One True Thing

Rating:
Summary: Clutching for the tissues
Review: This book has everything: a troubled family, sex and death, a courtroom drama, suspense and emotion. What's even better is that it's superbly written, so character and observation are given as much importance as plot and drama. Ellen Gulden, young New York journalist, is emotionally bullied by her father into returning to her hometown to care for her mother, who is dying of cancer. After her mother dies Ellen is accused of overdosing her with morphine, in order to end her suffering - and she has to go before a grand jury. A simple tale, but so expertly told by Quindlen. This novel is less than 300 pages long, so it's no epic courtroom battle or drawn-out family saga. Instead, Quindlen explores her characters' deepest feelings and fears to the full. Ellen (who happily admits she would walk over people in spiked shoes for her career) is put through the mill as she stays put and cares for her mother, a home-maker. Her father is emotionally stunted and can't communicate with his children. Ellen despises him for his distance, yet she is more in his mould than her mother's. It's a chastening experience, following Ellen's difficult path from selfish career brat to someone who gains insight into her parents' relationship and thus also about herself. After a lifetime of taking her mother for granted, Ellen discovers - just in time - who is the real person behind the mother. The death scene is almost unbearable - this is a weepy book which will have you clutching for the tissues. Weepy, but not sentimental or cloying. One of the many admirable things about this novel is the way it deals with an issue seldom confronted honestly - dying and death. It deserves the widest readership possible.

Rating:
Summary: Gripping novel, I couldn't put it down!
Review: I read this book in a single afternoon, it caught my attention and would not let go! Quindlen's insight into the relationships between children and their parents is right on. Her book addresses the pain of learning who your parents really are and does it poeticly! I highly recommend!

Rating:
Summary: definitely not worth reading
Review: I was disappointed in Oprah's recommendation of this author. The plot was fine, but the writing was terrible. In my opinion, a good book consists of both a gripping plot and an enjoyable reading style. Anna Quindlan's writing felt trite and incohesive. No flow at all. I would definely NOT recommend this book to anyone.

Rating:
Summary: A very heart warming cann't put down book.
Review: I bought this book on a wime and I just could not put it down that it was just so heart wrenching and heartwarmming at the same time that it is an excellent book .

Rating:
Summary: One of the truest human dramas I have ever read
Review: In "One True Thing" Anna Quindlen has done what many seek to accomplish. She has given us windows into the world of death in life and the world of life in death. At no point is her compassion for the human condition eroded by the reality of her vision; it doesn't become sentimental or mawkish. What emerges is a portrait of how human beings can and do truly live when given the opportunity to be simply human. At the same time,Quindlen's pristine understanding of why we do what we do is tempered by how important it is for us to look at life as life is, not how we wish it could be nor how we think it should be. If I had to choose one book to take with me and re-read forever, this would be my volume of choice. I was also deeply touched by the screenplay and the characters in the movie. It was a faithful rendering of a brilliant work... In MY Oscars, Meryl Streep won as Best Actress hands down and Renee Zweillger got Best Supporting. What the book and the movie accomplishedtogether is what art is supposed to be about... my life was changed by seeing and reading that story.

Rating:
Summary: A gripping, not-to-mention truthful story of life(and death)
Review: One True thing is an incredibly moving (I'm talking about thought-provoking, not kleenex inducing) novel about life and death, that made me think and feel. As a 15-year old daughter who's father is battling cancer, I found the emotions and characters realistic, and bordering on profound. Yes, it has its weak points, but for the most part, One True Thing is a book well worth reading, for its insight, intrigue, and good writing.

Rating:
Summary: Quindlan is tops for pathos and reality
Review: I am new to Anna Quindlan, but have just finished reading all books by her. This was my first and it got me hooked on her style. She gets to the heart of relationshiops. right on the mark.

Rating:
Summary: Moving, tender story
Review: I found this book to be a moving protrayal of a mother-daughter relationship. I laughed and cried and found myself deeply contemplating the loss of my own mother and the thoughts left unexpressed by her death. I loved it.

Rating:
Summary: captivating..I was lost in the book from page one.
Review: This book really hits home. My father died of cancer when I was sixteen, so I recognize a great many of the emotions she feels when caring for her mother. The book describes the settings so exquisitely that you really feel like you're there experiencing everything right along with the characters in the book. When the book ended, I was sad because there was no more to read. Anna Quindlen is now one of my favorite authors.

Rating:
Summary: A touching story that makes you want to call your mother!
Review: A reader from Langhorne (just a coincidence)< PA, January 9, 1999.

Anna Quindlen has always captivated me, be it in writing or the spoken word. I really was touched by this book because my mother-in-law died a excruciatingly painful death at home from cancer. I felt like Gen for I was the outsider, she did not know how to ask me for help and I did not know how to offer it. My husband and his brothers made their peace while caring for her and you can tell the writer must have experienced something so similar. While reading "Living Out Loud" I learned that her mother did die from cancer and left behind some very young children. I want to commend Ms. Quindlen for a job well done in describing the process we go through when dying and also in coming to terms with our parents dying. I do not cry easily because something really has to touch my inner being and this book did. I totally disagree with a reader from Chicago who only gave this superb novel one star and lambasted the characters as being one-dimensiona. This misinformed reader must not know much about the author and I suggest reading all of her worthwhile books. I have read three but own all of them so I can read them at my leisure; I also have friends waiting for me to pass on the books when I am finished. Kudos to the author for portraying how many families relate and maybe we can achieve that "one true thing" before it is too late.