Rating: 
Summary: AN OPUS EFFORT THAT'LL LINGER IN YOUR MIND LONG AFTER..
Review: With over 400 reviews, you know the story...traversing from Cape Breton Island (early 1900s) to the bleak landscape of World War I and the emerging jazz scene in New York City, this magnum opus tells the tale of four unforgettable sisters woven deliciously around inescapable family bonds, clandestine affairs, miracles, murder, passion and unrequited love. With such impeccable writing! Get your hands on this as soon as you can, this is stuff epics are made of. And be prepared to devote yourself to reading because you won't be able to put this down for a while!
Rating: 
Summary: Heartbreaking!
Review: MacDonald has created a saga of 5 generations of a family living in Nova Scotia. The main couple is the descendant of immigrants from other parts, that have come to the area to find a better living. Materia and James have three daughters, and the story follows the struggles of each member of the family. The eldest daughter, Kathleen, is a talented singer, and the second half of the book deals with the mystery surrounding the condition in which she returns from New York, where she has gone to pursue her singing career and take voice lessons. Her two younger sisters must struggle to carry on after her death, and each of them deals with the tragedy in different ways.The book starts out very pleasantly, but with time the story gets more and more disastrous. It is a tribute to the author that such a sad saga is communicated in a very readable fashion - normally I would not even be able to finish a book that was so sad. I highly recommend this book, even if you don't normally read sad books. This one is the exception!
Rating:
Summary: You won't forget it!
Review: This is what FALL ON YOUR KNEES is all about. Secrets and untold truths that no one mentions because it's...well..unmentionable. No one says anything until it is too late. A classic example of this is when Frances dies (she is 40 years old) and the Pipers' next door neighbour attends her funeral and says 'I should have done something long ago, there was something 'not right' with that man and those daughters.' FALL ON YOUR KNEES is the heart wrenching story that you just want so much to turn out well for one of the characters. However, tragedy prevails in everything. We watch an entire family fall apart due to the sins and the secrets of the father. It touches upon sin, guilt and utmost redemption. The surprises at the end of the book are appauling and shocking, but MacDonald wraps up the loose ends and gives the reader a complete feeling of satisfaction. I will never ever forget FALL ON YOUR KNEES. I purchased this book through Amazon.com right after another great purchase, THE LOSERS' CLUB by Richard Perez, about an unlucky writer addicted to the personals. Both are strangely compelling, recommended books. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Epic and Entertaining
Review: This multi-generational book dives into many of the themes Oprah chosen books have covered before but mostly in it's version of a dysfunctional home.Here it's a Nova Scotian family of girls each finding there way in the world with various results. Mercedes is the God fearing good daughter, Francis the rebellious, and Kathleen the vocally talented chosen one who catches her fathers eye.
Although the book touches on some taboo areas like incest, it's never done to shock, and is handled with sensitivity to the reader. A well written first novel.
Rating:
Summary: Dysfunction Defined
Review: Having listened to Forty Words for Sorrow by Giles Blunt, I was drawn to another novel from a Canadian author, Fall on Your Knees, by Ann-Marie Macdonald. Because the cover hinted at deception, lies and betrayal, I was set for another trip through the Canadian tundra on the trail of, at least, a murderer. I was ill prepared for realities of Macdonald's tundra, for it is populated with emotional rather than physical realities, and the story more alarming than any I've read or heard. Having recently seen "The Hours", I began to feel as if I was meeting another family like the one spawned by Michael Cunningham's Virginia, Clarissa and Laura. I met, instead, a multi-generational family that defined dysfunction long before Michael's characters were conceived. The fallout from Anne-Marie's family dysfunction far surpasses that of Cunningham's because it reflects an insidious battle that rages in the heart of a man, James Piper, who never was never able to overcome his attraction to innocent young women even when they were his own beautiful daughters. Add to his incest: prejudice, homosexuality and the cold hard facts of life from a coal mining town in Nova Scotia to the hot hard facts of life in Harlem and you have an alarmingly entrancing tale that will have you alternately longing to bury the book and racing to the end with hopes of uncovering some redemptive moral. Alas, there is no redemption, only a strangely misshapen family tree heavily laden with the fruits of sin and guilt. Read it if you dare.
Rating:
Summary: This book will sink its claws into you and won't let go.
Review: "Fall on Your Knees", by Ann-Marie MacDonald, is honestly one of the best books that I have ever read. When you first read the summary on the back, you assume that it will be just another family story book, like so many others except for the characters names. Mildly interesting, just another piece of escape literature, you think when you first pick it up. But from the first sentence to the very last page, this book has you in its grasp.
Set in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada in the beginning of the 20th century, "Fall on Your Knees" chronicles the lives of the Piper family, from when James Piper first fell in love with his child bride, Materia, through the disintegration of thier relationship, the birth of their children, and throughout the children (Kathleen, Mercedes, and Frances)'s lives, this book will take you through a journey that is unbelievably human. The range of emotions that will be evoked in you, is unreal. You will want to throw the book across the room in response to the anger that you will feel at James, hug it at the love that you feel for the Piper children and grandchild. This is one book where you can truly say that you get to know the characters on a level that would not be possible in real life, and you are all the better for it.
If you have an aversion to controversial topics, such as incest or racism, I would not suggest this book to you. As good as this book is, some of the ideas addressed, tastefully put as they are, they will definetly raise some eyebrows.
I would definetly recommend "Fall on Your Knees" to any one who is looking for a good piece of strong literature, that will leave you craving more.
Rating: 
Summary: Really strange story.
Review: The book was really strange, but good. I had a hard time keeping everything in perspective. The ending was really a surprise. It was difficult to think of it as ever being something that could happen in real life. I'm glad it was a novel, instead of non-fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous says it all!
Review: Very suspensful. Had a hard time putting the book down for anything. I wanted the story to go on forever. I felt as though I knew the characters and actually missed them once the story ended. Written beautifully.
Rating: 
Summary: Bad Wine in a Good Bottle
Review: According to the cover, Fall on Your Knees was an international bestseller. I'm still trying to figure out why......
Anne Marie-MacDonald has indisputable talent. Her use of foreshadowing is excellent and I was impressed by her subtle ways of hinting at dark secrets. But this book was like potato salad that had been left out in the heat too long. It tasted strange, and it just doesn't sit well.
I am a reasonably well educated and well read person, but this book was extremely difficult to finish. The plot sputters along, lots of random, meaningless conversations punctuated with any of a wide variety of stomach turning events. Parts of this book seemed like things you might see on Mad TV or Southpark or even a bad Saturday night live skit. A few of these characters were so foolish and so deranged I found it very hard to muster any sympathy for them. I was frustrated with James and Materia from the very beginning....if he was stupid enough to marry a girl who was only thirteen years old there was no telling what else he was capable of.
I forced myself to finish this book, but now I want those hours back.As well as my fourteen dollars.
Rating: 
Summary: Not a fun read
Review: This book is dreadfully depressing. The only reason I tolerated the subject matter as long as I did---I didn't finish---was because it was our book-club selection. Part of the fun of reading anything is the imagery you create in your mind, so reading about incest is not the way I want to spend my free time.
|
