Rating: 
Summary: Fresh As A Daisy
Review: I found this to be a compelling book of renewal, both material and spiritual. We join the story as 52 year old Rae newborn is waving goodbye to her family after being dropped off on a deserted island. On this island she plans to rebuild a house that had originally been built by her great uncle. She also hopes to rebuild herself after fighting her way through severe depression.During construction of the house we learn all about Rae's past, the reasons behind her depression and her fears. We also learn about her great uncle Desmond and the mystery surrounding his life and death. But while everything appears to be progressing well, we get a sense that something is not quite right. Someone appears to be trying to find her and she continues to get the feeling she is being watched, but is never sure whether that's part of her mental problems or that it's actually happening. Suspense builds steadily with some remarkable discoveries taking place. I found the last 100 pages or so were filled with unexpected twists and revelations. This is a very enjoyable book containing a terrific story of discovery and renewal coupled with a very interesting mystery and tense finale.
Rating: 
Summary: Tedious Folly
Review: I found this whole book to be tedious. If it weren't written by King, I wouldn't have forced myself to get through it. I kept waiting for something REALLY dramatic to happen. Not much did. I guess I will have to wait for another Mary Russell book.
Rating: 
Summary: ANOTHER WONDERFUL LAURIE R. KING BOOK
Review: I HAVE LOVED READING THIS BOOK. RAE NEWBORN IS A WOMAN WHO COULD BE ANYONE OF US. HER CHALLENGES, TRIUMPHS AND OH SO HUMAN RESPONSES STRIKE CHORDS OF EMPATHY OVER AND OVER AGAIN. WHEN THE STARK MYSTERY EMERGES IT IS AS SMOOTH, FRIGHTENING AND LIKELY AS ANY REAL LIFE EXPERIENCE. AND THIS OFCOURSE MAKES IT REALLY TERRIFYING! BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN AND SET IN STUNNINGLY LOVELY SAN JUAN ISLANDS THIS BOOK IS ONE MORE WONDERFUL READ BY A DELIGHTFULLY TALENTED AND PURPOSEFUL AUTHOR.
Rating:
Summary: Anticipation and Gratification
Review: I have read all of Laurie King's books and actually waited impatiently for the publication of "Folly." King seems to be many authors in one body. Her various series of books, all good, stress different writing talents. Consistently however she is a master of character development. She also doesn't hesitate surprising you occasionally by introducing suddenly a fact about a character that you thought you knew well -- but didn't. Other reviews have outlined the plot of "Folly." I disagree with those that feel the plot was overburdened or that not enough issues were resolved by the end of the book. There are unresolved stories continuing every day in all of our lives. I feel comfortable knowing that the relationships that were not resolved in the pages of "Folly" are still out there continuing to a conclusion. The characters are real enough to let you do that. I was not disappointed when I finally got my hands on the book and enjoyed entering the life of Rae and wondering with her whether she was still in the grasp of mental illness or whether there were people watching and there was danger lurking somewhere behind her. I can't really compare "Folly" directly with other King publications. Again she provides us with a new approach to story telling for her. The mystery is there just as in her other books -- but the presentation is different. My only regret was that I didn't control my urge to read the book until I went on vacation. I longed for a good book to read in peaceful surroundings. This book is worth a read -- as are all of King's previous works. If you haven't read the Mary Russell series ( a totally different experience) you should.
Rating:
Summary: Well Worth The Effort
Review: I have read all of the Laurie R. King books. She is a very perceptive lady with a terrific way with words. The first 100+ pages of this book seems like a work vying for an "Oprah" recommendation, but then it illustrates why the beginning is necessary. The interplay of Rae (the book's subject) and her environment is an important point of the book, but its nature is such that a less skillful writer couldn't make it interesting. The author once again shows her skill; I thoroughly enjoyed this story, and I learned much from it. The hike is worth the effort.
Rating:
Summary: different but better
Review: I have read the first two of the Mary Russel series before I read this one. I like this one much better. The Mary Russel series is good. However, I can't help feeling that Sherlock Holmes by Conan Doyle is probably NOT as King depicts him. Folly is a stand-alone novel. At first I had my doubts because depression/suicide is not exactly my favorite subject matter. However, the book is absorbing. Despite the fact that I thought I would not be able to empathize with the protagonist at the beginning, I couldn't help becoming interested in her plight as the story unfolded. King is a good story-teller. Much more so in Folly than in the Mary Russel series. She can probably cut some of Desmond's diary entries shorter, however. Philosophizing on fear or solitude or whatever gets a bit boring at times. I found myself skipping over paragraphs of it towards the end.
