Rating: 
Summary: An intelligent, absorbing read
Review: Set in the same house which appears in her more recently published "Fortune's Rocks", "The Pilot's Wife" is the novel that placed Shreve in the Oprah 's massive book universe. The story centers on a woman who must deal with the loss of her husband's life and then the realization that he led a double existence totally exclusive of her.*** It's an intriguing premise, but it doesn't allow much room for the rich texture and atmosphere generated in "Fortune's Rocks." To be fair, the latter is an Edith Wharton-like tome, whereas "The Pilot's Wife" is a contemporary story that would make an intelligent film, the kind starring Michelle Pfeiffer (who was in the adaptation of another Oprah pick, "The Deep End of the Ocean"). Liking one book, readers may not like the other, but both show Shreve developing a surer hand and an increasingly impressive dramatic range. *** Always, there is a sense that the central character must cross (and often re-cross) logistic distances in order to achieve emotional discovery or fulfillment. Shreve accomplishes this with a lot of grace and modern sensibilities, leaving the paths of self-righteousness and sentimentality to romance novelists.
Rating: 
Summary: Absolutely Heart Clenching
Review: A truly amazing story! Being a new reader to Anita's collection I found this book was absolutely breath taking. The way she plays out each character places you in the exact situation and feelings of those in this book. She really knows how to let the audience see the big picture. I literally could NOT put this novel down. It definitely keeps you reading word after word, page after page. The detail and descriptive words were absolutely fascinating. The emotions in this novel were overwhelming; I didn't want it to end! Anita is a wonderful author, the way she lets the reader experience the love, the aftermath of a death and the utter betrayal will consume you. When you lose someone, eventually you come to terms with it, in your own time. In Kathryn's situation, being the pilots wife, the media steps in and makes it that much harder. They seem to take one person's tragedy and make the whole world experience it. You feel every word as though the pain is your own. Jack, being the pilot, had a relationship with Kathryn based merely on a day by day basis it seemed. Since he was always gone, the adjustment was based around his trips, making time for each other whenever possible. But the night Kathryn heard the knock on the door, little did she know her life would be altered forever, and jack would never come home. Kathryn a brave and courageous young women trying to find justice for her husbands death, soon finds clues that perhaps he had been living a double life, a life she was not a part of. Just when Kathryn believes her world could not crash down any harder, It does. She soon finds out the mystery of Jacks "secret life" even though it's so hard to believe. With bravery and strength, she finds comfort in her daughter Mattie to overcome this trauma. It makes you realize no matter how well you think you know someone, even your husband of 15 years, how well can you really know that person? Although I did feel a little cheated at the end of the book I definitely give it two thumbs up. Anita did a spectacular job on this novel. I know I'm hooked!
Rating: 
Summary: Highly Improbable, Highly Annoying
Review: It's a good thing I have read so many other Anita Shreve novels, because if this had been my first, popular TV book club selection or not, I would never have read another. It's the old complacent-wife-doesn't-really-know-her-husband tired old plot, this time dressed up in a fancy plot. Kathryn's competent and serious airliner pilot husband Jack is the pilot of a plane that mysteriously explodes just off the Irish coast. There are no survivors. As shell-shocked Kathryn struggles to come to terms with this horrendous and horrible news, and to shelter her teenaged daughter Maddy from the press and the whispers, rumors of pilot suicide almost break her. She knows that Jack would never commit suicide and kill 150 people along with himself--but what she doesn't know, and is soon to find out, is that Jack was not all that he seemed. Yada yada yada. I was not impressed, I found no deep and life-altering meanings. Instead, I felt maniuplated by a progressively more silly plot line that left me, in the end, feeling that I had completey wasted my time. My advice: If you have any respect for Shreve as an author, as I do, forget she ever wrote this one. Her reputation remains intact without it.
