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Summary: The usual Binchy themes, developed by a true virtuoso
Review: This is a richer, more ambitious novel than the other three Binchy books I've read (Circle of Friends, Glass Lake, and The Copper Beech). In other respects it is typical Binchy. She creates a powerful empathy between her characters and the reader. If you're like me, you will hope, fear, love, and despair moment by moment along with her people.The main character in this one is Ria (short for "Maria"), a true and decent Dublin woman. As a young woman, she lands (much to her own amazement) the best-looking and most ambitious man in her office. Danny is an up-and-coming real estate agent. His charm and ambition soon earn them a gracious home and a very upper-middle-class lifestyle, well beyond anything Ria had expected for herself. Life progresses so smoothly and happily in the first half of the novel that you know it isn't going to last. It doesn't. Ria discovers that Danny has been cheating on her, has impregnated a much younger woman, and wants to leave her. So she now has to confront the questions we all have to face eventually: who is she, what does she really want from life, and how can she get it. There are many other characters in this book, all of them vividly portrayed. As in her other novels, Binchy has an obvious sympathy with every one of them (with one exception - and he ends up dead anyway). And again, as it always does with Binchy, the novel ends with hope - a hope that is grounded in open-eyed realism instead of the earlier naïve romanticism. Binchy plays this theme as well as any writer around. If she has really stopped writing novels, I mourn for the unborn characters she will no longer create, and whom I will be unable to love. I am just one of many to whom she has given truly gratifying reading experiences.
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Summary: Life's Bumpy Road
Review: Maeve Binchy allows a reader to experience transcontinental potholes in life. It is refreshing to leave the journey just by closing the cover of the book! Maeve Binchy is an expert at her craft.
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Summary: A book that fulfilled my fantasy..
Review: I called this a book that fulfilled my fantasy, is because there were times when I felt hectic or down, and all I wanna do was just running away to somewhere that far and serene, or to a place I've never been before and the athmosphere was very different to my ordinary life..And, this book somehow read my fantasy. Though the problems that I had were so unlikely with the two main character, Ria and Marilyn..But the story is extraordinary.. This book teaches us to be aware of things that happened around us..sometimes, things that we think are normal,maybe are not normal to someone else, although we already tried hard to make someone else happy..And it's happening to Ria as a wife of a successful businessman, Danny.Who knows that you think your happily-married-life could turn into disaster without you can even realise it sooner? This book teaches us not to be so naive.. But one lucky thing that Ria could have and not many people had that kind of opportunity was that Ria had the chance to switch home for a while with a good-stranger, Marilyn, abroad..Isn't that amazing? Two women with their own problems had the chance to live a life that so very different to their ordinary life! We do need someplace else to retreat ourselves, to indulge ourselves, to refresh ourselves, from the things that burden us.. So, once again, I had more lessons just from reading another Maeve Bincy's book!
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Summary: Pure Maeve Binchy
Review: Having read Maeve Binchy before, Tara Road is neither more nor less satisfying than any of her other books. The same concept and writing style is there. Binchy writes in a style that most non - British find amusing. Some of the phrases that come out of her characters mouths are so quaint you can't help but laugh. As the book goes on you get used to it though. And they're hard books to put down, Tara Road included. Binchy creates a number of characters and then weaves their stories together. Its almost like sitting down and gossiping with your friends. I'm not sure how Binchy would stack up against James Joyce, and her characters can sometimes be stereotypical, but Tara Road is good to just sit down and get straight into.
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Summary: Excellent
Review: Tara Road is the story of a woman trying to get through life balancing husband, kids, family and friends. Her desire to make everyone happy and the difficulty she encounters doing so can be related to by almost all American women. This book will make you laugh, cry and really think about people closest to you. Give yourself a lot of time when sitting down to read this one, it's hard to put down.
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Summary: Another Great Choice
Review: As the Disabilities host on BellaOnline, I loved this book. The characters were real and one could relate well. Circle of Friends was also an excellent pick. I highly recommend it.
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Summary: A GEM OF A BOOK!
Review: This is a new author for me. I have not read any other Maeve Binchley books. Several friends had recommended this author but I was a bit hesitant. I thought I might be bored with the setting, I was pleasantly surprised. The story is about two ordinary women facing their own individual crisis. It was wonderful to read and see how each woman grew in these circumstances. I could actually "feel" myself sitting in Ria's kitchen and being totally comfortable there. The author adds several different characters to the story, but I did not find this distracting, but enhancing. She develops each character well to fit into the story. Ria's goodlooking and rakish husband Danny, her friend Rosemary, Gertie, and even her two children are delightfully portrayed. Even though I read this book several weeks ago, the story has stayed with me. When you keep thinking of a book long after you have finished reading it, you know you have found a gem of a book! Check this one out!!
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Summary: Maeve Does it Again!
Review: Maeve Binchy is on the top of my favorite authors list, and she has done another fantastic job with Tara Road. Tara Road is something special and when the story came to a close I found it terrbily hard to put the book down. I just wished that there was more to read on this beautifully crafted group of individuals. An A+ book if I have ever read one.
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Summary: Tara Road
Review: I thought this book was fantastic! My interest lies in murder mysteries mostly -- I love Mary Higgins Clark, David Baldacci, Michael Palmer, etc. I don't have a clue why I even picked up TARA ROAD -- I guess because it was an Oprah pick. It did start out a little slow and Maeve's writing style (a paragraph or 2 or a page or two for each storyline) was at first a little distracting to me. However, it didn't take me long to become immersed in the story of Ria Lynch. And when the call came from Marilyn Vine in America I COULD NOT put the book down. Even after 648 pages I wasn't ready to end my relationship with Ria and Marilyn. It is a wonderfully moving book and I highly recommend it. I had never read any of Ms. Binchy's books before but look forward to seeking out another and hoping it is as good as TARA ROAD was.
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Summary: Ahhhhh Ria!
Review: Life's not a bed of roses is it? But life does go, on does it not? I loved this book on tape. I have never been disappointed by any Maeve Binchy book and I have read every single one. They're just like Jackson Browne music to me...If a new one comes out...I just buy it and know it will be good. A good story, a nice listen! Keep em coming, please!
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