Rating: 
Summary: Shreve at her very best! One of my favorite books of 2003!
Review: Like Fortune's Rocks and Sea Glass, All He Ever Wanted by Anita Shreve is a book filled with wonderful characters set against a historical background of social mores and traditions. And as she did in he previous historical novels, the author offers her readers a wonderful novel and one that left me wishing for another book by Anita Shreve.All He Ever Wanted begins during a fire when Nicholas Van Tassel, a professor at a small college in New Hampshire, spots a young woman and accompanies her home that evening. Almost immediately Nicholas becomes besotted with the woman Ms. Etna Bliss and begins courting her. From this point of the narrative, Shreve moves the scene to a time many years later as Nicholas recounts the story of his love for Etna on a train as he is bound for his sister's funeral in Florida. At this point Shreve becomes almost a modern day Edith Wharton as through Nicholas we come to learn about his views of society in the early 1900's through 1930. As readers, we watch as Nicholas becomes further obsessed with Etna, thwarts a rival for a competitive position at the college and eventually comes under scrutiny for a transgression he did many years before. And as these events are taking place we also watch as Nicholas' and Etna's relationship begins to spiral out of control and wonder how this will all be resolved. For in the end all Nicholas ever wanted is the love of Etna. I highly recommend this book to those readers who have enjoyed Anita Shreve in the past and for those who may want to read her for the first time. The author has a wonderful ability to put her readers right between the pages of the book. In addition the narrative evokes the language and society of the 1900's. Shreve has done an excellent job of describing these events from the point of view of a man deeply in love and this book makes for a very worthwhile read. I enjoyed it so much that I rated it among my ten top favorite reads for 2003.
Rating: 
Summary: And What Happens When He Gets It
Review: This is my first introduction to the works of Anita Shreve. I was drawn to the book because of the time period, turn of the century America. In addition, the plot of the novel seemed reminiscent of Edith Wharton's most famous works. After finishing the book, the characters stayed with me throughout the evening and this is always the sign of a good book! Nicholas Van Tassel is a professor at a small college in New England. One evening while escaping a fire, he happens to see Edna Bliss and is immediately captivated by her. Later they meet and Nicholas falls in love with the young woman. However, from the very start Edna is honest with Nicholas and tells him that while she will marry him, she will never love him. To me this is the crux of the novel. Edna never lies about her feelings. Nicholas of course assumes that this will change and this sets the tone for the remainder of the novel. On a feminist level, one could argue that the woman is simply not being heard. But whether the character is a man or woman, I don't think really matters. The book is about one person trying desperately to create another person whom they can love. Not accepting this person, with their flaws and human frailties, but demanding that they conform to the expectations, desires and wishes of another. Other reviewers have commented on the coldness of Edna's character. I found Nicholas, the narrator, to be much colder. He is a man willing to do anything to have his way in this world, regardless of who will suffer. I would recommend this novel to anyone interested in the workings of the human heart.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful and telling
Review: This is the first time that I have read Anita Shreve and very much enjoyed it. I agree that the first few chapters are slow and somewhat confusing. However, after the very beginning, the book takes off and shortly in, I could not put it down. The story describes the marriage of Nicholas Van Tassel and his wife, Etna Bliss. It is taken solely from the side of Nicholas as he is writing his story on the way to his sister's funeral in Florida. The reader is not very much aware of Etna's private thoughts and feelings as the story is written by Nicholas. This, i thought, was a stroke of genius on the author's part and skillfully, she enticed us into this dysfunctional marriage. This story is a true story of finding oneself, marrying for the wrong reasons and then resurrecting oneself after failure. I will recommend it to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: Hard To Get "Into"-Then Hard To Walk Away From!
Review: Never having read Shreve before, I had only the synopsis of the book to go by. The narrator (audio version) did a tremendous job of carrying out the pomposity of Nicholas' character, and I had visions of Anthony Hopkins playing the lead role if this were ever made into a movie. However, I feel Shreve did an excellent job at continually creating settings in this period piece which were intergral to the story. So Nicholas was pompous. Where is it written that all characters must be liked or admired in a successful book? Nicholas' arrogance and the habit of constantly judging each person with whom he knew, saw, had known or had even heard of made a wonderful contrast to the creation of Etna, the wife for whom he hungered, married but never quite "had" in any way. I can only hope that readers realize that the traits which made Nicholas so unlikeable were created by the author to hide his many insecurities, jealousy being the more dominant of many. And I found Etna to be equally sad and lacking in those characteristics which keep others interested in their company. Although married for 15 years, both characters lived life on a false front and had only themselves (separately) for company. I feel that Shreve meant this book to be much more of a message to contemporaries of today as to how they interract with spouses and other family members before their time to do so is cut short. There are several unexpected twists in this book which kept me interested (Samuel, not Philip being Etna's initial lover, the hard-to-imagine trips of Nicholas to a seaside town to seek female companionship while he seems to be the type to have no interest at all in the female gender until his encounter with Etna, and the introduction of the hidden away cottage which ignites the final flames to the marriage of Nicholas and Etna. I enjoyed the audio version especially due to the narrator's voice, but I also believe Shreve has created an exemplary piece of work and hope I find her next book to be as entertaining.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Boring!
