Rating: 
Summary: Gaseous!
Review: I recently read that a truly good book will entertain and bring about insight for the reader. This book is about as far away from being good by that definition as any book I have read. Languid storytelling, scrawny plot, underdeveloped characters,and an agonizingly slow pace just begins to sum up my response to this book. Hamilton's writing style failed to elicit from me a connection to any of the characters, and events seemed to happen exclusive of others. I hated it.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Book!
Review: I really loved this book and was disappointed when it ended. I love how Ms. Hamilton writes but agree with one reviewer that you have to read it very carefully. I finished the book a week ago and still think about it. I can't believe anyone would not enjoy it.
Rating:
Summary: Map of the World
Review: This has to be one of the worst novels I have ever read, and I am sincerely disappointed that I purchased it. I have finally resigned myself to the fact that it was a waste of time and money. Like many of the other customers who found themselves trying to plug away at this book, I must have given it about five or six tries, and it was more and more awful each time. I can't believe this book is so highly regarded, on the best seller's lists, etc. I think someone on Oprah's staff will have to be fired for choosing this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Depressing
Review: The only reason I gave this book two stars instead of one was due to the courtroom scenes. They were the only interesting part of the book. I found this novel depressing and had no sympathy whatsoever for the main character. She was a caustic, careless individual who had an attitude. I also found the character Theresa to be very unrealistic. I suppose there are genuine saintly people out there who could forgive what the main character did to her child, but her "goodness" was nauseating. Don't waste your time on this.
Rating: 
Summary: it just resonates...
Review: i just finished reading this book for the second time. i feel like i know alice, and i find that i'm still thinking of the characters long after the story is over. i loved individual passages as well as the book as a whole. insightful and beautiful writing. jane hamilton is a first-class novelist.
Rating: 
Summary: Good book
Review: I liked the book, especially her descriptions about the interrelationships between the characters, but I must agree with one reviewer who wrote that we never do understand Alice. She's written as eccentric, but it is frustrating trying to wade through her seemingly crazy dialogue. The story is sad and painful, but it will make you apprecieate that your map of the world sometimes gets flushed down the toilet when things happen which are out of your control. I found it hard to put down about half way through.
Rating:
Summary: reader
Review: Well This book was very very hard to continue reading. The first 100 pages are so slow and you are just like why am I even trying to finish. but I must say that after the first 100 to 150 pages I actually began to get interested in the book. It took me a month to finish. Not one I would reccomend to anyone. I gave it two stars cause I did finish it.
Rating:
Summary: Huh?
Review: "The trout that Howard had stocked in the pond swam along through the dark water. They noticed Lizzy out of the corner of their eyes. They had inherited the knowledge of that look, and they knew it by heart."They inherited the knowledge of that look? What look? The look on a drowning girl's face? Apparently, these trout have seen many a drowning child. Too bad they didn't inherit the knowledge of not taking bait from a hook. I, at least, have enough sense not to take the bait from this book. Swimming onward...
Rating:
Summary: Boring and unrefreshing
Review: Map Of The World is incredibly boring and uninviting. The story line is a sad one for sure,however, one loses the sense of what is really going on with Alice. It seem to me that the author could not make up her mind as to which main story to stick with. I liked Theresa character and felt her heart warming spirit. Alice and Howard could definitely benefit from parenting classes. Overall, I found the book to be lost in a lot of rambling.
Rating:
Summary: Honest, telling and worth reading
Review: I really enjoyed this book and do recommend it to others. The characters allow you to look within yourself and challenge your own feelings about the world. The characters pull you in to their world and put a twist on what is real and what is not. Good book and worth the read.
| 
