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Summary: Anne MacDonald, Where Have You Been All My Life?
Review: When I finished this book around midnight last Friday, I just sat and held it for a while, sad that it was over and needing to process the last bit I had read. Two days later, I bought copies for my friends and started reading my own copy again. I missed those messed-up Pipers, and like the John Cougar Mellencamp song, I missed the "hurt so good" feeling. As you journey with the Piper family from the marriage of James and Materia through the births of the four sisters and beyond, you will laugh, you will love, you will be shocked and outraged, you will grieve, and you will heal only to have your wounds torn open again. MacDonald is an amazing storyteller. I still don't know how she managed to keep me reading page after page of her heartbreaking saga, but she did. There were times when I wondered why I was putting myself through it, why I wanted to continue to read this book that was full of so much pain. At one point when a series of events seemed more than any one family (or reader) could take, she almost lost me, but I couldn't quit. I had to know what happened. I'm so glad I did. MacDonald's writing had it's share of high points, Kathleen's singing debut being one of them, but her story-telling ability is her true strength. The way she tells this story and unveils the Piper family secrets is masterful. I am in awe.
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Summary: Well written, riveting...
Review: This book was very well written. I felt that the writer must have experienced some of these tragedies or studied them, because her characters had some very real reactions to the blows life kept dealing them. At times - over the top - but very riveting until the very end.
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Summary: Epic drama and post-modern play in one
Review: Anne-Marie MacDonald's "Fall on Your Knees" is one of the most compelling and amazing books I've read in my life! The author weaves a fascinating tale of a wildly dysfunctional Cape Breton family whose life takes so many twists and turns it seems at once highly improbable and completely believable. She accomplishes this with highly-developed characters whose neuroses dig ever-widening holes in the fabric of their quirky and often likable personalities. One reads this book and questions whether so many human extremes can exist in one household, however one realizes that these extremes exist in all of us and would be released if all possible consequences were buried by an onslaught of emotion. Pandora's Box anyone? My favorite aspect of this book is by far MacDonald's narrative style. If anyone is looking for a companion to the college writing staple "Elements of Style" please turn around and seek "perfection" elsewhere. However, if you would like to be lured into a hallucinatory trance by the chantings of a tribal storyteller, than pick up this book. MacDonald does not create the story. The characters and events were merely floating around in the air and she wrapped her words around them. She floats in and out of each character's mind, deftly passing from 3rd person to 1st person without a worry that the reader will get lost because the reader knows the characters so well it is impossible to do so. The characters' stream-of-conscience thoughts run from concrete to abstract and back leaving the reader to fill in the blanks with their own imaginations. Not to mention that when the author feels like throwing in snatch of a poem or song, she does so. The effect? It's like going to a one-person show and watching an actor effortlessly improvise for hours without ever leaving you in the cold. So, if you're looking for the qualities of a sweeping epic drama mixed with the unpredictable writing style of a post-modern play, I definetly recommend.
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Summary: Emotionally Exhausting
Review: Fall on Your Knees is beautifully written and complex, but after finishing this book I was not sure why I had put myself through it. The themes of interracial love, and scandalous sexual relationships are worth some study. But in the end, I just felt exhausted. There were no heroes in this book, and it seems that every character has fate handing them a crushing blow. The cruel and controlling characters never get their just desserts. Fate, in this novel, seems to only extract revenge on the innocents. A few illustrations are sprinkled thoughout, which I felt were not only beautiful, but fascinating. They underlined the sex-and-death themes that underlay this whole novel. Interspersed with song lyrics and bits of lovers' whispers these interludes were striking. The scope of this novel may have been too large for one book. It picks up pieces of the other villagers' lives, but quickly leaves them by the wayside. In retrospect, it may have been a good idea to diffuse some of the focus from the tragic Piper family.
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Summary: Worth the Shock
Review: Filled with everything from interracial relationships to rape to incest to lesbianism, McDonald's work of art ties in such intriguing concepts and storylines that kept me glued to the book. "Fall on Your Knees" just held me captivated with the fine writing and great mix of characters. Finally, the shocks that perpetuated throughout the story definitely kept the whole book going. I loved it!
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Summary: I thought I alone loved it!
Review: I read this book several years ago when I received it as a gift. I am usually a slow reader but this was an exception. I loved it. Until just recently I hadn't heard anything about it howeverI find some of the books I like the most are not best sellers I loved this one before it became so popular.. Because .....it is such a Great Story.
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Summary: Fall on Your Knees - Thoughts
Review: I picked the book without reading any reviews based on Oprah's endorsement. I was hooked after blazing through "The house of sand and fog". With this book I worked my way through the first 10 pages, put the book down and was determined not to read any more. Later, in bed with a cold and deciding I had been too harsh, picked it back up and finished it. My first impression was correct. The book is a waste of time (unless you are a writing teacher needing an example of what not to do). I found the plot lacking. The events "unfolded" (too kind a word)in an unimagintive and predictable way. The writing charming only as it captured the ethnicity of the various cultures portrayed. The writing needs to do much better with locale. If you would like to read aout abusive personalities, incest, or negative portrayals of race issues, this book is for you. Eat a large meal because you will need the calories to plod through it. Recommendation = If you must read...pick it up used because this book is not worth the price of new.
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Summary: Not memorable at all
Review: I read this about a month ago and then stumbled upon Oprah's book club episode today. I remember that I read the book, but even after listening to them talk about it, I could not remember what the book was about. Only after coming and reading some of the Amazon reviews did I remember the plot. Frankly, I read it quickly and forgot it just as quickly. It didn't resonate with me. Tragedy and turmoil. It was entertaining while I was reading it, but not enough to stick with me.
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Summary: Family Secrets
Review: This is such a good book. Characters are so well developed, they swing into action in your mind's eye. Situations are so realistic and vivid in the author's writing. You will experience every emotion as you turn the pages. You will witness love, hate, jealousy, incest, rape, abuse amd see suprising outcomes.
A young couple find each other. Marry in love which takes twists and turns no one can imagine. The setting is in a beautiful costal town near Breton, Nova Scotia. As their daughters are born, the father, James developes an unnatural desire which he truly fights. Each daughter is someway affected, and a normal childhood escapes them. Their mother fights mental defeat but keeps going despite all odds. What makes all this "scary" is that it could be real. Read about how the other related people or friends are part of the secret happenings woven into the web. Will you be able to solve all the mysteries?
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Summary: Smoke and Mirrors
Review: This is an incredible tale in which things are not always what they seem. The characters are vividly alive in this heartbreaking story of a family for which "dysfunctional" does not seem strong enough a word. MacDonald is a brilliant writer with a talent for putting the reader inside the mind of her characters.
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