Rating: 
Summary: A good period novel
Review: When I first opened this book and realized that it was written in so many different voices, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to follow the story or not. However, once I got past the first two pages, I realized how well Ms. Chevalier was able to bring each of the characters to life just by letting us see their thoughts and dialogues one at a time. The book certainly opens with a bang and doesn't disappoint all the way through. While I don't think this is as superb as The Girl With The Pearl Earring, it is still well worth reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting Style but Disappointing Story
Review: Only one star for the story line but two more for writing style.The story begins on New Years morning of 1901 somewhere in the suburbs of London and follows two little girls, their families, some house staff and a few other characters (who may or may not have known how deeply interrelated they were to the others) for about 9 years. I wasn't impressed with the story but I liked how it was written. Each chapter was dated. January 1901, December 1901, March 1903, etc and then those were divided into subchapters. Each was written in first-person with the "I" being a different character each time giving their own viewpoint of what was happening at the time. "Girl with a Pearl Earring" was much better.
Rating:
Summary: Novel (excuse the pun) literary devices
Review: I found this book to be interesting in a few ways. The present tense gave it a feeling of immediacy. Each character speaks directly to the reader, with a different character each chapter. I liked this device, but found that it was a little harder to imagine the characters interacting with each other, since each character was talking directly to me. I thought the historical context was good, but only in the second half of the book. The 'swapping' at the beginning seemed out of place. My favorite character was Simon, who, although not well educated, was wise, and never faltered when strength was needed.
Rating: 
Summary: Wish Tracy Chevalier Wrote More!
Review: I loved Girl With a Pearl Earring and this book is as good or better. It started out slowly and I wasn't sure if I liked the writing device used of switching character viewpoint, but it turned out to be hugely involving. Smart, heartfelt, wonderful writing -- if only she were more prolific!
Rating:
Summary: Falling Short of Girl With Pearl Earring
Review: After reading Tracy Chevalier's second novel, Falling Angels, I was a little surprised to find how different the writing style was compared to Chevalier's brilliant novel Girl with Pearl Earring. Falling Angels kept my attention and the story line was very interesting, but not as enticing and intriguing as Girl with Pearl Earring (a hard book to top). Every chapter in Falling Angels is based on the thoughts of a separate character and is written in first person. So the story is told through the characters which consist of a variety of personalities and ages.
Most of the story line dances around this cemetery in the early 1900's in England. Two of the main characters, Maude and Livy, almost become obsessed with going to the cemetery. It is there that they befriend Simon, a young boy that works as a grave digger. Simon is not a main character in the story, but I found him to be one of the more amusing ones. Even though he didn't have a proper education, he was no dummy about what went on in the real world. Several times he slipped and shocked the naive Maude and Livy with a taste of reality. Falling Angles does not shy away from sensitive issues that did occur at a time when such things like abortion and adultry were more hush hush. Chevalier also educated me a bit about the Suffragettes, a women's rights group that in the early 1900's many women even opposed. Kitty Coleman, another main character and Maude's mother, become deeply involved with the Suffragettes in fighting for a woman's right to vote. She believed so much for the cause that she literally died for it.
I would say that this novel would most likely appeal more to a woman since it deals with many woman issues. There are several places in the novel where you get a man's point of view, such as when one of the husbands is speaking, but they are always so short and concise. Over all, I found this book worth reading and thought provoking. It was helpful to get into the minds of every character. If you enjoy easy to read, mind entrapping, and historical books, then this is one book you'll want on your wish list.
Rating:
Summary: Fallen Angels
Review: Falling Angels was refreshingly different, It was very unusual and I enjoyed reading it. The emotions and interreaction between Livy and Maud wove an interesting tale.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting historical tidbits, but....
Review: ...boring and depressing. Love the history, but I couldn't get into it. It was slower than sludge. Nothing happening of interest. And five-year-old kids just don't talk that way. Much too adult in conversational content. Can't buy it--literaly or figuratively.
Rating:
Summary: Missed the Boat, Missed a Century.
Review: Actually it was rather like going down with James Cameron's Titanic. I found this book very disappointing and contrived. The stories unbelievable and exposed every metaphor used in soap operas and movies. I was sorry to see so much time wasted on writng such a misguided book. Tracy completely missed the idealisms and feminism in turn of the century England. It played out more like Sex and the City. A waste of time.
Rating:
Summary: Between the dead and the living
Review: The real (silent) hero in Tracy Chevalier's book "Falling Angels" is the cemetery. An interesting narrative device in an already very creative story-telling method.
Many voices can be heard in the story about two families and the people around them, and Ms. Chevalier makes the most out of all of them, letting each voice say his/her piece. In this post-victorian era "Rashumon" the keys to the plot are in the hands of two main characters: Kitty Coleman a wife and a mother who embodies the spirit of chance and Lavinia Waterhouse, a young girl whose role is to signify deeply-rooted middle-class values. The cemetery near these two families' residances, is the focal point of the book: this is were the families first meet and this is were - from that symbolic moment when queen Victoria dies onward - their scerets, loves, pain and beliefs will form and take place.
By choosing this topus for her plot, Ms. Chevalier hints (from the very beginning) that things will never be the same and here she traps herself: can a book explore the topic of "Change in the Making", can the author squeeze into one plot so many ideas and still make the reader care for and identify with at least one of the personas in this many layered story?
Ms. Chevalier's book - her third and most likely not her last, is an easy, light book. It has a lace and potpouri quality to it which I think is not what the writer aimed to achieve, I think Ms. Chevalier is an honest author whose period of research prior to writing her books is genuinely a long one - so how come all three books have the same gloss of "I know it's going to be a best-seller " about them...
Rating:
Summary: Wow!!!
Review: I was extremely impressed by this novel. I went into it thinking it was going to be another adultry novel that affects the family but it wasn't. There was lies and deceit and broken vows but that's only half of the excitement in this book. It's got twists and turns that you will only "think" you see coming when in fact, what you thought was going to happen is replaced by something far more innovative. This book will remind you what true love is all about.
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