Rating: 
Summary: Keep This Book....
Review: "What to Keep" is a phenominal first novel that I think has a strong resonance. It's the story of a mother and daughter that shows a great perspective into the ups and down of growing up, and perticularly when you're growing up pretty much all alone. The writing is quite outstanding. The ending was poignant and touching. I have to recommend this book to anyone who loves an easy, endearing story.
Rating: 
Summary: Easy ride to an anti-climactic ending
Review: "What to Keep" is a promising first novel about fatherless (one way or another) children and a playwright; as I'm both it had a particular resonance for me. I liked the span and the scope of the thing over many years, its three sections (presumably deliberately) like the three acts of a play. I did think the ending was anticlimactic, but the ride getting there was so easy to take that I still think fondly of the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Below Average and Overrated!!!
Review: Am shocked so many people loved this book. There were tons of gaps, ideas (to give credit - many good ones) with lacking plots and poor character development. Definitely not a page turner. Feel bad I recommended this for my book club. All girls (except one who seemed to like it) dreaded picking it up to read, but wanted to finish it for sake of discussion at book club. There really wasn't much to talk about at the book club. Disappointing. A friend made a good point that this is written like a screenplay, so maybe it's meant for people to visualize more and would probably be better as a movie. Good read for a screenplay writer I guess...
Rating:
Summary: A Tender First Novel by Rachel Cline
Review: At first glance, it might be tempting to file WHAT TO KEEP under the category of "Chick Lit." All the familiar elements of the genre are here: the single woman finding her way in New York, her conflicts with wacky family members, her struggles for career success. But this tender first novel by Rachel Cline couldn't be farther from the typical Chick Lit confection. Instead, it's simultaneously a poignant character study and a moving meditation on the changing definitions of family. The novel is divided into three parts, each of which focuses on a particular moment in the life of its heroine, Denny Roman. In the first part, she's twelve and about to star in her school play. Her recently separated parents, both brilliant doctors, are too distracted by their own concerns to pay much attention to Denny or to show up for her performance. Instead, Denny's only parental figure --- "the only adult to whom she was neither confounding nor overwhelming" --- is the agoraphobic Maureen, who runs a business organizing the lives of successful but clueless folks like Denny's parents. In the novel's second section, Denny, now in her mid-twenties and a struggling actress in Los Angeles, returns home to Ohio to help her mother and stepfather prepare for their move to New York City. As Denny decides which of her childhood memorabilia to keep and which to sell at a garage sale, her failed relationship with her mother comes to a head. The final part, set in 2000 in New York City, shows us Denny as an up-and-coming playwright. This time her parents are willing to see her play, a fairly transparent allegory of their relationship. Meanwhile, Denny has a surprise visitor --- the twelve-year-old son of Maureen, who's now deceased. As Denny works to make sense of her relationship with her own mother, she considers whether she's ready to be a mother of sorts to young Luke. WHAT TO KEEP is an unusual novel, with characters both quirky and pathetic (sometimes at the same time). Denny is an appealing and compelling character, growing from an awkward preteen starved for attention into a complex, confident woman who found success despite her mother's emotional absence. Instead of being resentful and bitter toward her mother, Denny develops a capacity to forgive and even to erase the mistakes of the past by becoming a mother figure herself. The theme of moving runs throughout the novel, as does the theme of acting. Denny moves from Ohio to Los Angeles to New York, ironically following the parents who have for so long moved away from her both physically and emotionally. As she does so, she constantly reinvents herself, drawing on her own acting talents and her odd family dynamics to create her art and her life. Readers should consider themselves fortunate to be able to take this journey along with her. --- Reviewed by Norah Piehl
Rating:
Summary: Overrated
Review: I agree with the previous reviewer that this book came highly recommended but proved to be a real disappointment. I didn't find the characters interesting or compelling, and I'm not even really sure there was a plot. More just a series of events which lacked climax. It is broken into three chronological "acts" but relies too heavily on flashbacks to seal the gaps between.
The editing is also poor; the main character is twelve in 1976 but is something like 32 in 1990. The writing is uninspired and resorts to telling the reader what she is supposed to feel. The dialogue is unbelievable and often doesn't fit the character.
There was one section of the book in the middle that seemed more carefully written and almost captured my imagination, but even that failed in the end.
I could go on, but I will stop at saying that I am not inspired to read any more books from 2004 if this is "one of the best" of the year.
Rating:
Summary: A Sweet First Novel
Review: I have to say right off the bat that I had really high expectations for this novel; everything I read made it sound really terrific. While the novel is good, it did not live up to my expectations, but I would still recommend it. The story concerns Denny Roman at three points in her life. We meet her at age twelve, where much of the focus in the narrative is on what happens to her mother on her 41st birthday. We next meet Denny in her mid-twenties, as she returns to her native Ohio to sort through her things before her mother moves to New York City. The final section of the novel takes place during Denny's mid-thirties, where she faces what could be a life-altering decision to assume responsibility for the son of a dear friend, Maureen. The writing in What to Keep is excellent, but the novel lacks, I don't know, that little extra oomph for a five-star rating. That being said, this novel is much, much better than most (if not all) chick lit, which apparently this novel is being marketed as.
Rating:
Summary: Just Blah
Review: I just want to warn those we thnk this is going to be a good book, I just could not get into the characters or where the novel was going....I tried, but put it down, good luck
Rating:
Summary: A thoughtful slice of life
Review: I know many women who could relate to the character of Denny Roman as both a child and an adult. Raised by loving but distant parents, who, consumed with their own medical careers often treat childrearing as an afterthought. The family is kept running by Maureen, a kind of hired familial major domo, who ensures everyone is where they should be when they should be there. Denny's adulthood is both fulfilling yet lacking, and that sense of "something missing" pervades the pages. Life does not always deal one the hand we expect, and resiliant characters like Denny fill this novel with a quiet grace. This story does not disappoint.
Rating: 
Summary: Not what I hoped for
Review: I read a lot of really good reviews about this book before ordering it. Then I read it and I was left wondering if I had ordered the right book. Cline distances herself from readers as much as the characters in the novel distance themselves from each other. Not only was the story underwhelming but the characters were completely flat.
Rating: 
Summary: Enjoyable quick read
Review: I read this book for my bookclub ~~ and while enjoyable, it's not my favorite book this year. It is written very well and I thought, personable. This book starts out with Denny Roman as a somewhat neglected child of two geniuses ~~ her parents are more interested in neurology research than they are in being her parents. Denny has a relationship with her mom, Lily, that sometimes veers back and forth from close to distant. Then this book shows Lily as a woman other than a mom. Then there is Maureen, the go-between for Denny and Lily ~~ who ended up being the one person that is constant in Denny's life.
This novel is broken in three parts ~~ one where Denny first discovers the acting bug. The second one is where she is a struggling actress in L.A. and the third part is where she is on the cusp of opening night of her first play that she has written when Maureen's son shows up on her doorstep. Throughout this novel, it shows the relationship between Denny and Lily ~~ the strains and finally, the acceptance.
It is an enjoyable read ~~ but somehow, it isn't enthralling or attention-getting like other novels are. It is just a story of a mother and daughter relationship ~~ and how sometimes, life happens when you least expect it. It is a brief look into dreams and relationships and life.
2-22-05
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