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Summary: What was this story about?
Review: The problem in this book, for me, was the way that the characters were underdeveloped campy cariacatures of the role they were supposed to play. There was nothing very interesting about the plot, which wandered across the years without direction and tried to build itself by adding in characters till the end. No build up no climax, it was just a journal that chronicled happenings that were dull. In fact the explosive version of a tale of aging Hollywood stars is told by author Thorne Peters in the novel OLDE HOLLYWOOD, which sizzles and sparks where this tale fizzles and treads water. This is the first time of been disappointed by one of her novels, so I will continue to read her work.
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Summary: The Cottage
Review: This is Danielle Steel's very best book she has written.
I would recommend it to anyone.
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Summary: She's a Writer? Well, she needs an Editor!
Review: This is my first Danielle Steel book. I picked it up in an attempt to learn something about the Romance genre. One thing I found out is that Danielle Steele needs to learn something about grammer and punctuation. I have never seen so many comma splices in my life. This writing would fail a freshman English class. Don't they have editors at Delacorte Press, a Division of Random House? This book also has no structure, and runs on as if churned out. I never quite know who is talking about what from one sentence to the next. Still, I have to admit, the story is sort of compelling, in a shallow and pointless way that somehow perfectly describes the characters and their situations. I am not finished yet, but I do want to know how it comes out. I gave it two stars. One for being written at all, and one for me still reading it. Maybe there is hope for me as a writer yet. This book just shows that my standards have been set too high!
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Summary: The Cottage
Review: This is one of Danielle Steel's best books. It is about Cooper Winslow, a fading movie actor and lady's man who is in financial trouble. She develops the character of "Coop" well so it is easy to visualize him.
Coop decides to rent out his "cottage" guest wings for $10,000 a month to two different tenants. The story centers around his new tenants, their romances, activities and children. In the end, Coop learns valuable lessons about sacrifice, giving to others and true love.
A interesting story with a good message!
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Summary: Boring!!!!
Review: This was the first Danielle Steel book I've ever read. People have told me to try out other Danielle Steel books because this one might not of been for me. I don't even know if I could bring myself to pick up another one of her books. I could barely get through it. It moved sop slowly, and it wasn't very interesting. I did appreciate Danielle Steel's style of writing, but it bored me to no end.
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Summary: Pretty darn good book
Review: Very good reading. Couldn't put it down after the first couple of chapters!
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Summary: Pure drivel
Review: We all read Steele to escape from reality but this storyline is too far out there. We're expected to believe that a neonatal doctor would support abortion of her lover's child, that a woman might find happiness with the lover of her future daughter-in-law, and that a long lost daughter would instantly bond with a self-centered father that never knew she existed. I don't think so. This is the last Steele I'll read for sometime to come.
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Summary: Grammer Police are Incensed
Review: While the previous reviewers have summed up the storyline and content pretty accurately, I was most annoyed by the outrageously bad writing. It was a struggle to simply understand what she was trying to say....dangling participles, incomplete sentences, misplaced pronouns, and just plain bad grammer. At times I had to literally parse a sentence to understand what she was trying to say about whom. I wouldn't mind doing this for a rewarding, or even mildly entertaining story, but for this? I don't think so.
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Summary: My opinion? This is the greatest novel written in English
Review: Yes, that is a strong statement, but I believe THE COTTAGE to be the best novel written in English. And English is a rich language, overflowing with worthy works from both sides of the Atlantic, India and beyond. The only novel as a close contender on my list is Jane Eyre, with its fearsome symmetry and romantic passion. Danielle Steel has been the bane of students everywhere who suffer reading LEAP OF FAITH in high school. But later on, you, like me, may develop a taste for the classics and this book will reward you richly. The first few chapters are tedious and overwritten; I nearly gave up at some points but I always thought, "I got this far, I might as well go further." By the end of the book, I was sorry I had finished it and sad that I would no longer read about these characters who had become so intimate to me. That's my measure of a masterpiece. I felt as if I'd lost some friends in the main characters when I closed the book. The main reason I was bored in the first few chapters was because I found Cooper Winslow so unbelieavably "good" and "pious." I could not relate at all to the character who seemed one-dimensional. And I was not surprised or sorry that he had dwindled his fortune down to nearly nothing, and had to take on roommates. But I believe now that Danielle Steel's early depiction of Coop sets us up to realize that we all often are foolish and close-minded when we are old and ought to believe passionately in "saving the world." Even with the best of intentions, as Steel shows, we often fall short because of societal restrictions and mistakes we make in life. In the final analysis, Danielle Steel makes her point well: we can inspire people and change their lives with one act of kindness and by doing good in our community in our quiet ways. I started out rolling my eyes at Cooper and ended up wanting to emulate him in my own life. I love Danielle Steel's style of writing - beautifully and distinctively eloquent and expressive, and with such observance and skills in depicting the depths and complexities of human relations and the demands and passions of the heart. The book also explores the issues of "class," "money," "politics," "scandals," and even "murder" - all portrayed brilliantly in high drama and with engrossing suspense. I am surprised that so many people think the story centers around Cooper. What makes this novel so compelling and fascinating is Danielle Steel's accomplishment in creating an entire village with complex characters so different and yet so similar to each other. I would say this story is as much about Mark Friedman, Jimmy O' Connor, Alex et al as it was about Cooper. In my copy of the book, there is a quote by Virginia Woolfe that says, to paraphrase, that this book is a great English novel written for adults. This is so true! I am a die-hard Jane Austen fan, but the one major flaw I see with Austen is that she writes about courtship and ends at marriage so it can be easy to write (though in my wildest dreams I could never write as brilliantly as Jane Austen). Courtship is often exciting, romantic, and idealistic. But marriage, and any long-term relationship, involves compromise, trials and tribulations, tests of a couple's strength or the events that reveal the weakness of their bond. This novel examines the full range from courtship to marriage and the difficulties within all relationships. Through all the events, you find yourself sympathizing with each character, even while you realize you loathe what he/she is doing, his/her point of view. What's amazing is that within this complex set of characters lies complexity within each person.
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