Tully

Rating:
Summary: Horribly boring and unbelievable to boot!
Review: This book is one of the worst books I've read in the last 5 years. Example: Her best friend kills herself because Jack doesn't love her. It turns out that Jack has been in love with Tully for several years because he remembers how sexy she was when she danced with him once? Give me a break! According to the characterizations, Tully doesn't care about herself, or anyone else, and yet the two men in the story change their whole lives just to be with her? Perhaps her attractions are that she constantly sheds her clothes at the drop of a hat. I think the people who liked this book may enjoy the fantasy contained in this book, but I though the character was so unlikeable I actually had to give up reading halfway through. The writing is atrocious and the plot repetitive. Also, all the other characters are seen as one-dimension and are only described as how they relate to Tully. They are all truly shallow!

Rating:
Summary: I loved this book and couldn't put it down!
Review: This book was so moving! I couldn't wait to get to the end and was sad to get there when I did! I hoped the author had written more books and wasn't disappointed with "Red Leaves". But, Tully will always remain my ultimate favourite book. I felt like I knew the characters; like they were MY friends, too! It made me laugh and cry, and I looked forward to every chapter! Gave it to my best friend to read & she loved it just as much as I did!

Rating:
Summary: Wow
Review: Wow, this book hit me so hard with its raw emotion and honesty and left me feeling so happy that my life is not like hers. I cried so much in this book and could not put it down, and although her choice of Robin in the end saddened me [enormously] I thought it was the right one and it left the reader with a sense of hope. I'd love a sequel, but in all honesty it would probably ruin this one.

Tully was such a beautiful book, it had the hard edges and violence that you don't often see and it left me feeling vulnerable, so much so that I rang all my friends and told them how glad I was that I had them. It was so sad, so full of emotion and action and it was so truthful about the choices one makes in life and how the consequences affect you. It just reaches out to every person, and touches their lives. Absolutely stunning.

Rating:
Summary: I crawled in this book and stayed there...
Review: I crawled in this book and stayed there with Tully until the very end. Her life was my life, including Jennifer. Just last year, I had a best friend commit suicide. I have never come across a book that mirrors my life so much. I have often said to my friends, "Oh, that is just another chapter in my book I am going to write someday". Well, that book has been written, by Paullina! I am going to head back to the store to buy copies for my girlfriends. I think men should read this, but unless they are open-minded they will not "get it". Tully is real, very real.

Rating:
Summary: Engaging soap opera
Review: I found Tully a very engaging and at times powerful read. But Ultimately I felt it became too much of a soap opera. Entertaining, but not life changing.

Rating:
Summary: An arcane glimpse at an woman's life that is askew
Review: After reading Tully for the first time, i loved it, the second time I lived it. I encouraged my sister and my best friend to read it. Soon we became Tully, Jen and Julie. My sister's favorite quote is "It may not look like it but Im hanggliding." I like the music quotes, the way Jack is Jacko, how they didnt see the cherry blossoms and much more. I feel the anguish and happiness when Tully tells Robin she loves him and Jack that she cant leave him. Being an English major, I like analyzing how Jen couldnt tell heaven from hell. My sister thinks Jack was Tully's true love, that's true but Robin gave her a life, he really did, he paved Tully this yellow brick road to a normal life and I feel in love with him for that. Paulina, you showed me Tully and it was EVERYTHING, it is my bible, I belive I will find my Jack Pendel and I will see his Gray Mondays. And I will want to die if I find a Robin and he cheats for 11 years. And when I have a Boomer I will be happy, too. And I will always tell heaven from hell, and blue skies from pain.

Rating:
Summary: Tully Fanclub??
Review: This is the kind of book that any free spirited woman growing up in the 70s or 80s will hold dear for years to come. Tully embodies so many real feelings that any rebel-at-heart gal will admire. Tully is a woman to cry for, cheer for, laugh with and pray for. My life seems simple in comparison. Ladies, you won't find a better friend, and if any of you men want some insight into the meaning of true friendhship for most women, you'll get a great description through Tully and Jennifer's relationship. I've made all my closest friends read Tully, and we LOVE her!...maybe we should start a fan club! P.S. Paulina, how about giving us a sequel someday?

Rating:
Summary: very good book
Review: One of the best things about this book, is the love story between Jack & Tully- I like great love stories, & rarely find such good ones. The ending of the book is very realistic & I was happy that Paullina Simons didn't chose an obvious "happy ending" -although in reality if Tully followed her dream, abandoned her everyday life & moved to California, I think it wouldn't really be a happy ending, it would make the book far more superficial.

Rating:
Summary: Fulfilling
Review: I feel like Tully is the story of a young lesbian who is socialized to marry a man after the death of the love of her life...it is a book that I'll always remember!

Rating:
Summary: Recommend, but only marginally
Review: I had very conflicting feelings about this book. The first half of the book seemed to drag; I didn't like the characters; and I almost put it down countless times. On the other hand, I was glued to the second half of the book and couldn't tear myself away from it.

The main premise of the story is a young woman who is very damaged by her childhood, and the struggles she has in coming to terms with her adult life. In essence, the book paints a picture of how childhood scars can continue to wreck havoc in an adult life.

The major problem I had with Tully is that in the first half of the book, all of the characters come across as flat and one-dimensional. It was difficult to like them and it was even more difficult to understand what their connection was to each other. I just didn't feel Tully's great attachment to Jennifer, her best friend, nor I get the sense of any great warmth between her and Robin, one of the major male characters. And, to be quite honest, the way she was involved with two men at once (this happened twice in the book) bothered me; I especially didn't like the way Robin was treated. However, although he is portrayed as a very decent man, I never fully understood his connection to Tully as there didn't seem to be any depth in that relationship.

I think that the second half of the book worked better for me, because the characters were a bit better developed and the story became more interesting. But most important of all, I think that the extent that Tully was hurt in childhood became a lot clearer, and that, I think, helped me to understand the characters. I really wish that the author had done a better job of explaining this in the beginning of the book, and had made the characters more three dimensional.

I liked how the book ended and what will stay with me, after reading it, is the idea that you can like your life, even if it doesn't turn out as it planned, and also how you may not realize how deeply you care for someone, until they leave. In the end, I'm glad I stayed with the book and didn't put it down, although, I think some readers will not be able to get through this book. If someone were to ask me if I recommend it, I would say "yes", but only marginally.