Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: As always, Maeve Binchy writes with tenderness about ordinary, appealing people leading ordinary lives. She weaves a number of characters all taking an evening class in Italian into a tapestry of juxtaposed stories and emotions. You want to keep turning pages to see what happens to everyone and to share Binchy's view of Dublin, Ireland and its denizens. More than a few tears here... touching people that you care about. I've read a lot of Maeve Binchy's books and my favorite, though, is LIGHT A PENNY CANDLE, about a child who is sent to live in Ireland during the bombing of London during World War II. I adored that book and read it several times. Binchy even managed to make the dog seem like a living, breathing, animal with personality. Try out her books if you haven't. They are great
Rating: 
Summary: Another great read from Maeve Binchy
Review: Evening Class by Maeve Binchy is a well-written character-driven novel that left me with a sort of 'happy' feeling. A feeling that humanity is not so bad after all (and that's saying something from one of life's old cynics!)There's a positive cornucopia of characters. Maybe one or two too many since, at times, I had to look back to refresh my memory about who was who. Binchy melds their disparate lives into a complete story revolving around an evening class to teach Italian. Each of the characters has a different motive for attending the evening class, and as the story continues, Signora (the class teacher around whom the story revolves) helps them discover inner strengths of which they were not aware. For different reasons, each member of the class has a goal of taking a viaggo to Italy at the end of the year. Meanwhile, despite their different backgrounds, they are beginning to form strong bonds with each other. Evening Class was captivating and well-written but I don't feel able to offer five stars since the ending was just a little too obvious. The story's finale is something of a damp squid compared to the interest that Binchy builds during the novel. It left me hanging, wanting something more substantial. Still an excellent read, though, and well worth the time.
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Summary: A good Binchy, but not her best
Review: EVENING CLASS by Maeve Binchy Here's a book that revolves around an Irish expatriate who left her home in Ireland to live in Italy for many years, and a night class where learning Italian is the goal of it's students. EVENING CLASS by Maeve Binchy is yet another novel in which Binchy introduces us to a large cast of characters, and the reader gets to know each and every one of them in detail. The book starts off with the story of Aidan Dunne, a very unhappy husband and father of two young adult women, who is waiting to hear if he is going to receive the promotion of school principal that he feels he most certainly deserves. When the position goes to a rival, he is instead offered the task of setting up a new nighttime adult education school, where he is allowed carte blanche. Aidan chooses to start with Italian language classes. It is a revolutionary idea, but he decides he wants to take a stab at it, and his love of Italy is obvious as he tries to make his dreams of living the life of Italy come true. In the mean time, he needs someone who could teach the class, as well as enough pupils to keep the classes going. Enter "Signora": an Irish woman who now calls her home Italy, because many years ago the love of her life decided to return home to Italy, and she followed him, despite her family's protests. After several decades of living in a foreign country, she herself is now a foreigner in the country of her birth, a place that feels strange and uncomfortable to her. Her acceptance of the position of Italian teacher for Aidan's night school is a godsend, and she puts her heart and soul into this project. It first appears that this is a short story collection, as Binchy introduces a new character in each new chapter. However, she chooses to make this a novel, as she winds up the short stories by bringing them all together at the very end. It is a clever gimmick, and although I think she pulled it off, I felt that she cheated a bit. This was not a true novel. Her ending was rather sloppy, I thought, but it was the happy ending I was looking for. EVENING CLASS to me was an uplifting book, with a lot of hope and wishful thinking among the many characters. I found it one of the more enjoyable Binchy books so far that I've read, although not quite my favorite. I recommend EVENING CLASS to any Binchy fan!
Rating: 
Summary: Left Me Feeling Incomplete-Could Have Been Better
Review: Evening Class was interesting enough to keep on reading through it to see what happens. Each chapter begins with another character telling their life story. Aidan Dunne is the first character in the story. He is unhappy in his life with his now two grown daughters, and distanced from his wife. When the evening class came along, it brightened his spirits; especially with the instructor Signora. Signora is quite an eccentric. The instructor of the evening class, she makes italian fun and exciting to learn for the students. Other characters are Bill, Laddy, and Connie. All have lives that will intertwine with one another in different ways. The story on each though, is incomplete. That's what made the book not so good.
