Rating: 
Summary: Slow start, self-absorbed man, why bother...
Review: I have read all of Ms Shreve's novels and have completed each feeling as if I have learned something new; about her writing, how the world works from her perspective, and sometimes a fresh awe as to how she can capture the heart. This latest effort is a disappointment on all fronts: The central character (speaking during the late 1800's, proper jargon and all), is selfish in most aspects that the word is defined. He is out for only himself, and damned anyone that get's in his way. This is an old subject with old and familiar twists. I didn't sit on the edge of my seat while reading Ms. Shreve's latest, but instead predicted the end, and was disappointed coming out correct in my assumption.
Rating: 
Summary: Shreve once again proves her place as a bestselling author
Review: Now in his senior years, Nicholas Van Tassel travels on a train from New England to Florida for the burial of his sister, while writing the memoirs of his ruined life. He begins years earlier with the fire --- the fire that would set his fate.As crowds escape a hotel blaze, Van Tassel spots a riveting woman under a lamppost. "There was about her a quality of stillness that was undeniably arresting, and if I close my eyes now," he recalls, "here in this racketing compartment, I can travel back in time more than three decades and see her unmoving form amidst the nearly hysterical crowd." From the start, Shreve sets up the initial sighting of Etna Bliss as something beyond normal attraction. Van Tassel tells us "my desire for this unknown woman was so immediate and keen and inappropriate that it quite startled me." In hindsight, Van Tassel describes his passion as capable of eroding and enhancing character --- in equal measure --- and yet it is the sentence about erosion that is most telling of things to come: "The erosion the result of the willingness to do whatever is necessary to obtain the object of one's desire, even if it means engaging in lies or deception or debasing what was once treasured." Enamored, Van Tassel pursues the aloof Etna immediately and with vigor. He ingratiates his way into her life, which is easy to do in the small quiet town where he has made his life and where there is little else to entertain or distract Etna. A seemingly harmless type --- professorial by vocation and character --- he is, by his own account, loyal and disciplined, even, ironically, when visiting the less savory neighborhood of Springfield, Massachusetts for trysts with women of some reputation. Etna proves to be a formidable mystery, but Van Tassel, who is obsessed, perseveres. They ultimately wed and have children, but Etna remains distant and impenetrable, and Van Tassel suspects that she has known love before him, though he dare not ask. Instead, he lets his jealousy fester. Eventually Etna's past comes to light and collides with Van Tassel's need to totally possess her. A grand scale betrayal ensues, wreaking destruction and devastation on all involved. Shreve peppers the story with the telltale detail she has come to be known for. Set in the last 19th and early 20th centuries, Van Tassel and Ms. Bliss engage in a proper courtship of afternoon teas, walks in the park and the exchange of books. All the while Van Tassel's desire grows, consumes and seethes below the surface. Shreve is one of those rare great authors who is equally at ease writing about any period. One sees the clothes, the furniture and the architecture in lively, captivating detail. Even in sharing his want, Shreve shows the reserve appropriate of the time: "Had it been at all within the realm of possibility, I would have crossed the distance between us and forced her face to mine. I would have dug my hand into the small of her back so that she was pressed hard against me. I would have lifted her skirts and run my hand along her thigh and tucked my fingers into her stocking. I would have done all those things, and perhaps she saw this, for she drew herself together in an instant, as if she had plunged her wrists into icy water. Of course, I did nothing, but I cannot help but wonder what might have happened between us had I been bold enough to touch her then." Such restraint is palpably evident throughout the book --- and rightly so. It is the tenor of the time and Shreve is a master of time. The acclaimed talents evident in WEIGHT OF WATER, THE PILOT'S WIFE and Shreve's other works are on full display in ALL HE EVER WANTED. She takes us to another time period with evocative language, in a rich and complex story. Shreve plumbs the depth of desire and love and jealousy in intimate and immediate detail, once again proving her place as a bestselling author. --- Reviewed by Roberta O'Hara
