Rating: 
Summary: I have changed my rating
Review: I disliked this book so much that I felt I had to write something. In retrospect, my first review was too generous. I gave it two stars on the merit of the idea of the book. Having rethought things, I decided I didn't even like the idea. Picture this story turned around... make it 8 men who get together once a week to gripe and drink too much wine. Then picture these men just up and walking away from their wives and kids... and jobs. Do you think the nation would rise up to salute them? Do you think the sheriff would be praised for sending a cruiser to protect them?! The idea is totally ridiculous. So WHY is it so glorious for these women to do this? Why is their lot so much more painful than a man's? This book simply FELT juvenile, whiny, and pathetic Therefore I decided I had to change my ranking. (I didn't even finish the last two chapters.... I simply couldn't go on
Rating:
Summary: Women Walking. Yes, That's It.
Review: I don't know what I was expecting from this book, since the back cover pretty much says it all. A group of women friends are suffering from a severe case of discontent, and come to the unanimous decision that all will be made better if they get up and start walking down the road. They themselves don't really understand HOW this will make everything better (and if they don't, how are the readers supposed to?) but somehow they know that this is something they must do. Along the way, they change the lives of everyone they meet (for example, the self absorbed police officer who decides to call his mom). OK, I should have known from the start... but I guess I thought the women would actually DO something to bring about the miracles promised in the synopsis, and to garner the international media attention bestowed on them by the second day of their walk. I was wrong. Sometimes, a ridiculous or non existent plot can be saved by sympathetic characters or superb writing. That is not the case here. The POV shifts around so abruptly from one of the many characters to the other that it is difficult to keep track of who is narrating when. It's just a jumbled mess. And when you do catch on to which woman's life story you are reading, you still can't distinguish her from any of the others, because the characterizations are so dull and flat. I disliked this book so much that I couldn't even finish it, and that is rare for me. Sorry, but it really is that bad.
Rating: 
Summary: good book but the liberal slant is a turn-off
Review: I enjoyed this book for the most part but was really turned off by the liberal slant of the writer. I really enjoyed the comaraderie of these women and found my heart wanting to be walking with them to shed the pain in my heart from portions of my life. I just didn't feel the lesbian relationships that were touted as the be all and end all solutions to all our problems or the reference to the abortion decision was a perfect ending to the book. Otherwise the beauty of the friendships was to be envied.
Rating:
Summary: Don't bother
Review: I have to agree with the negative reviews of this book. As one reviewer said, "Doesn't she have an editor?" Way too many inconsistencies in the details. For example, Mary is a senior in High School in the Spring of 1968. That would make her born in 1950, correct? But in 2002, when the walk is taking place, she looks in the mirror "watching myself push toward my 48th year for the 47 years in front of that". This is simple math and the kind of detail that drives me nuts. Also, the person that flew into Milwaukee to get to Prairie du Chien. Highly unlikely. The geography doesn't mean anything to someone not from Wisconsin, but if you're going to put it in, have it make sense to those of us that live here. So this is all nit-picky, but the story itself was a drain, and to also agree with another reviewer, seems to take the viewpoint that all of women's problems can be solved by having a lesbian relationship. Okaaaayyyyyy.............Save your time and your money and skip this one.
Rating:
Summary: Some interesting ideas, but bad writing
Review: I kept notes on my bookmark as I progressed through this book so that I could remember specifically why I disliked it, and report this to my book club which had selected it. Words and phrases I jotted down included, "melodramatic...unconvincing characters and story...don't care about the characters... cliches... unoriginal ideas... similar voices [characters]all the same." If it hadn't been "assigned reading" I would have never spent the time on this book. As I read along, I did search for something redeeming. There were definitely some worthwhile ideas here and there. Too bad they were buried and lost in this book.
Although I think the author was trying to write a very "deep message" book, it came off as superficial, trite and ridiculous.
Rating: 
Summary: Honoring friendship
Review: I loved this book. I loved the walk. I loved the support of the husbands and the community. I loved the structure of the book with the alternation of the news reports, the "The Elegant Gathering" of each walker, and "The Women Walker Effect". I loved the language.
"That's where I also cried and wondered why in the hell I hadn't run off to some island with someone. I would rock and cry and rock and cry. Sometime the tears would fall right onto the face of one of the babies, and they would blink and get this "What the hell was that?" look on their face. Then I would brush away the tear and turn my head a little bit so they wouldn't be upset by the aquatic break in their drinking routine."
This is a book filled with pain, with hope and mainly with empowerment and how to keep walking through life with integrity and joy. And oh the friendship and bonding of women.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting Idea, Terrible Writing
Review: I picked this book up for a book club, and we had selected it based on the fact that it was set in our state. Not one of us enjoyed it and half the group couldn't even finish it.
The idea for the novel is intriguing, but the author executed it horribly. The characters are flat and difficult to distinguish from one another, and errors in the writing were inexcusable. At one point she wrote something like, "she lived alone with four other women." How exactly does that work? Didn't she have an editor? Without better characterization you couldn't appreciate the women's' quest and the prose was so bad it was like listening to fingernails down a chalk board.
Pass this one up--it's not worth the time or money.
Rating:
Summary: A Book Only a Few May Appreciate
Review: I purchased this book to read on a recent trip to Europe. AFTER I purchased the book, I came here to read the reviews and was concerned that perhaps I had made a bad selection based on the poor reviews some people had written. After reading the book, I must say that my soul was touched. This is a book about being a woman, being a friend and being less than perfect. One must be very open-minded to embrace these women and to fully understand the story being told. I for one, will pass this book on to the women in my life that I love, those that have suffered (and there are many women there) and those who are fulfilled and healed. Many of my female friends would HATE this book, because they are unable to acknowledge and appreciate what many women have experienced. But, most of the women that I know will be touched by the book as I was. This book doesn't try to be anything other than it is - Women coming to terms and accepting change in their lives.
Rating:
Summary: Great Friendship Book
Review: I thought this was the BEST book about friendship and women. I'm giving it to all my girlfriends for christmas. Touching!
Rating: 
Summary: Will there be a sequel?
Review: I truly enjoyed this book, and will purchase it for the women in my family and my women friends.
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