What to Keep : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Loved It!
Review: I really enjoyed this book. I was looking for a new writer and a good story - and with this book I found both and more. I read the book in a couple of days - because I just enjoyed the story so much. The characters were interesting without being so self-absorbed that they became not fun to read. I was engaged and found myself rooting for all the characters in their own unique ways - I definitely recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Just OK
Review: I'm the first person to admit that I read a lot of "chick books", in among the other genres I enjoy. And this seemed like standard chick-book fare -- divorce, hints at borderline sexual abuse, a problematic relationship between a girl/woman and her mother, the death of a substitute mother, the adoption of her teenaged son -- with a few twists, but it was told in such a cumbersome way that at times I had a hard time getting through it. The prose simply didn't flow well for me. However, for what it is, it was worth reading once, and I did enjoy some aspects of it.

Rating:
Summary: One of the Best of the Year
Review: Rachel Cline has captured the love and connections and frustrations inherent in family relationships so well. I loved Denny, especially as a child, and the book had me chuckling throughout and a little misty-eyed at the end. And, as mentioned before, as an added bonus, the cover is terrific.

Can't wait for Cline's next work.

Rating:
Summary: A powerful, beautiful book
Review: Rachel Cline has written one of my favorite books of the year. WHAT TO KEEP has everything that I look for: believable, sympathetic characters in unique situations I can readily identify with, and there's triumph over tragedy, with clever humor along the way. What more can you ask for?

Another one of my favorites is A SECRET WORD by Jennifer Paddock. Also her first book.

Rating:
Summary: An elegantly written and moving book
Review: Rachel Cline's What to Keep is that rare first novel, one with staying power. This story of a mother and daughter, shows great insight into the difficulties of growing up, and going it alone. The writing is absolutely suberb, the humor ironic and earned, the ending poignant and deservedly touching. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good, compassionate read.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful and touching
Review: This book reminded me in many ways of Jackson McCrae's THE BARK OF THE DOGWOOD with its swings back and forth between present day and childhood--also with its themes of literally "What to keep." Cline writes elegantly and with promise and if this is her first novel, we can only hope what we'll be given in the future. With its beautiful characters and memorable moments, this is one book not to be missed.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant novel about relationships
Review: This is a marvelous novel about relationships and loss and change and how your life evolves. Women will definitely want to read it.

Rating:
Summary: Life is Long
Review: WHAT TO KEEP is the story of Denny Roman, from childhood to middle age, told in three parts. There's the the childhood part -- life in Ohio with a preoccupied professional mom, the "I'm an actress and what am I'm I doing with my life" part -- life in Los Angeles, and the "ah hah, I'm not an actress, but a writer" part -- life as a New York playwrite. The book's funny and full of weird characters that we can characterize as "marginal" until we realize that they look an awful lot like us or at least our friends. And we're not marginal, are we? The book has been lumped in with "chick lit," which it is not. WHAT TO KEEP is literature, pure and simple. It's an observant book about our society, about how a lot of us live now.