Rating: 
Summary: When addiction masquerades as "love"¿
Review: On a lone journey by rail, having now lived many years alone and reflecting on his past, Nicholas Van Tassel begins a memoir of his marriage from 1899 to 1915. The archaic prose, the style of the last century, is the first hint to the reader that this tale begins in another time and place. Restricted by Victorian mores, Van Tassel's manner is inhibited and constrained by the particular social customs and strict codes of conscience of the era. Any mention of sexuality is forbidden to Victorians in mixed company and women are protected from life's crude realities, their sensitivities wrapped in a diaphanous cloak of romanticism. Men may be men, with base carnal appetites, but women must remain unsullied, their virginity preserved for marriage. Even then, it is unacceptable for a woman to express any carnal physical needs; a woman's duty is to bear and raise children, creating a nurturing and comfortable home. It is the dawn of a new Century and the world is full of amazing inventions and conveniences, the future brimming with promise. Nicholas Van Tassel, Professor of Literature and Rhetoric at a small New England college, is, at thirty, self-effacing and modestly aware of his shortcomings, not quite handsome and not quite brilliant. One evening when a fire breaks out in the restaurant where he is dining, senses heightened in the moment of incipient danger, Van Tassel notices a particular young woman. From that moment on, he is obsessed with her, unable to find peace until he has captured her attentions. Van Tassel sets his mind to the courtship and marriage of Etna Bliss, sensing that her circumstances are not advantageous enough for her to refuse his suit. He is unable to withstand the compulsion of his desire, aware that Etna does not return his affection, yet undaunted. Etna clearly declares that she does not love Nicholas before she accepts his affections and agrees to the marriage. Like the typical Victorian romantic, Van Tassel is sure Etna will come to love him in time. True to form, he stubbornly denies all semblance of reality, save his own unquenchable needs. Shreve's protagonist advances from his first insufferable demeanor of propriety, over time, to the reality of his true nature, a base man whose self-importance is so consuming that he is incapable of empathy for another human being. When he marries Etna, Van Tassel knows the bargain does not include her love. By accepting less from his spouse, he, in fact, extracts his pound of flesh, chipping away at the marriage's meager foundation. Bit by intrusive bit, Nicholas suffocates the beleaguered Etna. For her part, Etna has signed her own pact with the devil, never imaging the enormous price she will be asked to pay. The true nature of obsession is not denied or veiled with romanticism in order to make it bearable. Stripping this particular emotion of any appeal, Shreve acknowledges the truth: deluded by ego into despicable actions, demanding that fate bend to his will with astounding hubris, Van Tassel is unworthy even of the reader's sympathy. The failings he so freely claims are actually conceits, his excuse to blindly pursue his own fulfillment, sublimating all else. Unflinching in the face of such a distortion of love, Shreve pens a story of true obsession without guile or artifice, an obsession as craven and venal as any of the Seven Deadly Sins. Luan Gaines/2003.
Rating:
Summary: She's Done It Again!
Review: What talent Anita Shreve possesses to be able to write so convincing and intriguing a novel told solely from the point of view of a man who has almost no self awareness, no sense of his own idiocy and chauvinism, and still wring forth a vivid character study whereby the READER understands so much more than Shreve's hapless narrator, Nicholas. Shreve fans will be thrilled, in many ways this is her best ' so far!
