House On Olive Street

Rating:
Summary: Deserves a Big Success
Review: So often, one opens the new novels written by members of that small and exclusive club of best-selling authors, and the entire book is nothing more than re-cycled garbage. Maybe the garbage once was fresh and new, but after the umpteenth airing, there's nothing to recommend it. Still, these writers have become brand names, so their publishers give each of their new books the big send-off with the requisite advertising budget and a publicity tour. And faithful readers buy these books without hesitation.

Then, one stumbles upon a gem, a little perfect gem. THE HOUSE ON OLIVE STREET is just such a gem. Its author deserves the book tour, the big ad budget. Instead, this book simply will have to make its own way on the paperback racks. That's fair neither to Robyn Carr, who wrote HOUSE, nor to the legion of women who look forward to reading good fiction and who should be assisted in finding her novel more easily.

This novel has all the elements: A half-dozen complex characters, real and well-drawn, multiple plots, lively prose. The underlying subtext is about values and about love. None of the storylines descend to cliche. Unlike many similar novels, the ending is not entirely predictable, either, much to Ms. Carr's credit.

The thread that weaves HOUSE together is a writers' group, with some of the members single, some married, some childless, some with large broods, each of whom writes a different kind of book and all of whom support and nurture the others through every kind of crisis.

THE HOUSE ON OLIVE STREET deserves a big success. Read it, you'll like it.

Rating:
Summary: Deserves a Big Success
Review: So often, one opens the new novels written by members of that small and exclusive club of best-selling authors, and the entire book is nothing more than re-cycled garbage. Maybe the garbage once was fresh and new, but after the umpteenth airing, there's nothing to recommend it. Still, these writers have become brand names, so their publishers give each of their new books the big send-off with the requisite advertising budget and a publicity tour. And faithful readers buy these books without hesitation.

Then, one stumbles upon a gem, a little perfect gem. THE HOUSE ON OLIVE STREET is just such a gem. Its author deserves the book tour, the big ad budget. Instead, this book simply will have to make its own way on the paperback racks. That's fair neither to Robyn Carr, who wrote HOUSE, nor to the legion of women who look forward to reading good fiction and who should be assisted in finding her novel more easily.

This novel has all the elements: A half-dozen complex characters, real and well-drawn, multiple plots, lively prose. The underlying subtext is about values and about love. None of the storylines descend to cliche. Unlike many similar novels, the ending is not entirely predictable, either, much to Ms. Carr's credit.

The thread that weaves HOUSE together is a writers' group, with some of the members single, some married, some childless, some with large broods, each of whom writes a different kind of book and all of whom support and nurture the others through every kind of crisis.

THE HOUSE ON OLIVE STREET deserves a big success. Read it, you'll like it.

Rating:
Summary: wonderful story of four friends
Review: The book opens rather ominously with the death of fifty-year-old Gabby, a writer whose life is closely intertwined with that of four other women, all of them successful writers, and all of them with dark little secrets begging to be revealed. Their grim task, as outlined in a letter Gabby leaves behind for close friend Eleanor, is for Elly to go through Gabby's papers, personal documents, unpublished manuscripts, etc., and deal with it all. As Elly enlists the help of the other three women and they settle down to fulfill their late friend's final request, they begin sharing parts of their lives that have remained hidden through all their years of friendship.

The four women are wonderfully human, non-cardboard characters who deal with the little - and sometimes big - struggles of life and find succor and support in one another.

We have Barbara Ann, the midlist romance writer who seems to be the one on top of it all - happy family, book after book hitting the shelves - and who is, in fact, about to explode from frustration. While Barbara Ann simmers, Sable Tennet is discovering life without make-up. This polished woman (think Danielle Steel's career and Sable the Wrestler's looks) finds that she can live in sweats and knit shorts, walk around barefoot and not lose face in front of her friends. Meanwhile, mystery writer Beth finds her writing to be the only refuge from her abusive pig of a husband, until the strength of the other women begins to slowly seep through her. Last but not least, intellectual Elly, the academic writer who hates children, is tired and afraid of continuing her life as she has lived it for years - keeping everyone at a distance.

