Rating: 
Summary: Slow Page-Turner
Review: This was one of the worst books I've read of Ms. Binchy. The main character was shallow with no backbone. I almost put the book down about ten times. All I kept thinking was, "Speed it up"!
Rating: 
Summary: Heartwarming Story About Personal Growth
Review: It is hard for me to understand why some of the other reviewers found Tara Road too long! It is one of my favorite novels by Binchey, and I could not wait to finish it. The characters are believable and well developed, particularly Ria who you admire for her growth into an independent, strong woman. I found myself routing for her all the way, and I was very pleased with the way it ended. It is about personal growth, family dynamics, loyal and unexpected friendships, as well as friendships that are not what they seem to be. If you want to feel inspired by two women that have the courage to escape from everything that is familiar and find their inner peace, this is for you.
Rating: 
Summary: A Book of Recovery, Trust and Independence
Review: If you are looking for a medium length novel that makes you feel good about emotional recovery from setback, human trust and women independence, it can be a good choice.It is not the type that impresses immediately. But it does make you feel comfortable by stages. It carries a positive message about women independence. They are not men's subjects.They have their own emotions, choices and life circle.
Rating:
Summary: Maeve Binchy Just Keeps Getting Better and Better
Review: Unlike so many authors who have one great story and then their succeeding novels are pale imitations, Maeve Binchy seems to get better with time. In Tara Road she gives us Ria Lynch, an unforgettable character whom we can love, sympathize with, cry for, and cheer for. Her story is peppered with well-drawn minor characters who leave a lasting impression on the reader. If you're looking for a good heart-renching saga of love and betrayal, family joy and misery, this is a great read.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointment after disappointment...
Review: When a reliable friend first told me about this book, I eagerly sought it out and felt even more assured when I saw the words "Heartwarming New York Times Bestseller"---what a joke! I felt that the story dragged on and on to the point where I had to put it down periodically because I was so bored. First of all, the character development was not there. The author relied too heavily on the use of dialogue without adding thoughts, feelings or emotions about the main characters. In fact, practically every beginning and end of section began with a person speaking which is a poor Hollywoodish affect in drawing the reader in. We need depth and a deeper intellectual sense of Ria's and Marilyn's reactions to pain and grief which can be revealed in their thoughts, gestures or actions. Not just in dialogue!! I felt that the author was shying away from one of the most arduous task of writing which is creating and developing the characters so well that if you bumped into them one day, you would skip past the formalities because you already knew them. But the people in the book were like strangers causing me to wonder if even the auther herself understood them thoroughly. And may I add here that there were way too many characters? A cast of predictable people weaving in and out of each other weakened the simple story line. There were just too many conflicts and substories making it difficult for there to be a cohesiveness in the writing. So why even the 1 Star? because the story IS unique. Unfortunately, the writer failed to bring out this one of a kind story because her characters were not believable (how could Ria honestly be so oblivious to all the things around her???) which made the ties and relationships seem superficial and uninvolving.
Rating: 
Summary: good lesson to be learned.
Review: the point of the book was great. i would recomend this book to anyone who needed a motivation in life. the way Ria took her life back from Danny. She's someone to role model and think about. Her life was oddly perfect then the reality took its course. it showed life to be exactly what it is. The beginning made me apprehensive about the book, being as it was so perfect, but when the story unfolded i almost appreciated my own life because it wasn't filled with the disaterous tragedies that ria, the supposed perfect wife, had. the different charecters made the story possible to relate to. I saw how easy it was to trust someone, then get hurt. I saw how Rosemary Ryan could be a real life charecter in my world, and how decisive she was, almost made me want to double check my friends. i love the ireland setting, the description of the victorian home in a neigborhood of wealthy houses. the mother living near by and the best friend close by also. it seemed a small town but with a homey atmosphere with friendly neighbors. i do admit that the charector of ria was frustrating to follow, her choices were not thought out most of the time and more along the childish, naive pattern. the end was surprising, but it made me happy.
Rating:
Summary: Captivating but too long!
Review: This is a good book for when you have time to pass in a leisurely way and want to get lost in someone else's worries. It helps to take your mind off your own problems but other than that it is just an ordinary type of woman's story. The descriptions are nice but there are too may despicable characters. Overall one that is worth reading if you have the time.
Rating:
Summary: Binchy needs to stick to short stories
Review: I have being reading Binchy since she first wrote her short stories " Dublin 4, and London Transports", as well as her colum in the Irish Times, but over the years, the books she has come out with have got worse. Her first novel "Light a Penny Candle" was good but it has being a painstaking experience reading all the trash that has followed. Maeve, please go back to the short stories, you are great at it.
Rating:
Summary: A nice change of pace
Review: I picked up this book looking for a change in reading. The story line seemed a little boring but I thought I'd give it a shot. I was pleasantly surprised. The story of two women who's lives are in chaos and decide to change homes to get a grasp on life. Although the two women have never met there lives become extremely close learning about each other's troubles through friends and family. It is quite interesting to see how each can submerge into each other's life without knowing one another. The switch for both women was encouraging, rediscovering themselves and lives they never knew existed. I enjoyed this story because it moved me. It wasn't an adventure or a love story but about people and their search for self-fulfillment.
Rating: 
Summary: An okay, but ponderous story that doesn't pack much punch
Review: I'm not a huge fan of contemporary novels, but I've heard some rave reviews about Maeve Binchy, so I tried reading "Tara Road" as my introduction to this author's work. Oprah liked this book; I was disappointed. The story begins with a young woman starting a new job at a real estate company. She then meets a dashing (of course) young man who has also just begun working there. There is courtship, they fall in love, she gets pregnant, they go over their heads on a home purchase, then they get married. You are now on page fifty; six hundred more to go. Ms. Binchy's story-telling reminds me of those theaters built in castle-like homes where you can walk around from room to room and follow different actors as the events unfold: there's intrigue in every chamber, but you can only wonder what's going on elsewhere in the house. With this book, you can be in many places at once, and that's the key to becoming absorbed in what turns out to be one giant soap opera. Outside of a few key people, the author is not big on character development, instead relying on dialogue to give the reader what I'd call "personality likenesses." With respect to the "flowing Irish writing style" that some talk about, I must have missed the flow. I had to struggle to make it to the last third of the book, where all the juicy stuff becomes known, and all the characters pretty much get what they deserve. The message: the sincere and steadfast grow, the deceivers wither, the naughty people cause lots of heartache, and we're all amazed by the turn of events along the way. No revelation there.
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