Blessings

Rating:
Summary: A Story That Stays With You
Review: I highly recommend Blessings, the new book by Anna Quindlen. I listened to this book on CD in the car on my way to work and found myself sitting in the parking lot (before work) and in my driveway (after work) in order to hear the next part. It is a superbly drawn story of life, regrets, loss, and the hope that our lives can change unexpectedly for the better at any time and through many different ways. Over all it has left me with the lesson that sometimes we give something up (a dream, a person, a situation) that's painful in order to grow and change and get something bigger in return.
Quindlen's characters are realistically drawn, act as we expect them to, but always with a slight twist or turn that brings home their authenticity. Her description of the Blessings estate makes it easy for the mind to paint its picture so that we are sitting on the chair beside the pond with Lydia or doing chores with Skip. We fall in love with Faith as sure as all who come in contact with her do.
Joan Allen's narration is masterfully done. Each word, whether heard or read, is exquisite, each sentence filled with meaning.
This is a story that will stay with you long after the last word is read. Enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: How could Anna do this to me?
Review: I won't rehash the story because the other reviews do a splendid job of that. I will say what I came her to query - which is that I cannot understand for the life of me why a writer would end such a brilliant book so badly? I love Anna Quindlan's work. I adore her. But I am clueless as to how she could put so much heart and effort into a story and come up with the ending she did. And why did any editor accept it? The conclusion of this book goes against every single thing that it gave along the way. Reading BLESSINGS was akin to the most beautiful and soul-inspiring drive ever taken, only to arrive at an overgrown cemetary or a land-fill. Why oh why did she do this to me?

Rating:
Summary: Anna Quindlen is A Reader's Blessing
Review: Several years ago I heard Anna Quindlen speak at the 92nd street Y in Manhattan. While she spoke on several topics, what I remember most was how she praised her many teachers, particularly her professors from Barnard who encouraged her to consider writing as a career. As a teacher I was so overcome by Ms. Quindlen's words and I think this is when I fell in love with Anna Quindlen for the zillionth time. Now looking back on this event, I can't remember a time when I didn't love, admire and couldn't wait to read anything written by her. From her earliest columns at The NY Times to her wonderful fiction books, to a quasi memoir How Reading Changed My Life, to the Commencement speech, which ultimately became the book, A Short Guide to a Happy Life to her columns today for Newsweek, I am always interested and intrigued in what she writes about. Is it any wonder that as soon as Blessings her newest book hit the stores, I was first on line. And while I hated waiting, it was well worth the wait. I was so sorry it had to end knowing that once again I have to wait for another book by Ms. Quindlen.

As she has done in her previous books, Ms. Quindlen introduces us to two memorable characters. Skip Cuddy is a young man who has had his share of problems over the years. He fell in with a bad crowd and a botched robbery landed him in prison for the past ten months. But a chance encounter with an elderly woman in a Wal-Mart parking lot will begin a series of events that will change his life forever. Lydia Blessing is the elderly woman Skip has helped out with her car. Mrs. Blessing has lived almost all of her life in Mount Mason first as a child and then as a war widow raising her only child and now into her golden years. But she likes Skip and before the day is through, Mrs. Blessing will offer him a place to live and a job as a hired hand at her home. Mind you, Mrs. Blessings home isn't any home but a magnificent estate, which was owned by her father. And Mrs. Blessing is no ordinary woman. Born to wealthy parents, Mrs. Blessing was raised in New York, attended private school and debutante balls. These days, Mrs. Blessing is somewhat of a recluse who watches her every penny although she is still immensely wealthy. Now fate will turn these two people's lives around. What neither of these two people can imagine is than in a short time their lives will become intertwined and they will form a friendship others could never understand.

Shortly after Skip takes up residence in the apartment above the garage, two teenagers leave a baby on the doorstep of the garage. Skip finds the baby and instinctively he decides to keep the baby although he has very little knowledge about caring for a baby. One thing Skip does know is that he has to keep this baby a secret fearful of what the police might think if they found out the baby was in his care. During the day, Skip goes about his daily chores with the baby in a sling with a shirt covering the baby. His nights are spent poring over child rearing books and he agonizes over the baby's position while sleeping. After several weeks he names the baby Faith. Then one evening Mrs. Blessing finds the baby in Skip's apartment and she becomes part of hiding Faith from the authorities. Mrs. Blessing has her own secrets and as she helps Skip to care for the baby she reflects on her past. She thinks about her parents and the lack of love from her mother. She also reflects on her melancholy brother and his good friend, her husband who is killed early on during WWII. And then she reminisces about her daughter who was reared by nannies and boarding schools and had little to do with Mrs. Blessing as she grew up. She begins to see her life more clearly and her blessings. As the weeks pass, Lydia and Skip learn true values from one another. They also learn that blessings are all around. And the ending reaches its climax with some surprising twists as readers fully understand the blessings Faith has bestowed on both of these people.

