Rating: 
Summary: The Pause that Refreshed
Review: Jan Karon promised her fans a novella about the wedding of Father Tim and Cynthia and she has delivered a keepsake to be treasured! This is a beautiful book, both in appearance and content. Reading "A Common Life" was as refreshing to my spirit as attending the wedding of beloved friends and I devoured this book as though it was a piece of Ester Bolick's famous Orange Marmalade Cake. I can hardly wait for the next volume in the Mitford series! Hurry Jan, write faster!
Rating: 
Summary: A Common Life: The Wedding Story (The Mitford Years)
Review: I'm sorry, but the point of this book is . . . ??? Talk about disappointed. Ms. Karon held my interest for five books and I (and my friends) looked so forward to the sixth. The first thing I noted about the book when I purchased it was the width of the margins, top, bottom and sides. And then I noticed it was also double spaced with lots of little frills between breaks within the chapters and several almost completely blank pages between the chapters. "Ah, well," I thought, "they say 'less is more'." Wrong! It took me a couple of hours to breeze through the book, skipping over large portions containing quotes (such as every verse of the hymn that Dooley sang for the wedding), the archaic wedding vows we've all heard a thousand times, and portions of scripture that the wedding couple would quote back and forth. Pa-leez!! For the life of me, I can't figure out why Ms. Karon wasted her time, the readers' time, and the publisher's paper and marketing budget. Perhaps the book should be renamed, "The World's Best Reference Book for a Perfectly Boring Wedding."
Rating:
Summary: A Common Book
Review: Having read (and thoroughly enjoyed) the other books in the Mitford series, I went straight for the hardcover this time---my mistake. Borrow this one before buying; it's geting mixed reviews for good reasons. You'll love it if .......you're tremendously sentimental .......you're a multi-tasker (It jumps from character to character w/o developing any adequately.) .......you're wealthy enough to shell out hardback novel prices for a novella .......you're not a perfectionist (Where do you put this book on the shelf? It's marketed as another sequel but actually fits within others in the series.) .......you don't mind a book w/o compelling action or definitive plot .......you won't mind the, admittedly benign but nonetheless uncomfortable, discussion of sexual pleasure in a marital counseling context A Common Life has all the substance of a pre-June marketing scheme aimed at wedding-gift buyers. The publishers didn't do enough to let readers know this is an "extra", not the "next" in the series. For those of us expecting more (and better), we'll think twice now before handing over our next quarter of a hundred dollars. For all we know, book seven may appear at the height of back-to-school shopping season and wallow just as sentimentally, exploring everyone's delight over Dooley's furthering his education. This book is a departure from others in the Mitford series; for me, there's no appeal.
Rating:
Summary: Very Disapointed
Review: I always wondered why the wedding story wasn't covered in its proper place. Obviously Jan Karon didn't want to write about it and this is even more evident in this book. It is a brief look at the wedding without any real depth into the characters or insight into the many events, decisions and thoughts that led up to the wedding and could have included the wonderful citizens of Mitford. Each book in the series has gotten shorter but this one at 185 very skimpy pages seems to be nothing more than a way to exploit the many fans of Mitford.
Rating:
Summary: Extremely Disappointed
Review: It is hard to believe that Jan Karon needs money badly enough to have written this book. It is the only reason I can derive for what is an elaboration of a story line from a previous book. After eagerly awaiting the publication of a new Karon book, to say that I was disappointed is an understatement. Like other fans, I hope that a true installment of the Mitford story is in the works. If Karon yields to commercializm, in the vain of Grisham and other popular authors, she has lost this, here to fore, devoted fan.
Rating:
Summary: Cheated!!
Review: I received an email from Amazon to let me know that Jan Karon had a "new" book out in the Mitford series. I should have read the reviews before ordering. Rather than a continuation of the series, this short story disguised as a book, goes back to between the second and third books. What a ripoff.
Rating:
Summary: What she promised--Just what we wanted!!
Review: This book was a little piece of magic in an otherwise crazy work week for me! Jan Karon promised she would write about Father Tim and Cynthia's wedding and told us it would be a novella. This is what her fans asked her to do!! As for the margins and the type and the cover and all that other stuff--this is a love story about a wedding and must be properly packaged, don't you think??? This would make a wonderful wedding gift--the stories of our favorite Mitford character falling in love!! What better gift to give than the stories of love from our favorite town??!!
Rating: 
Summary: Exquisite for what it is
Review: No,it isn't long enough - hence 4 stars, not 5 - but it is a sheer joy for what it is. As a Mitford-addicted reader and tape listener I approached with trepidation hearing the tape read by anyone but Jan. Dana Ivy is superb and captures Cynthia especially with new shades of color cast on this fascinating character. The complexity and challenge of what it means to make a marriage commitment is genuinely explored through Father Tim; we learn more about the Mitfordites through vigniettes connected to their own marriages or love stories; Miss Sadie is ALIVE again; Dooley's singing, so eloquently done by Dana on the tape - all are joys. The simple reiteration of the Gospel and how to find spiritual wholeness - for me,the heart of all Mitford books- is there in power. A COMMON LIFE is a lorgniette-view of characters about whom we have come to care during the single event about which we would most like to know every detail. The book delivers - but we'll never stop wanting more, because Jan's storytelling gift has made room for itself permanently for so many.
Rating:
Summary: I loved it!
Review: After waiting a very long time for the latest Jan Karon book, my only disappointment was that I could not stretch the delightful experience of reading this book beyond a few days. That's what a novella is all about, I guess. It was a wonderfully romantic story that I promptly passed on to one of my friends and I would recommend it to your readers as well. Once again -- well done, Ms. Karon!
Rating:
Summary: Get over the margins!
Review: Okay, people, get over the margins and stop whining that the book isn't long enough! Ms. Karon had stated, long before A Common Life was published, that it would be a much shorter novel than her others, and it was only about the wedding of Fr. Tim and Cynthia, and that there will be two more Mitford novels after this one. And that doesn't include the quote book and the bedside companion that are coming out this fall. This is a lovely story about the wedding of Father Tim and Cynthia. Real Mitford fans have been dying to know what happened at the wedding, and Ms. Karon has not disappointed!!! What is extra special about this story is that we get a glimpse into what the other Mitford citizens are thinking during this time. This story is a treat, and it's fun to have Miss Sadie with us again, too! So get over the wide margins, get over the blank pages between the chapters, and just enjoy the story for what it is! Thank you, Jan Karon, for inviting us to the wedding!!!
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