Rating:
Summary: strong character study
Review: Professor Nicholas Van Tassel knows he is a stuffy and pedantic professor of Literature and Rhetoric, who is more comfortable at Thrupp University instead of at Cambridge thirty-five miles away. He surprises himself when he acts the hero when the restaurant he is dining in bursts into flames. He escapes and helps other people until he sees Etna Bliss, with a small child in her arms, and falls instantly in love. He pursues her with a ferocity that won't take no for an answer even though he sees that he is the one enamored, not her. When she finally accepts his proposal she makes it clear she doesn't love him but he doesn't care because he needs her. They have two children over the years and Professor Van Tassel is reasonably content until he finds out that his wife used her inheritance to buy a place he knew nothing about. He is so furious that he threatens divorce and is shocked when she quickly agrees to the idea. He does all in his power to convince her that she is making a mistake, using some very underhanded methods to get his point across. ALL HE EVER WANTED was her love but he had to make do with her tepid affections and at the first sign of trouble, their marriage built on quicksand quickly sinks. The protagonist is telling his tale in the first person narrative on a train over thirty years since he married Etna and he is analyzing the marriage, as if it was a project. One can't help feel sorry for him, a basically good person who had to settle for less than he wanted. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely terrific
Review: One of Shreve's most impressive abilities as a writer is the way she can so flawlessly change the voice and style of her novels. Nicholas, the pompous, tragic narrator of this book, is her most interesting character to date. Alternatively, we are laughing at him, crying for him, and disgusted with him. The book is a simple yet beautifully told story with some of the most complex characters we've seen from Shreve. One of her best.
Rating:
Summary: Why spend time with someone so thoroughly unpleasant?!
Review: All He Ever Wanted begins with a hotel fire in the early 1900's. The narrator of the story (who is recounting his past while en route to his sister's funeral) bachelor Nicholas Van Tassel, a stuffy professor at a snotty boys' school, is inside the hotel when the blaze begins but leaves unscathed. During this tragedy where twenty people perish in a fiery death he meets the woman of his dreams, Etna Bliss. Etna's "handsome" face, her lovely waist and her other womanly attributes haunt his every thought. Even her name, Bliss, brings lusty thoughts to his mind (and starts my skin to crawling). His infatuation is all consuming and before long he begins to pursue her with all of the gusto of a starving dog drooling over a choice bit of meat. She eventually agrees to a date where he learns, a bit to his dismay, that she has a brain as well as fine breasts and is surprisingly literate. They read stories together and seem to get along well but when he makes a move or turns the conversation towards the personal she immediately gives him the cold shoulder. I should add that Nicholas is described as the most un-athletic man on earth with a slight paunch and a balding pate. The sexual attraction seems entirely one-sided and a bit creepy. At this point I would've put the book aside unfinished as I found Nicholas Van Tassel boring beyond belief and far too pompous. However, since I was listening to this in its unabridged format and I was stuck in traffic I continued to torture myself with Nicholas Van Tassel's words (expertly read by a narrator who reads in a purposely haughty way). Despite the fact that Etna does not return his feelings of undying love he insists that they marry and, oddly enough, she agrees! Thus begins their awkward life together. During their years of marriage they parent two children (and, thakfully, we are spared the oogey details of their sterile love making ~ thank you Mr. Van Tassel for speedily skipping by those bits and saving me a few shudders!) and seem to get along decently enough as they plod along through their days. Nicholas gives Etna a nice life and the freedom to do whatever she wishes but sadly the love Nicholas aches for is never returned by Etna. Nicholas, the poor love starved sap, is grateful just to have her for his wife and doesn't complain about her complete lack of affection towards him. But things begin to change when he discovers that Etna has been hiding things from him. This is where the book finally picked up and actually engaged my full attention. At this point Nicholas *almost* becomes a sympathetic character if you can believe it (though he is still a thoroughly unpleasant fellow)! He is riddled with insecurities and although he has been married to a woman he cherishes for years he will never be a happy or successful man. His world begins to spiral out of control as he simultaneously discovers Etna's been keeping secrets and learns the position he's been longing to have at the University may be forever out of his reach. Nicholas's festering jealously and over-reaction to Etna's secret (which was odd but not nearly as devastatingly earth-shattering as I'd anticipated), however, ruin any smidgen of pity I may have felt for him just a few chapters earlier. Author Shreve successfully paints an unpleasant picture of a thoroughly unpleasant man caught up in a situation of his own making. Reading Nicolas Van Tassel's vitriolic comments and actions for pages on end was a depressing experience that I won't be repeating any time soon!
