Quentins

Rating:
Summary: Weaver of characters
Review: Once again, Maeve weaves a tale with the best character descriptions of any author. The portraits she paints make Ella, her parents and the despicable Don Richardson so vivid that the reader feels a part of every scene from the first page. No one can tell a story better with better details. She is a master! However, the story line seemed a bit weak to me and only that aspect disappointed me. I knew mid way into the book what the outcome would be and that is unusual for a Binchy novel. I missed the element of surprise.

Rating:
Summary: Vintage Maeve Binchy!!
Review: I have read every book she has written and this will be one of my favorites now. It is the story of Ella Brady and the married man that she has the misfortune of falling in love with.

As is customary for Ms.Binchy, we learn about many people and their lives. She brings characters from her other novels into the story as well. Even if you have never read one of her books this is still a super book to read. It is about family, betrayal, love found, love lost and it all is centered around the lovely restaurant Quentins in Dublin, Ireland.

Lovely writing!!!

Rating:
Summary: One of the best novel ever!
Review: This is a wonderful novel by Maeve Binchy! She is a master storyteller. I was anxiously awaiting this novel and it was well worth the wait. I felt like I got to know all the characters as if they were my best friends! One of my favorite parts of this book was the explanation of how Quentins received its name as well as how the restaurant came to be! I also enjoyed the stories of celebrations that occured in the restaurant over the many years! Maeve has outdone herself once again! This is one book that you should read this year!

Rating:
Summary: Perfect Holiday Gift!
Review: Another enjoyable story from Maeve Binchy. Great characters and a fast-moving plot make this a fun, heartwarming read. A perfect holiday gift for family. Also recommend The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks, Shade of the Maple and The Gravel Drive by Kirk Martin.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoy with a cup of tea!
Review: I have read and enjoyed all of Maeve Binchy's novels and was lucky to have picked this up in Canada over the summer. There is something welcoming and soothing about all of her novels. This one pulls you into Quentins a chic yet cozy restaurant in Dublin. I only wish I could go there and meet the people and try that wonderful food.

Like Scarlett Feather, Quentins celebrates the economic success of 21st Century Ireland, that is after the EU. But this still has the warmth of her earliest novels.

I did find the story telling disjointed, but it still flowed. My favorite parts were the short vignettes of patrons of the restaurant. The story line of the missing money grew confusing and tiresone, but the on going story of Quentins si just wonderful!

I enjoyed this so much. I do not believe that Maeve Binchy can write a bad book! I plan to reread this again and again!

Rating:
Summary: An Unexpected Surprise
Review: After saying that she had retired from writing novels, Maeve Binchey has delivered another wonderful one to her readers. This time she, like Ella Brady in the novel, tells a story of a generation through the history of a legendary Dublin restaurant, Quentins. (The sign-painter left out the apostrophe and so the name remained!).

This is a story about normal folks, their lives, dreams, joys, and sorrows - everything that has made them the people they are today, all told in the context of the restaurant. Binchey has such a gift for characterization and for exploring the reasons why people do the things they do. And she makes her readers care about these characters, too.

Binchey also brings back some favorite characters from her recent novels: characters from "Scarlet Feather", the Signora from "Evening Class", Ria from "Tara Road", and others.

Ella Brady wants to make a documentary film about Quentins, presided over by Patrick and Brendan Brennan, and owned by the absent Quentin Barry, who established the restaurant after receiving an unexpected gift. As she delves into the past and the present of the restaurant, she finds that she must also confront and examine some of the choices she has made in her life.

Binchey deftly weaves together many threads in this book as she writes about Quentins' clientele, its employees, and the Brennan family. There are a hundred stories: about people, about how the restaurant struggled to survive, about how the Brennans dealt with their childlessness. These all come together in the end, although I must say that I wondered how Ella's relationship with Don Richardson would end up. That whole part of the book was a bit odd and seemed out of place -- and is the reason I only gave the book four stars.