Rating:
Summary: different but better
Review: I have read the first two of the Mary Russel series before I read this one. I like this one much better. The Mary Russel series is good. However, I can't help feeling that Sherlock Holmes by Conan Doyle is probably NOT as King depicts him. Folly is a stand-alone novel. At first I had my doubts because depression/suicide is not exactly my favorite subject matter. However, the book is absorbing. Despite the fact that I thought I would not be able to empathize with the protagonist at the beginning, I couldn't help becoming interested in her plight as the story unfolded. King is a good story-teller. Much more so in Folly than in the Mary Russel series. She can probably cut some of Desmond's diary entries shorter, however. Philosophizing on fear or solitude or whatever gets a bit boring at times. I found myself skipping over paragraphs of it towards the end.
Rating:
Summary: A must for all over 50!
Review: I read this book during vacation on a quiet beach. I literally felt as though I had crawled into the pages and experienced every feeling that herionefelt. This is truly a book of a heroine. I work in the mental health field and would recommend this book to anyone who is experiencing or looking back on a depression. The author has made Rae's life absolutely come alive and pulls such feelings from the depth of the reader that comes only in a few books in a life time of reading. Read this book and just let it take you.....and by throwing in a bit of mystery Laurie King makes this a great story and adds a bit of "folly" to a very heroic story.
Rating:
Summary: Wake Me Up When It's Over.
Review: If I had been given this book to read without knowing the author's name, and when finished, was told that she was Laurie R. King, I would not have believed it. I've experienced and appreciated her immense talent and versatility across several genres, but I can hear her brilliantly and deftly rendered Holmes snapping, "Good God, Russell, are you daft? Put that book down before it renders you unconscious!" In short, this was one of the most boring books I've ever read. Details are important in getting to know a character and what makes them tick, their passions, eccentricities, their psychology, and there is some of that, but not enough. Instead, Ms. King spends seemingly endless pages focusing closer and closer on the main character's craft of woodworking/sculpting-cum-housebuilding. After getting a little tidbit of character insight, the reader is then forced to read detailed descriptions of tools: what they are, their history, what they look like, how they feel, what they sound like, what they look like hanging from a belt, and so on. This method of extrapolation is extended to all aspects of whatever can be done with tools, guns, camping equipment, and even severe depression, on and on and on, until you get to the next tiny piece of succinct but well written detail that makes you think, "At last, we get to the real reason for being here!". This doesn't happen, at least for me. Taking a cue from the author's thanks to some "courageous individuals", whose struggles with mental illness she apparently tapped, her attempts to convey what it's like to be severely depressed sounds exactly as if she's writing, or rewriting, what someone tried to convey. As a psychotherapist, I've seen that this is pretty much next-to-impossible to do, as people struggling with such challenges also struggle with the fact that they can never quite explain what it's like to someone else. Hence, the attempt to instill the main character with convincing affect falls short. Maybe that was the author's intention.
Some reviewers like to describe this as "slow starting". This is true, but it never ends. I can compare it best to the scientific cliché that asks us to imagine taking all the space away between the molecules of say, a redwood tree, and you end up with a sliver of wood you can barely discern. Take away all this "filler" in this story, and you end up with characters as substantial as toothpicks.
Rating:
Summary: Wake Me Up When It's Over.
Review: If I had been given this book to read without knowing the author's name, and when finished, was told that she was Laurie R. King, I would not have believed it. I've experienced and appreciated her immense talent and versatility across several genres, but I can hear her brilliantly and deftly rendered Holmes snapping, "Good God, Russell, are you daft? Put that book down before it renders you unconscious!" In short, this was one of the most boring books I've ever read. Details are important in getting to know a character and what makes them tick, their passions, eccentricities, their psychology, and there is some of that, but not enough. Instead, Ms. King spends seemingly endless pages focusing closer and closer on the main character's craft of woodworking/sculpting-cum-housebuilding. After getting a little tidbit of character insight, the reader is then forced to read detailed descriptions of tools: what they are, their history, what they look like, how they feel, what they sound like, what they look like hanging from a belt, and so on. This method of extrapolation is extended to all aspects of whatever can be done with tools, guns, camping equipment, and even severe depression, on and on and on, until you get to the next tiny piece of succinct but well written detail that makes you think, "At last, we get to the real reason for being here!". This doesn't happen, at least for me. Taking a cue from the author's thanks to some "courageous individuals", whose struggles with mental illness she apparently tapped, her attempts to convey what it's like to be severely depressed sounds exactly as if she's writing, or rewriting, what someone tried to convey. As a psychotherapist, I've seen that this is pretty much next-to-impossible to do, as people struggling with such challenges also struggle with the fact that they can never quite explain what it's like to someone else. Hence, the attempt to instill the main character with convincing affect falls short. Maybe that was the author's intention.
Some reviewers like to describe this as "slow starting". This is true, but it never ends. I can compare it best to the scientific cliché that asks us to imagine taking all the space away between the molecules of say, a redwood tree, and you end up with a sliver of wood you can barely discern. Take away all this "filler" in this story, and you end up with characters as substantial as toothpicks.
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