Rating: 
Summary: A Captivating, beautiful novel
Review: I bought this book while attending a production of the author's "Good Night Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)" in London. I liked her style and gave it a shot. What a rewarding gamble! Six pounds bought me a weeks worth of the best reading I've had "Their Eyes Were Watching God." The weighty novel took me only a week to read because I couldn't put it down: I read it on the Tube, in lines, before bed, while cooking. MacDonald writes prose like poetry- words to be tasted, but even more, as an actor these were characters that I no only could imagine being performed, but who I wanted to characterize. I recommend not only this novel, but MacDonald's other works also. Her background as an actor and a playwrite among other skills grounds this tragic family in reality, in experience. MacDonald doesn't have to force the issues she addresses, they are simply an organic part of the writing. Perhaps the most beautiful aspect of her writing is the lack of judgement placed on the characters. MacDonald shows them for what they are and lets them speak for themselves. Hooray for a multi talented woman with a voice!
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous book -- ambitious & flawed but VERY satisfying
Review: Long, intense, and epic, Fall on Your Knees chronicles nearly a century in the lives of the Kathleen, Mercedes, Frances, and Lily Piper -- a quartet of sisters swirling in prodigious gifts, vivid fantasies, colliding cultures, supernatural Catholicism, and mind-numbing violence. Cape Breton Island in the early 20th century is a heady, exotic world, a salty setting with a stew of nationalities -- Scots, Lebanese, West Indians, and German Jews. The novel travels back and forth between Canada and Harlem, from the present to the past, until past and present converge in a finale that finally reveals the grand mystery hinted at from page one. Part fairy tale, part horror story, Fall on Your Knees is not for the faint of heart. At times it's overwritten, and it drags a little in the middle. But if you can stay with it through 500+ pages, you'll never forget it. It's a wild, wild ride, and I was sorry to see it end. A really good yarn.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Unforgettable
Review: Quite simply, this is one of the best books I've ever read. I could not put it down and was so disappointed to see it end. I read it over a year ago and still think about it all the time!
Rating:
Summary: Loved It
Review: After going through the first few reviews here, I thought, "Oh great. What am I about to read here?" But don't let the bad reviews fool you. It's a good book. True, the Piper family endures more tragedies than some small nations, but Miss MacDonald writes in such a manner that it takes awhile for all the suffering to sink in. And I do adore her style!I loved Frances, for her spirit and devotion to her sisters. Mercedes was a bit of a bore but after all she's gone through, it would be odd if she *weren't* slightly nuts. Trust me, it was hardly confusing. I especially enjoyed reading about Kathleen. Miss MacDonald has a wonderfully dark sense of humour. I suppose the magic of the book lies in the style of writing. Just don't read it when you're in a bad mood.
Rating:
Summary: Can't get my mind away from Frances...
Review: *I Have Heard the Mermaids Singing* is a movie I remember fondly, perhaps more for the time of life it signifies than for the film itself. In fact, my memories are so good that they led me to read a book I might have failed to pick up--*Fall On Your Knees*, by Ann-Marie MacDonald. See, she was in that movie, and she's cute as a button. The back of the book makes it sound like Danielle Steele--"epic story in the tradition of, blah blah blah, family ties and betrayals, yatada yatada." But it takes place in Canada, which instantly makes it more interesting, and spans the beginning of the 20th century--even more intriguing. I started reading it early on Easter Sunday, and couldn't put it down--not even to give my full attention to *X- Files*. Danielle Steele it's not, although the plot line, when I stepped back, did begin to remind me of V.C. Andrews (which all the girls devoured in jr. high), but really well-done.
MacDonald has drawn up characters who continually surprise. Frances, the girl/woman who wears her Girl Guides uniform to tatters to save her youngest sister, kept me reading more than any of them; well-populated books usually have one character who draws me from page to page, chapter to chapter, racing to get them again, and Frances did this for me. There's a girl with some real (and real interesting) morals, that Frances. The end of the book, though, is the true magic, the real reward. It's what I could not have predicted from the first page, or the 301st. I can see it all, trying to imagine New York City in the 1920's, Haarlem hopping, still with its double "a". I can see two girls and their unlikely friendship, antagonism turned to love turned to sorrow. I can see a beautiful green dress that is the only thing a girl knows of mother. MacDonald shows us all of these things, and the dead, and the living, and the Canada that's booming and busting (of which I am utterly ignorant), and she teaches us about identity and, I suppose, about love.
And one can still turn the book over and look at her cute little face.
Rating: 
Summary: WHATS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE? AND THE AUTHOR?!
Review: All of you "5 star" people are absoute INSANE, and have never read a REAL good book in your life. This book should be BURNED, and whatever the heck drove the author to write about such things makes you question her past.
Rating:
Summary: Beyond compare
Review: With its changing settings (from Nova Scotia, WWI, to New York City during the Jazz age) this spellbinding novel is one of the best things I've come across in months. I'm also one for anything set at the beginning of the last century, so Ann-Marie MacDonald's novel did NOT disappoint. With great writing, like that found in McCrae's BARK OF THE DOGWOOD or Steinbeck's EAST OF EDEN, this Oprah Pick is sure to please. But don't think that I'm one to go blindly by what Ms. "O" says, for I'm not--some of her picks have left me cold. This one didn't, and I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: What a compeling story about a family who's secrets and betrayal almost ruin them.This is absolutely the best book I've ever read. James is a hard-headed, unreasonable and controlling male who causes havoc in his daughters lives. Kathleen is the prissy girl you can't help but fall in love with by the end of the novel when you learn of the circumstances surrounding her horrid end. Mercedes is the familiy's source of strength who helps them survive. Although annoyed by Mercedes' actions often she is still a compelling character. Frances is the bad girl you can't help but love. She turns her world upside down when she turns to alcohol and prostitution but manages to salvage herself. Lily has naive love towards everyone as her sisters try and protect her from the truth. An unstopable read that leaves you with a bitter-sweat feeling and an urge to call your parents and tell them how much you love them. Phenominal.
Rating:
Summary: Disgusting, without substance.
Review: I have read some CRAZY books in my life, but this tops the cake. I LOVE reading, and have read hundreds and hundreds of absolutely wonderful books. But geez, describing a father raping his five year old daughter, upon other stories...give me a break! Thats all this story is about: incests, life's agonies, and complete and utter stupidity. Don't read this book
Rating: 
Summary: Conflicted
Review: I just finished this book and I have to say I am conflicted. I felt the writing was superb but the story just did not completely pull me in. This book came to me highly recommended. It seems many people either love or hate this book, but I felt more neutral. I know that a book is for me when I can't put it down and get lost in the story. This was not the case with this story. I, like many other reviewers, had a hard time in the beginning but after the first 2 or 3 chapters the book got better. I was interested to see where the story went but not lost in it. The ending was not a surprise as I guessed who Lily's father was early on as well as the fate of Frances' baby. I felt almost voyeristic reading some of the plot. The characters were well thought out and developed. So overall I am glad I finished it. A good family saga, great writing, good story.
|