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Summary: Maeve is back!
Review: So glad to see Maeve back in print. We missed her Irish vistas and enigmatic characters. While she was away I found Bridget Horan O'Mahony a fellow traveler and Kerry woman. Thanks to her lovely collection of Irish life from the townland of Caherbarnagh I was able to survive. Pagan Dances from Caherbarnagh is also a delight that I would like to share with readers. Maeve's world is changing so rapidly that I can hardly go visit anymore, but I will for Christmas. Thanks again!
Timothy

Rating:
Summary: Intimate Glimpses into Stressed Families
Review: If you have been reading Maeve Binchy's recent books, undoubtedly you remember power confrontations at the elegant restaurant, Quentins, in Dublin. Somehow, Brenda Brennan swoops in to save the day . . . and make everyone who has been harmed feel better. Naturally, there was bound to be a book that delves behind those scenes to tell us more about Brenda and her husband, Patrick, and how Quentins came to be the poshest choice in Dublin. Quentins is that book.

When the story touches on those who are dining or working in Quentins, the book has the magic of the scenes you have enjoyed in books like Tara Road and Scarlet Feather. When the book moves away from that core, the story and fun are vastly diluted.

The structure of the book is to have the story of Quentins, the Brennans and those involved with Quentins be wrapped by a story concerning a young woman, Ella Brady, who is victimized by the classic married cheater. Finding herself facing hard times, she takes on every source of income she can find . . . and becomes involved in a proposal to create a documentary of Quentins. That overstory then becomes the excuse to dive into Quentins.

While telling the story of Quentins to sell the documentary, Ms. Brady finds herself telling some of the best tales about Quentins. These appear as short stories that stand alone in the book. Each one is a classic Quentins scene that will delight you like those you have read before. If Ms. Binchy had either focused solely on Quentins or had solely provided such short stories, she would have had a brilliant book. Alas, she did not. Perhaps in a future book, she will provide us with such stunning entertainment in a book-length series of short stories.

If you don't mind going through a dozy overstory, dive into this book so you can read and enjoy the nuggets. If you want to read an engrossing novel from beginning to end, skip this one.

How can your work be more rewarding to those you serve . . . and your own soul?

Rating:
Summary: Vintage Binchy--Almost
Review: Having thought that Maeve Binchy had retired from her craft in 2001, I was surprised and thrilled when "Quentins" appeared, and I snapped it up.

"Quentins" is by no means Binchy's best book. It's a bit tired, a bit confusing, and its tone is ever so slightly cynical. I hope this is not a reflection of Binchy's state of mind, but merely the subject matter of the plot. The heroine, Ella, a strangely one-dimensional character when compared with Binchy's usual, sails through an exemplary early life only to fall madly, obsessively in love with the wrong man.

Ella's story is told with Quentins, a fictional upscale Dublin restaurant, as the backdrop. Through this popular eatery, we meet lots of interesting people, whose stories we learn--and we have the return, however briefly, of some previous Binchy characters as well. But even they do not have the life they had in the original books--they seem somehow two-dimensional. I don't know whether that was the fault of this reader, who had a lot of trouble keeping all the names straight, or of Binchy herself, who is practically sacred in my eyes!

I would never recommend reading this book as a first taste of Maeve Binchy. But for those of us who have followed her wonderful literary career through the years, and who have read her entire collection, it's a joy just to be reading another offering when we thought that Binchy had retired from writing. If this were any other author, I would rate the book a 3. But I just can't do that; the book captured and kept my interest, and although its odd tone made me uneasy, I'm not at all sorry I read it. Binchy fans: Go for it, but don't expect "Circle of Friends" or its ilk. Binchy newcomers: pick another book, such as the aforementioned, before tackling this one.

Rating:
Summary: Quentins
Review: This was my first Maeve Binchy and I found her writing interesting and an easy read. However, I found the main character of the book hard to relate to. I didn't understand her thinking and found her actions odd. Also the reactions of the people around her were only to support her nomatter what she did and it didn't seem realistic. I guess I was looking for more depth in the characters and that was missing for me. However, because it was an easy and interesting read it hasn't put me off trying another Maeve Binchy sometime.