Grand Avenue

Rating:
Summary: A great book!! Couldn't put it down!
Review: GRAND AVENUE by Joy Fielding

Grand Avenue is yet another story about women friendships. However, what makes this one different is the tone of the book, and the fast pace at which the plot proceeds. Four women become friends years ago after meeting each other at a playground, each of them having babies somewhat close in age. As the children grow, so do their relationships. They become very close friends, although each of the women is very different. Barbara was an ex-beauty queen who always appeared in front of her friends well dressed and perfectly coifed. Her insecurities were always showing up on the surface, although her demeanor said otherwise. Susan is going to college and by mid book, she is working for a magazine. Chris had a husband that seemed to be a little bit too uptight and controlling, and Vicki was the power-house of an attorney, the one that was in the spotlight all the time, at work and at home.

It all sounds like a very generic book, but it isn't. As the reader finds out from the very first pages, something terrible happens to two of the women. It is said flat out that two of them die. And one is brutally murdered.

And then the book begins.

I dont think I need to say much else about GRAND AVENUE. It's one of the best books in this genre that I've read all year. Fast paced and all the makings of a great motion picture, I highly recommend this book to others who enjoy reading a "chick book" with the added variety of a murder.

Rating:
Summary: Grand Avenue
Review: Grand Avenue is one of the best books I've read this year. Joy Fielding created three dimensional characters that were easy to get accquainted with and care about. I had a very difficult time putting this book down right from the start.

Rating:
Summary: A Grand Read!
Review: I enjoyed visiting "Grand Avenue" and highly recommend it. It's a truly 'Grand book' that held my interest from the first to the last page. The story is about four friends, Chris, Barbara, Vicki and Susan. It follows their lives over the 20 year span from 1972-1992. It's an emotionally packed roller-coaster ride of friendships, relationships, families, suspense and murder leading to a powerful conclusion. The four friends who live on Grand Avenue and call themselves the 'Grand Dames' first meet at a playground where they bring their young children. Barbara is a vain woman obsessed with plastic surgery, Chris is an abused housewife, Vicki's a career bent lawyer married to a wealthy older man, and Susan's a Doctor's wife and homemaker determined to get her college degree.
Ms. Fielding is a gifted writer and she's very effectively brought these four friends to life in this emotional and intense page-turner. It's definitely a 'Grand Read'!!

Rating:
Summary: Great Vacation Book
Review: I picked this book up so that I would have something to read during my vacation. Little did I know that this book would become a vacation in itself. I couldn't put it down once I started and was sorry to come to the end. That, for me, is the mark of a real good book.

I tend to get real involved in the storyline and with the characters when I read. I enjoy a book that spans time and especially appreciate a story about older women. Fielding addresses some issues that are all too familiar to today's woman - spousal abuse, obsession with aging, sexual identity and career vs. marriage. But mostly she is looking at friendships and setting boundaries. I envy these women their history together.

The only reason this book did not get top rating from me was because I felt that the murder and ensuing trial was just a little bit contrived. I think the book could have been just as strong without this particular plotline and would have been a bit more credible. I suppose this was a convenient way to address other issues but still. It didn't really seem to fit with the flow of the rest of the novel.

I look forward to Ms. Fielding's next book.

Rating:
Summary: Great Vacation Book
Review: I picked this book up so that I would have something to read during my vacation. Little did I know that this book would become a vacation in itself. I couldn't put it down once I started and was sorry to come to the end. That, for me, is the mark of a real good book.

I tend to get real involved in the storyline and with the characters when I read. I enjoy a book that spans time and especially appreciate a story about older women. Fielding addresses some issues that are all too familiar to today's woman - spousal abuse, obsession with aging, sexual identity and career vs. marriage. But mostly she is looking at friendships and setting boundaries. I envy these women their history together.

The only reason this book did not get top rating from me was because I felt that the murder and ensuing trial was just a little bit contrived. I think the book could have been just as strong without this particular plotline and would have been a bit more credible. I suppose this was a convenient way to address other issues but still. It didn't really seem to fit with the flow of the rest of the novel.

I look forward to Ms. Fielding's next book.

Rating:
Summary: Great Way To Escape From Our Own Lives------------
Review: I picked up, by chance, an earlier novel of Fielding's: "The First Time". Really enjoyed it! So glad I read this, too. I really like her suspenseful twist she stirs into her plots.
Saw others review it as a great beach or vacation read, and I must agree. You become swept up in the characters' lives & find yourself thinking about them while you're not reading.
There's a mix of things in this novel: compassion, enduring friendships, betrayal, suspense, and ohhh.... mystery!
I also would recommend "Whispers & Lies", as it has similar twists like this one. (Also by Fielding.)

Rating:
Summary: Great Way To Escape From Our Own Lives------------
Review: I picked up, by chance, an earlier novel of Fielding's: "The First Time". Really enjoyed it! So glad I read this, too. I really like her suspenseful twist she stirs into her plots.
Saw others review it as a great beach or vacation read, and I must agree. You become swept up in the characters' lives & find yourself thinking about them while you're not reading.
There's a mix of things in this novel: compassion, enduring friendships, betrayal, suspense, and ohhh.... mystery!
I also would recommend "Whispers & Lies", as it has similar twists like this one. (Also by Fielding.)

Rating:
Summary: maybe 3.5 stars
Review: I read this book after rave recommendations from an online book group and was very disappointed. Although the four "grand dames" were somewhat interesting, somewhat well developed characters, I found their stories and the book as a whole depressing.

This is the story of four women who develop a close friendship. From there, it becomes very cliche and formulary. One of them is abused, another goes through a divorce, another cheats on her husband and the other gets a degree, becomes a career woman, and is sexually harassed. Talk about drama.

On top of that, we learn from the start that two of the women die, one of them tragically. Although there is a murder mystery tied into the story, it seems unrealistic and highly contrived. In the end, the relationship between these women seems a bit overdrawn and fake too.

I can see how this book would appeal to some people, but for me, it was a waste of time. I prefer stories that have better developed characters with deeper friendships and less forced drama. Not to mention less purposely disturbing.

Rating:
Summary: A Page-Turner
Review: I read this book in two sittings over the course of one day. I seem to have read several books of this type in the past year, with the theme of women's friendships and their bonds with each other.

"Grand Avenue" was not the best of this sub-genre, nor was it the worst. If available, I would give it 3.5 stars.

While the story was compelling and kept me reading all day, there were some flaws too. First of all, I really do not like the foreshadowing device used by Fielding (and many others). In this book, the reader is told in the introduction that by the end, two of the four "grand dames" will be dead (one in a particularly terrible way) and one will betray another. Another flaw, to me, was that the end of the book seemed awkward, as if the author did not quite know how to bring it to a conclusion.

On the other hand, the characters were interesting and very different from each other, and their lives kept me interested in knowing about them. I think Fielding did a decent job of character development of the women and of their daughters, although Tracey's motivation for what she did was vague at best.

A good book for a few hours of reading pleasure.

Rating:
Summary: Page turning and moving
Review: I wanted a good summer read -- little did I know I'd pick this book up and finish it in just a few days -- it was impossible to put down. I'm a first-time Fielding reader and will be back for more after this one. The four female characters are richly developed, their lives spanning more than two decades where we are taken on an emotional rollercoaster filled with family drama, career angst, personal turmoil and ultimately a horrifying twist and subsequent resolution. There is no way you will put this one down. Chris, Barbara, Vicki and Susan will jump off the pages and if you are like me and enjoy unexpected story twists, you'll find yourself shocked and even crying before it's over. A must read!