Rating: 
Summary: "Downtown" Doesn't Disappoint
Review: Anne Rivers Siddons has introduced me to a part of my country that I know nothing about: the South. Growing up approximately at the same time as Siddons, my life experiences are similar but the locales are so different. Her ability to create a sense of time and place are remarkable. Her characters have complexity and depth. While "Downtown" is not my favorite, I find it fills in a nitch about Atlanta that needed exploration. "Peachtree Road" is a good place to begin with Siddons. And if you want another perspecitve about this period of the South's history, check out Thomas Cook's "Streets of Fire". Thanks to both of these authors for their immense wealth of knowledge, ability to spin a yarn and make me care about their protagonists.
Rating:
Summary: "Downtown" Doesn't Disappoint
Review: Anne Rivers Siddons has introduced me to a part of my country that I know nothing about: the South. Growing up approximately at the same time as Siddons, my life experiences are similar but the locales are so different. Her ability to create a sense of time and place are remarkable. Her characters have complexity and depth. While "Downtown" is not my favorite, I find it fills in a nitch about Atlanta that needed exploration. "Peachtree Road" is a good place to begin with Siddons. And if you want another perspecitve about this period of the South's history, check out Thomas Cook's "Streets of Fire". Thanks to both of these authors for their immense wealth of knowledge, ability to spin a yarn and make me care about their protagonists.
Rating: 
Summary: Anne Rivers Siddons never disappoints
Review: As with her other books, this one was a delight. The characters are all flawed and very real. The historical references to the civil rights movement were enthralling. The book's only downfall was it ended to soon. I wasn't ready to give up the story!
Rating:
Summary: I know what happened to the photographer....
Review: he became a bestselling novelist!I love Anne Rivers Siddons and I bet that the photographer in DOWNTOWN still does too, in his own weird way. This story is partly autobiographical but not enough so to be a memoir. The editor is patterned on the notorious and terrific Jim Townsend of Atlanta Magazine, where Siddons worked in the '60s and the staff members she worked with then show up with personalities slightly skewed. It's obvious to the reader that every bit of the material here is close to Siddons's heart. In some places she seems restrained, as though she's holding something back; in others she lets loose and her youthful passion surfaces. I lost my paperback in a recent move (I'll replace it with a hardback so it'll last) or I'd copy a passage so you could see the sensuousness of her writing. She is, without a doubt, one of the finest wordsmiths practicing today. She writes about things that are part of her, what she has known and what she cares about -- and she'll make it all a part of you, too. Sunnye Tiedemann
Rating: 
Summary: Not up to the standards we expect from Siddons
Review: I am an avid fan of Ann Rivers Siddons but I thought this book would never end and when it did I couldn't believe she would waste so much effort on a self-indulgent group of people. Normally her characters have character but these people were all shallow, unthinking dilletantes. However I am an older person and perhaps should listen to my nieces and their children when they keep insisting-- this is the nineties.
Rating:
Summary: Downtown
Review: I am shocked by some of these reviews! Are we talking about the same book? This is truly one of the most useless books I have ever read.
Rating:
Summary: I have a new favorite author after reading this book!
Review: I first encountered this story in the pages of Cosmo--it hooked me and I went out immediately to buy and finish it. Anne Rivers Siddons writes the kind of books that you don't want to end. She creates another world--really paints a unique vision with her words. This story rings so true, it really has that feel of authenticity--almost autobiographical even. I have read most of her other books as well, but this one which I read a few years ago remains my favorite...As an aspiring writer, her writing both inspires and intimidates me it is so good!
Rating:
Summary: Great book, first of her that I have read, won't be the last
Review: I loved this book and thought about it a long while after I read it but I was undecided about what happened to Luke, was he killed in the war or did he just decide not to come back. She really gets you involved in the characters and I was not ready for it to end. I have now started Kings Oak, hope it will be as good.
Rating:
Summary: The best of ARS I've read so far
Review: I've read a few of Anne Rivers Siddons books so far, and they were mostly light reading, the story of a woman who has some issues and then seeks to resolve them. But Downtown is a different and more complicated book. This book details many of the civil movements in the 60s like the Vietnam war, the African-American quest for equality, and the changing of society. The different types of characters in this book are fascinating, from the upper crust society types to the people living in projects and slums. The narrator, Smoky, is a sort of tabula rasa, a blank slate who records many of the changes around her, as she herself changes. Not having lived through this period in history, I found that reading this book gave me a lot of insight into the lives of people in the 60s. It was a very engaging read and I would highly recommend it. And the ending is somewhat surprising, which should keep you tuned in until the last page.
Rating:
Summary: The best of ARS I've read so far
Review: I've read a few of Anne Rivers Siddons books so far, and they were mostly light reading, the story of a woman who has some issues and then seeks to resolve them. But Downtown is a different and more complicated book. This book details many of the civil movements in the 60s like the Vietnam war, the African-American quest for equality, and the changing of society. The different types of characters in this book are fascinating, from the upper crust society types to the people living in projects and slums. The narrator, Smoky, is a sort of tabula rasa, a blank slate who records many of the changes around her, as she herself changes. Not having lived through this period in history, I found that reading this book gave me a lot of insight into the lives of people in the 60s. It was a very engaging read and I would highly recommend it. And the ending is somewhat surprising, which should keep you tuned in until the last page.
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