Rating: 
Summary: Darkly humorous, but not for everyone
Review: Ms. MacDonald obviously has a talent for writing, particularly the use of dark humor. Even so, not everyone will enjoy this book. BE AWARE there are elements of physical and mental abuse along with incestuous lust (and that's just in the first third of the book). I'm not sure what to call the Caesarean performed using scissors and what follows in the creek and vegetable garden, but after that, I decided there were other books I'd rather read. If you like quirky stories with an odd twist of humor, you will enjoy this book. If not, wait for the next one by Ms MacDonald. I'm sure we will be hearing more from this talented, new writer.
Rating: 
Summary: A haunting literary and psychological read -
Review: With my first reading I was quick to savour the story; enjoying the quantity and quality of characters (right down to the cat) and the delicious voyeurism into their struggles and delights with life. I found the individual psychological distortions, adjustments, acceptance and rebellion to the same dark, uncomfortable family secrets fascinating. I read this book a second time to explore the texture, craftsmanship and literary style of this author. I especially loved the flow and ebb of time and place - which seems to only have confused and frustrated many other reviewers. It's rare that I take the time to re-read, study and ponder a book on my own volition (I mean, without a book club!) -- for me it was time well spent.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful, Sad, Wild at Heart
Review: This is what a family saga should be: even the more unsympathetic characters are simply fascinating. And there's plenty of them! The story, which happens in the Canadian island of Cape Breton, has some bits of "magic realism", without entering Garcia Marquez's territory. The island turns into a character itself, making you wanting to visit it, not based on its tourist attractions but on their stories, people and history. The story itself flows effortlessly, focusing on the lifes of the women of one particular family. If you only enjoy stories with happy endings and clear moral lessons, this is not for you. This, my friends, is an exercise in love, pain and above all, liberty. Read this book and then go live your life to your fullest...it's the only one you've got, after all!
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Read
Review: I read this book months ago and it has stuck with me. I think that this was a great book - imaginative, emotional, well written and gripping. It is one of the three or four novels that I continue to recommend to my friends. Just a terrific book.
Rating:
Summary: Strange but good!
Review: I read the book sometime ago. I recently spoke with a friend who brought it back to mind again. Out of curosity and being the info-junky that I am I decided to research Ann-Marie McDonald's writing history. I started at Amazon, of course. I read the reviews of "Fall on you Knees", just because, and decided to add my two cents worth. I enjoyed the book, lots of twists and turns, hard to follow at times, but enjoyable non the less. Would I read it again? No. Not because it was bad, don't take me wrong, I guess there is so much more out there to read that I just can not see myself rereading this particular book. I do have favorites that I will reread again and again. This just is not among them.
Ms. McDonald is a wonderful writer. I will continue to look for more of her books and might even consider reading another if it peaks my interest.
Rating:
Summary: Great
Review: I cant believe how many negetive reviews there are. wow
I loved it! Took me a while to get into it but once I did i was very attached to the characters.. I never wanted the story to end!
Rating: 
Summary: Horrible
Review: Would you enjoy reading the diary of a mentally disturbed person who lived in the early 1900's? Would you enjoy reading a conglomeration of several such diaries that were thrown together without regard for chronological order or gaps in the story produced? If you answered yes to these questions then you will love this book. The author has some ability but the book is ruined by gaps in the story, great and sudden leaps in time, dead ends, and poorly developed characters. I think it made Oprah's list because it is 1. primarily about women, 2. about women who are abused by men, 3. about white women drawn to black men, and 4. about white women who are drawn to black women. Get it? I actually finished the book out of morbid curiousity. I do not recommend that anyone else subject themselves to it.
Rating:
Summary: Fall on Your Knees
Review: Though I am thoroughly appalled by the degrading reviews put forward by previous reviewers, I have come to the conclusion that people either detest this book or love it completely.
Myself, I was enthralled by the way that MacDonald swept me into the lives of these remarkably human people. Though a generous portion of the book is dedicated to the lives and times of Materia and James, the story is really about Lily Piper's search for truth and the loving aid of her sisters. Despite this slow begining, I find myself unable to put the book down each time I read it. (And it seems wonderfully new each time.)
Too many times have I read stories with families that seem all too perfect. The troubles these people go through, though definitely amplified to those of a typical family, are real.
I am currently writing a report on this novel, and I'm finding it hard to decribe the plot. What is this story actually about? It's about Kathleen, her death and flashback of her African-American lesbian lover. It's about Francis, and her wild ways, and her job in the filthy, disgusting bar where she acts as a sex symbol for money. It's about Mercedes, so overly religious - much like her mother - and her attempts to become the mother figure of the family after Materia . . . And it's about Lily, Kathleen's only surviving child, and her search for Kathleen's life.
I find this book a most remarkable piece of work, and I suggest it to anyone who can get their hands on it, though I gather from previous reviews that it is an acquired taste. Beautiful work. Cudos to Mrs. MacDonald.
Rating:
Summary: Total Garbage
Review: I have never watched daytime television, including soap operas, but I am convinced that this book is a faithful homage thereto. I have to disagree strongly with the reviewers who low rate this manure pile on the ground that it's depressing. You have to take it seriously to find it depressing and this is certainly not even near worth taking seriously. I'll do you a favor by revealing the central plot element so you don't have to read it. Little Lily is the product of the incestual rape of Kathleen by her father, James, when he catches Kathleen in flagrante with her "black" lesbian lover, Rose, who is herself the product of her white prostitute mother and probably one of her black clients. It's easier to watch this sort of crap on TV. I'm forced to rate this as one star out of five; actually it's minus a hundred stars.
Rating:
Summary: Fall on your Knees
Review: This is probably one of the worst books I have read. I was not able to to read the entire book and I have never not finished a book. Generally I enjoy reading stories about families and espescially stories of generations. This story was very slow to start, and I kept wondering to myself, when am I going to get somewhere. BORING!!!!
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