Rating: 
Summary: Superbly Crafted
Review: A good author knows how to end a novel. This novel's ending will have you thinking, and thinking... You will relive the entire book after you finish it all due to the ending.
Rating:
Summary: One of the greatest ever written.
Review: Finally, a place to say my piece about "Vanished," which I read several years ago and which had a huge, huge effect on me. I've read it twice and listened to it on Recorded Books, Inc. (read by the incomparable Barbara Rosenblatt). Each time I sort of hoped I wouldn't go through the trauma I did at its ending. The first time, I felt like I had been kicked in the stomach. I cried so hard, I thought my heart would break. In fact, I kept getting weepy over it for weeks following, at odd moments. It would just sort of pop up in my mind. But the second time I read it I thought, good, I was expecting this, and I'm not going to go through that same exhausting catharsis. Then I found myself standing at my ironing board next day and whoosh! up came the tears. I would put it on a par with "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison; another heart-wrenching classic about unfairness and the violation of the innocent. When I heard it read on tape, I was again walloped. For sheer experiential reading, this is IT. As one of your writers said, it should have been nominated for big literary prizes. Indeed, I think it deserves the Pulitzer at the very least. Morris's strength is her absolute refusal to stereotype. As a writer myself, I know what hard work that is; either that or, as I suspect, the woman is simply a genius - as such, she gets it right without having to try. Mary, if you read this, you have a diehard fan here in santa fe, new mexico. I always tell anyone who asks about the books I recommend, that you are the greatest. I loved them all!! (and my name is Martha, so needless to say, I identified with "A Dangerous Woman, which I thought was very well brought off in the movie. Deborah Winger was a surprisingly fabulous Martha!) Do you ever e-mail your fans? As a (so far) unpublished novelist, I could use a writer's encouragement. Oh - and encore, please,encore!
Rating: 
Summary: An amazing book!!
Review: How does one attempt to relate to you how engrossing this story is? There are some strong emotions and issues going on with this story. Briefly, the story revolves around a young female con-artist, Dottie, who by chance (and only chance) happens upon a slow witted man, Aubrey Wallace. Aubrey has a (bitter) wife and family of his own, but is constantly berated and harrassed by her. Aubrey and Dottie link up in a freak meeting and he is literally overwhelmed..from that moment on he is under her control and she takes every advantage of it. A young toddler, Cannie, gets snatched right out of her own house and from under her distracted mother. Suddenly, the toddler finds herself a new mother and father. Her new mother is but an immature, self-centered child herself and only took the child for use as a smoke screen to avoid her past. For mentally challenged Aubrey, his heart rules his head in many instances, and he genuinely grows to love and adore Cannie, as Cannie grows to love him and believes both of them to be her parents. A child's allegiance is strong, and this bond introduces disastrous consequences. Years pass as they remain homeless and always trying to keep one step ahead of detection by the law. Their life is pathetic and heart wretching. As the situtions become more complicated, Aubrey struggles with right and wrong, love and abuse. All the time you are reading, you know at some point the deception has to end. The ending is a surprise and extremely intense. You will find yourself torn with loyalties and attachments on both sides of the issue. Mary McGarry Morris is brilliant
Rating:
Summary: An intense drama
Review: How does one attempt to relate to you how engrossing this story is? There are some strong emotions and issues going on with this story. Briefly, the story revolves around a young female con-artist, Dottie, who by chance (and only chance) happens upon a slow witted man, Aubrey Wallace. Aubrey has a (bitter) wife and family of his own, but is constantly berated and harrassed by her. Aubrey and Dottie link up in a freak meeting and he is literally overwhelmed..from that moment on he is under her control and she takes every advantage of it. A young toddler, Cannie, gets snatched right out of her own house and from under her distracted mother. Suddenly, the toddler finds herself a new mother and father. Her new mother is but an immature, self-centered child herself and only took the child for use as a smoke screen to avoid her past. For mentally challenged Aubrey, his heart rules his head in many instances, and he genuinely grows to love and adore Cannie, as Cannie grows to love him and believes both of them to be her parents. A child's allegiance is strong, and this bond introduces disastrous consequences. Years pass as they remain homeless and always trying to keep one step ahead of detection by the law. Their life is pathetic and heart wretching. As the situtions become more complicated, Aubrey struggles with right and wrong, love and abuse. All the time you are reading, you know at some point the deception has to end. The ending is a surprise and extremely intense. You will find yourself torn with loyalties and attachments on both sides of the issue. Mary McGarry Morris is brilliant
Rating: 
Summary: Not her best...
Review: I am a fan of Mary McGarry Morris, however, this book is not her best. Perhaps it's because it is so depressing -- all the characters are depressing and unmotivated. Swept up in the circumstances of their lives, they all seem victims unable to control anything. The only person I felt any compassion for is Canny, the child who is abducted. If you want to read a better book, read "A Dangerous Woman" by Morris.
Rating: 
Summary: Depressing book that taints the massachusetts life
Review: I did not like this book AT ALL. Full of profanity, sex, rapes, drugs and murders its not something I would ever read if it were not assigned. Though the plot was ok-it was ruined by the way it was told. Also, the ending was depressing and the story seems to taint the way Massachusetts families really are. I can easily say this is the worst book I've ever read.
I'm a freshman in Highschool and this was summer reading...very BAD summer reading.
Rating:
Summary: An amazing book!!
Review: I loved this book. I couldn't put it down and read it in two days. You will be enthralled with this book always wondering what could happen next. I never expected this book to end the way it did, which is what really makes this a good read. Although, it is filled with truely hateful characters, this book is a real page turner.
Rating:
Summary: Utterly engrossing
Review: I read this before Amazon was even "born." The characters are not ones you would want to get to know but are the kind of people who seem to always fall into trouble of their own doing. You will find it disturbing, amazing, eventful, pessimistic and sad. The ending is all too true in this world.
Rating:
Summary: Utterly engrossing
Review: I read this before Amazon was even "born." The characters are not ones you would want to get to know but are the kind of people who seem to always fall into trouble of their own doing. You will find it disturbing, amazing, eventful, pessimistic and sad. The ending is all too true in this world.
Rating: 
Summary: I think I read a different novel.
Review: I was a but surprised to see that there were so many glowing reviews of this book. I felt as though I must have read a different novel, as I found very little to like about it. I found the plot tiring and tired-- a beat-down simple man swept away by a crazy damaged woman, and I found most of the plot elements (the abduction of the child, her emotional abuse) to be rather clumsy attempts at emotional manipulation rather than moving or hard-hitting. Dotty and Aubrey are some of the oldest characters in the world, and I found nothing particularly new in her treatment of them. I was pleased to discover that it was her first novel-- the writing itself is skilled and it gives me hope that her work has improved over time. Still, I'd skip this one.
|
