Annas Book

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Summary: Anna's Book should be a text in women's studies.
Review: Anna's Book dispels the idea of women being the weaker and more emotional sex. While it is hard to like Anna, one cannot help but admire her common sense, her dispasssionate approach to love, marriage and children. She exhibits the qualities normally reserved for men in fiction. She loves, but not indiscriminately; values money and position for the leverage they afford her; is a social lion even in her old age; and is quite moral -- but only by her own personal code. Anna's most valued trait, however, is her self-sufficiency, evidenced by the fact that she confides in no one but her diaries. The diaries are fantastic in that they chronicle not only her personal thoughts and family life, but they touch upon major historical events and give the reader a feel for the times and places in which the story is set. They also serve to convey Anna's sense of superiority and her ruthless ability to take what she wants and to discard what she doesn't. It is this quality, this ability to pick and choose, that drives the story, because the reader knows that Anna is capable of almost anything: maybe even kidnapping and murder. Yet, one cannot imagine Anna contravening her own brand of scruples to commit any of these acts. Did she or didn't she? The questions impel the reader through layers of family intrigue; pages of local scandals; and chapter upon chapter of intrapersonal and interpersonal disclosures. Her daughter's pain and quest for an identity become secondary to finding out exactly how far Anna would go. As one learns who her daughter truly is, one also discovers Anna's limits and her losses. The ways in which the revelations dovetail make for an enormously satisfying, yet heartbreaking, conclusion. This is a must-read, not only for devotees of the mystery/thriller genre, but for those who would seek to know the heart of a woman.

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Summary: Mystery: scandals, murders, and stories inside stories.
Review: Anyone who likes mysteries - even just a little bit - will love this stuff! As in some well known favorites, like Josephine Tey's The Daughter of Time or Colin Dexter's The Wench is Dead, there is fascinating detection to be done among the moldy pages of diaries and musty, neglected court documents. Barbara Vine tells a dozen intriguing stories here, each one of them a mystery: the trial of a man accused of murdering his wife, the tale of another man who wants to give his wife his mistress's baby, the woman who claims a murderer for an ancestor, the young woman who never does marry her fiance, the naval cadets who are drowned at sea, (and more). All of these threads intertwine as the narrator searches into her family history. The puzzles are solved in the very, very last pages. For readers who like to get philosophical, consider the nature of story-telling and the definition of truth. Vine touches those themes here. For readers who enjoy a good plot, jump in! This one's great

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Summary: Recommended
Review: I agree with the other reviewers. This is a fascinating, well-written family saga which obliquely introduces a mystery. Very interesting characters and finely-wrought detail. I think Rendell is much more successful in these "Barbara Vine" suspense novels than in her Wexford series.

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Summary: But I didn't cry. I don't.
Review: I first saw this book in a discount store in the late 90s, and barely scanned it, but liked what I saw. I checked it out of the public library and read it through three times. I didn't even know who Ruth Rendell was. I bought a copy, I can't remember where, to add to my permanent collection, and have read it many times. It is completely realistic. I've caught myself thinking that the Anna diaries actually have been published (like Anais Nin's) and that one of these days I'll have to buy a set, and catch Cary Oliver's "Roper" film on Masterpiece Theatre. Diaries, dollhouses, missing children (especially, as Anne points out, missing white, blonde, girl children) and gruesome unsolved crimes, are compelling elements when combined and used wisely. Rendell's use of Danish words and bits of Danish culture also help to give the story a wonderful sense of unity. She seems to do this with all her books. She really did her homework for "Shattered Silk" and another one I read a couple of years ago about a lady who inherits a jewelry business. I am NOT a big fan of fictional mysteries (real-life ones, like the Lindbergh Kidnapping, Little Miss 1565, or Amelia Earhart, are another matter) and don't even care for most Agatha Christie or Anne Perry. "Anna's Book" was so true to life that it crossed the "reality" line for me. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for an extremely absorbing, intricate but very readable tale.

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Summary: Super read!
Review: I love all her books written under the Barbara Vine name. Lots of psychological detail!

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Summary: Her best yet
Review: I loved it! Ruth Rendell/Barabara Vine at her best. Do yourself a favour and read it!

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Summary: Her best yet
Review: I loved it! Ruth Rendell/Barabara Vine at her best. Do yourself a favour and read it!

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Summary: Not her best
Review: I see many other people have told the plot line, so suffice to say I do not think this is her best work - other books have more tension - this was not a "page-turner" for me. I've read all Ruth Rendell's books and recently started in on the Barbara Vine ones, and I would probably rate this lowest of all her books I've read so far. It's interesting, but I have come to expect that breathless anticipation of what is on the next page, and I didn't find it in this book.

Rating:
Summary: Not her best
Review: I see many other people have told the plot line, so suffice to say I do not think this is her best work - other books have more tension - this was not a "page-turner" for me. I've read all Ruth Rendell's books and recently started in on the Barbara Vine ones, and I would probably rate this lowest of all her books I've read so far. It's interesting, but I have come to expect that breathless anticipation of what is on the next page, and I didn't find it in this book.

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Summary: My all times favourite
Review: I was raised in a bookstore, did read a lot of books... But this one really stands out. The cover by itself is already appealling, the handwriting and the children, you can deduct a good story in it. I loved the diaries of Asta (I don't get it why my version is Asta's book, later on changed to Anna's book), she is so clever. The plot is fantastic, I even went to archives of the newspaper I work for to check on dates and events... Such as the ship going under with the cadets... The murder is horrifying, and you keep asking about the missing child.... They should write more books like that. Containing a good story, good characters, a thin line between fiction and non-fiction. I just devored it.....