were "Colony" and "Outer Banks," which I read poolside, not far from The Outer Banks in the early 1990s. I remember seeing a woman reading it, and asked her about it. She finished it that day, and then put it on MY chaise by the pool, as a gift!

[Laura Beasley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good story. Merritt has always taken care of everyone- her sister, Laura , and now her husband, Pom, and daughter, Glynn. Pom is at work all the time or out raising money for his clinic but still wants to control things. He has his mother living with them who has Alzheimer's and he expects Merritt to deal with it. Finally the grandmother sets fire to Glynn's new clothes and there is a confrontation. Glynn runs away to California to her Aunt Laura and then Merritt goes to bring her home. Then things begin to happen in California and Merritt meets and is attracted to the caretaker at a mountain place. The story then turns to their relationship and then and earthquake takes place. the lives of all her touched and changed in different ways and Merritt finds herself as a person and not just a caretaker. The story was a little unbelievable and at times I felt the author was too wordy and descriptive.

[Serenity Lynch-Bolen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gripped my heart. It was slow getting started. But once I reached about halfway through, I could not put it down. I felt the sense that someone was coming the entire first half of the book and then finally he appeared in the person of TC Bridgewater. TC is everything that I love and hate about men. He is cool, athletic, caring, passionate, and smart. He is selfish, unattainable, a
mad man, self-destructive, and abandoning. Like Merritt, I wanted more of him. His non-abiding presence is cruel and yet deepens the desire for him to stay. Their romance reminds me of something lost to me that I cannot name. It is the epitome of “all good things must come to an end”, and it struck my heart with grief. This pain and grief does not resolve, it did not change into anything else. There is no resolution between Merritt and Pom made clear at the end, so the final note of the story is loss.

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was the last of a trio of books I found tucked away in a box when I recently moved---all three having stayed in their box over two decades since my last move. So I decided to reread them all and found that my taste in books has changed in some ways over the course of two decades. I clearly liked this enough to keep it back in the late 90s, but now it's not a winner for me. The book was bogged down in so many paragraphs of flowery descriptive passages that I grew weary of them right away, and the characters were hard to cheer for with the exception of tiny amounts of time here and there which always seemed to disappear far too soon for me. I won't be keeping the book another two decades--it's no longer a "keeper" for me.