Rating: 
Summary: Beautifully Written, Engrossing, Falling Unforgivably Short
Review: The opening paragraph of Anita Shreve's story is sublime and inspired. I was so impressed by it that I read it aloud to my husband. The story follows in vivid detail, and the reader is fluently transported back to the moody New England oceanside during the forgotten era between Alexander Graham Bell and World War I. The unlikely love affair between a 15-year-old girl and a 41-year-old man happens abruptly, but their love for each other is convincing - romantic and strong but in no way smarmy. I find the characters entirely realistic, yet this is a neat literary trick, because they are all terribly typical of their appointed role in the story. The characters are not multi-faceted, not quirky nor profound. Faltering scenes of dialogue aggravate this flatness. The conversations throughout the book are painfully contrived and unnatural. They obscure the feelings behind a situation rather than enhance. Too often, a poorly placed or uncomfortably phrased spoken word from a character abruptly halts the otherwise captivating narrative flow. Furthermore, though the love affair is credible, as are the scenarios that follow its discovery, the plot line is simplistic and unimaginative. Worse, the story offers only superficial moral implications. The too-good-to-be-true ending is a disappointment... despite my unexplainable sympathy towards the characters. Still, I was deeply absorbed by this story. Less than halfway through, I threw the book to the floor and vowed to read no more...not because the story was simple or the dialogue grating, but because of emotional distress caused by my attachment to the main character. Later, I found myself crying at a scene in the book that an objective viewer might not find particularly sad. Anita Shreve persists as an undeniably gifted storyteller, despite her evident flaws.
Rating: 
Summary: Just another Romance
Review: Books come and go, some spark that special something inside of you, "Fortune's Rocks" isn't one of those books. Sure it has hope and passion, and it's plot can be captivating, but in the end, it's just another romance novel, nothing more than a souped up dime store novel. Anita Shreve only copied the basic plot... boy and girl meet, fall in love, tragedy strikes, a struggle begins, then they manage to re-conquer their lost feelings. Try again, this time come up with an original idea
Rating: 
Summary: Deep, unexpected
Review: Its amazing how Olympia can comprehen the love and passion between herself and Haskell that well though she was not of the age and has never been through such turmoil before. Her courage and determination, is what set her off the most, the way she replys and counterback in every situation is what I really admire. This book speaks mostly of what goes through a person's mind, more or less a perspective of life in a sheltered girl's point of view though she doesn't seem that sheltered after all due to her understanding and the way she makes decision, is as though she's so matured and have experience more than her age allows her to. The way the story goes, gives me a stubborn, determine feeling as though I've not been taking control of my own life, as in the book, Olympia is very certain of the way she should live. One very mysterious character or prospect in this book is Olympia biddeford's mother, she, whom seems fragile and weak, is not really the real her, but more of what her husband expects her to be. The way her mother is, to my interpretation, gives Olympia a different thinking which changed her life. Its quite regretful that Olympia walked away from her own child when she finally gain custordy of him. I do admire her boldness in serveral occassions and that the exile and everything she went through is not a plight but more of a suspending experience, like waiting for a flower to bloom. Her exile to me, is like a time for her to reflect even though she seems sure that is not wrong at all, its rather bewildering how she never felt a tiny bit of remorse. As for Haskell, maybe fate make him see the right person at a very late time. He married Catherine as she just makes a good wife and maybe he does love her but not a kind of desire that make you can't stay away. My heart goes out to him to be in such kind of sticky situation but all's well ends well It seems quite impossible for such a young girl to fall for a man in which their age gap is so far apart. If it's not seduction then what is it ? How could they just felt as though they've known each other a life time when they just first met ? But i guess one will never know until it happens to the person. I would not say whether what Olympia and Haskell did was right or wrong as in love such a matter, its hard to judge, but I would rather say that i agree on Olympia's point of view in that to love is never a sin. I guess this book makes me more or less notice every little thing in life...to try to comprehen and have a deeper meaning of what's happening around me though i often get stuck in the thought of the book. All in all this book is fascinating, though hard to believe.
Rating:
Summary: Why such a love affair?
