Malgrado il tentativo di agganciare la trama alla realtà degli anni 90 (guerra in Bosnia, guerra in Ruanda....), rimane comunque banale romanzo rosa, con personaggi troppo perfetti, con una bambina (che compare verso la fine del libro) che a otto anni parla come un vecchio saggio: insopportabile!

One of my favorite books read so far. Nicholas Evans is able to capture every detail of the 10 year adventure of these characters, but at the same time not unnecessarily droning on or dissolving my interest. Absolutely "sizzling" and inspiring story that I found myself becoming very emotionally and physically attached to.

There are three main characters – Conner, a cowboy, Ed, a musician and Julia, a counselor. Ed falls in love with Julia, but so does Conner and Julia falls in love with Conner as well, but marries Ed. Ed and Julia can’t have children so Connor donates his sperm and Ed and Julia have Amy and then Conner takes off for Africa. It was an okay story. Not one of my favorites.

Liked it a lot!!

The author has a recipe for his writint, I think. He takes great threads of subjects... in this case
Smoke Jumping and the brutality of African conflict and weaves them together from seemingly disparate places.
The segue though,always seems to be a sappy, if not real enough, love story / tragegy that one must wade through. There are a few very fine sentences and threads of philosophical thought amid all the mush. Oh well.

Connor Ford and Julia Bishop fall in love the first time they meet. But Connor knows he cannot have Julia because she is the partner of his best friend and fellow smoke jumper, Edward Tully. When a tragedy befalls them, Julia is forced to make a choice and marries Ed. Though she likes him, her heart never forgets Connor even after her marriage. Broken and deprived of love, Connor departs on a dangerous journey to Africa, capturing images of wars and deaths. The Smoke Jumper is all about love lost, love found and love surrendered.
Nicholas Evans is brilliant at landscaping his story. In fact he is so good at it that he seamlessly moves the drama from the peaks of Montana to the war ravaged regions of Africa and the reader never registers the change. The pace is even throughout the novel and the narration is beautiful as always with Evans. Another thing Evans is great at is his ability to create heroic characters out of our daily lives that ashamedly touch our deepest thoughts and desires. He did it with Tom Booker in The Horse Whisperer and Helen Moss in The Loop, he caused a shiver with the story of Abbie Cooper in The Divide and he plucks the heart strings with Connor Ford in The Smoke Jumper.
Essentially, this book is a romance. Mostly the stories that Evans writes have a twinge of sadness and the kind of stories that leave you with the feeling 'What if.. '. Personally, I would have liked Evans to make this a tragedy as well but I've the deepest respect for him and maybe he wanted to create a different kind of story here.
A must read for all Evans fans and definitely for all readers who love romance.

Really enjoyed the first half of the book but the second half became a badly and predictable told love story and was very disappointing.

Connor Ford and his best friend, Ed Tully from vastly different backgrounds spend time as smoke jumpers in Montana during the summer. Ed's girlfriend, Julia joins them in Montana and works as a counselor in a program for teenagers, trying to help them overcome trauma in their lives. This joining of the trio brings tragedy and love into Connor and Julia's life. Their stories span over a period of time and the world with experiences that relate to their first encounters. Really another great read from Nicholas Evans.

Enjoyed it just as much the second time.

4 sterren- Nederlandse paperback

Recensie volgt later.

A wonderful romance that spans the wilds of Montana, to Africa and Manhattan. Two close friends are fight forest fires by jumping out of aircraft and cutting down trees to prevent the fire spreading. Then they both fall for the same girl.........................

Nicholas Evans has delivered another great novel, he manages to bring you right into the action and keep it going right through to the end. I look forward to reading more of his books