Vinegar Hill

Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: This is a really good read. I see some of you disagree, but I found this book engaging and poetic. Although it wasn't very suspenseful, it kept me through it. I'm new to the being-mother-of-a-family field so this was different for me. I hardly every give anything the full 5 stars, but VINEGAR HILL is almost poetic, and I will definitely read another novel by A. Manette Ansay.

Rating:
Summary: I can't decide if I like this book or not.
Review: On one hand, the writing is beautiful and dark; Ansay really lets you get into the minds of each person in this story. On the other hand, I was so depressed by the end that I had to say a little prayer of thanks for the life I have, imperfect as it may be. James made me sick...having been physically and emotionally abused by his father and getting away from it...why, why, why would he allow himself and his family to get back into a situation like that no matter how desperate they were? As for Ellen, at first I felt sorry for her, but after awhile, I just wanted to yell at her to stand up for herself already! Her children are deeply troubled by the atmosphere in the house and she has to leave every night for a long walk to retain some sense of herself...even though her son is traumatized by that and thinks she's going to get killed. I did feel pity for Mary Margaret...being trapped in an arranged, loveless marriage and the sacrifice of her twins; I could at least understand why she acted the way she did. No one else had an excuse. James's regression into a subservient little boy had my nerves on end and the neglect of the children really is what broke my heart.

Rating:
Summary: I kept waiting
Review: I will give this author points for prose and description, but I kept waiting for Ellen to break free of this bondage. Very disappointing ending that left me totally unsatisfied. After all of the depression, I think that anyone who suffered through the entire book at least deserved a decent ending - not necessarily uplifting- but something with finality.

Rating:
Summary: Depressing
Review: I rarely put a book down before finishing it but this one had me stuck in such a depressing rut that I got out without much hope for a pick-me-up ending. I just couldn't like any of the characters to have an interest in the story.

Rating:
Summary: YUCK!
Review: If you like fiction where abuse, dysfunction, and the morbid imaginings of the characters continue non-stop--well, then you're in for a treat. I felt this was a completely joyless novel with a very unsatisfying ending. Probably the worst I've read in years.

Rating:
Summary: Could not finish it
Review: I bought this book to read on an 8-hour plane ride and could not get through it all. I kept waiting for something to happen.

Rating:
Summary: I kept waiting for something to happen...
Review: When I first started this book, I enjoyed the way the author allowed us to feel Ellen's feelings and experience her life. But as I kept reading, it just got harder and harder to continue. I kept rooting for her to leave, to get her act together. I knew that it would take her a while to build up the courage due to the time period, but I was willing to keep reading provided she did leave in the end. I was also looking forward to her telling her husband she was leaving, to her telling off her in-laws, to her anger and frustration springing forth. Sadly, this never happened and that is why I am rating this book so low. This novel had a great conflict, excellent rising action, and even a climax of sorts, but lacked in denoument and resolution. I wanted closure, and received none. I feel like there needs to be a sequel where she moves on just to get the whole story!

Rating:
Summary: Depressing- yes, but not a reason to bag this book.
Review: In some ways I can empathize with the many negative reviewers who didn't like this book because of its depressing storyline, but have to say that Ansay's beautiful prose was a redeeming quality that pushed my rating beyond mediocrity (3 stars) into positive territory. The author has a special gift for describing Ellen's painful experiences to the point where the reader feels them deeply (thus the many negative reviews). It seems to me that similar to Ellen on her evening walks, many readers would prefer to imagine the couple- whose heads are barely visible in a glowing window- as blissfully problem-free rather than challenged daily with complex issues, as is more likely the case in our non-fiction lives.

Rating:
Summary: Depressing
Review: This is the first book I have ever not finished reading. It was so depressing that the thought of reading it each evening actually depressed ME. From reading several of the other reviews I understand that the author was trying to portray a way of life for many women in that time period and I think that that was done very sucessfully, however if you are looking for an entertaining book this is not it.

Rating:
Summary: Not since A THOUSAND ACRES...
Review: Not since A THOUSAND ACRES by Jane Smiley have I been so impressed with an author's ability to reach inside and expose what many of us never uncover until the second half of our lives. No one ever said life was easy, we just pretend in order to survive circumstances that seem to be untenable and irreversible. It took Ellen the entire novel to fight her way free of rules and obligations imposed by a rigid religious and male-dominated society. If that isn't powerful, maybe you had to be there... or here, in the 1970's when a generation of women began to wake up. Waking up is one thing, difficult enough for Ellen (and her daughter looking for guidance): but finding out what to do to change things can be a painfully long process, one that the author shares unflinchingly with us. For the most part, the language is beautifully poetic, the plot only occasionally slow. Some of the descriptions towards the end when Mary-Margaret has her attack and her thin blue-veined legs are waving in the air going nowhere are such pure description, I want to copy the phrase to remember later. I never find the story even remotely unbelievable... the heart of darkness lies in all of humankind, and it is to the author's credit that she should reach so far down into the mud and still come up with a hand full of gold-plate for the mother and the children. I wouldn't call this story depressing, more that it is lifelike in the truest way, all the mud and pain washed off by hope through the safety of the next generation.