The Return Journey

Rating:
Summary: most enjoyable
Review: Sitting in an airport, cafe, train station etc will never be the same again.

Rating:
Summary: Great to read, especially if you like short stories
Review: Suprisingly this book seems to come up short. It is not one of Binchy's better books. If you're looking for a light read in a doctor's office this may be your book but if you're looking for a substantive read pick another one of Binchy's books like Tara Road or Echoes.

Rating:
Summary: Not one of Binchy's best
Review: Suprisingly this book seems to come up short. It is not one of Binchy's better books. If you're looking for a light read in a doctor's office this may be your book but if you're looking for a substantive read pick another one of Binchy's books like Tara Road or Echoes.

Rating:
Summary: Her short stories are too flat and underdeveloped.
Review: The best part of Maeve Binchy's books is the way she slowly unrolls her characters and her stories. With her short story compilations, she doesn't get to do either so it ends up being lifeless and leaves me unhappy! Maeve needs something between her very long novels and her short stories.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful, and imaginative.
Review: The collection of stories in this book were all individually touching. Each had it's own view of the world and each told a different story about how people have so many likenesses and differences. Every story is from a different place , is centred around a different person and has a different and realistic view on the human emotions people face every day. Stories of lovers, mothers, daughters, children, and families that all experience love and pain in unique forms.This book is a collection of all the unique emotions in th world and how they are dealt with.

Rating:
Summary: The Return Journey
Review: The Return Journey was the first book I have read written by the author Maeve Binchy. I did not like this book because it was a bunch of short stories about love, cheating, and other soap opera stuff that I don't like. The one story I liked in the book was The Wrong Suitcase it was about how two people Annie Grant and Alan Green who don't know each other go to London and then they go to baggage claim and pick up their suitcases by looking at the initials A.G that they have had enscribed on them. They each go back back to their hotels and open up the suitcases and find out that it is not theirs'. They each go through the suitcases to try to find the place where the other is staying. They end up finding both personal and professional information. They end up finding where the other is staying and they set a place to exchange them. They exchange them and our amazed how different they look then what they thought from the suitcase. I like this story because it is totally ironic that two strangers who have the same initials and suitcases where on the plane. The one story that reminded of a soap opera was Excitement because Rose who is married and her neighbor Ted who is also married and has kids go off together to have a affair. They each end up running into family, Rose runs into her mother and Ted runs into his wife's brother and his wife but that does not stop them from their excitement.

Rating:
Summary: Slices of life
Review: These slices of life are real, easily read, and poignant. I saw myself in some, saw friends in others, and just enjoyed the rest. Quick reading, fun, and real.

Rating:
Summary: No heart
Review: This book is absolutely horrible. Only two stories were worth reading (Excitement and Return Journey). I found every story very repetitive (travel and distance theme) and each ended with a patronizing moral lesson. If you want to read a read a real book, read "Early from the Dance".

Rating:
Summary: Thoughtful in it's own way!
Review: This book was very different. The stories were like unfinished dreams, dreams that I could end in my own way. There was a great deal about human nature, and that was refreshing.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing . . .
Review: This was my first Binchy book. Only due to the advise of 'fans', I will read another. But not because of the quality of this one! While there were a few short stories in this collection that really caught my attention, most left me asking "what was the point of that"? As another reviewer mentioned, there was not much depth here with only minor exception. I'm a slow reader & this was a fast read! Not much to savor or keep from these stories.