The Vintage House at
Messina Mof
¥ 1W T ¥ 'm. / £ t O ¥ 7' O ^ 'V ¥ ¥ nn
Winery & Resort w
Introduces Three Great Weekday Evenings
Enjoy three special menus served in the most
ROMANTIC RESTAURANT IN THE BRAZOS VALLEY.
Winery Wednesdays
The best Wednesday evening you can imagine...our remarkable
Vineyard Cuisine served with a vineyard view and live romantic
guitar. This memorable evening is only $49.95
per couple, plus tax and gratuity.
Romantic Thursdays
Every Thursday evening from 5 to 10pm, the Vintage House
offers a new, special menu just for couples. You’ll love everything,
including the price. Enjoy the finest Vineyard Cuisine
for only $49.95 per couple plus tax and gratuity.
Fridays: Aggieland
Steak & Shrimp Special
Every Friday evening, get the perfect aged ribeye and the
freshest Gulf shrimp...combined to make this delicious
evening the highlight of your week...just $59.95 per
couple, plus tax and gratuity.
Reservations or more information, please call
778-9463, ext. 31
or check out www.messinahof.com.
The Vintage House
4545 Old Reliance Road • Bryan, TX USA
Only Ten Minutes From Campus
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Wednesday February 11, 2004
AGGIELIf
THE BATTALIO
Killing Me Softly'
by Nicci French
Warner Vision
Author Nicci French weaves the tale of an ordi
nary woman blindsided by a feverish romance that
quickly becomes an obsession in her novel, “Killing
Me Softly.” French engrosses readers from page
one, leading Alice Loudon through a desperate quest
for meaning and an escape from mediocrity, a theme
to which most can easily relate.
Alice is blessedly normal with a good job as a
research scientist, albeit unchallenging and a bit
monotonous. She and her boyfriend, Jake, have
reached a level of familiarity that allows their daily
routines to run fluently: He cooks her breakfast,
irons her clothes and rouses her from sleep each
morning; she changes the bed sheets, empties the
trash and vacuums the floor. They share the same
friends, the same apartment and ultimately, the same
life. But as she waits for the train one day, Alice has
an epiphany: She realizes she resents her subcon
scious decisions that seem to choose safety over
adventure time and again. She resents the protection
afforded her by Jake's simple, yet unchanging love,
the safety of her job’s security and the refuge pro
vided by her stable group of friends. She feels
imprisoned by her normalcy and ponders whether
her life will ever serve a higher purpose.
Alice’s increasing restlessness sets the stage for
Adam's entrance, the blessed winds of change for
which Alice has been waiting. Adam is a free spir
it, to say the least. He is a mountaineer, a nomad and
something of a philosopher. Alice and Adam lock
eyes on the street one day and the whirlwind
romance begins. As their romance escalates, Alice
feels increasingly tom between the security of her
old world and the intoxicating freedom of the new.
Forced to choose between the security which pro
tects but confines her and the promise of all the
adventure and grandeur of a storybook romance,
Alice unsurprisingly chooses the latter.
Adam and Alice seem to have an idyllic romance
marked by unbridled passion and delirium. They
make love the first day they see each other in the
street, move in together in less than a month and
marry shortly thereafter. So far, Adam and Alice's
romance has the markings of any “happily ever
after” fairytale ending.
However, from the start of their relationship,
French hints to the reader that nothing is as it seems.
Subtle details allude to a dark undercurrent that
taints seeming perfection. Small oddities pile up
until the reader cannot help but intuit that Alicci
headed for trouble in paradise.
Alice slowly realizes something is seriousl
wrong with her Prince Charming. The deepen!
digs into Adam's past, the more deeply she becoi
entangled in the web of lies and deception that
to be at Adam’s core. Finally, married to a man sin
suspects of committing multiple murders, Alice mis
quell conflicting feelings within herself as wells
solve the puzzle that is Adam in order to stay alive.
“Killing Me Softly’’ masterfully draws the read
er into the turbulent sea of Alice’s ever-c
emotions. After reading “Killing Me Softly,”ones
left with the distinct feeling that only French
told the true ending to "Cinderella" and stories of is
ilk. If the two can be said to be distinct, passionani
obsession are separated only by a very thin line,and
obsession is the mortal flaw that marks Adam and
Alice. Alice’s experiences urge one to considei
which is more of a prison: normalcy and a seenis-
ly mundane existence or a life marked by frenzied
passion and the craving for an ever-present high
Called a “compulsive read” by People magazine,
this novel is characterized by obsession in plot,®
of language, tone and word choice. And
obsession may spell doom for a relationship,
makes for a thoroughly good read.
Jndsve Form
Use this as firestarter
Readonly when insomnia i
Buy it at a used bookstore
Buy it in hardback
/ f v f I Buy a copy for your coffee table,
r r r r r niyhtstand,
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