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Summary: Now I've read all of Shreve's books and this is the best!
Review: This is another great book. It's right up there with Hoffman and Quindlen. I picked it up and didn't put it down until I finished. Worth the time.
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Summary: Couldn't put it down...
Review: What can I say? I loved this book. It was an easy read with real characters and an interesting plot. Above all, I enjoyed the images of life-long love being realized, and the beauty of something as simple as washing someone's hair. While the circumstances surrounding Eden's blindness were indeed tragic, it added to the overall intrigue as well as to the desire, as a voyeur in their story, to see one character struggle to care for another out of pure love. This was my first Shreve read, but I can't wait to read another!
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Summary: Unexciting, transparent plot
Review: I really can't understand why anyone would be thrilled by thistired rehash of family secrets, young love and physical abuse. I readthis book because it supposedly is to be made into a film by Touchstone Studios. I see what appeals to the filmmakers: a potentially histrionic plot complete with bloody, violent murder and sexual abuse of a blind girl. The characters of Eden and Eden's controlling mother easily offer challenges to actresses. But the book as a whole and the rest of these characters (especially the male protagonist) are uninteresting and border on cliches. I sincerely hope Shreve's recent novels (I've only read this one) have improved since this, her unpromising debut. I was thoroughly disappointed.
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Summary: Another fantastic Shreve!
Review: Rarely do I follow authors, but I follow Anita Shreve. Her writing style flows like water; images, the past and the present intertwine to create feelings, intrique, pain and joy. Her characters do not live on the page - they appear to you, bit by bit, until you cannot shake them - and do not want to. Highly recommended for spiritual, enlightened women.
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Summary: Outstanding uncanny ability to bring you back to chi ldhood
Review: Eden Close is a great read with a smooth style. The story keeps you interested on several levels and adds a nice touch of humour when things get deep.
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Summary: an excellent book .
Review: quick, easy reading that makes you not want to put the book down! you read from past to present throughout the book and it keeps you wanting to find out more!
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Summary: A Page Turner!
Review: EDEN CLOSE by Anita Shreve EDEN CLOSE by Anita Shreve centers on a murder that takes place almost 20 years ago in a small rural town in upstate New York. Andrew, now working in sales and advertising in New York city, returns home for his mother's funeral and brings back with him memories of his childhood friend Eden and that murder which took place next door at the Close family's residence. Eden Close was a childhood friend of Andrew, he being seventeen at the time of the murder, and Eden only fourteen. He recalls the blossoming of their friendship, the recklessness that was part of Eden's personality, and the murder of her father that was still a mystery to Andrew all these years later. He remembers bits and pieces of what may have happened, but on that fateful night, all he remembers is hearing a gunshot, screams, and nothing more. Upon his return home for the funeral, Andrew stays to deal with the family property and get it ready for sale. He is the only surviving member, his father having passed away five years earlier from a heart attack, and he is an only child. As he goes through the many old items in the house, he recalls his childhood and the murder and accident that caused Eden to lose her sight. While Eden was such a big part of Andrew's life when they were growing up, he has had nothing to do with her since the murder. He finds out that she's been shut inside her home with Edith Close for all these years, except for a few years where she spent time in a special facility. He becomes obsessed with his need to get in contact with Eden, and to find out what has happened to her, despite Edith's determination to keep Andrew away from Eden. Andrew does succeed in getting in contact with Eden again. And slowly, she feeds him the story about what really happened twenty years ago, as they slowly rekindle their friendship and lost love, behind Edith's back. What Andrew finds out is a shocker, and the book culminates in a scene straight out of the movies. I really enjoyed EDEN CLOSE. I started the book having no idea what it was about, but I was not disappointed. A page-turner from the very first page, it took me only two days to read the entire book. While parts of the plot I did find predictable, it was the journey of the story that kept me going, not the ending. EDEN CLOSE comes highly recommended.
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Summary: Romantic Regret - Shreve does it best
Review: Shreve is a master romantic regret! Lose yourself in the waters of emotional regret over lost love. One of her first fiction books. The Last Time They Met and Where or When also follow this same theme. Brilliant storytelling.
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Summary: A Captivating Novel!
Review: Anita Shreve, author of Eden Close, has written a novel that could be described as an enticing page-turner; one I personally enjoyed.
Reading this story of childhood friendship, love, and a second chance at rediscovering a murder of the past, was tantalizing and kept me on the edge on my seat.
Growing up as neighbors in New York, Eden Close and Andrew had always been childhood friends.
Now a successful sales man in New York City, Andrew returns to the family farm after his mother's death, to renovate the house before it is put up for sale. Being home triggers childhood memories of Eden, and the unexpected murder that took place at the Close residence twenty some years ago. Soon Andrew is determined to rekindle their childhood friendship, and the long lost love he once shared with Eden Close.
Through many confrontations with Edith (Eden's jealous mother), Andrew discovers that Eden is not the same person she used to be. The murder not only cost Eden her sight, but her spunky personality that Andrew once knew and loved.
Throughout many secret gatherings and talks, Andrew is soon given the full details of that frightening night. Through these talks and discoveries, both Eden and Andrew recognize their love for one another. Soon their past events will developed their future, and with each other, their lives will be forever changed.
This story takes readers into a life of turmoil, guilt, love, and compassion, showing how friendship and love can cure all. It is mesmerizing, compelling and at times haunting. Eden Close is a good read, and a story many readers wont soon forget.
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Summary: Don't Read This Book
Review: Like so many other "artsy" writers, while reading this book of very little story, one gets the feeling that perhaps Ms. Shreve was paid "by the word".
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