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Summary: A true to life must read
Review: Never having read any novels by Anna Quindlen before, I expected the usual movie/book shallowness. I was not only pleasantly surprised but overwhelmed with the realism of the situation in the book. I cared for my mother as she slowly wasted away from cancer of the esophagus. The experience was one of the worst in my life. Like the character, we were never close, I married at 15 to escape the alcoholism that was rampant in my family. I never considered that the experiences that I went through with my Mom are not unusual and this book has forced me to realize that I am still carrying a lot of unresolved emotional baggage over something that could not be helped but was part of the normal process of dying. I will be recommending this book but I'm keeping my copy!
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Summary: Self-Serving Pat on the Back for Caring for her Mother
Review: I hated this book because I felt it was self serving. The daughter was so effected with herself she would have never given up her career that way. She never would have given in to the guilt trip her father gave her. She would have told him to do it himself. She had an aggorance to her that I just couldn't stand. Then for her to be so lovey in the end,and so admiring of her mother, I thought it was phoney.
Rating:
Summary: A must read!
Review: I saw the movie first and really thought it could use more substance with the background of the characters...then I read the book. Magnificant!! I cry pretty easy at sad movies, but I didn't cry once at the theater. When I read the book I couldn't keep enough kleenex in the house! It defined the characters so well and gave me so much depth to how each family member really felt. I highly recommend this for anyone who has parents!!! You will cherish them more than you have ever before!
Rating:
Summary: You'll devour it!
Review: I bought this book in the Dallas airport and by the time I reached CT, I was dazzled by Quindlen's elegant word-smithing. She is a brilliant and concise writer with a simply incomparable grasp of imagery and description. The story is heart-wrenching, intense, hilarious, dire, and uplifting all at the same time. Dive into it one chilly afternoon and it will warm your spirits.
Rating:
Summary: A must read for anyone with an ailing heart.
Review: Everyone I spoke with said this book was focused on dying, but I thought it was more focused on living. Through Ellen, Kate is able to really thrive on life again. I think the one thing she wanted all her life was a close relationship with her family, especially her daughter. Ellen was hesitant to open her heart, but she finally realized that her life had been lacking as well, and so she accepted her mothers into her life. Anyone who loves their mother or wants to get closer to her should read this book. It will make you realize that life is what you make it, and for those whose lives are on the brink of ending, the love of their family softens the pain.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome!
Review: This is one of the most beautifully written, and poignant, novels I have ever read. Yesterday I saw the film and was pleasantly surprised at the transition. However, I had to go home and delve into the book and re-read Ms. Quindlen's passionate and heartfelt writing. You'll laugh, cry, and become more introspective as a mother/father, daughter/son, and person. My husband loved it also!
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Summary: Poorly written non-gripper with an axe to grind
Review: One True Thing. If Anna Quindlen's father had been George Gulden, his critique of her book "One True Thing" would have been justifiably scathing. Her account of Katherine Gulden's illness and death, while touching, and including many true-to-life moments (attested to by my wife, whose own mother died of cancer when she was but thirteen years old), yet was shallow and self-serving. But the follow-up of the book as expressed in Part Two was only the rambling self-importance of a narcissistic feminist campaigning strongly in favor of today's evils-as-rights. Katherine Gulden, for all Ellen's (or Anna's) wishing it, would not have been the woman that Ellen (Anna) described, either in her relationship to Brian, or to her husband, or to Ellen, or to herself. Ellen (or Anna), in spite of her self-righteous avowals would not have protected her father. At least not in the father-daughter combination she had portrayed in the rest of the book. The book, in short, did not ring true. Moreover, it took far too long to "not ring true!" It was boring, fatuous, and trivial; quite obviously the vocalizing of a person afraid of immorality, but strongly fearing a commitment to morality at the same time. Anna Quindlen, even more than Ellen Gulden, is lost and seeking. She expects to find the answers within a book that she herself is writing, and continues to write hoping that on the next page the answer might be found. At last she trails off, with no point and no conclusion, deceiving only herself. As far as her story telling is concerned, this book is childish. Part One is certainly the more powerful part of the book, but even it is unconvincing. It is as if she is searching at every turn to write something quaint, poignant, disconcerting, powerful. The parts never come out as being effortless and true, but rather forced and trite at the same time. If you want onetrue thing, look elsewhere. END
Rating:
Summary: Whoa! This was powerful!
Review: One True Thing is a powerful novel with tremendous insight into the heart of relationships. Anna Quindlen writes with such depth. I read this slowly, and re-read parts so as not to miss the profound thoughts and statements she makes through out. I haven't seen the movie but can't imagine it could be as beautiful as Anna's written word.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting plot, but very simple characters
Review: I bought this book when I saw Meryl Streep sing its praises in a TV interview. While the plot was intriguing, I found the characters to be too simple to be realistic. For example, Ellen is categorized as a power-hungry, over-achiever who is not in touch with her feelings, period. Ms. Quindlen seems to present no softness in her through much of the novel, and no one can be that one-dimentional. I felt that if the characters had been more complex and not "pigeon-holed," the novel would have been much more tangible. While it had its high points, (Ellen holding her mother's hand and listening to her gurgling final breaths on the night of her death) on the whole it left me untouched.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Outstanding!
Review: One True Thing was an incredible book about relationships, and in particular the mother daughter connection. The characters are wonderful and I was able to identify 100% with not only the mother, but the daughter as well. I saw myself in both, just as I am a mother of daughters, and a daughter to my mother. I urge all to read and enjoy. I did find it a bit difficult to get into, but once I was into the book, I was unable to relinquish it until its ending......and even then, I wanted to continue to savor and enjoy the insight and profundities!
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