The L-Shaped Room

Rating:
Summary: Memorable
Review: I had to read this book for a high school English class six years ago. I have been looking for it ever since. Unforgettable.

Rating:
Summary: Almost perfect
Review: I stumbled upon a copy of this book in a Goodwill store and purchased it for a whopping $0.50. What an investment! It is obvious that Ms. Banks was testing her writing mettle when she penned this story. Some of her amature enthusiasm does show through--but it is rare. For the most part, this is a brilliantly written book about love, fear, shame and redemption. None of the characters in this book is a sketch--each is full-bodied and bursting with life. Each person has problems, real ones we can all identify with, and each must work out the solutions for him/herself. But they are all the better for it.

Our heroin is not quite the model of viture we are used to: She is pregnant from a brief encounter with a man whose name she doesn't even mention until half-way through the book. Because of the ignorance of the times, she is forced out of her father's home, out of her job, and into a small and strange apartment. The people she meets in this apartment building help shape her, help make her realize that her life is not over due to one mistake. Her life has just begun--and there are plenty of mistakes yet to make.

The book is filled with memorable scenes and passages. For me, the passage where she finally reveals the name of the baby's father sticks in my mind. Not because it is such a big revelation. Quite the opposite. It is something tiny, trivial. He has changed her life forever, and yet he is nothing. Just that once sentence produced a cold lump in my stomach.

Please, if you can find a copy of this book, buy it. Unfortunately, the sequel does not live up to its predecessor. The sequel does have its moments, and I enjoyed reading it, but for my money, "The L-Shaped Room" is in a class of its own.

Rating:
Summary: Almost perfect
Review: I stumbled upon a copy of this book in a Goodwill store and purchased it for a whopping $0.50. What an investment! It is obvious that Ms. Banks was testing her writing mettle when she penned this story. Some of her amature enthusiasm does show through--but it is rare. For the most part, this is a brilliantly written book about love, fear, shame and redemption. None of the characters in this book is a sketch--each is full-bodied and bursting with life. Each person has problems, real ones we can all identify with, and each must work out the solutions for him/herself. But they are all the better for it.

Our heroin is not quite the model of viture we are used to: She is pregnant from a brief encounter with a man whose name she doesn't even mention until half-way through the book. Because of the ignorance of the times, she is forced out of her father's home, out of her job, and into a small and strange apartment. The people she meets in this apartment building help shape her, help make her realize that her life is not over due to one mistake. Her life has just begun--and there are plenty of mistakes yet to make.

The book is filled with memorable scenes and passages. For me, the passage where she finally reveals the name of the baby's father sticks in my mind. Not because it is such a big revelation. Quite the opposite. It is something tiny, trivial. He has changed her life forever, and yet he is nothing. Just that once sentence produced a cold lump in my stomach.

Please, if you can find a copy of this book, buy it. Unfortunately, the sequel does not live up to its predecessor. The sequel does have its moments, and I enjoyed reading it, but for my money, "The L-Shaped Room" is in a class of its own.

Rating:
Summary: Thoughtful, poignant and provocative reading.
Review: Poignant story of a young women who had to make some tough choices. The author takes her readers on a journey of shame, forgiveness and an unbreakable spirit. Truly timeless.

Rating:
Summary: this book is good!
Review: this book is excellent and everybody should read it! i am 13 and i enjoyed it

Rating:
Summary: A really good book!
Review: This has become one of my favorite books and should be on every teen reading list.

Rating:
Summary: A moving story of compassion, shame, love and hate.
Review: This story has everything behind it - love,hate, shame, compassion, sympathy, loneliness, understanding. It shares the troubles of a rejected young hopeful being who struggles through a pregnancy without the people she thought had loved her, her father, her friends, her family. Through the want of no help, she finds in a place of shabbiness called home, the L-Shaped Room, true friends, true love and the love for a child she never thought to be a reality.