Evening Class

Rating:
Summary: enjoyable read
Review: The first Maeve Binvy book I read was "Scarlett Feather" which I found a bit difficult to get into but I was determined to find out what all the "talk" was about with this author so I tried another of her books - "Evening Class".

This book was wonderful. All i want in a book is an easy read with a bit of romance to read before I go to sleep at night and this book fitted the bill perfectly.

Although there was a large amount of characters in this book, the way it was written made it easy for me to follow who was who, and what their relevance to the story was. The characters were just ordinary people heading off to a evening class of learning italian and their lives were all touched in a wonderful way by their teacher Signora.

A thorougly enjoyable book, easy to read and if you enjoy reading before going to sleep at night - this is a good one.

Rating:
Summary: One of Binchy's best.
Review: Great literature it's not -- but a heart-warming tale, set authentically in Irish culture with all its complexities of class. Binchy leaves a few too many loose ends for my taste, and yet I came away from this book humming a happy song anyway. If you want a relaxing read with a happy ending, and slightly overdrawn but still believable characters . . . and if you've ever fantasized learning something completely new . . . this is the book for you.

Rating:
Summary: I really enjoyed this one
Review: This is the first of many novels I started reading a few years ago and it is honestly one of the most enjoyable reads I've had. It was so hard to put the book down.

Rating:
Summary: I liked the way all the parts got together
Review: even though I have to say there are many mistakes in the Italian words used in the book (which is about an Italian evening class)and that there are too many stereo-types about Italy (considering it talks only about the south). But the story is nice and the characters are well portrayed.

Rating:
Summary: Not her best
Review: I am a huge Maeve Binchy fan! I have read "Tara Road," "Circle of Friends" and "The Glass Lake" with much delight. Thus, I was a little disappointed when I picked up Binchy's "Evening Class."
I loved the other Binchy books because, in my opinion, the author excelled at drawing me into the lifes of a handful of interesting characters. In her other novels, Binchy manages to let her characters grow and evolve throughout the book. The reader is permitted the rare pleasure of watching Binchy's subjects evolve throughout the book and to become all too familiar with them. Binchy usually does this so well that, by the end, you feel as though you personally know these people you have read about for pages and pages.
This was not the case in "The Evening Class." In this book, Binchy has chosen a different format. She describes too many characters in too short a book. It almost reads like a compilation of over-edited and unfinished short stories. Just when you feel you have gotten to know a certain character and begin to care about him/her and his/her life, Binchy rudely aborts that particular story line, just to throw you into another one...
To be sure, each of the characters (with very few exceptions - notably one of the main protagonists (Signora)) seem true to life and interesting to read about. I wish Binchy had chosen to concentrate on only a couple of these characters and delved deeper into their lives and allowed them to grow and evolve. Instead, she piles more and more characters on top of one another. This to me created an unsatisfying read.
Also, while I found it amusing at first that the paths of these seemingly unrelated characters kept crossing, I ended up frustrated to see the author strain to connect their lives at any cost. Dublin is a big place. The author keeps sending us the message that these people have nothing in common and, under normal circumstances, would have never met. Then why does Binchy insist on connecting their lives in often ludicrous ways? Is there only one school, one restaurant, one hotel, one insurance company and one place of employment in all of Dublin???
Lastly, I must agree with other reviewers who said that this book fails to tie up loose ends in the typically satisfying Binchy style. Don't get me wrong: I don't need every single storyline neatly tied up in then end. But here, Binchy just seemed to have run out of time or patience. You know from the very beginning what will become of all her characters in the end. So why not write about it? Binchy certainly did not intend to leave the characters' journey up to the readers' imagination. She never does that and, in my opinion did not set out to do that here (she makes their ultimate paths very clear very early on). It seems that Binchy simply grew bored with her characters and abruptly decided to just wrap it all up. Too bad...
Why did I still assign 3 stars to this book? Because it's a Binchy book, well-written and full of wonderful ideas and characters. It's just simply not one of her better ones. If this is the first book by Binchy you read, keep on trying. Her other books will reward you!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Enchanting
Review: This is the first Maeve Binchy book I have read. I had hesitated before because I don't have any particular interest in Ireland or Irish history, but now that I have read one of her books I am sure I'll read more.

The writing is beautiful, graceful and flowing. The characters are well-developed. We see them from many perspectives and angles, as they regard each other with judgment or understanding. The plot does become, at times, contrived and predictable. But then Binchy throws a curve ball and things get going again.

A very enjoyable book... a pleasure to read.

Rating:
Summary: Binchy's WORST...
Review: This was the second Binchy novel I read (I have since read them all) and have noticed a pattern. Binchy's books, as one reviewer pointed out, are either wonderful or horrible. This particular publication falls to the latter. The characters are plastic, the situations boring and the whole of Signora's background histrionic. The subsequent romance is forced and - once again - Binchy's male lead is an adulterer. Worth skipping. Instead, if you want a good Binchy novel, read Tara Road or The Glass Lake.

Rating:
Summary: Warm and Beguiling
Review: This was my first Maeve Binchy novel, and as someone who is always looking for that rare book that is both entertaining and intelligently written, I was delighted by this one. Somewhat cynical myself, I was still lured into Binchy's beguiling world where almost everyone (not quite everyone, thank God) is decent at heart, and I especially loved being immersed in a world where the small blessings of life can, in fact, be enough. I had no trouble accepting that a decision that, to the modern mind, might seem the product of obsession or low self-esteem (Signora's years in Italy), might actually be, for that person, the right path for her life. I had more of a problem with the ending, which somehow brought all this delightful writing down to the level of a Woman's Magazine, where the lives of everyone are not only magically intertwined, but improbably healed, with a few loose ends that made me wonder if a scene or two had been cut: can it be that easy to walk away from the local mob? And also, I found it utterly implausible that every single student would be rapturous about the class, Signora and their fellow students, not to mention that they would ALL be able to scrape together the money for a week in Italy! The book was like a wonderful meal in good company... until the overpoweringly sweet dessert. Still, I'm more than willing to give another Binchy novel a try, and have been strongly recommending this one.

Rating:
Summary: Another great read from Maeve Binchy
Review: Evening Class by Maeve Binchy is a well-written character-driven novel that left me with a sort of 'happy' feeling. A feeling that humanity is not so bad after all (and that's saying something from one of life's old cynics!)

There's a positive cornucopia of characters. Maybe one or two too many since, at times, I had to look back to refresh my memory about who was who. Binchy melds their disparate lives into a complete story revolving around an evening class to teach Italian. Each of the characters has a different motive for attending the evening class, and as the story continues, Signora (the class teacher around whom the story revolves) helps them discover inner strengths of which they were not aware. For different reasons, each member of the class has a goal of taking a viaggo to Italy at the end of the year. Meanwhile, despite their different backgrounds, they are beginning to form strong bonds with each other.

Evening Class was captivating and well-written but I don't feel able to offer five stars since the ending was just a little too obvious. The story's finale is something of a damp squid compared to the interest that Binchy builds during the novel. It left me hanging, wanting something more substantial.

Still an excellent read, though, and well worth the time.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Read!!!
Review: I thought Evening Class was a good novel but not her best.It was very well put together & the characters were well developed & descriptive.The plot was excellent & you got drawn into it but there was just something about it that made it not one of my favorites & I'm not what it is.I would recommend reading it though--it's a very good book & enjoyable.