Rain Line

Rating:
Summary: A HAUNTING NOVEL
Review: "Rain Line" examines the process of grief and recovery with an unflinching eye. The novel is a complex look at a young life haunted by many ghosts; her dead lover, her eccentric family, and the memories of her neglectful childhood. But, most importantly, Leo has to wrestle with the ghost of who she is to become. A realistic and haunting look at the painfull process of recovery and reinvention.

Rating:
Summary: Very satisfying
Review: "Rain Line" examines the process of grief and recovery with an unflinching eye. The novel is a complex look at a young life haunted by many ghosts; her dead lover, her eccentric family, and the memories of her neglectful childhood. But, most importantly, Leo has to wrestle with the ghost of who she is to become. A realistic and haunting look at the painfull process of recovery and reinvention.

Rating:
Summary: A fine first novel
Review: RAIN LINE is an exceptionally fine and elegant first novel by Anne Whitney Pierce.
On the way home from a party fueled by alcohol, the car carrying Leonarda Baye, a musician, and her boyfriend, Harvard hockey star, Danny McPhee, plunges into the depths of the Charles River.
What follows in this beautifully written and moving novel is an exploration of death and the affirmation of life, mental illness and class struggles.
Pierce skillfully weaves themes of self-esteem, survivor's guilt, physical and mental abuse, and single parenthood all into one satisfying and haunting story with beautiful prose and a deep understanding and empathy for her characters.
While RAIN LINE may never receive the kind of attention that books on a best-seller's list will, it should definitely not escape the attention of any reader of fine, literary fiction.

Rating:
Summary: Very satisfying
Review: This novel has lots of dips and turns, and despite all the hardships the main character Leo goes through, I really felt like her mental progression in addressing (or avoiding) the matters in her life were believable. One sign of the best of fiction is whether or not at the completion of the book you think the story could have been true. With the combonation of progresses and setbacks Leo experiences I found her completely understandable and I therefore thoroughly enjoyed the book.