Review: As I began to read Fortunes Rock, I was entranced by the very descriptive writing. I felt that I was almost physically there in the place where the story unfolds. But as I continued to read the story, I felt an uneasiness with what I sensed would be the main thrust of the story, a love affair between a 15 year-old young lady (not a woman in any stretch of the imagination) with a man some 40 plus years old. I am not a prude by any means, but as I continued reading, reaching the pages about their first kiss, I felt a surge of anger that a writer as fine and gifted as Ms. Shreve (I thoroughly enjoyed The Pilot's Wife) should have thought that this story should be written and read. What a pity that Ms. Shreve did not use her talents for better purposes.
Rating:
Summary: Give me a break!
Review: I have to say I was disappointed with this book, and by the time I struggled through the last page, I felt perturbed and put out. Because I didn't find her character to be very well developed, I couldn't sympathize with Olympia. I found her to be shallow, self-centered, cold, and immature. The writer didn't seem to imbue her with very many positive attributes (except wealth, intelligence, and attractiveness). I didn't like her at all. HaskellÑgive me a breakÑ"falls in love" at first sight with this very young, inexperienced girl. Fall in LUST, maybe, but LOVE?! I didn't feel any of the purported chemistry between them. Perhaps if Olympia had been older, at least 18 years old, the story might have worked better. Until she finally "grows up," Olympia doesn't love anyone, not herself, her parents (who could love that mother?), not Haskell (call it obsession), and I was beginning to think she really didn't love her child, either. She confuses material wealth with love--her baby's old cracked shoes were more on her mind than giving unconditional love. Giving up her child was the very first mature, selfless, worthwhile thing she does in her life. You don't have to be rich to give love.
Rating:
Summary: An interesting, albeit slightly disturbing, N.E. love story
Review: Shreve's latest work of fiction is an intersting read. Accurate and intreguing research of turn-of-the-century New England coastal life spices up the rather predictable plot. Some readers may be disturbed by the intimate relationship which develops between the protagonist, Olympia, who is only fifteen years old, and her father's good friend, Haskell, who is nearly three times her age. All in all, a 'sappy,' yet enjoyable, love story.
Rating: 
Summary: It is never a sin when it is love
Review: This book was great and beautiful. Written like poetry. This isn't some love story with a very sad ending, it address the reality of real life and difficult love. The fact that love doesn't live by society rules. After reading the story of a 41-year man and a 15-year old girl falling in love I was unsure how to feel about it but then once I read it, I discovered you should always follow your heart. That is what I will always remember about this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Melodramatic rubbish
Review: I made it about 1/4 way through before giving up. Not at all what I expected after The Pilot's Wife. This is sheer, unmitigated drivel.
Rating:
Summary: Quick but predictable read
Review: I had mixed feelings about the book, a chronicle of Olympia Biddford's affair with a married man three times her age. Part One was excellently written; Shreve's treatment of infatuation, guilt, betrayal, a girl's transition into womanhood -- all were right on the mark. But then everything becomes predictable: Olympia's pregnancy, her forced separation from her lover and infant, her return to Fortune's Rocks, her healing, her redemption, the eventual custody trial, etc. etc. Even Shreve's writing seem contrived...a modern writer mimicking the language of Jane Austen, which is okay if the effort goes unnoticed, but in this case Shreve's words becomes distracting and borders on tacky (re: last line). The book was a quick -- and at times - interesting - read. But I was left with a distaste in my mouth (I really didn't like the last line) and wishing that Shreve hadn't settled for a conventional Hollywood "happy ending" (the book has "Hallmark Movie of the Week" written all over it) and devoted more pages to Part One.
Rating:
Summary: Trite enough for you?
Review: Well, I was surprised! I thought that Olympia was going to have a daughter with the farmer she goes to work for, for example, and that the daughter would grow up to meet Pierre and marry him. That's about the level of imagination that is evident in this "book." Oh, come on...you tsk-tskers, how about the scene in which she and John are getting it on in the chapel and that simpering poet turns the telescope on her? Couldn't you see that coming 50 miles away? Or Olympia goes back to her family's "cottage" and derives so much satisfaction and psychic energy from cleaning the house that has deteriorated beyond belief in just 3 years? The writing is utterly false, contrived, deadly...and masquerading as something good; say, Jane Austen. The author should be ashamed of herself...and so should her editor. Well, she probably brought in a boatload of cash from this one, and as we know, money talks and fortune rocks!
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