Rating: 
Summary: Loved it!
Review: I read this book with my book discussion group and I really enjoyed it. I couldn't put it down and I finished it in 3 days...and the discussion was 3 weeks away!! But I was just as excited the day of the discussion as I was the day I finished it.The characters were well written, although some did disappoint me in the end. A few events were hard to believe, but overall, I highly recommend this book. Very enjoyable!
Rating: 
Summary: Tara Road
Review: Well, well, well. Finally a story that sweeps you away from the present to a era of bittersweet love, commitments and family values. I really enjoyed this book and was heart broken when it ended. It is beautifully written and captivates you from page one. Ria's looking at life through "rose color glasses" hit home for me as relating to simular experiences in my life and many friends around me. Wer'e always the last to know... but didn't we really know all along? I think most of us realize later thats the case. This is book is a great lesson on life and what YOU make of it. Ria's story will stay with you for months to come... V.
Rating:
Summary: I would give it 100 stars if possible!
Review: I have read through some of the other reviews and simply could not believe everyone didn't have the same experience as I did when they read the book. I am an avid book reader, who enjoys all genres...however, this was the first Maeve Binchy book I have picked up. I was so hooked on the book that I took it everywhere I went. I walked around the house carrying it and would stay up into the wee hours of the night to read it. The book was so wonderful that I actually didn't want it to end. I am hoping Maeve will write a sequel because I find myself wondering what could've happened with the characters even now - a month after I've finished reading the book. Trust me....if you've never read Maeve Binchy, this is the perfect book to start with. You will love it!!
Rating: 
Summary: What a waste of time
Review: I read 200 pages before I caught on that nothing of any import happens in this book. It is nothing but the tritest soap opera. Are there any men out there that actually finished this book? Oprah usually does a better job of choosing worthy books.
Rating:
Summary: Very Enjoyable
Review: This is the first book by Ms.Binchy that I have read. I found it very enjoyable. I rate a book by how it holds my interest, and this was one I had trouble putting down. I am glad I found this book and will be reading more of Ms. Binchy's books.
Rating: 
Summary: Good but Not Finished!
Review: I enjoyed this book, in fact, couldn't put it down but I agree with most of the other reviewers here. The characters were sterotypical, and, frankly, stupid. Ria was ever-loving even after she found out about her philandering husband; Gertie continued to believe her drunk husband was ever-loving even though we NEVER saw ANYTHING loving about him; Colm seemed to be a cartoon green-boy that lived in the garden; the daughter, Annie, was just annoying because she was so disrespectful to her parents and all the other adults in her life. I could go on and on about the other characters but the other aspect about this book that bothered me was that there were 742 pages (large print version) of feelings and small talk and the story never really ended. Ria had a new business of which the only way you knew would succeed was from a fortune teller; Rosemary would continue her philandering ways and false friendship with Ria and would Colm and Ria have a love relationship or not; what about Andy Vine? Also, why was Nora checking into a retirement home prematurely? Maybe Ms Binchy set this book up for a sequel but I believe if it's anything like "Tara Road", I may skip it.
Rating:
Summary: A REAL PAGE TURNER!!
Review: I have to say that Maeve Binchy really knows what her readers want. Just after finishing reading a long and dragged out book, I picked up Tara Road. I found the way that Ms. Binchy grabs her readers is exactly what I was looking for in an author. She is to the point and does not drag out a scenior forever, and that is one of the traits that captured me. I have to say this is one of, if not, my favorite book and think to soon be my favorite author.
Rating:
Summary: Light and Entertaining
Review: Although the characters were somewhat cliche the story lines were entertaining. While I never got attached to the characters I was drawn into their lives enough to want to see how they all come out. However, I did feel the book was predictable enough without adding the "fortune teller" aspect. Overall, I think it's good for an afternoon or two of light reading.
Rating:
Summary: Doesn't quite live up to potential
Review: Ria and Danny meet as young employees of the same real estate firm, fall in love fast and hard, marry, and manage to buy their dream home on Tara Road (which is gradually becoming a fashionable area of Dublin) when Danny helps out a big-shot developer and reaps a considerable financial reward from it. What follows is several years of what Ria considers wedded bliss... decorating the new home, raising two children, and spending time with numerous friends, relatives and neighbors, who always seem to be either coming or going from the big home on 16 Tara Road. Her happiness continues right up to the evening when Danny confesses that he has a 22-year-old girlfriend (Bernadette) who is pregnant with his child, and is further shattered when it becomes obvious that he has no intention of leaving his new love and plans to move out of the house on Tara Road to be with her. In the aftermath, Ria receives a phone call from Marilyn in Connecticut, who is looking for Danny (who she met once in the past) in hopes he can use his real estate connections to arrange a home exchange for her. On impulse, Ria and Marilyn decide to swap their own houses. What results is a story of how two women use a change of environment to deal with their respective heartbreaks (Ria's failed marriage and Marilyn's loss of her son). At first, I was very into this book, but before long its main flaw was revealed... it is just too long and too wordy, weighed down by endless dialogue. We don't find out about Bernadette until page 223 (paperback version). It's more than 100 pages later that she boards the plane for America, and not until around page 500 do Ria's children fly over to stay with her for the second month of her homestay. If there had been more character development all around, I would have been more willing to accept this book's length. Likewise, the dialogue would have been easier to handle if a lot of the "small talk" had been cut out, and if the American characters truly talked like Americans. Yes, this is a petty detail, but I found it hard to believe that a 16-year-old American boy would say something like "you're making the point very forcibly, yes". It detracted from the credibility of the whole story. This is the fourth Binchy book I've read ("Circle of Friends", "The Lilac Bus", and "Evening Class" were the others). Out of these, "Circle of Friends" was undoubtably my favorite, probably because its setting (Ireland in the 50's) better suits Binchy's slightly old-fashioned characters and dialogue. Although I wouldn't call "Tara Road" garbage- it's obvious she spent a lot of time and work on it and deserves credit for that- it's not her best work either, and I was left with the feeling that it could have been so much more than it was.
Rating:
Summary: An Easy Weekend Read
Review: Tara Road is the first book I have read by Maeve Binchy. I found it to be a juicy look into a diverse social group that represents many issues people go through and how that affects their relations with others. Although Binchy switches quickly between characters, she intertwines them enough to make it easy to follow along. I noticed the fact that the American characters spoke in the same way as the Irish. I felt this distracted me from their plight and believability in a very realistic story. Also, as more characters emerged in the story, it seemed like an equal-opportunity social group for issues. We have the doormat, the adulterer, the cheapskate, the jealous sibling, the conceited beauty, the battered wife...it seemed like the major stereotypes all needed to get some play in the story. I felt like maybe that wasn't altogether realistic. I felt like this story was a less-soapy Melrose Place and I thought it was fun and exciting to read. I don't think this story was deep and I don't find the writing profound, but it was a great book nonetheless.
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