Rating: 
Summary: A roller coaster ride of love, passion and duty
Review: "Peachtree Road" is a romantic tale of a southern gentleman and a strong-willed, black-haired southern beauty set against changing times in the South. Another "Gone With the Wind"? No, not by a long-shot! This time the story takes place in the aristocratic homes of Atlanta's wealthiest residents during the changing and turbulent years of the 20th century.Young Lucy Bondurant comes to live in the home of her cousin, Sheppard Gibbs Bondurant III, and takes him and everyone she knows, including the reader, on a roller coaster ride through life. "Gibby" is torn between his love and duty for his cousin and his romantic love for another woman. The results are tragic for him ... or is he fulfilling his destiny? You, as the reader, must decide. This book is very long (over 800 pages), but worth the time. Revel in the character development. Savor the relationship you will build with the characters for you will be with them from childhood until death. Speed through the streets on bikes behind Lucy, whoop it up with the Pinks and Jells, march with the Civil Rights Movement and cry through the tragedies that no one is immune from -- not even the very rich. This is one of the best books I've ever read. Though I desperately wanted to see how it concluded, I felt like I had lost my best friend when I was done.
Rating: 
Summary: A Talented Storyteller
Review: After having read several of Siddons' books, I have come to the conclusion that she is a marvelous storyteller. The reader is drawn in. On the other hand, I don't find her books to be very satisfying because her characters are so weak. They never seem to hesitate at making an immoral choice or betraying a friend. They always seem so self-centered. The only Siddons' character I would really like to know is Maude in Colony. There is tremendous talent here, but while I appreciate that good characters must be human, I like to be able to identify with the struggle to be better.
Rating:
Summary: just can't get into the read at all
Review: First I have to say that I love every other book Anne Rivers Siddons has written. I've always been able to get lost in the story or lesson and not be able to put the book down. So maybe that's why this one is disappointing to me. I've been trying to read it for about a year now. I've picked it up and put it down so many times that I've just given up. It really is to wordy and I find myself reading a paragraph and not knowing at all what happened because it doesn't grab my attention. It's a never ending book. I'll write back next year to let you know if I ever finished!
Rating:
Summary: did shep jump off bridge with Sara and die or did they live
Review: GREAT READ. A REAL TEARJERKER. BUT I WANT TO KNOW THE ENDING. IT IS VERY UNSETTLING TO ME; DID HE JUMP AND DIE, DID SARAH JUMP WITH HIM OR DID THEY LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER?
Rating: 
Summary: Did Shep kill himself or get together with Sarah at end?
Review: How could so few people have so many neuroses (neurosi?) Entertaining and enlightening about a 1950s Atlanta that is still not too far removed from the Twelve Oaks barbecue, fund raising for the Confederate army and marriages of contemporaries too lazy to go elsewhere. The rich really are not so different on Peachtree Road, they just are able to package it better. Sheppard, the poor little rich son of an angry, absent father, and a fawning, manipulative and amoral mother, was doomed from the start. Readers know from the first page that cousin Lucy will be the flame and Shep the moth. The sea to Shep's lemming. And the swirling vortex for all Shep's angst. Why pert, thoughtful, talented and winsome Sarah Cameron puts up with Shep at all is part of the mystery. And why does Shep keep anwering the telephone ("Hey honey,[long drag on cigarette] it's Luce")? Even those who haven't read the book know it's Lucy and she will doom a rendez-vous with Sarah yet again. Ah, but therein lies the pathos, the protagonist with the fatal flaw. All I want to know is: Did Shep dive off the bridge to end it all, or did he finally get up the courage to take on Sarah, overcome his fear of heights and dive gracefully off the bridge now that Lucy had "stuck it in her ear" and was permanently removed from the scene? We have two points of view here on beautiful Bainbridge Island, WA, outpost of Western writing. Please help interpret.
Rating:
Summary: Tiresome Read
Review: I found this book typically boring, hundreds of pages going back and forth over and over. Flash Foward, Flash Back. I never could really get a sense of all the characters - there were just too many. The book ends with unclear conclusions. I have read all of her books and felt that this one was a total waste of my time.
Rating:
Summary: A stunning achievement!
Review: I grew so attached to all of the characters in this novel, particularly Shep, Lucy and Sarah, that it is truly hard letting go of them now that I have finished. The ending was magnificent - better than I could have predicted. In general, the novel is superb! There was a point towards the beginning where I thought it was too wordy and descriptive, but there was, of course, a reason for every little detail that Siddons incorporates and the characters come to life much more strongly because of this. The dialogue is so rich and realistic that you can imagine each scene as, I hope, Siddons intended us to. This book is now one of my all-time favorites and for anyone who wants to learn about the South, Atlanta in particular, and really about themselves MUST pick up this book. An incredible achievement!
Rating:
Summary: A big, juicy read with memorable characters!
Review: I have read this book at least three times so far, and whenever I see a copy of it in a used book store, I buy it so that I'll have extras to loan to my friends. It IS long, but you'll be surprised how fast the book goes. It's a fascinating study both of the Southern way of life and of a dysfunctional relationship -- well, there are actually many of those in the book, but I refer specifically to Shep's love/hate relationship with his cousin Lucy, a beautiful, smart, and self-destructive woman who is permanently scarred by her father's desertion (which is what brings Lucy, her siblings, and their mother to live with Shep and his parents). My only complaint about the book is that I felt Sarah was depicted as some sort of a saint, and I really didn't like her that much . . . Overall, this is a great book, and I can guarantee that you'll find yourself thinking back to the characters for a long time after reading it.
Rating:
Summary: A big, juicy read with memorable characters!
Review: I have read this book at least three times so far, and whenever I see a copy of it in a used book store, I buy it so that I'll have extras to loan to my friends. It IS long, but you'll be surprised how fast the book goes. It's a fascinating study both of the Southern way of life and of a dysfunctional relationship -- well, there are actually many of those in the book, but I refer specifically to Shep's love/hate relationship with his cousin Lucy, a beautiful, smart, and self-destructive woman who is permanently scarred by her father's desertion (which is what brings Lucy, her siblings, and their mother to live with Shep and his parents). My only complaint about the book is that I felt Sarah was depicted as some sort of a saint, and I really didn't like her that much . . . Overall, this is a great book, and I can guarantee that you'll find yourself thinking back to the characters for a long time after reading it.
Rating:
Summary: my review
Review: I like the way Anne Rivers Siddons executes her plots. They seem so real, it is hard to tell this is a work of fiction. The author has masterfully recreated the life in the south from the 1950's, seen from the eyes of a young boy, belonging to the "old" southern family. He lives in his house with a "foster" sister, who ends up influencing his upbringing. Good story, good characters, great places!
|
