Coming Back to Me : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Brava...
Review: One of the things I loved about Coming Back To Me was that it gave a nice feeling of neighborhood. It was Hoboken, New Jersey, but it could have been any suburb. I also loved the plot. It was very unusual. One of the main characters didn't appear until almost half the book was over, but it all worked. Brava!

Rating:
Summary: totally in touch
Review: As an instructor of literature, I read a lot of books, and I am happy that Coming Back to Me came my way. It is honest and real, and beautifully crafted. Told from alternating points of view, the writing is clear and lyrical, and Ms. Leavitt is obviously in touch with human nature. She understands how people are - their ups and downs, kindnesses and cruelties, loyalties and inconsistencies, their incredible capacity to love and their sad shortcomings - and she's not afraid to show it. The result is fascinating. From the moment I opened the book up and started reading about Gary, a single father, and his newborn sitting in a diner, I was hooked, and by the end, I was profoundly moved. I only wish there were more novels this satisfying on the shelves these days.

Rating:
Summary: Evocative, intelligent and haunting
Review: I picked up a review copy and I sat down to read a little after dinner and ended up staying up until two in the morning because I couldn't put the book down. The writing was so haunting, and I can't get the characters out of my mind. It's all about love and impending loss and the kind of family ties that save you. Loved it!

Rating:
Summary: This was a really, really good book
Review: I thought that this story was completely believabable, after all, strange and terrible things often do happen to people. And people can and do change as a result. I read this book straight through, and think that Ms. Leavitt is a wonderful writer. Definitely read this book - you'll go from tears to joy.

Rating:
Summary: Loved It a Lot!
Review: This book touched me deeply, in a way that few other books have. The story took amazing, unpredictable yet totally believable turns that kept me wondering what would happen next. The characters were beautifully drawn; I felt that these people really existed for me. I would recommend it to anyone who believes in love!

Rating:
Summary: Riveting plot, heart-warming characters
Review: Coming Back to Me is a real page turner. I loved the magic of the book that begins on the first page and carries through--pageants, festivals, the mystical beneath ordinary lives. Like Dickens, Leavitt also has created a marvelous social satire.

Rating:
Summary: An extraordinary Read!
Review: Sometimes a writer appears who is really paying attention. In COMING BACK TO ME, the immensely talented Caroline Leavitt examines that inexplicable event-----in this case an unexpected and life-threatening childbirth------and the ways in which it impacts on a marriage, a sister/sister relationship, a newborn son, the financial status of a young couple, and more. The language is beautiful and the insights are intelligent and subtle. I read about three books every week but this novel stopped me in my tracks. Don't miss it.

Rating:
Summary: Loved IT
Review: I really, really loved this book. I couldn't stop reading it to find out what was going to happen to Molly, to her all-extents-and purposes single father, husband Gary, and even to Suzanne, who at first I wanted to shake and then grew to love. what a book!!!

Rating:
Summary: Couldn't stop reading
Review: I stayed up all night reading this book. From the very first image of Gary feeding his newborn in a diner, I was caught. Loved Molly, the mother whose life is threatened, loved the sort-of-wild sister Suzanne who finds herself forced to help, loved it, too, that even the baby was a character in his own right! This is a story about family and the sudden way happiness can turn right into nightmare, but it's also about finding your community, and about how love can rescue you or at least offer sustenance. The writing was lyrical and clear, the emotions true.

Rating:
Summary: Coming Back to Me
Review: I loved this book! The absolute devotion of Gary, along with the brain-numbing futility of going to visit his wife day after day with no visible improvement, caring for his baby alone, and then his growing dependence on Suzanne is something I could identify with, having had a similar situation in our own family. I read this book in 2 days, then gave it to my daughter who read it in less than a week. We both cried and laughed.