The Deep End of the Ocean

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Summary: DO NOT READ MASS MARKET PAPERBACK! LOTS OF EDITING MISTAKES!
Review: I went and read all the 200 and some reviews andto me, It seemed like about half the reviewers loved it and hafl hated it. I also noticedthat a very large group of people thought that it was very poorly edited, now the one in which I read was edited well, so i was a little suspicious and I obsereved that the ones who were complaining were the ones who read the Mass Market PaperBack, now I read the hardcover version and it was good but like others, I did not care for Beth she was deffinatley not an ideal mother. If i were you I would RENT this book from the LIBRARY and be sure NOT to get the MASSMARKET PAPERBACK. As I said, I read the HARDCOVER version and it did not have many editing mistakes.

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Summary: An emotional rollercoaster!
Review: This book really moved me. It was painful to get through but very much worth it. The reader expects the mother - Beth - to fall apart when her child is kidnapped, but as the bad months turned to years, I wanted to reach into the book and shake Beth - to tell her to wake up and work harder at being a mother to her remaining, suffering children. As time went on I saw her less and less a victim and more as a fragile (selfish?) mother who simply gave up on her family. Vincent was the true victim and his chapters throughout the book were the parts that brought me to tears many times. And rare is the book that can do that! Forget the typo's... spellcheck doesn't check for correct words used incorrectly (right vs. write) - Editors don't use real people to check manuscripts anymore - blame them. Her writing is excellent when it comes to conveying feelings and this book is one big emotional rollercoaster. If you're a mom, read it with a box of kleenex.

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Summary: Overall: Good!
Review: This book, while I didn't particulary enjoy the writing style, was very good! The plot, emotions, reactions, and, most of all, the characters, ecpecially Vincent!

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Summary: Where is Mother Less Child?
Review: I enjoyed this book, which I listened to in the unabridged audiotape edition (good reader), but it made me curious about the earlier nonfiction book by Mitchard, MOTHER LESS CHILD, which is out of print and not even listed in BOOKS IN PRINT (another advantage of Amazon.com). Has anybody read MOTHER LESS CHILD and is it related to this novel? I'm curious now, and wonder if it was any good.

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Summary: Excellent story, but poorly edited!
Review: I agree with another reviewer when he said finish whatever you have to do, because you will not be able to put this one down. That said, the typos and mistakes (at one point she says something about "Candy's hair" ( the hero) and they mean "Cecile's hair" ( the villan) - what a mistake!, and the poor grammar - it is disturbing that it was put out this way. But, I would definitely read her next novel. She seems to have "been there". Riveting. Wonderful and upsetting story. I think it will make a great movie.

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Summary: A very chilling book ,it made me very watchful
Review: At first i was very put off while reading this book ,it made me very watchful of my children . As the book progressed i felt very sad for Beth and Vincent but even further in i found it very hard to be symathpathic towards her - how could she ignore her other children - she did seem to be a drama queen .I was very happy when Vincent made his peace with himself and Ben . I havent read one of Jacquelyn Mitchard books before but i liked the style and enjoyed the way it was told through different eyes .

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Summary: This is the best of the Oprah books...and it ain't good
Review: Yep, Beth, is cold, unlovable, and unlikable, which is the reason that reading the book is such a chore. If she would ever have made an attempt to help herself, to try to look outside of herself, the reader would be able to empathise. As it is, she is not a mother that anyone would like to have and I ended up feeling like the lost kid got the best end of the deal by getting out of the dysfunctional quagmire. I'm getting weary of the current literary obsession with victimization...give me a hero, and if not a hero, give me someone for whom I can at least feel compassion.

Rating:
Summary: AWFUL - AWFUL - AWFUL!!!
Review: Talk about typos!! WOW! I can't remember how many times I found the word THOUGH and it should have been THOUGHT. I also found the word probable and it should have been probably. When I read a book I expect the author to be able to spell. This author can't spell OR WRITE. Her style is bad, very choppy and boring. I guess she never heard of spell check. This book was very hard to finish because of the typos and the poor writing style.

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Summary: This novel challenges the binds that hold a family together
Review: Cristina Talleur

The Deep End of the Ocean - Jacquelyn Mitchard She turned around, and he was gone. Within an instant, Beth Cappadora's life was changed forever. In this emotional novel, The Deep End of the Ocean, Jacquelyn Mitchard tells of the heartbreak brought upon a family when their three-year-old son disappears. Beth had brought along her children, Vincent, Ben, and Kerry to her fifteenth high school reunion. As she made her way across the crowded lobby to the front desk, greeting people she had not seen in years, she left her children on the opposite side of the room for not more than five minutes. "Watch your brother.." she had told her 7 year old son Vincent. But when she returned, her middle child, her youngest son, her favorite baby Ben was missing. No one had seen where he had gone. As minutes turned into hours, hours into days, the investigations and persistence to find him continued. But, as days turned into months and years, Beth broke down. She sat in her house, hardly leaving bed and neglected her other children for years, due to her deep depression. As time slowly went by, she began to recover. Beth went back to work, the family moved, etc., however they were never quite the same. Vincent had become a child delinquent and Beth's marriage with her husband Pat, began to become rocky. However one day, nine years after the disappearance of Ben, the doorbell of the Cappadora's house rang, and their lives dramatically changed once again. This novel challenges the binds that hold a family together, through emotional pain and years of heartbreak. Mitchard does not only tell of the events of the novel but writes in a way that you can understand and feel their emotions as well. One way she does this is by telling the story through the eyes of more than one character. You read from the point of view of Beth the mother, but also from the point of view of Vincent her son. This gives you an even greater insight into how the family is affected and their reactions to situations and most importantly to each other. Once you begin to read this novel, it is not easy to put down because it allows you see how much each character is affected by the loss of this little boy. Even people who were not part of the family are left completely changed by the events over the years, and you, as the reader, are anticipating what will become of the whole situation. Even after almost a decade, there was always a drop of hope left in the characters that someday Ben would miraculously return. Pat's parents still bought Ben presents on Christmas and so on. As the novel progresses this drop of hope unravels into a reality that once again tests the ties of the Cappadora family, keeping the reader wondering how they will make it through yet another emotional storm.

Rating:
Summary: A very well written but disturbing book.
Review: This was a mother's worst nightmare but I'm not so sure it was bad for Ben. I think he definitely got better treatment from the family who raised him then he would have gotten from his real mother and father. This was also the conclusion his real mother came to. This is a book that will make you think twice about your feelings of kidnapping.