Rating: 
Summary: Try it, you'll be surprised
Review: I had never read Ms. Shreve before, and picked up this book on impulse, as I thought it had a nice summer-like cover, and sounded like a good literary love story about two poets. I thought I was indulging myself to a lazy beach book. As I plodded through the book, I thought, this is o.k. writing, not a whole lot here though. But as I reached the ending, I was caught totally off guard. I don't know when I've been so surprised by a book. I had to rethink the whole story, and yes, go back and do some re-reading. So this seemingly light Summer read, turned out to be a delightful surprise, and a thought provoking one as well.
Rating:
Summary: Manipulated and Loving It
Review: The Last Time They Met manipulates the reader. Fortunately, in this case, I really ENJOYED being manipulated. While I was reading it, I was aware that the story was being told in reverse but could't understand why--until the end. Although I was generally enjoying it throughout, the surprise ending enhanced my experience and elevated my ultimate opinion of the book. Yeah, I guess you could say it was gimicky, but it worked for me. I certainly thought about the book a lot after I finished it, which I cannot say about most books, and one of the things that stayed with me the most is that, after finishing it, I realized that the main character was someone completely different. Ha-ha!!
Rating:
Summary: Dismayed
Review: I love Anita Shreve's work, and had the pleasure of meeting her at a book signing, where she read from this book. That evening she said, "Don't ask me about the ending" so as not to ruin it for those in the crowd who had not read it yet. That statement would have had my trousers in a twist had I already read the story, because now that I have, I have a plethora of questions for the author. Like many of Shreve's novels, the prose in The Last Time They Met is remarkable and the language rich and intellilgent. The book is based on the character Thomas Janes from one of Shreve's prior novels, The Weight of Water, and his relationship, over time, with his High School sweetheart, Linda. The book is divided into three parts: When Linda and Thomas are ages 52, 26, and 17. The first part is riveting, old lovers coming together by chance at a literary festival in Toronto, Canada after many years apart. The second part is romantic, set against the backdrop of a lush, hot, bright Africa, old feelings are stirred between Linda and Thomas, now in separate marriages. The last part is endearing, set in Hull, Massachusetts, it tells the story of how Thomas and Linda first met, and the fate that betwixt them, inspiring Thomas' "Magdalene Poems" referred to in both this book and the Weight of Water. Page after page, I was drawn to the love Linda and Thomas shared for one another over the years. However, when I read the very last page of the novel, the entire story I had spent days connecting with and endearing myself to, vanished into thin air! Unlike the characters of other beloved books that live on in our hearts, completing their stories in an imaginary parallel universe, Thomas and Linda are lost in oblivion. I am dismayed!
Rating: 
Summary: The Best Ever By Shreve
Review: By Far, this is the best book written by Anita Shreve. In true "Shreve" fashion, the story revolves around love and deception; but unlike her other works, The Last Time They Met transends time and asks the reader to answer the most crucial question ever - when does love, if ever, die.
Rating: 
Summary: Good until the end
Review: I'm a big Anita Shreve fan, and enjoyed this book until the last page. The ending left me feeling frustrated, cheated, and a little confused. I had to read it several times to make sure I was reading it right. Not the way I like to feel after an otherwise enjoyable read.
Rating: 
Summary: Perfectly Excruciating
Review: Did you like "Dynasty"? Do you watch soap operas? Are you interested in wasting your time reading novels that don't have a shred of honesty in any single passage? If so,THE LAST TIME THEY MET, by Anita Shreve, is tailor-made for you. I only finished reading it because it made me so angry that the author was using fifteen grandiose pompous words to say one thing in every overweighted, phoney paragraph that I felt compelled to finish it, and then, when I was done, come on and WARN you. I'm telling you, I was shocked--that's right, SHOCKED, that this book got the good press that it did. I'm not kidding. I love good books and this is not a good book. This is a book that I would call, at best, slick. Granted, I did not read Shreve's other novels first, but who is to say that that means a book shouldn't stand on its own? A BOOK SHOULD ALWAYS STAND ON ITS OWN. So I don't buy the excuse that one of Shreve's other books had the same characters, and it would change my opinion of this novel if I had read that one first. There is never any excuse for dishonest writing. All my life I have respected and honored good writing. This book is a calculated piece of junk that possesses no human feeling. Anyone who has ever had a moment of true sadness, or has ever felt real love, will know immediately, that, like a "chick flick", this book is a mere form of escapism, and an insult to any reader who cares about quality writing, true passion and real love. There. I have said my piece about the betrayal that is this book.
Rating:
Summary: A terrible waste of time
Review: This was an awful book to read. I hated it from page one, but because it had such good reviews, I struggled on to the end. I found it to be bland and contrived, the characters were not at all likeable, and as for the end.... Pretty disgusting!
Rating:
Summary: w-h-a-a-a-a-a-t?
Review: I have such mixed feelings about this book...for the most part I was quite engrossed in the story and involved in the characters; I truly felt like I was living the book. But, when I finished it, I found myself muttering "w-h-a-a-a-a-a-a-t?" so loudly, I woke up my snoozing cats.
Rating:
Summary: Please explain.
Review: How can i rate this book when I don't understand it. what happened in the end? Was this all made up? Someone please explain it to me in one of your reviews.
Rating:
Summary: Oh, My!
Review: My first reaction once I read the last words of the book were "Oh my goodness!" I had to read and re-read the ending to see what I missed. Then I re-read the first part of the book. In light of the ending, the italics and the subtleties in the first third of the book all make sense. Anita Shreve has written a beautifully crafted story.
|