So beautifully does Ms. Quindlen describe the grounds Blessings that readers will feel themselves smelling the flowers, seeing the trees and hearing the rustle of the leaves as the seasons change. They will also feel as though they are sitting in Ms. Blessing's living room or picnicking on the porch in the heat of the summer. And so lovingly does she describe the moments between Skip and Faith that readers surely will feel a baby napping on their shoulders or sitting on their laps. And more than anything we feel the love between a parent and a child as Skip protects Faith.

In Hebrew we say the words, "May you be a blessing." Anna Quindlen is truly a blessing. Her books speak volumes on themes of loyalty, devotion, redemption but most of all love. We come to know her characters well. We care about these people and long after we've closed the book we continue to think about them. But most of all Ms. Quindlen's words never fail to place her readers smack in the pages of her book. Her words and the emotions she evokes are unforgettable and you are left with the desire to revisit these people and places again and again.

Thank you Ms. Quindlen. Once again you've written a first rate novel which further confirms why this reader is in love with you.

May you be a blessing!

Rating:
Summary: Mixed blessings.
Review: "Faith fell right from the sky," one character remarks in BLESSINGS, "right down to Mr. Mom" (p. 132). In the first few pages of Pulitzer-Prize-winning-colmunist-turned-novelist Anna Quindlen's fourth novel, a teenage couple delivers a box late one night to the garage doorstep of the Blessings' estate. While the owner of the estate sleeps, the box shudders and shimmies. Quindlen's novel tells the story of ex-con handyman, Skip Cuddy, who discovers a baby girl asleep in the box, his 80-year-old employer Lydia Blessing, and their decision to keep the infant they call Faith. In a word, BLESSINGS is about family.

Quindlen draws her characters well in BLESSINGS and, as in her previous novels, OBJECT LESSONS, ONE TRUE THING and BLACK AND BLUE, she succeeds in eliciting a powerful emotional response from her reader to the rather ordinary lives of her characters. However, despite its strengths--and there are many, Quindlen's latest novel does not rise to the level of great fiction and, for me, what could have been a blessing to read turned out to be a disappointment.

G. Merritt

Rating:
Summary: Don't Trust the Title
Review: I loved Anna Quindlen's earlier works, so I couldn't wait to read this one. Throughout most of the book, she didn't disappoint me! Although she does not address a subject with quite the societal punch as her earlier works, she touches on such relevant subjects as homosexuality, child abandonment and class distinctions with a sure touch. Deftly, she weaves an enchanting, utterly believable, story of redemption, rejuvenation, renewal and possibilities. Her prose, of course, is beautiful. Along the way, she seizes your heart and gives you reason to fall in love with her main characters and even a few of the secondary ones. However, at the end, the novel's focus falters and falls flat. I didn't necessarily want it to end with all the ends tied up neatly in a happy little, unlikely scenario, but their final fates were inconsistent with what they had worked so hard to achieve. And somehow, I had the sense that they, too, were less than satisfied with their ending. I can picture them still waiting in the wings for the sequel so they can tell us what really happens to them.

Rating:
Summary: Blessings~
Review: Skip Cuddy is a young man with not the best reputation in town. He's living above the garage at the Blessings Estate, where he's landed a job as a handyman. While the story that Quindlen tells, is about Skip discovering a newborn infant in a box on his door step, the real story of Blessings is so much more.

When the story begins there are many amusing scenes of an inexperienced guy trying to care for an infant. As the story develops we see how a reclusive old widow with a lot of money, and a poor uneducated handyman with a bad rap, are brought together in the most unusual of circumstances. The cast of characters in Blessings is rich and endearing. The ideas of lost dreams, secrets, beauty and love are all exposed in this well written and engaging novel.

Rating:
Summary: Blessings
Review: I am a picky reader and also careful on subject matter. This is excellent throughout and has all the characteristics of a good book especially grasping the reader. The characters are all well revealed, no doubts most readers of this style will love this.

Also recommended: SB: 1 or God by Karl Maddox

Rating:
Summary: A Book of Wonder
Review: Although the story line in BLESSINGS was different than I expected, QUINDLEN artfully draws both parallel and contrast in the haves and have nots. What some may dismiss, others may seek, etc. Through it all, however, I found myself coming back to the word redemption, because that, in my reading of this fine work, is what surfaced as the undying theme. If you are looking to read a book about people, relationships, emotional salvation, etc., then read this one... it will not disappoint.

Rating:
Summary: Just a nice story...
Review: This, I thought, was one of those nice, quick reads. The characters were engaging, the settings and descriptions were on the money, the plot, thought not overwhelming, was interesting enough to keep you turning the pages.

I enjoyed the way Ms. Quindlen wrote, and the insights to a "dad's" perspective on raising an infant. This book evoked many emotions without being preachy.

Great for a weekend read.
Enjoy, Debbi :)

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: After reading the excerpt from the book in the September, 2002, issue of "Reader's Digest," I was most anxious to read the entire book. Unfortunately, the book was disappointing. My appetite was whetted for more of the story of Skip and the baby. Instead, it dwelt mostly on the disfunctional family of Lydia. It was so entwined with Skip's story that it was confusing. Often both storylines--one of them a sequence of boring backflashes--were in one paragraph and I had to reread it more than once to avoid confusion. The only suspense involved was what would happen to the baby. How that was resolved was also disappointing.