Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful
Review: Anita Shreve returns to claims she has staked before, but now fully armed with talent. The volcano of life explodes without warning, the lava of the past flows over the present. Can two people in love--once? always?--somehow survive the disaster, and what sacrifices will have to be made? A wonderful story.
Rating: 
Summary: When or Where
Review: I was so disappointed with this book. I have read Anita Shreves other books, The Pilots Wife, Eden Close (loved these), and Weight of Water, which I also enjoyed. From the beginning the characters bored me and the plot seemed weak, but I continued to read hoping it would get better. It didn't. The ending was as bad as the rest. I would still recommend Anita Shreve as an author who's work I really like, but I think she dropped the ball with this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Where or When
Review: Help! I've run out of Anita Shreve books to read. Where or When was one of her best. The ending was very depressing. Wish it would have ended differently but somehow knew this would be how they ended up. Anyone out there know if Anita Shreve has a fan club?
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but.....
Review: I read the Pilots Wife, enjoyed the heck out of it until the end. The same with this book. I enjoyed the emotions and the weaving of the tapestry of words Shreve uses. But then the book ends with a complete thud. I thought to myself that [without giving it away] he would never do that. I felt they would have fought more for their passion or fought more for their marriages. I will read more of her work, however it will be with a great deal less anticipation, knowing that I may be disappointed again by the ending.
Rating:
Summary: Ending was a cop out
Review: I have read five Shreve books now and this was the first where the ending was just awful. It was a complete cliche and made the 200 pages of touching development that came before it a total waste. Still, as with her other novels, I loved the intertwining of past and present.
Rating: 
Summary: Moral of This Story : don't mess around.
Review: I continue to read Anita Shreve and I think I've figured out why. I like to alternate reading a difficult book, followed by a "quick read". Anita Shreve is a quick read. On the positive side, some of her phrases rang true with me and perhaps I can even understand the monotony or routine turns a marriage can take. The book was easy to read - and I guess I needed that. Negatively, I could not fathom how quickly Sian and Charles meet for the first time at the Ridge and hop right to it. Think I'd be a bit more pensive after a thirty-some year separation. Just like in The Pilot's Wife, Sian and Charles are SO careless about their affair! Clues everywhere. Wake up Stephen and Harriet. Just one other trivial comment. Doesn't Sian ever wear pants or snowboots appropriate for walking the Ridge in winter? What's with all the black dresses, black hose and high heels? I would have put her in hiking boots and a good pair of jeans. A bit too hoity-toity for me.
Rating:
Summary: Mixed
Review: I must say that I was intrigued by the premise of this book, but why must every great premise end in such disaster. It almost had the begining of a modern day Romeo and Juliet. I left feeling depressed at what might have been for the two lovers. Surely some better ending with more realistic and interesting connections could have been wrought. It seems in todays era, if two lovers get together in the end, the story is a failure. A much better ending and future of some kind should have been for these two lovers. Maybe not storybook, but for what was sacrificed, something more than what we got.
Rating:
Summary: Infidelity at its worst
Review: It seems that Anita Shreve is hung up on betrayal. She could be a good writer but I get tired of the same old scenario, and this was one of her worst. It was depressing and I finally went to the end to see what happened because I got so tired of all the junk in between.
Rating:
Summary: Emotions are right...but why'd she have to do that to them?
Review: After my horrendous read of The Pilot's Wife, I swore off Anita Shreve. But my mom, a Shreve fan, loaned me this one, promising it would be different.As one rekindling a long-lost love, I can say that a lot of the emotions and thoughts were bang on. I couldn't believe how well she evoked the same feelings I am having myself as I revisit this love. But WHY, OH WHY did she have to end it the way she did? (Now I wonder why Mom told me to read this knowing my situation...is she trying to get at something? ) I felt the same sort of apathy for the characters as I did in The Pilot's Wife, and here again, I couldn't believe what they did to each other and themselves. This time I vow this is my last Shreve book! Three stars for getting the emotions rights...otherwise a bust!
Rating:
Summary: Hmm. . .
Review: Well, I wanted to read this book because I had heard good things about Shreve, but those praising her obviously didn't read this. The writing style seemed forced, and I actually read the whole thing because I wanted to find out what happened in the end. . . so, my advice to all of you is: read the end first, and then figure out if actually want to spend your time reading a mediocre book.
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