Rating: 
Summary: Past Time; Relived
Review: A very thought provoking journey of how everyday life can bring one back around full circle to relive a time passed. Easy reading that makes the reader think of their own past and how easily previous events can revisit you and take hold of your every emotion and change your life in an instant. I truely enjoyed this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Wish I had gone....
Review: I read it- the whole thing- but I don't think I liked it. The story that was meant to draw you in with one woman's conflicting feelings about her past (and maybe her present), rang hollow. I can't tell you what was missing but something was. Trite? Same old plot new characters? I'm not sure. But it was a book that made no sense to me. The main character seemed to have the perfect man in her life. Thoughts about an affair? Why? And then to get righteous about something that possibly happened in the past,go to the police, and jeopardize that great life? Well- guess you'll just have to decide for yourself. There just wasn't enough MOTIVE for any of the actions the main character took. I read this before Oprah made it one of her books. When I saw that she endorsed it, I wondered why. I usually like her choices. Not this one.
Rating: 
Summary: This book sucks
Review: To not buy this book it sucks more than oprah.
Rating: 
Summary: A compelling read
Review: I' am not a lover of modern fiction. Most of the books on Oprahs' book club I find to be commercial, pedestrian and trite. However, Sue Miller's new book is an absolute wonderful read. I could not put it down. Her prose is as intelligent as poetic. She has an incredible ability to develop character. Miller's characters have strong emotional, intellectual and psychological inner lives. She takes her character on a journey through the labyrinth of modern life. She allows the reader to enter her character's world fully without hesitation or distance. From the first sentence she has taken a hold of the readers mind and does not let go until the end. Even after the end of the book, she still possess you as you try to sort out all of the implications of her character's lives. I especially found her ending to be excellent. Without apology Miller gave us an ending that is true to life. She did not feel the need to tie everythng up in a neet package. Why do we always need to read overly-romantic happy endings that really have very little to do with reality. Thank you, Ms. Miller for a wonderful book, much like the Good Mother, in which woman are multi-dimensional people whose lives are complicated, compelling, messy, fecundated and real.
Rating:
Summary: While I was Bored
Review: This is the kind of book you pick up when you have nothing more interesting to read. You keep turning the pages because you want to find out what happens, even though the characters are shallow and self-absorbed. The narrator is an ex-commune member who reinvents herself as a small-town vet leading a conventional, and dull, life. The mother of three young adult daughters, she lives in a big old farmhouse with dogs and her devoted husband. He is handsome, well-liked, smart and nice--the local minister. Surprisingly (!), he is also a crashing bore. (Well, what can you say about someone whose idea of a good time is to go fishing and then work on a sermon?) Then, her life takes a turn for the worse: her interest is piqued by the re-appearance of one of her old housemates.Eli was the nerd of the house but has gained weight and become a famous microbiologist or something, which make him seem real attractive to the heroine. Whoa! This is when things really heat up. Eli's presence dredges up all sorts of horrible memories of another friend's death. The victim was REALLY obnoxious in a hippie-ish sort of way, although no one was able to figure out why she was violently murdered. (Just like no one can figure out why Jehovah's Witnesses were supposedly persecuted in the Soviet Union. Hey, you knock on the wrong door once too often and you never know where you might end up!) This book really has no surprises, even though I kept hoping The Reverend would reveal an ugly streak and do something wild. It's a good beach book; you might enjoy the story, even though I doubt you will care much about the characters. Of course, if you lived through the Sixties, you will cringe during certain passages, like when you flip through your yearbook and can't BELIEVE you ever wore your hair like that!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Good Plot--Bland Ending
Review: I was intrigued by the online reviews of this book so much that I decided to buy it. I thought the storyline was interesting enough--a woman's past seems to come back to haunt her--but just when the book started getting good, it seemed to fizzle. The ending was quite weak in spite of all Sue's wonderful writing that lead up to it.
Rating:
Summary: Predictable yet inconsistent
Review: Sue Miller's trip to communal living brought back the late sixties and the familiar inhabitants of that time well. Her writing is personal and has a wistful tone I admire. However, I found flaws in the story. To me, the killer stood out by a mile. His reappearance in the story confirmed his guilt as though a finger had been pointed at him. But the strongest weakness in the narrative comes from the protagonist herself. As secretive and enigmatic as she is throughout the book, she suddenly develops an inability to lie in order to protect her spouse from a painful truth at a crucial moment. This felt contrived. Still, the book and its inhabitants have stayed with me long after I finished the novel. To me, this alone is a reason to recommend the book.
Rating:
Summary: Real life
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I've gotten away from reading lately, and this was the perfect book to get me back to reading more frequently. I think a lot of women in Jo's age bracket will relate with a lot of her feelings. Sue Miller is a brilliantly gifted writer.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent read
Review: I would have awarded this book 5 stars except for the following: First, I believe it's appeal is primarily to people in their 50's like the narrator and main character, Jo, because people this age experienced firsthand the turbulent social and sexual climate of the late 60's/early 70's, and therefore understand Jo's confusion about her loyalties to family/husband/herself/friends. Second, since the story is told from a woman's viewpoint, without doubt different from the ways a man might have interpreted and acted in the various situations, the book will attract more female readers and may not have the broad gender - and age - crossover appeal to warrant 5 stars. Still, as a woman in her fifties, I was profoundly moved by the "humanness" of the characters, who depict many of the same conflicts of emotions and temptations I have experienced. The author has woven an intricate, thought-provoking tale about real people with believable problems, and a vivid evocation of a time of change and energy in our nation\s history.
Rating:
Summary: Enchanting narrative, but missing pieces
Review: The discovery of self and the power of self is the journey that this book seemed to promise. But, from beginning to end, the character comes short at anchoring us to what is missing in her life; and at the end, we don't know if she is fulfilled, despite the lessons her life decisions offers her. One never feels the rise and fall of her character; she seems to be meandering throughout her life-satisfied with only moments-not learning the definition and satisfaction of her life as a whole-one doesn't see the "big picture." Readers may loose empathy for her at certain moments as she just simply feels sorry for herself; by in large, people don't admire that quality. However, there is no question that Sue Miller is well versed at describing implicit nuances of experience and the absence of "something." The joy of this book falls in the enjoyment of the pattern in the words.
| 
