Rating: 
Summary: Mangled Metaphors
Review: Initially I found the book interesting. But it quickly began to drag with side trips into Mom's slutty behavior which had little relevance to the plot. Her unexplained bad treatment of her husband was a mystery, but I kept reading. Admittedly, even that didn't dissuade me from reading. At times, the book showed glimmers of worthiness when it focused on the remaining son and his feelings. But what finally did it was the multitude of metaphors which kept clogging the narrative--metaphors which were occasionally brilliant but more often baffling. One particularly horrid one referred to an emotion leaving the mom? (I believe it was the mom as I don't have a copy and am working from memory). This emotion (relief?)was compared to "water rolling off a rising submarine" ? Brother! I really had to laugh over that one! Overall, I would not have wasted my time with this book except I had borrowed it from a very nice lady who said she had really enjoyed the book and I didn't wish to hurt her feelings by not finishing a book she had loved. As for me, I had to force myself (like a submarine trying to submerge in wading pool! ) to finish.
Rating: 
Summary: You may like it...hey, some people like Chinese torture.
Review: Although the author obviously has talent, she has wasted little of it on this book about characters with whom audiences do not wish to identify. The mother in this book is a basket case, completely uncaring about her family, and the reader finds himself unable to sympathize with her over the loss of her son. Most readers will sympathize with her husband instead; he has born the brunt of her problems for years and continues to do so after she loses her son at a class reunion. I really had problems getting into this book. Admittedly, at the end, it did leave me thinking about it somewhat, but it is slow and unrealistic. I don't consider this book to be any sort of "future classic." If I don't consider reading a book for a 2nd time, then something's wrong (my friends have always teased me about reading books over and over); this book was borrowed from a friend and returned promptly when I finished it. Not horrible, but there are thousands of other books more worth your time.
Rating: 
Summary: The Deep End Of THe Ocean
Review: One of the best books I've ever read. Dinner didn't get made, the dishes didn't get washed. I getat book!
Rating:
Summary: Its BORING
Review: I liked the story once i finally skipped the 43 page first chapter that talked abpout absoluty nothing. I just didnt enjoy reading the rest of the book, If i wanted to take the time to read a book that long, I would read a good one. i just didnt like reading the same thing over and over again. I skip chapeters at maybe 2 or 3 and still knew what was going on. that to me is not a good story.
Rating:
Summary: My Review-Diana, 11
Review: Just as ms. Midland told us below, I only finished it because I felt compelled to finish the book since I started it. Beth Cappadora is a horrible person, she doesn't deserve to b married to such a wonderful person as Pat, and certainly doesn't deserve to have children. I find myself feeling the urge to spit in Beth's face and yell "You deserve it." She's not grieving, she's almost BORED, as if this was expected. I would have done everything possible when I found out my child was disappeared, put his face on the milk carton, all that stuff, not sit down and have a drink for God's sake. You feel the need to push Beth out of the way and call yourself the mother of the family as you watch the family suffer under her idiotic depression.
Rating:
Summary: C'mon, Oprah...you can do better than this!
Review: I started out reading this book with high expectations. Ichose it mostly because of it being on Oprah's list, but was prettydisappointed in it. For one thing, if my 3 year old had been abducted I think I would have gone berserk, not sat at the bar downing drinks. It didn't seem that she was all that concerned about her son being missing. Besides that, it was a pretty blah storyline. Kind of a disappointment like Oprah's other selection I read, "Map of the World". END
Rating:
Summary: unbelievable
Review: i read this book about a year ago and it really made an impact on me. it still is to this day one of my favorite books. then i came to this website today, a year later, and was astonished at the horrible remarks people had. i cant believe some of the things people are nit-picking out to disagree with. first of all, everyone is saying how beth is this horrible mother bc she negelcted kerry and vincent. well yes it was awful that they didnt get much attention. but i have something to say to these mothers who think this: not all parents are as perfect as you think you are. families today have many problems. this just tells the story of one. yes beth was very disturbed but that is a main part of the story. i dont think any of you can make a judgement call like that until you have gone through a similar story. beth's kids were not the only ones she didnt take care of, she didnt even take care of herself. its not like she was ignoring them on purpose...she could scarecly keep herself alive because of all the horrible emotions she was feeling. and i dont know if you noticed this with all of your page-skipping, but there were many times when beth stated herself that she knew she was not being the best mother. she also knew that pat resented her for that. but she didnt know what to do with herself. again, everyone deals with situations like this in different ways and until you have gone through something like this, dont judge anyone else. this isnt even a true story and people are getting all mad at this fake character. i dont get it. if you get that tied up in a story and a character and are able to point out things a normal reader wouldnt even think of, you have got some serious problems yourself.
Rating:
Summary: zzzzzzzzzzzzz
Review: I have 2 children and often wonder in horror what it would be like to have one of them missng, which is why I didn't want to read this book. However, I did read it and found it terribly boring.I found Beth to be selfish and unloving. I had to skip words, pages.....but eventually, I finished it, only because I have a this notion of feeling compelled to finish any book I start. Of course everyone is different, but I would not recommend this book to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: Highly overrated; often unrealistic
Review: I found "Deep End" to be highly overrated - the story starts off strong enough; in fact, the early chapters are actually quite good. The middle of the book then sags under the weight of a stagnant plot, before coasting downward on auto-pilot for its unrealistic, anti-climactic ending. The emotions of Beth and Vince, which seem genuine and moving at the beginning, quickly become cliche and overdone by novel's end. Some unlikely plot twists and a TV-movie ending add little to the story. The premise is strong, Ms. Mitchard's writing skills are adequate, and of course, the title of the book is memorable and imaginative. That's why its such a shame and a disappointment that these promising parts don't sum to a thrilling and memorable whole.
Rating: 
Summary: RIVETING BUT LACKING IN VIDEO
Review: I listened to this book on audio while commuting to work over 2 weeks time. I was quite impressed with the story and looked forward to its continuation each day. I found the language/characters/setting interesting and text well written. But a few months later when I viewed the video, I was truly disappointed. I was so bored I couldn't wait for the movie to end. M Pfiffer is a favorite actress of mine and her character in this movie was plagued with flaws......at times so blase. The other characters were blase as well. The book held my attention. I suppose I should have viewed the movie first-----this was a first for a book that I read then viewed the movie, and was not impressed with the movie. Maybe this book wasn't meant for the 'big screen'.
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