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Summary: Lovely Book
Review: First of all, the boy's name in the edition I read was "Alphonse", not "Francis" as described in the earlier reviews on this site. Putting all that aside, this is a wonderful story, lovely and sad and engrossing. I haven't read any of Ms.Shreve's other books, but if this book is an indication of her writing style, I will be buying the others. She weaves a tale so sweet and subtle, it hits you like a strong wind....I could not put this book down. I highly recommemd it.
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Summary: A sham
Review: I think Ms Shreve writes for the money now which is too bad. Eden Close and Weight of Water were wonderful books. What happened to her? I think she's sold out.
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Summary: A Wonderful Summer Read!!
Review: This was my first Anita Shreve novel and I will definitely be checking out her prior work. Although I did not live through the Great Depression, I feel that Ms. Shreve effectively depicted the emotions and effects that people undoubtedly suffered through during that time. I personally enjoyed her detailed development of the characters. I found nothing slow or uninteresting about any of them. In fact, I found myself reading at every available moment and sorry to see the novel end. I highly recommend.
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Summary: Very disappointing!
Review: After 2 great novels (Fortune's Rocks, Last Time They Met) I was so excited when I saw that Shreve had a new novel being published this year.About a third into the book the story was going nowhere, and the characters are very shallow.
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Summary: Sea Glass
Review: I have read all of Anita Shreve's novels so I feel I am somewhat qualified to remark on this, her latest. In my opinion, she captures the atmosphere of the Maine Coast very well, but I was disappointed with the ending. I was left with the feeling of "what next?" Is the author setting us up for another visit with her characters, same place, later date? I agreed with the reviewer who dislikes novels written in the present tense, but realize it was a way to return to the characters' past. I preferred "Fortune's Rocks" to this book, but do look forward to Shreve's next work.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: "Sea Glass" was a real disappointment to me. I eagerly look forward to Shreve's novels, but this one and her last have let me down. While exhibiting some of Shreve's usual beautiful writing, especially the descriptions of the beach area, I felt that this book never jelled. It just felt disjointed, perhaps because of the constant changes in narrators - a device I really disliked because I think it kept the story from flowing smoothly. I did not really care about many of the characters, most of whom were flat and undefined.....there were too many characters and not enough development of any of them. I found that I had absolutely no emotional investment in this book. I think a story just about Honora and Sexton's lives, maybe with Vivian as another major character, could have been a book in itself and an interesting depiction of life during the Depression. Writing this review truly saddens me because so many of Anita Shreve's books have given me such pleasure.
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Summary: Shreve is always a get-away book
Review: Anita Shreve's books are so great to read while you are on vacation, or just relaxing. They take you away, they are so easy to read & get into. This was an interesting story about the great depression. I liked how she wove all of the characters together in the end.
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Summary: An image rich book - a great read.
Review: This was a delightful read. It was one of those books that will always remind me of the summer. Anyhow, I have not read any of Anita Shreve's other books so I have nothing to compare this to style-wise. I will say that the 'sea glass' symbolism did seem a bit overdone at times and a little tired. The imagery however, was very tangible and descriptive. The characters were introduced and developed by chapters told from their points of view. This was effective in revealing the 'whole picture' and also in creating the sence of like or dislike for the charater. The manner in which the view point switches back and forth, was a bit hard to transition from. I would have preferred a smoother flow in the point of views. The time period and story matter work very well together and I would recommend this as a light summer read to anyone looking for something with a bit of nostalgia and romance.
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Summary: Separate and Blended Realities
Review: What I most admire about Anita Shreve's books: (1) that she puts heart and soul in her characters, (2) that she writes about the most intense emotions of love and desire and shows how these emotions affect her characters' choices and their lives, and (3) the beauty of her prose. What I have come to love very much about Shreve, in addition to all of the above, is that she doesn't write the same kind of book twice. She experiments, in terms of style, voice and the territory of her characters. This book is not the first time she's used multiple voices, but using five or six was rather daring, I thought. She pulls it off beautifully because she goes straight to the heart of her characters. I liked how the echoes of the previous stories of the house, Fortune's Rocks, were alluded to by neighbors and townspeople. I'd have liked to hear more of that, but I concede that probably by the time 30 years have gone by, only the bare outlines of the history of earlier lives would be talked about. I would have loved more about Vivian; I was intrigued by her. I liked the way this story showed that several people in the same locality and the same time, technically the same plane of reality, actually live in very different realities. When their realities come together during the strike, it is a very intense and thrilling blending. I'm not fond of the use of the present tense in the narration of novels. I thought the use of the present tense for flashbacks in The Pilot's Wife was brilliant; but in this book I found it irritating. That, plus the fact that I wasn't terribly thrilled with the ending, is why I gave this book four stars.
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Summary: A timely look at a different New England
Review: This book's depiction of the class struggles in a northern New England milltown rang true to me. I grew up in the area in which the book is set and heard tales of the Klan, labor struggles, and intense ethnic discrimination throughout my childhood. It will come as a surprise to many readers that this part of the nation, which portrays itself as progressive on civil rights, has a deep history of economic and ethnic oppression. Things have changed a great deal in New England and elsewhere, but in this era of renewed suspicion of those not just like us, it is helpful to remember that as a nation, we have made progress in asserting the rights for which our forefathers fought...and we must not give them up
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