Rating: 
Summary: Absolutely astounding.
Review: I do have to admit that for the first third of this book, I kept asking myself why I was torturing myself -- why I kept reading when it was all so horrible. But the characters and their tragedies wouldn't leave my thoughts, so I kept going. Ultimately it didn't get all that much better -- but it was so worth it! This is an incredible book that really had an impact on me.
Rating:
Summary: Yet more praise from far a field.
Review: While already reading the on-line reviews of this book, more praise may seem repetitive. However even all the way from Australia, i must say this is now in my top 5 fiction novels that i literally could not put down. Take yourself on a journey, it will make you gasp, laugh, weep and sigh all in just one chapter. Take the emotional rollercoaster - you'll be better for it
Rating:
Summary: My new favorite book!
Review: This was released in Canada, and I read it right away
after attending a reading of it by the author. Some of the most beautiful prose and imagery I've ever read, with a
creative and enchanting/original epic plot. At 500 pages,
I was surprised that I couldnt put it down and read it
in less than 3 days!
I highly recommend it to anyone. A must read!!
Rating:
Summary: I have never felt a writer come so close to playing goddess.
Review: Forever hungry for fiction with redemption and an edge, this
was my favourite read of 1996. MacDonald writes with a kind of deliberate recklessness that somehow cuts and heals
at the same time. I couldn't help admiring the femme in her
expansive research, precision prose and brilliant theatrics. Fall on Your Knees is exactly why I read fiction. Hope the publisher is planning a loud splash here in the Big Show. Lou c/o <roscko@cts.com>
Rating:
Summary: A literary tsunami hits the shores of Cape Breton!
Review: I am a devoted fan of Margaret Atwood and read her current
bestseller, Alias Grace, the first week of its release. It
is a masterful work. Then why was I not thrilled when it
recently won Canada's Giller Prize for fiction? Well, Ann-
Marie MacDonald just happened to have taken me on one of the
most visceral yet breathtakingly beautiful journeys of my
reading life and as if struck by the most powerful tidal wave, I am left awed by its power and beauty. Fall On Your Knees slowly reveals the mysteries of a young girl's life on the island of Cape Breton where the hardships of a coal mining community in the early 1900's mirrors those of
a family rent apart by poverty, race and dysfunction. The tale told here is captivating in its intricacies of plot
alone but the language of this book, its phrases and images
that caress then spear, this is the gift of a writer who is
truly aware of the magic of words. Never can I recall being
so overwhelmed by a single sentence that I had to stop, look
about me for a beacon in the real world then plunge again
into the waters of this author's imagination. Ann-Marie Mac-
Donald may not have yet been officially rewarded for this wonderful novel but she has certainly earned the repect and
admiration from those of us who have tasted the salty air and sweet fury of her pen.
Rating: 
Summary: Where's the kitchen sink?
Review: The melodrama piles up at a dizzying pace: child-beating and incest followed by killings, racial and ethnic tensions, promiscuity, a lesbian affair, drug abuse.In attempting to play out the Pipers' saga against the backdrop of early 20th-century history, MacDonald has produced an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink narrative that lurches wildly between affecting insight and inexcusable sloppiness. There are anachronisms (would someone really use the term "foolish lardass" in 1914?); cliches ("March came in like a lion"); and awkwardly telescoped transitions ("The summer flies past. Materia cooks, James works, the little girls thrive"). There are also some lyrical descriptions and hilarious dialogue. And the book is almost redeemed by MacDonald's vividly imagined treatment of the Piper children's inner lives: their secrets and terrors, their religious fervor and yearning for redemption. These dreamlike passages, including visions of saints and satanic forces struggling for the children's souls, are harrowing. Less convincing is the way in which these characters metamorphose as adults, the pious Mercedes becoming petty and controlling, bad-girl Frances turning from Magdelene into madonna figure, and the Lear-like father, James, being redeemed by suffering. The point, hardly original, is that humans, like the world they inhabit, are neither all good nor all bad. But MacDonald's characters are too incompletely realized for their hasty transformations to ring true. Her book is a noble failure
Rating:
Summary: It's not about puppies and kittens...
Review: I just finished reading "Fall on Your Knees" and I think it is one of the best books I have read in a while. People are giving this book negative reviews simply because they find it oh, so depressing. While it's true that this book isn't about cute puppies and kittens playing with laughing children in a park and bubble gum and cotton candy, it is GOOD! If you are not mentally prepared to read a book that is about a family that has some serious problems, then I would not recommend this book to you. But, if you are ready to read an amazing story with very unique and individual characters and the dramas and yes, sometimes, tragedies of their lives, then please read this book! I found my self laughing as well as gasping in surprise at the events in this book. I'll admit, it is a lot to get through, but the end benefit of finishing this book is completely rewarding...at least it was to me. I feel like this book is somewhat of a puzzle that you are able to put all of the pieces together, the more that you read. And, I found the ending to be outstanding. I usually rate a book on how good it is based upon how I feel when I finish it. All I know is that when I finished this book, I thought, "WOW! That was a great and moving story". I would definetly recommend it!!
Rating: 
Summary: Almost a 5 star review...
Review: First, I have to say that it is hilarious to read all the different reviews for this book. Most people loved it or hated it, with few in between. I really did enjoy this book a lot, despite it's tragic plot. I felt as though I really got to know the characters very well - the good and the bad. It was beautifully written and very witty, even humorous at times. The only reason I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5 is because it was just a tiny bit far-fetched. I found myself finding some of the terrible events that unfold, really hard to believe. It was compelling and interesting, but I think the author pushed the tragedy a little too far. I did, however, really enjoy reading this book. I couldn't put it down and found myself reading it during meals, etc., just so I could see what would happen next. I think that the people here who gave this book a bad review, simply cannot handle reading about (or don't want to know anything about) extremely dysfunctional families. If you cannot handle incest, abuse, and horrible deaths, this probably is not the book for you.
Rating: 
Summary: Utterly Depressing
Review: Ugh! How I wish I hadn't wasted my time reading this book. It is filled with gratitious sex, incest, and rape. It's as if the author wanted to throw in as much scandal as possible. Maybe she thought if she covered all the scandal bases she would get readership from those who are drawn in by those subjects. Furthermore, I disliked all of the characters in this book.
Summed up: dark and depressing.
p.s. What is with Oprah picks? Why are they also so depressing?
Rating:
Summary: A good choice..but quite dragging in some parts
Review: This book is typical of the Oprah reader--long, dragging phrases and very detailed aspects on the development of a character in the story. Fall on Your Knees is a story about a half-Irish, half-Lebanese family with details on the hardships and family matters dealing with that of marital problems, and even incest. I wouldn't recommend the book to very young readers, as some of the excerpts in the book are quite graphic. You will find the text quite vivid when it comes to descriptions. Not necessary for the home library, but you may read it if you want to get an aspect of what a typical cross-culture marriage would be like.
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