Review: This has got to be the most boring book I've ever read, it's very drawn out. I considered many times to just walk away from it.
It may would have been more intersting if the story was told by Etna.From Honeymoon nearly straight to teeange daughter nothing in between.She elaborated where she shouldn't have and didn't where she should have......
Rating:
Summary: Repressed Dignity
Review: Anita Shreve's ability to parse emotionally laden words with such aching discipline results again in a sparsely-drawn, heartbreaking sketch of two people inexorably tied together in a "bound-to-be-tragic-in-the-end" knot. It is a superb illustration of the price we can pay for the choices we make.
Olive Gallagher
Author of "A Simple Path to The Good Life"
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Book
Review: I struggled through the first chapter or two of this book, then it swept me up and I didn't put it down until I had finished. The language is old-fashioned and a little flowery yet works well to draw the reader in to the story. The story is told by a college professor looking back over his marriage which took place 30-odd years before. The old man feels the need to explain his marriage to his son who is about to become a father. Nicholas Van Tassel meets Etna Bliss when they both escape from the dining room of the local hotel which happens to be burning down around their ears. From the start Van Tassel is overwhelmed with longing for Etna. Even when they are married he never stops longing for her. While she becomes his wife, Etna never gives herself to her husband in any sense of the word. In many ways she remains a stranger to both him and to the reader. We only ever hear her husband's version of events, apart from a few letters he discovers. Etna is a woman of secrets and all is not revealed by the book. This is a good story that is beautifully written. I was fully absorbed by it and once it got going it was never dull. All the major characters are deserving of sympathy in their own way and I spent most of the book knowing it was knowing it was all going to end in tears but hoping it wouldn't. There is no simple happy ending to this book, although it isn't totally without hope, which felt very right. A happy ending would have been a cop-out.
Rating:
Summary: really entertaining
Review: you wont be displeased reading this book
Rating:
Summary: Never judge a book by it's...title
Review: Never having the pleasure of reading any of Shreve's works prior to delving into "All He Ever Wanted", I admittedly formed an unfair and premature opinion of the novel based on its somewhat flimsy melodramatic title. However, I was soon to discover that it is definitely a fitting and descriptive cover for the thespian narrative that unravels within. I was also taken unaware that this was a period piece, set in New England in the early part of the 20th Century - a fact I was all too happy to uncover, as I am an aficionado of period works. "All He Ever Wanted" is a heart-wrenching account of unrequited love, obsession, jealousy and betrayal; exploring the most intense (and at times, darkest) workings of the human heart. Dreary and rather depressing, this candid narrative painstakingly chronicles a marriage of convenience gone sadly awry. It is written in the voice of Nicholas van Tassel, an English literary professor at a small college in New England as he ponders upon the memories of his fateful past... One harrowing evening after escaping a restaurant fire, van Tassel happens upon the striking Etna Bliss and is instantaneously enraptured. Here commences their somewhat stifled and confusing courtship. Ultimately, their marriage forces each character to make critical compromises that will change their lives forever: Man gives up romantic ideal of marriage (knowing full well his wife does not love him) if only to 'possess' her for himself; Woman relinquishes hope of marrying someone she loves and settles instead for a man who offers her freedom and a degree of independence (which is ultimately counterfeit). Although the story is a little slow and one-dimensional at the outset, as the plot proceeds the reader will be taken in by the rich detail and character definition that quickly develops. The letters between certain characters were also a nice touch, allowing a glimpse into their personal thoughts - a unique perspective for the reader, digressing temporarily from the narrator's recital. All in all, I must say I was thoroughly impressed by Shreve's shrewd portrayal of affections not reciprocated in "All He Ever Wanted"...it is a theme all too familiar in the human game of love.
Rating:
Summary: Gripping and Unforgettable
Review: Anita Shreve simply does not write ordinary books. Even her lesser efforts tend to leave the reader gasping for air at the end--and "All He Ever Wanted," one of her best, in my opinion, is breathtaking in the same shocking way. Written entirely from the point of view of a stodgy male college professor circa 1900, this is the story of a passion so intense, so unlike the writer himself, that it is scarcely believable, especially when related in the stilted flowery language of the day. Nicholas Van Tassel, a rather ordinary pedantic with nothing particularly unusual about him, happens to be in a hotel restaurant when it catches fire. This single pivotal episode in his otherwise unremarkable life changes him forever--it is during the rescue effort that he encounters Miss Etna Bliss, and falls head over heels into a passion that borders on, indeed IS, an obsession. Hampered by the extreme rules of etiquette governing proper men and women of the day, Van Tassel nevertheless pursues Miss Bliss, finally persuading her to marry him despite her the fact that, as she honestly tells him, she does not love him. Love will come, thinks Van Tassel, hardly able to believe his luck in winning his prize. And that hope, that fantasy, that overwhelming obsession of his entire being, eventually destroys the narrator, his wife, and his entire family. Shreve stays in character completely and thoroughly, managing to evoke the failings of the man himself, the restrictions of the society in which he lives, and the hopelessness of his obsession without ever once betraying herself. It is safe to say that the author stays well in the background while letting Van Tassel tell his own tragic story. I consider this book a minor masterpiece. Shreve is an acquired taste, I know--but truly innovative and absolutely original in every book she writes. "All He Ever Wanted" is no exception.
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