The Return Journey

Rating:
Summary: Great as usual she always makes me feel that i am home again
Review: I loved the book but i am the wrong person to give a review I love everything she writes I read books to escape from my mundaine life and that is what Maeve Binchy,s books do for me what more could I ask for.

Rating:
Summary: A great travel companion--even for an armchair traveler!
Review: I usually don't like short stories as much as novels, but this book was a wonderful surprise. I loved The Return Journey and highly recommend it! Often short stories seem unsatisfying to me; if I like them, I am frustrated by their stopping too soon. That didn't happen with this book. I found these glimpses into the lives of the various characters to be intriguing and thought-provoking--and just the right length. Somehow Maeve Binchy has provided just enough for the stories to be absolutely satisfying and complete--although you may find yourself lost in your own thoughts afterwards! Each story deals with a journey. If you've ever wondered what human tale lies behind the sad or excited face of a stranger met on the road, or been curious about an unlikely pair of travel companions--you may enjoy this set of stories. I think the book would be just perfect to tuck in a suitcase for a vacation. The stories would also do well on your nighttable to read before bedtime--and then dream of your own trip! If you're the type of person who likes to sit with a cup of tea and daydream next to a sea with "twenty different shades of green and blue"--and wonders about that person over there who is sitting on a rock doing the same: try this book!

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining collection of short stories
Review: Maeve Binchy has an uncanny ability to create believable characters and sketch out a plot in 10-15 pages. These stories each contain an interesting twist or unexpected ending which keep up the interest for the reader. They each have a bit of universal and recognizable truth to them. Binchy shines her brightest in her full-length novels, but her short stories are also well worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining collection of short stories
Review: Maeve Binchy has an uncanny ability to create believable characters and sketch out a plot in 10-15 pages. These stories each contain an interesting twist or unexpected ending which keep up the interest for the reader. They each have a bit of universal and recognizable truth to them. Binchy shines her brightest in her full-length novels, but her short stories are also well worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: a wonderful collection of stories
Review: Maeve Binchy has done it again. This is another wonderful collection of slice-of-life stories, using travel as a theme. The author is very skilled at getting under the surface of her characters' interactions with each other, and revealing what's in their hearts, which they often don't have the courage to reveal to each other.

Rating:
Summary: Many Happy Returns
Review: Maeve Binchy is a best-selling author for numerous reasons. Her novels are filled with vivid, well-written, believable characters who experience lives that anyone could relate to. Yet her more recent writings have not lived up to her reputation or the weight of her early novels. While always a pleasure to read, Binchy's more recent forays have fallen short of her own glorious tradition.

"The Return Journey" is a collection of pleasant stories. Yes the topics and characters may seem familiar - they are 'old hat' to Binchy in a number of ways. Yet she is able to infuse her storytelling with concern for these characters and makes her readers relate to them as well. Standouts in this collection include "Vincent and St. Valentine" and the title story.

I have read every piece of published fiction by Maeve Binchy. I believe her to be a master storyteller and I would read anything that she wrote. For the times in between her novels, or the rereading of her novels, her short stories are a nice return into Binchy's spellbinding worlds.

Rating:
Summary: A delightful and engrossing read
Review: Maeve Binchy is one author whose work is always a delight to read. She writes with great charm and feeling about ordinary people and makes them extraordinary. I had to ration myself with this latest book not to devour it in one greedy gulp, but to wait between stories to savour them. Bring on the next Maeve Binchy book soon!

Rating:
Summary: not her best work.
Review: Mauve has not done it again much to my disappointment.I have read all of her books some of them many times.In this book there are stories that have already been published in her other books i.e London Transport and others. This seems to be Mauve 's new marketing tool what a great pity as she is a wonderful story teller but just keeps telling the same tale much like a drunk at a party .Last Christmas we were treated to This Christmas it will be different.Short stories only available in hardback released for the Christmas period.(the perfect gift ) .From one Irish woman to another .'Shame on ya'!

Rating:
Summary: It is an excellent collection of everyday life stories
Review: Mave Binchy does an excellent job of story telling in this book. She takes each story and develops it as if it were a true life situation. Some of them don't end like you would think and that is a nice change. I love her books and thoroughly enjoy reading them. I only wait for the next release

Rating:
Summary: I understand what Maeve Binchy is trying to do.
Review: Ms. Binchy is trying to show us the inevitability of lives that cross, trying to show how each and every encounter affects us in so many ways we will never know them all. Each story in this book leaves you wanting to say "So?", yet your heart knows the answer to that. The stories aren't profound, nor are they even exciting in any way, yet they are more real than our own perspectives on life. If the author is attempting to make us stop a moment and look back on those insignificant small pieces of our past, like the time we talked with that stranger on the airplane, or that man we ran into in the bank who reminded us so much of Dad, or the lady behind the counter at the 7-11 who knows how we like our coffee each day, then these stories succeed in doing just that. Did those encounters help shape who we are today? Maeve Binchy has done a superb job of magnifying the impossible.