Rating: 
Summary: Real Life
Review: This book overall was somewhat depressing. However, I guess life is sometimes depressing! It is very well written and the characters are well developed. Not the best book I have ever read, but definitely not a waste of time.
Rating: 
Summary: A Waste of Time
Review: I have never before read about such a bunch of misfits in my life. The characters were so outrageous, not even close to anyone I could relate to. I think Oprah needs to look into more upbeat readings.
Rating:
Summary: Not her best
Review: Even for end of the day, escapism after work type reading, this novel failed to keep my attention. The structure feels as uncontrolled as the meanderings of the town drunk who stumbles into everyone's lives. The characters all seem doomed from the beginning from a combination of their own human failings and the outside forces -- poverty, family, reputation -- that work against whatever hopes they have to rise above their current squalor. When they make the effort to penetrate one another's misery and be of comfort, only fear and hostility result. Morris' "Vanished" was one of those books that when I read it I was astonished at how the language lay over the story like clear water, no distortion at all, just magnification and clarity, like a fantastically vivid dream. I couldn't put that book down -- this one I couldn't pick up without a sigh of "Jeez, look how LONG it is...".
Rating:
Summary: Never could finish it
Review: I tried reading this book 3 times and finally donated it to my local library. I found it dull and confusing. By page 100 i still wasn't engrossed in the story and had no desire to continue reading. Not worth the money. sorry oprah - bad pick.
Rating:
Summary: A good book to read if you don't have a life of your own.
Review: Talk about a con job! I agree, too many characters. It doesn't feel like a full novel; it feels crowded, and that's a big difference. And how in the world can we appreciate any of the Fermoyles when they are so busy flip-flopping between rage and mindless affection. Morris tries to write it in different voices, but the third-person narrative doesn't work for this. Any interesting characters (like Father Gannon or Renie LaChance) just get dropped. Feels like the author is vastly out of control of this book, and it doesn't feel like that was her intention. Even the few good sections get drowned out. I read the whole thing, hoping that someone would learn something, and I was very disappointed to find that not a single person in the book changes at all. What a long story to tell about people who never learn or grow or change. The bad news is that it will probably get made into a movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Get a new editor at Penguin!
Review: Although this book has a few good moments, they are unfortunately few and far between. One problem: the sense of time. It reads as if she just wrote it in "any time" and then decided (with the help of her editor?) to set it in 1960. As a result, most of the story reads as if it's anytime, except that every now and then Morris waves a little "1960 flag"--like mentioning a particular song on the radio or putting someone's bank book in the typewriter to enter a new balance. Very distracting! Also I believe that she truly WANTS us to feel compassion for her characters, but there are simply too many in this book--resulting in half-baked portraits of many people rather than fully presented characters whose motivations we can understand and appreciate. These are problems that should have been cleaned up by a talented editor at Penguin. Too bad she didn't have one.
Rating: 
Summary: A rich, engaging, wonderful read
Review: There's been a lot of earlier discussion about how dark and depressing this book is, and I don't disagree that the characters largely lead stunted, often miserable lives. But the gentle humor imbued in the writing helped lighten the load -- I didn't come away from each chapter depressed at all, only eager to get back to the book and see what happened next. Wally Lamb's "I Know This Much is True" was FAR darker and more depressing, as far as I'm concerned. It's amusing to watch all the irony involved in Omar's twists and turns to avoid being found out -- you just want him to get caught, get flat-out caught, but you know he's too much of a snake and Marie too trusting, that he'll wiggle out of it somehow. I love long reads, where you can really dig in and live with the characters for a while, and this book delivers. The writing is direct and precise, but lyrical enough not to feel too "modern." Some sentences were so well-crafted I'd go back and read them again, just to savor them. I'd put this novel near the top of my all-time favorites list, no question.
Rating:
Summary: Glad to be finished
Review: This book had a very touching story to be told but the author would go on and on to get to the point. Trudi, the main character, was a courageous child who became a strong, giving adult. I wish something nice or wonderful would have happened in her life at some point. This book depicts the Holocaust Era like no other fiction I have ever read, but again I think the author throws in words just to make this book almost too long for anyone to finish. The book gets better around page 275 but up intil then you have to convince yourself over and over to keep going.
Rating:
Summary: 748 looooooooooong pages
Review: A co-worker, when she saw this book laying on my desk, told me to keep at it, "it eventually gets good," she said. She lied. She suggested, when I finally got to page 300, that I skim. I read a paragraph of each page and finally got through it. I never connected with the characters, except maybe for Benji, the youngest child of Marie, a psycho mother who blames everyone but herself for her pathetic life. It centers around a scam artist murderer who charms his way into Marie's life and Benji who knows the man's secret but won't risk his mother's happiness to tell her what he knows. Save your time and your money.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book!
Review: I loved this book...I came across Songs in Ordinary Time...andI was mesmerized. I could not put it down. I found the charactersreal, and funny, and sad. It was one of those books that I hated for it to end, because for a short while, these characters consumed me. I have since bought two more of Mary Morris' books, and I am so looking forward to reading them... END
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