Rating:
Summary: A Classy Novel
Review: I love reading about characters ~~ even if Binchy sometimes seem to be naive about some of her characters ~~ but her storytelling is superb as usual. This one is a re-read for me and I thoroughly enjoyed it again. You have different people coming into this story ~~ and with a deft hand, Binchy keeps the stories flowing into one mass conclusion at the end. You have Signora who returns from Italy to Ireland after her lover dies. You have the disappointed Latin teacher, Aidan Dunne, who is bereft of his dream job as a principal at Mountainview. You have Barry, the young kid who remembers Italy fondly. You have Lou, the class thug, who changes his life midway through the year in the class. There is Connie, the rich woman with a secret bursting to be told, Fran and Cathy, sisters or mother/daughter ~~ Fran's secret till it comes out. There is Bill, a serious banker and his finacee, Lizzy, who is a dizzy blonde. They all come together in a class to learn Italian ~~ for various reasons and because of this common ground, they all became friends and their stories are entertwined ~~ Dublin isn't the typical big city ~~ it's a city with a small-town feel to it where everyone knows your name. Binchy writes with a sure hand and she creates believable characters that you relate to as a reader. Her stories are believable in most instances. This is one book that you cannot stop turning the pages ~~ it is one of my favorites this year. I come to rely on Binchy's novels for pure relaxation ~~ her stories are interesting and well-written. Sometimes, when you pick up one of her novels, you feel like you're coming home to relax by the fire and hearing the local gossip of your friends and family. She is a warm writer and she gently shares those stories with you ~~ as only a good story-teller can do. 11-22-03
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Summary: Evening Class
Review: The new Signora moves into town... It is a mystery to the town folks where she is from and a mystery as to why she is able to speak Italian so well. Because she is single and lonely, she begins to start teaching Italian classes at the local college. The classes make her relive her life when she was younger and lived in Italy. They bring back fond memories of being in love. The classes change her life; they give new meaning and purpose to her present life. Soon after, through many twists of fate she comes together with Aidan Dunne, a teacher, who is surviving in a life-less marriage... One of my favorite books of all time... The plot is simply amazing. Maeve Binchy is the master!
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Summary: a dropout!
Review: This book is not up to par with Binchy's quality.
Rating:
Summary: Should we start our own Italian Courses ??
Review: This is a very good book about foreign language courses. I participated to many of them in Ankara in my past. I feel that teachers will find good clues how to make their courses productive, exciting and full of fun.
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Summary: Maeve Binchy, always a GREAT READ !
Review: This is one of my favourite books of all time. I work in a public library and I constantly recommend this book to customers. We have never had one customer return "Evening class" who did not enjoy it thoroughly. It is vintage Binchy, with a number of characters whose lives intertwine in various subtle ways. As usual, we learn not to judge others and make assumptions about their lives based solely on appearances. She is a wonderful Irish writer who is able to convey the way of life in Ireland through the written word. I have been to Ireland 14 times in 30 years and her language and descriptions are spot on. Having read thirteen Maeve Binchy novels, only two disappointed. "Silver wedding" just couldn't catch my attention. "Tara Road", her latest, was good but I felt the second half was much more interesting than the first. More pages, in my humble opinion, should have been dedicated to the main characters AFTER they swapped homes. Still, I love Maeve Binchy books. Ninety percent of the novels I read are by British female authors and, for pure enjoyment and "feel good" reads, it is a tie between Binchy and Rosamunde Pilcher. With Pilcher's retirement from writing (although son Robin's first novel was very good!), long live, and write, Maeve!
Rating:
Summary: A treat- light,sweet, somewhat guilty pleasure
Review: This is warm and somewhat simple, very predictable read. The characters are many and their relationships take curious and quirky twists and turns. It is a sweet story with a few well placed character studies and lots of delicious seductive surprises. Although not WAR AND PEACE, it is a plesurable book to read, and even moreso the second time. Enjoy!
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