Rating: 
Summary: Poignant and Haunting
Review: I guess I would consider myself a sometimes-fan of Anita Shreve's work. I disliked the Pilot's Wife so much that I couldn't finish it, yet really enjoyed The Weight of Water, which is why I looked forward to reading The Last Time They Met, since I knew it was a kind of "prequel" to that previous book. I think the writing is very good, and Shreve has a way of evoking emotion that comes across very vividly, and lingers long after you've moved on to the next page. However, I found the "passion" between Linda and Thomas, the constantly obsessive I-can't-live-without-you stuff a bit over the top, and the Africa section with its emphasis on this was not my favorite section. And somehow, the writing about Africa didn't grab me the way that Barbara Kingsolver's did in Poisonwood Bible. The last section of the novel, set in Linda and Thomas' high school years, was my favorite part of the book, and the descriptions about Linda's inner emotional state at that time was very well done. I also agree with an earlier reviewer who felt that Linda's maturity through the years was obvious, yet Thomas seemed to remain the same self-absorbed, moping, angst-ridden person from age 17 through 52. I was feeling a bit ho-hum by the last few pages, waiting for the big "surprise" ending, and boy, did it jerk me awake and blow me away! It redeemed the whole novel for me--I thought it was brilliant. I find it odd that other reviewers found the ending confusing, since it fits precisely in with Thomas' morose attitude and approach to life. It seems quite plausible that someone like him who seems to enjoy suffering so much, should consciously and willfully continue to carry the emotional dead-weight of What Might Have Been or Should Have Been throughout his life. In retrospect, the ending makes the overbearing romantic obsession sections in Africa seem not as bad to me, since I now understand it from an entirely different perspective. I would highly recommend this book to anyone, just for the charged ending. It makes you think about the "infinite possibilities" in so many other lives way beyond the scope of this one book.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring, confusing, and a waste of time...
Review: I think I may be the only person who didn't fall in love with The Pilot's Wife, but after my friend recommdended this book to me I thought I'd give Anita Shreve a second chance. Big mistake! My friend kept raving about the ending so I suffered through this aweful book until the past page, only to be even more disappointed. Shreve leaves the reader thinking "What just happened?" The whole book is confusing and a waste of time.
I recently saw Shreve read an excerpt from this book at a local Border's and she was putting me to sleep then too. Perhaps she modeled Linda after herself when, at the beginning of the book, the main character gets bored to death giving mandatory readings. If you have trouble sleeping at night, this may be the perfect remedy. Otherwise, do yourself a favor and pass on this book.
Rating:
Summary: Dull, Dull, Dull!!
Review: I made it past my 50 page limit on this book, only to feel that I was plodding along in quicksand.
I found this book very boring, a labor to read. That is not what reading should be all about! Even though I have heard that the ending is a "Surprise", to my own surprise I chose not to finish it. I may have to rely on someone who actually finished this book to tell me the ending because I will not subject myself to plodding through the rest.
Rating: 
Summary: Trite and obvious
Review: I picked this book up because I was a fan of the Pilot's Wife. However, I thought it was a waste of my time and money. The writing was amateur, and the story was just dull and contrived.
Rating: 
Summary: A Timeless Love Affair
Review: Anita Shreve once again returns to her favorite topic, adultery, in her latest novel which is also a sequel to her book "Weight of Water". This is yet another story that travels back in time. It begins at a writer's convention where Linda Fallon and Thomas Janes reunite after many years. Their love affair has been a consuming one, bordering on obsession. Their story is told in three parts. The first being at the convention with both Linda and Thomas in their 50's, one is a widow, one is divorced. The second part is told when they are in their thirties in Kenya. It was also the best part of the book for me. The writing here is beautiful. The last part of the book is their earlier years, their adolescent years. It is when Linda and Thomas first meet and their fate is determined. Shreve writes a complex story centered on flashbacks and very little dialogue. It is however beautifully written, luminous even. This is a story of longing and love. It explores the depths of love and how it can change a person forever. Despite the writing however, I have to agree with so many other people...the ending left me feeling cheated. I did not expect a nice happy ending, Shreve never ends her books that way. I did however expect something...there were too many loose ends and it left me confused as to so much. This is a book that you'll either love or hate. I'm somewhere in the middle. I gave it three stars for the excellent writing. She can definitely evoke a lot of emotion in the reader.