Rating:
Summary: Strong characters, good plot twists
Review: I've read all of Shreve's novels and this one is near the top of my list. The heroine, Etna, is a powerful figure, but in the tradition of the period in which Shreve writes, Etna must keep her power undercover and hidden from her husband, a boorish professor at a local New England college. The source of Etna's power -- perhaps the very power itself -- is her ability to hold a part of herself back from her husband and family. She keeps secrets, both of fact and of feeling, so that her integrity as a person can't be breached by a husband who feels entitled to know and own her totally. I identified deeply with Etna's need to do this, as I believe many women will who have been married to men who at first seemed innocuous but after a few years of marriage are revealed to be unbearably possessive. In self defense, Etna must keep her true self contained and hidden from her husband's impulse toward emotional rape. While that may sound a bit strong, it seems very legitimate to me. I found the fact that Etna creates a personal studio space for herself -- and keeps it secret from her husband -- a natural response to his overwhelming intrusiveness. It's a testament to Shreve's ability to finely draw her characters that a reader such as myself can so thoroughly identify with the heroine's emotions, as well as feel stifled by a fictional character such as the husband. Overall, this is a very good novel with enough depth and action to entertain readers without being shallow.
Rating:
Summary: It Was Too Much
Review: Nicholas Van Tassel in his indemonstrable way won his love and lost his love in the same manner. He would do anything to keep this love and that, my friend, was his undoing.
A fire, a great hotel fire, and Nicholas is there as a hero to lead out a most beautiful lady and her elderly aunt. It turns out that Nicholas is a professor in the late 1800's at Dartmouth College. And, Miss Etna Bliss is staying at the home of her uncle who is also a distinguished professor at the same college A conversation ensues and Nicholas finds he is falling in love with this exquisite woman. They have a sort of dating period, but then Etna moves back to be with her sister and brother-in-law in Exeter. At some point Nichols follows and convinces Etna to marry him. She does not love him she tells him, but that does not matter to him. They marry and have children and life is good for twenty or so years.
And, then, Nicholas does an unpardonable thing. Etna leaves him and his children and they do not see her again What has happened to cause this rift? What has Nicholas done to their marriage? What about the children, what will become of them?
Anita Shreve has written a book of love, lust and obsession. What happens to a life when it is built upon lies and untruths? Not only does Nicholas lose his wife, but in time he will lose his children. How will they react when they find out the truth? This is a novel that is hard to get into- stilted and hardening at the beginning. A little like the man, Nicholas and he is not a character that is well liked. What he has wrought, so shall he find. A lesson to be learned from this character and this novel. Recommended with some reservation. prisrob
Rating:
Summary: Not the best story
Review: Of all the books by Anita Shreve I've read so far, this one took me the longest to get into, and the longest to read. Normally, within the first chapter, I'm hooked, but this one seemed to take much longer to warm up to. If I'd read this one first, I don't think I'd have sought to read her other books. I'm glad it wasn't the first!
The main character, Nicholas, is just hard to like. I never did warm up to him. He was pathetic and desparate, which I guess was the way it was supposed to be. How he ever convinced Etna to marry him is beyond me. Of course the it was a different world in 1899, and to find a man of some wealth, who offered you a decent life, might be enough. Anyway, Nicholas is the type of man I describe as a "worm". The middle of the book is the best, when Nicholas and Etna have a somewhat normal day to day life, bringing up children, and working. Toward the end of the book, when Nicholas is overcome by doubts and jealousy, he ruins his life, that of his wife, and then his children. You just can't feel sorry for him, but you certainly can feel sorry for Etna, who has been "faithful and dutiful" despite being cold toward Nicholas. Then when he gets his daughter to lie for him, that's when you have to totally despise Nicholas.
I've had a hard time with the endings of Shreve's books, but this one did have a more complete ending than some of the others.
If this is the first Shreve book you're considering, do yourself a favor and get A Pilot's Wife, or Fortune's Rocks instead.
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