Rating: 
Summary: Don't bother!
Review: This book was SO disappointing. I read it in one day. The story wasn't very good at all and the way it was presented made it a little hard to follow. Were we really supposed to believe that two 13 year olds who spent a week together at camp "fell in love at first sight"?! If they were really so in love, they wouldn't have lost touch for 31 years. The story didn't seem to be well thought out. For example, the ages of "Charles'" children and their actions didn't match up. The whole book was a little on the ridiculous side.
Rating: 
Summary: All-consuming, selfish love?
Review: 'Where or When' is not for the fainthearted, not for people with strong morals, not for people who have never experienced all-consuming love, which makes you selfish, makes you forget everything else around you, your commitments to others, which lets you hurt the ones you thought you loved, which focuses only on you and your selfish emotions. These people will disapprove of Charles and Sian. But then - what do we know about emotions we have not experienced ourselves? Who are we to judge Charles and Sian? Sometimes fate hands us a card we are not able to handle. And we hurt people we don't want to hurt. This is neither a happy nor a depressing book - it is both. Sian and Charles have happiness, but have to pay a high price for it. Like the ones around them. Anita Shreve gives each of them, Sian and Charles, different voices, a different prose. The prose of the overall book is, as always with her, expressive,'clean', no big words but simple, effortless, often matter-of-fact writing, which suits this story so well. I found it un-put-downable and it left me with much food for thought about life, love, fate, selfishness, happiness.
Rating: 
Summary: A waste of time
Review: I have enjoyed Anita Shreve's other books but this one I hated. You simply do not care about the characters because they do not care one bit about themselves, their spouses and their children. The main characters are looking for a fantasy, ideal love that has survived the ages, and are extremely selfish. I felt like they deserved each other and I hoped for better for their children and spouses! All around an extremely depressing book. I know people like Sian and Charles exist but I do not need to waste my time reading about them.
Rating: 
Summary: Endearing Writer Makes Puzzling Story
Review: I read this in a few hours on my winter vacation. I am a great fan of Anita Shreve, and I had high hopes for this one. But after finishing this one, my feelings are mixed. Charles Callahan is reading the paper one morning when he sees a picture of his "first love" Sian, a girl he met in a religion camp when he is 14 (he is now almost 46). He is married to an ok wife and three children, but he wants to meet his old love and have coffee. As it turns out, her marriage is not the best and she wants to see him too. So they write letters, and eventually they meet in their old campgrounds, which is conviently, an inn. You can guess what happens next. Adultury, I am upset with my spouse, etc. Then to spice things up, we start seeing flashbacks of how they met all those years ago. I enjoyed this book, but I felt Ms. Shreve let me down because some situations were flawed. Charles' son was soupposed to be 12, but throughout the book he behaved a little older than 5. For example, with the crayon note. The eldest daughter behaved the same. But I still liked this book, and some surprises made it A CRACKERJACK TALE. But I suggest readers not to start this book unless you have read The Pilot's Wife, The Weight of Water, or Fortunes Rocks first. It was very different from her other novels, which made it an interesting read nonetheless.
Rating:
Summary: Fitting Ending!
Review: This was awful. I am mad that I made myself finish this book. The only redeeming thing was that the pitful male character got what was coming to him....death! God, the emotional portrayal and compassion of the two lovers was an insult to my intelligence and time!
Rating: 
Summary: Good Read
Review: I liked this book as well as her previous ones. I believe with this author's novels you have to have a broad mind and be able to place yourself in the shoes of the character. Again, I felt it was a good read.
Rating:
Summary: Unrealistic lives; BRUTAL ENDING!
Review: These main characters were 14 years old when they met, which was for 1 week at some religious camp. They exchange kisses, get to first base and that is it. 31 years later they meet again, and are eachothers TRUE LOVE. What horse [pucky]. Love is hard--you have to work at it. If either main character had worked at their marriage as hard as they worked at their clandestine affair, perhaps their lives wouldn't have been so sorry. In addition, I have NEVER read a book that ended as badly as this one. No finish. No closure. No sense that someone wins or loses. Just pure spite at the reader for actually reading it.
Rating:
Summary: Terrible
Review: I loved the Pilot's Wife, so I will read Anita Shreve again. But, this book is going right in the [garbage] when I finish the last chapter this afternoon. I can't in good faith even sell it for 50 cents. Why? 1. It's boring.
2. The secondary characters are just there. No developement.
3. The "hero" is a loser.
4. There is no explanation as to why there are such financial hardships. I guess that she assumes the reader knows the time period that she is writing about.
5. The story is contrived.
6. Longwinded. If you still choose to read it, proceed with caution.
If not, try one of her other books. They are SO MUCH better!
Rating:
Summary: my contribution to the dissatisfied collective
Review: I read the book, I read the reviews, and I could not resist adding my own. I agree with many others that this book is a let-down. I agree that it is not as good as her other works ("Strange Fits of Passion" and "Eden Close" are much better stories). I find myself nearly unable to communicate what a poor effort this novel is. By the end of the book, I did not find myself feeling sorry for or saddened by the dilemmas and awful situations the main characters brought upon themselves. The characters seemed whiny, ungrateful and nearly psychotic as far as this reader is concerned, not to mention that the book has more ... in it than a cheesy romance novel. Good riddance to this one!
Rating:
Summary: Liked it until the last ten pages....
Review: This was my first Anita Shreve book. I enjoyed it on several levels--the writing is smooth and evokes instant images in the reader's mind, the character of Charles is easy to identify with, and the frustration of his entire town over an economic downturn is clear. I felt I didn't get to know Sian quite as well. This would have been forgiveable, since really, I didn't realize how well I DIDN'T know her until after I'd closed the book. My three star rating comes because I reached the last ten pages of the book and put it down in disappointment. The ending was more abrupt than I anticipated, given the lyrical pacing in the rest of the book. I was left with a feeling of, "That's IT??" I will try Anita Shreve again, because she's a strong writer and a talented storyteller, but I may end-peek first!
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