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Summary: Hell, Up front and Personal
Review: I'm not here to quibble with the ending of this book, or whether "Black and Blue" is a realistic account of what domestic violence is like. I'm here to tell you that I find it to be a fairly honest telling of a difficult tale; one that needs to be told and told again until it is understood. The crime that we've condoned for too long is that we want to believe this is only fiction. It isn't. END
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Summary: A Must Read
Review: For any woman who ever loved the man she hated and hated the man she loved, this book is a must. While the novel does have flaws and exaggerations, it also touches upon the question that battered spouses face, and that is, "Why did I stay in the first place?" Inside every monster also lurks a lovable being. This is soooo hard to reconcile, but this book points this painful emotional contradiction out perfectly.
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Summary: A profound story, filled with compassion and savagery.
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed every nuance of this book. Anna Quindlen pulls the reader in from the onset. This is a wonderful story with interesting sub plots. The characters are believable, likable and some deplorable. I could not put this novel down!
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Summary: Change the ending
Review: This was one of the better Oprah selections that I have read. It grabs your interest and you can't put it down. At first you feel sorry for Fran and then you become hopeful that things will turn out well for her and just when it looks like everything is going to work out - there's that ending. It's depressing for Fran to have gone so far and then end up in that situation. It was sad! I passed this book on to some of my coworkers and after quite a bit of discussion, we all agreed - good book, don't like the ending!
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Summary: Great and realistic!
Review: This book gives you a look at the harsh reality of domestic violence and "being on the run." The ending leaves you hanging and wanting more, and is somewhat disapointing, BUT that is the reality with domestic violence. Very well written.
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Summary: Couldn't put it down, but disappointed at the end
Review: I have read each of Anna Quindlen's books and have enjoyed each one of them. I love her style, which undoubtedly comes from her training and experience as an award-winning journalist -- drawing the reader into characters, making them feel close to the characters, describing every detail without the use of adjectives but so you can see them clearly in your mind's eye. Black and Blue was an excellent book -- I read 50 to 75 pages at a sitting. But, like Object Lessons and One True Thing, the ending is unfulfilling. Perhaps this is really the truth about domestic violence -- that you never really get your life back, no matter what you do. But there needs to be some greater resolution -- after all, this is a book to be enjoyed and not necessarily a news report. Perhaps that's taking this issue too lightly, but I hoped for something more definitive to be going on at the end.
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Summary: Anna Quindlen Does It Again
Review: If you are reluctant (as I was)to read this novel because of its subject matter, don't be deterred. I can attest that the subject does not matter when the writing is as fine as Anna Quindlen's. When one of the characters (coach Mike Riordan)tries to describe why he likes the novel's protaganist (Beth Crenshaw) he says "...she said what she just said, which happens to be true and accurate." The same can be said of Anna Quindlen. Her prose rings so achingly true with universally felt emotion that it does not matter what the reader's personal experiences have been, the reader will understand (and feel)Beth's despair. The author expertly captures the nuances of the environment that creates and feeds Bobby Benedetto's violence - the fiercely protective and doting Italian-American mother whose son can do no wrong, the job that frustrates him into bigotry, the cop wives who chose to ignore what they know to be true so as not to disrupt their lives and so forth. I will admit that I did not find this novel to be as compelling as One True Thing or Object Lessons - those novels were heartbreaking and beautifully written. However, I still highly recommend this novel.
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Summary: Quick and to the point Ms Quindlen wrote as if she were the
Review: This book was an easy read, it moved fast and let you know how a woman who is in direct fire of her husbands hands would feel, and not only the physical part, but the emotional part which sometimes is never seen by the people we love and that love us.
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Summary: Oprah's Book Club Guests Accounts of Abuse Touched Me More.
Review: I purchased Black and Blue after watching Oprah's show with victims of abuse and the author. I was disappointed in this novel; did not seem realistic, weren't the neighbors in Lake Plata a little curious about the duplex with constant turnover of occupants? Situations just seemed too "pat" Except for Fran, Robert. and friend Cindy, I didn't care about any of these people. s,
Rating:
Summary: reeled me in, then it let me go.
Review: 298 pages. The first 260-ish all story, 10 pages to end. I was all over this book, all about it. Couldn't put it down, bought it the day after reading the first chapter on Amazon.com, couldn't even wait to order, had to have it. The character's were rounded, understood, loved. The flash backs were so wonderfully written the story line flowed. I would recommend it to everyone, until I got to the end. Out of the blue, where did that ending come from? Perhaps she was tired of writing, I dont know, but unless there is a sequal coming out very soon I have to say the ending was totally unfullfilling. So much time went into building the story and so little in the resolution. There was almost a tone as if because she has her daughter it makes it all okay? No.. I am so annoyed that I wasted time on a relationship that ends without love, without the closeness between sisters I hoped for through out the book, and an ending that does not match the characters.
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