Rating: 
Summary: Wait until it comes out in paperback...
Review: Mildly entertaining but there is not enough substance to engage the reader. The one interesting character was a young employee of the protagonist. The character of the protagonist was not fleshed out at all.
Rating: 
Summary: Well-written but deeply flawed
Review: Positives: It is wonderfully written. The plot is continually surprising. Baxter notices and makes interesting many small details of life. His prose is lucid and rich. He is a wonderful teller of stories. It could have been a great book. Negatives: The beauty of the novel appears to touch several universal chords related to love and relationships -- that is until it falls flat when Baxter clumsly introduces a black character near the end of the book. (We cannot miss the fact that the character is black since Baxter mentions it explicitly or implicitly each time the character becomes involved in the plot). Unlike his other character, this character rings hollow. She is suppose to be an African who was educated in this country as a doctor and decides to stay. She becomes involved in the plot when the main character (who is presumtively white, but never idetified as such) shows up in her Emergency Room after intentionally cutting off the tip of his finger after his latest romance failed. Most doctors would avoid this potentially crazed patient, particularly if he mutilates himself in the name of love, yet somehow she begins dating him. Unbelievable. Moreover, she does not seem African, but African-American. From what little we know of her, she seems to be imbued with much of mainstream African-American culture, including going to a black Baptist church. (While not impossible, this is about as likely as finding a French man at a white Baptist church). And of course she can dance and her bumbling (racially unidentified, but presumptively white) paramour cannot. Baxter is playing to stereotypes and it is very disconserting. It is equally disconserting that we know nothing about the race of any other character (although at least one character is jewish). Yet we are constantly being reminded that she is black. Perhaps Baxter made the character "black" to show that love is universal. If so, he failed. Perhaps if the character had been given a voice to explain herself, the contradictions would have been explained. But unlike the many (racially unidentified, but presumptively) white characters, she does not get to tell her story. The novel does not fail because Baxter cannot draw this black character. Sadly, the novel fails because when we realize that Baxter cannot draw a black character, the novel no longer hits the universal chords of love and romance. To our loss, it suddenly becomes very small and whitebread.
Rating: 
Summary: The Feast of Love
Review: Warning: if you are hooked on literary realism, you'll have to look elsewhere for your fix. With this outstanding book, Baxter extends the long line of literary fabulism that stretches back through Ovid, Spenser, Shakespeare, and Italo Calvino, to name a few. Part dream, part philosophical meditation, part incantation, part love song to the world, this book is shaped by a lingering and enlightened naivety summed up in the quotation of (the 18th century German Romanticist) Novalis that follows its final chapter: "Our life is no dream, but ought to be and perhaps will be so."
Rating:
Summary: Recycled and Masticated
Review: Some books are truly repugnant to deserve a well-written review. But this book is just plain boring. I can't believe people like this book because it's just one cliched situation after another. Charles Baxter betrays his gender by writing such a melodramatic womanhood-embracing .... I wished I could've spent the time reading this book ....
Rating: 
Summary: A feast for the brain.
Review: This is a beautifully written, funny, touching story about love and it's many faces. Passion, longing, lust, and the unconditional love of a parent for a child are all weaved together in a creative and innovative style. This is a highly enjoyable book.
Rating:
Summary: Love Affair
Review: This is a fantastic book filled with stories of love from many different people's lives...if your looking for a book to divuldge yourself into this summer I highly recommend this one.
Rating:
Summary: If this were a bathtub, you couldn't drown in it...
Review: Vraiment! On beyond light or even lite. I had hopes, because there is an interesting idea or two, but ultimately greatly disappointing. Wait 'til you find it at a tag sale or something...
Rating:
Summary: comfort reading at its best
Review: There's such a thing as comfort-eating. Food you turn to when feeling sad or lonely. Food that is familiar & yet delicious, & can help get your spirits up each time you turn to it. Well, I believe there is also such a thing as comfort reading. "The feast of love" is one of the best novels that I read last year. After reading it for the first time, I've found myself returning to it again & again, turning to favourite pieces, or simply reading it from cover to cover, on long, rainy, lonely weekends. It's the kind of novel that makes you step out of your everyday-world, forget all that's on your mind, & live through the characters inhabiting the book.I've been a fan of Charles Baxter for ages, he's definitely one of the best american short-story writers, & my personal second favourite, after Lorrie Moore. "The feast of love" came as a surprise, because it's different from other works by Baxter. It's a novel, but it's also a collection of stories, so in this way Charles Baxter doesn't move far from his usual style of writing. One of the surprises is the fact that the author appears as a character in the book. This "trick" could work or could not, & then would be considered just a party-trick & thus, tacky. Here, it works. "Charlie" (aka Charles Baxter) is a blocked writer who suffers from insomnia & wonders the streets of Ann Arbour, Michigan during long nights, looking for ideas but finding none. On one of his nightly walks he meets his neighbour Bradley, who's walking his dog, also named Bradley. "Why not name your new novel Feast of love"? Bradley suggests. I could tell you stories about myself & people around me, & you could talk to some of them yourself. This is the basic idea of the book, & the stories start unfolding, one more enchanting than the next. This book vaguely reminded me of "things we talk about when we talk about love" by Raymond Carver, & also other books by R.Carver. It's one of the best collections of love stories I've ever read, & for me getting such a strong emotional response from a book is reason enough to love it. There's no point in getting into details about the actual love stories. Just read this book, read it when you're in the right frame of mind, enjoy it & pass it on to a friend.
Rating:
Summary: Fast food, not a "Feast"
Review: After reading the book as a book club selection, and giving it an enthusiastic "thumbs down," I thought I'd check the star rating and was astonished at the high rating! I found all but the older couple, unlikable as characters. They were aimless, shallow people who I felt sorry for, but in no way expressed to me the depth and meaning of Love. Erotic love can certainly be compared to a feast, but love without an enduring compassionate depth, will leave you with heartburn and indigestion!
Rating:
Summary: What a lovely testament to love ...
Review: This is perhaps one of the finest books I've yet to manage to read this year. A friend recommended this book to me and after reading the blurb, I didn't hesitate to buy this book. And now, I highly recommend everyone to buy this book ~~ or at least read it as it is an example of America's finest writings for this century. Baxter takes the stories of several people in his insomniac journey and gives them life in the passage of love. There is Bradley, the main character, who is unlucky in his choice of wives ~~ Kathryn who leaves Bradley for love of another woman and Diana, whose cold, secretive nature makes her more suitable as a mistress than as a spouse. There is Chloe and Oscar, employees of Bradley's coffee shop ~~ whose love for one another and dreams of love are more traditional than their multiple piercings and tatoos. There are Harry and Esther, Bradley's neighbors, whose love for their son persists in spite of his hatred for his parents. And Baxter weaves their tales among Bradley's quest for conjual happiness in life. It is well-written, witty and charming. It is also humorous as well. It is such a fun book to read ~~ with all the characters' voices in harmony. I don't think anyone who reads this book will regret this choice ~~ and I've read many books in the last year. This book will not only be passed onto others ~~ it will serve as a conversational piece among lovers and friends ~~ who all share different points of views on love. It will leave the reader with a good feeling too ~~ more optimistic and hopeful than when one starts this book. This is my first Baxter book and I want to read his others ~~ anyone who can write like he does deserves lots of space in my personal library.
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