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| Name : | Susan L. |
My Reviews
Our book club read this book several months ago. I had to keep reminding myself that it was non-fiction because it was diffucult to believe that a real family could have lived such a disturbing life.
I found it to be slow reading for me and felt that I didn't like it until we discussed it at book club. As we talked about the characters and events, I felt that I had gotten a lot out it and should not have been so quick to judge it.
Would appeal to a narrow portion of the reading public. The main character, Amanda, is not strong enough to captivate the reader and the book itself is poorly written.
Pat Conroy's descriptions of Charleston were just beautiful. Who else could make a paper route sound so poetic and interesting. While the story line jumped around quite a bit, the character studies were awesome. For a novel with so many characters, it felt like you knew them all well. The ending was so unexpected, I had to read it three times just to absorb it all. Another gem from Pat Conroy.................
This book is written by a story teller about a story teller. The lives of the many character are woven together by richly told stories and the common thread of quilting. The reader must be a lover of tales; tales about people and places and relationships and hardships.
Those of us who finished the book used the word "creepy" to describe it. Others who could not finish it used the word "creepy" as their reason for not finishing it. The author's final words in his notes were "God Bless". This book had little to do with God and more to do do with the advertising business. The only positive thing I can say about it was the quality of the book itself from a publishing standpoint. It was a nice size and the print was nice and easy to read.
Another home run for Kristin Hannah, a book that was hard to put down. The characters and relationships drove this book and the setting sounded just beautiful. A book that many of us at book club could relate to as sisters ourselves.
This was a beautifully writen book that was hard to put down. It educated us on a largely unkown piece of history while giving us a new view of the people of Paris both in 1942 and 2002. Both Sarah and Julia could tug at our heart strings though their lives were so different but connected. Loved the way the first half was written with the alternating chapters.
A quick read with some interesting twists and turns.
This was a difficult read because of the dilaect used in most of the book. The prose was beautiful though. If not for the very long introduction, the reader might have struggled even more. The main character, Janie, while searching to find love, made many mistakes along the way which I found very frustrating.
I found the book hard to put down. One of the best books I've ever read. The combination of history, relationships and medicine made "Cutting for Stone" a one of a kind story set in a land we know little about. It was a fascinating read that just flew by.
The mix of the scientific story and the personal story made this book most interesting. The story of Henrietta's family would boggle most minds but made for quite a discussion at our book club meeting. The scientific story needed to be told because even though research has come so far, the legal battle over ownership of cells is still stuck in the past.
A confusing story that mixes a little fact with a lot of fiction. A book written by a man but with a woman's voice. It might have been a more convincing if written by a woman and the subject matter was extremely far fetched. The only redeeming factor was the character studies.
A wonderful story about a brain injury, relationships, courage and making life changing decisions. This is a perfect melding of medical and personal story lines. We all took away different messages that affected our own personal lives.
I was not moved by this book as many readers are. The story line capitalized on recent headlines from here and abroad. While shocking, the story told by a five year old talking baby talk, would have had more impact on me had it been told by the mother. I felt that the best part of the story came when Jack spent time with his grandmother and step grandfather.
As a lover of "Memory Keeper's Daughter", I found this book less captivating. There were several story lines that were not necessary to the main story and only added more characters and more descriptions of people and places. It was not a book that I couldn't put down. In fact, it was hard to pick up where I left off because some of it was far from memorable.
The first half was unbearably slow with too many characters involved in the plot. The parallel stories of Amy and Scott and Rasi and Andrew finally fell into place in the second half but the whole premise was not spell binding and was confusing at times. Our book club gave it a "thumbs down".
A well written story of lives intertwined by the events of one night. The story also takes a close look at the changes made in the care of people that would have spent there entire lives in institutions.
The most beautiful book we've read in a long time. Our entire club loved it and spent a very long time discussing it. You just wanted to wrap your arms around the characters! I was so proud to have nominated this book for our club to read.
This was a book that was very unappealing to me. I was overwhelmed by the length of descriptions, the contrived efforts to relate all of the characters stories and the gloom. In discussing this book with other book club members, some saw it as optimistic. I was not one of those people. Having spent a lot of time in NYC during the 70's, this was not the city I saw even though I knew it existed.
Jennifer Haigh provides the voice for many family members involved in the "real life" scandal that plagued many churches. This story, while fictional, addressed the pain and heart ache that engulfed many and changed the way we look at people we once trusted implicitly. Her characters ranged from soft and warm to tough and terrible. It is also a study of family dynamics which adds to the mix in a way we can all understand. Bravo to Jennifer Haigh!
There are twists and turns around every corner in this well written novel by William Landay. The reader is surprised up until the very end. The characters are well developed and the relevance to today's world is evident. This is a genre that I usually don't read but Defending Jacob certainly turned my head.
The first book disliked by our entire club. Very disjointed and poor character descriptions. Just plain not worth reading!
William Landay has deliverd a wonderful story of a teenage boy, his family and the controversy that surrounds them. Defending Jacob combines mystery, courtroom drama and many twists and turns that hold the reader captive throughout. His writing is flawless!
It took the author 228 pages to write about the main character planning a dinner party which was the main story line. There were other story lines intermingled but not related. A couple of these were just unnecessary page fillers. And, do we ever know who the unexpected guest was?
While this wonderful book was fiction based on fact, it provided much personal as well as historic information about the Lindberghs\\\' lives. Charles was not a likeable man and Anne was way to accepting of his \\\"qualities\\\". That being said, their life together made for a very interesting read.
Such a refreshing book with such loveable characters especially Don who caputured our hearts. All of our book club members gave this refreshing read \"two thumbs up\".
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