Rating:
Summary: Readable but sterile and narrowly focused
Review: "The Pilot's Wife" starts shortly after a woman finds out her pilot husband has died in the plane crash and takes place over the next few weeks, as more information unfolds about the circumstances of the crash and her husband's involvement in it. The book is mainly about her state of mind and involves only a few other characters: her daughter, a sympathetic representative of the airline who helps her adjust to the news and gradually provides more information, and her step-mother who mainly helps take care of the daughter during the event. And of course the husband, who is revealed through stories about their past. I found this book readable and interesting, but I didn't find myself deeply involved in the character, Kathryn, or even the story. As I learned about her relationship with her husband, the later stories seem inconsistent with the earlier ones and I found it hard to believe Kathryn would have had the impressions of her marriage she conveyed at first. The relationships with the other characters (especially her daughter and mother) were sketched only lightly. Despite the mystery aspects of the book, I didn't find it especially compelling. Somehow the book seemed a little sterile and single-focused, lacking the rich detail and interesting characters that I find most satisfying in a novel.
Rating: 
Summary: A Critical Review
Review: Award winning writer, Anita Shreve, does it again with A Pilot's Wife. She got the idea for the book from overhearing a pilot at a cocktail party talking about how the union always gets to the wife first when the plane goes down. It's their job to keep her from talking to the press. From this everyday small talk, Shreve put together another acclaimed novel. This suspense/drama starts off full throttle with a knock at Kathryn's door. The man at the door (the union man) informs her of her husband's death. What little information is known suggests that Kathryn's husband, Jack, committed suicide, taking 103 others with him. She struggles to deal with his death and starts to investigate herself; for her sake as well as her daughter's. What she discovers causes her to question how well you can really know a person. Shreve masterfully created a complex storyline that doesn't disappoint. It introduces a new type of suspense; one based more on emotional battles than fear. She explores the emotional struggles of a person who has lost a loved one in a tragic event and she does it in such a way that the reader is drawn into the struggle with them. She allows for the reader to experience firsthand the internal conflicts of such a tragedy, which makes for a more personal drama. These elements keep the plot moving and the reader guessing, which makes The Pilot's Wife impossible to put down. It's the first novel that I've read in only a few days. I put off homework, television, and sleep all for the sake of reaching the conclusion. The end is well worth the commitment too. Shreve set up a wonderful plotline and finished it off even better. She gave enough foreshadowing to keep you guessing without a hint towards the grand finale. This novel that I had never heard of, by an author I had never heard of, makes me want to read all of Anita Shreve's novels.
Rating:
Summary: A Ride on an Emotional Roller Coaster
Review: The Pilot's Wife was overall a good book. As a reader one experiences the ride of Kathryn's emotional roller coaster-the pain, sorrow, grief, anger, and resolution. The book poses questions that are beneficial and intriguing to consider such as-"how do you ever know that you truly know a person?" Although the book was somewhat predictable, it did have its twists and surprises and was an absorbing and quick read.
Rating:
Summary: Oh! Please!
Review: This book was so predictable that I could not stand it!!! Give me a break!
Rating:
Summary: Wish there was more to...delve into - The Pilots Wife
Review: Having seen the book praised in the Oprah Book Club I purchased it a while later and have just completed it. Compared to books like richly detailed books like 'Songs in an Ordinary Time', the Pilots Wife is rather sparse and linear. Based on a dramatic discovery one night and subsequent revelations later, the story has its gripping moments which most women can identify with or atleast imagine it, namely a husband who has a secret life. Where I had a problem with the book was its rather pat ending. How can the protagonist trust again, having been betrayed by someone she knew for ten years? Is that a cynical view?
The gradual fading of intensity in a marriage is well brought out, but somehow I kept getting the feeling that Jack, the husband, is a rather unidimensional figure. Why doesnt he leave Kathryn when he loves another woman? The three words that I can probably describe Jack as are ( rather unredeemingly) - unfaithful, weak and insipid. Kathryn on the other hand, is more relatable, with her excuses of a fading sexual life in her marriage, her relationship with her ansty daughter and her acceptance of what she thought was inherently true, as both false and true.
Rating:
Summary: Decent read
Review: The Pilot's Wife was overall pretty much just "okay." I didn't feel a connection with any of the characters even if I felt bad for Kathryn. However, it took me less than two days of light reading to finish it, so it was a nice study break for me.
Rating:
Summary: Page Turner!
Review: This book was the greatest. I've never read a book that was so descriptive in an interesting way. Once I picked up the book I couldn't put it down. There were so many twists that it made me just read more. This was by far the best book I've ever read!
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