Rating: 
Summary: Another enjoyable Binchy novel
Review: Tara Road, like most of Maeve Binchy's books, is an absorbing and entertaining read. I became so absorbed in the lives of these characters that I was sorry it had to end. A great novel, but Binchy has yet to top "Circle of Friends", her best work yet.
Rating: 
Summary: I was not disappointed!
Review: I first saw this book on display in England at while I was visiting there at Christmas. I found out that it would not be released until early March in the U.S. - I ordered this book from Amazon.com. weeks before the release date. I was so excited to get my copy a few days after the date release and found I just couldn't put it down. The characters are so genuine you really feel like you know them and can relate so well to each of them. I am an avid fan of Maeve's and look forward to her next novel...don't wait too long Ms. Binchy!
Rating:
Summary: One of Maeve Binchy's best novels!!!
Review: I just finished another incredible novel by Maeve Binchy last night. It took me just over a week to read Tara Road. It's definitely one of her best. I couldn't put it down. I can never seem to get enough of Maeve Binchy's books. I hate to finish them. Once again I feel as if I know all the characters personally. I feel their pain and their happiness. Can't wait for the next Maeve Binchy novel.
Rating:
Summary: Not her best, but still couldn't put it down... Contemporary
Review: Without a doubt, Maeve Binchy is my favorite "pleasure reading" author, but Tara Road is not her best work. The plot is of two women, strangers to one another, who both have suffered the loss of the very person they loved the most. Ria, the housewife that is so involved with her intense domesticity, that just like the crumbs on the kitchen floor from whatever wonderful thing she just baked, her relationship with her husband seems to have fallen thru the cracks. Fortunately for Danny, her husband, he lands sweetly in the laps of several women, but finally a demure child who he manages to procreate life with. A true modern day story of a couple who had little in common at first, and thru growing in their own directions are left with nothing in common except their children, and a pricey piece of real estate on Tara Road. Accross the Atlantic, Marilyn is pushing everyone out of her life, because she blames herself for the death of her teenage son. Without all the facts she can't face the horror until Ria's children bring her back into reality. It's intriguing to see how both women enter the other's life, in a "back door" sort of way, and put the important things back on track for the other. Tara Road's theme is much more contemporary than my other favorites, Evening Class, Circle of Friends, and The Lilac Bus. In this book the reader is somewhat deprived of her usual lengthy visual descriptions of the part of the world she's writing about. Tara Road's settings are very limited but are effective in giving the intimate intertwined feeling that the characters are experiencing. In lieu of getting to know the personalities and motives of each important character, this time Binchy develops only a few, and has thrown in some annoying members to the cast, such as Hilary, that never really add anything important to the book at all. To add to the contemporary feel, she's included bits about the internet, heroine users, flashy aggressive business WOMEN and video games. I enjoyed how the reader is able to read between the lines to predict what is brewing, even when key characters can't see what's happening right in front of their faces. Maeve didn't follow her usual pattern of repeating a scene thru the eyes of more than one character, as she has often done. I missed that, especially in a couple of scenes where the reader is left in the dark about who the person is that the onlooking character can't identify. Again, not her absolute best, but still far above any other writer of similar content and style. Definitely worth a weekend of reading. Kathy Paul, Plainfield, IN, U.S.A.
Rating: 
Summary: Dialogue not believable
Review: I have read everything by Maeve Binchy and was disappointed in Tara Road for several reasons. It is indeed an easy read but I found the plot too predictable (ie. I was just waiting to find out when Danny would leave Ria). All the hints were too obvious as to the outcome of the plot. I also was quite disappointed that the American dialogue was not researched. The American kids spoke like very well-schooled Irish children and one of the first things that Marilyn said was, "I'll ring you later."
Rating:
Summary: One of Binchy's finest!
Review: This book was terrific! Continuing with the same style as Binchy's Evening Class it combines so many remarkable characters with wit, irony and touch of human compassion! The characters stayed with me long after I put the book down and I found myself thinking of them as what they had turned into by the end of the book... friends!
Rating:
Summary: Simply wonderful!!!
Review: I have read and re-read all of Maeve Binchy's books, and was so happy to have another full-length novel rather than a series of short stories (not to diminish her short stories - they are wonderful.) This book was like a big plate of comfort food and a cup of tea on a rainy day -- very enjoyable, heartwarming, utterly engrossing, and impossible to put down until the whole thing is finished. As always, her characters draw you in until you feel like they are your friends and family, too, and make you want to take a stroll down Tara Road (or Tudor Drive) immediately! Definitely one of her best.
Rating:
Summary: Binchy just gets better and better.
Review: In Tara Road, Maeve Binchy has given us grown-up characters and tangled them all up in their daily Irish lives. In her usual fresh and sparkling way,she creates the solution to their problems and keeps the pages turning. Binchy does not let us down in her latest Irish read.
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Summary: If you've never read Binchy before, start with this one!
Review: I fell victim to all the bookstores displaying this latest book by Maeve Binchy, when in Ireland last fall and was immediately hooked. Binchy has an incredible talent for describing people and their everyday lives, as well as their surroundings, giving you the impression, you know exactly, what Tara Road looks like and who lives where. As if you had been there yourself. It is written in such an easy and flowing language that I could not put this book aside and only started breathing again, after I had finished it. I've read other works of hers since, but Tara Road is still the best!
Rating:
Summary: I loved it!!
Review: I ordered this book from Amazon.co.uk as it has not been released yet in the United States. It was well worth it!! I am a huge Maeve Binchy fan, and devour everything I've been able to get my hands on. This book was no different. The story was wonderfully written and times when the plot is slow, Ms. Binchy makes up for it with wonderful prose. As with all of her books, the characters are tied together in unexplainable ways. Fabulous reading. I can't wait for the next book!!
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