Rating: 
Summary: A truly wonderful and poignant novel
Review: I have just finished reading this book and I am writing this review with the tears just drying on my cheeks. Anita Shreve is simply a brilliant, brilliant writer. The novel is structured in reverse chronological order so that when we first meet Thomas and Linda, in 1990s Toronto, we do not know how they met, why they split up and why they could never be together. We know immediately that their love was profound, however. Gradually, as the novel moves back through time, we discover their stories and the deep sadness of the missed opportunities and the what-ifs. What I found interesting about this book is how the character of Linda matured over time - the grown woman is clearly very different to the 17 year old girl - yet Thomas's character seemed to stay essentially the same. It is involving to the reader, to see the way in which each character reacted to what had happened to them. Oh, I could talk about this book for hours!!! The end of the novel is shocking and you will want to re-read passages from the book to try to pick up on the clues. I adore Anita Shreve and the wonderful clarity and spareness of purpose in which she writes. She conveys so much and she writes so skilfully. Anita Shreve is a marvellous story-teller. Her students at Amherst College are so lucky to have her as their creative writing professor - she is truly gifted. A tip - you may want to read The Weight of Water first before trying this book - The Last Time we Met is a kind of sequel to the Weight of Water.
Rating:
Summary: A hearfelt story of days gone by.
Review: "The Last Time They Met" by Anita Shreve was a heartfelt story of days gone by. Could we/should we bring back yesteryear if we had a chance to? That's the question behind the plot in this engaging romance story. A book well worth the read!
Rating:
Summary: Commercial
Review: I loved "Weight of Water" and "Eden Close", but I think Shreve is feeling the pressure to pop out novels like rabbits with "The Pilot's Wife" and "The Last Time They Met". The prose was not as terse and powerful in the latter, and, as I read, I felt the writing was from a male point of view throughout--even in the first section. There was too much gratuitous sexual obsession and attention to sexual detail. That should have been a hint to me that the whole book indeed was written by Thomas.
Whereas Barbara Kingsolver in "The Poisonwood Bible" successfully spoke with individual voices of each sister, I felt that Shreve's voices of Linda at three stages in here life were contrived. The image I formed of her as a 52 year old had no connection with the way she was as a 26, and again a 17 year old.
I also don't think the book needed to throw every vegetable into the pot: homosexual son, molestation, drowned daughter, etc.
Getting back to the prose--Anita Shreve CAN write magnificently. She proved that in Eden Close (her first novel) and certainly in "The Weight of Water." I just don't feel that this book was beautifully written (as I find Margaret Atwood's novels to be). There was too much formula in the writing: one sentence connected with "and"; the next, with a comma and a gerund phrase.
I also am suspicious about the commercialization of books recently wherein they have a section for book discussions. This one even went further with the synopsis of her next book. I can just imagine the editors smacking their lips over these tricks to boost sales.
Rating:
Summary: It's all in the ending
Review: The take off of this book is slow and at times you wonder where it is going and why. But the ending will literally take you breath away. You will want to go back to the beginning, as you now see that it all makes sense. It is truly a story of love and loss and how one person can make the difference of a lifetime.
Rating:
Summary: I liked it a lot but boy am I confused right now!
Review: I really enjoyed reading this book, but at times found the dialogue/story line a bit contrived. It was fun to watch the characters develop and rarely did I feel bored in any way, as some other reviewers apparently did. The Magdelene references seemed over-done but the language was so beautiful in so many passages I just kept reading and reading. The ending, however, was so very confusing for me. I have re-read it several times, have gone back to the beginning, have even picked up "the Weight of Water" to go back to familiar references...is Shreve suggesting that Linda simply died at age 17 and the entire story was a dream? or that Thomas writes his book as if she died but she really lived, then he commits suicide at the end? I feel confused and dissatisfied!
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