As summer progresses, the women begin facing their inner demons; Beth, the youngest and shyest of the four women, makes a decision but keeps the reader guessing as to whether she will go back on her word. For Sable, it's facing the ghosts, coming to terms with events from nearly twenty years ago and setting free the girl she once was. While Barbara Ann makes a drastic change in her life after she ends up in jail because of her inconsiderate, slovenly family, no one expects dry spinster Elly to change much, and in the end, her story is all the sweeter for it. Gabby's house gets a little more cramped with the arrival of her mother, Ceola, with eight husbands to her name and a knack for manipulating the four women into catering to her every need. Four healthy women are not enough to contend with Ceola's softly voiced demands and she ends up staying, and becoming part and parcel of the group.

There is also work to be done, however, and while contracts are drawn and manuscripts resuscitated, a single masterpiece emerges: Gabby's own love story, told in a book that will be fiction to everyone else, but to the friends, it will provide the final chapter to the story they only knew bits and pieces of.

I liked this book - a lot. While the ending might seem rather tidy considering how real each woman's set of problems was, it is not totally unrealistic. Each of them has changed for the better, but has not lost what made her unique in the process. While Fiction rather than Romance is still not my "thing," I will make an exception in the case of author Carr, and will definitely check out her next book

Rating:
Summary: Cheers for Robyn Carr!
Review: THE HOUSE ON OLIVE STREET is a gutsy, ambitious book that is brilliant on a number of levels. I'm recommending it to everyone I know. I enjoyed it so much that after a wait of 45 minutes in the doctor's office I was annoyed at being interrupted from reading it to see the doctor! The book is that fascinating.

Rating:
Summary: One of the Best Books of the Year!
Review: This book dealing about women in a writers' critique group is not only a wonderful book about women's friendships but also gives some insight into the world of writers. We meet Sable, a bestselling author of romance novels who has a past she is reluctant to reveal but comes back to haunt her when a tabloid reporter tries to dig up dirt on her; Ellie, a professor, nonfiction writer, and book reviewer who hides a private romance with a man she's embarrassed to introduce to her friends; Barbara Ann, a prolific author of category romances who wants to break out into single title books but whose life taking care of a husband and four young adult sons is standing in her way; Beth, a popular mystery author whose books are her outlet for dealing with an abusive husband; and posthumously we meet Gabby, an author whose books have never been bestsellers in part due to an editor who wasn't really committed to her. The women gather together after Gabby's death in order to organize her personal papers, and all for one reason or another end up spending the summer in Gabby's home together. This is a terrific read and I can only hope it gets the audience it deserves. Brava Ms. Carr!

Rating:
Summary: A amazing book
Review: This book is just simply amazing. Granted its' pace is a little slow at the beginning but the flow of the story is just perfect. Robyn Carr has perfectly described the friendship between four very different women, their relationship with their family and their struggle with life. This story is not about some fantasy-like characters. This story is about some realistic characters dealing with simple daily problems and how they learn to be true to themselves. It's a great book.

Rating:
Summary: A amazing book
Review: This book is just simply amazing. Granted its' pace is a little slow at the beginning but the flow of the story is just perfect. Robyn Carr has perfectly described the friendship between four very different women, their relationship with their family and their struggle with life. This story is not about some fantasy-like characters. This story is about some realistic characters dealing with simple daily problems and how they learn to be true to themselves. It's a great book.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful women's fiction!
Review: This is a shrewdly funny, honest, and often poignant tale of four intelligent, accomplished women who find grace, understanding, and trust together when confronting the crises which arise in their lives as they deal with the legacy of a great woman whom they all knew and loved.

It is, moreover, a very realistic view of the lives of working writers, particularly novelists, in modern American publishing (I say this as the author of more than a dozen published novels). If you really want to know why writers are all crazy, even if they didn't start out that way, read what Robyn Carr's characters deal with in their careers!

Rating:
Summary: for fans of Jennifer Crusie and Ann Rivers Siddons
Review: This is one of the best female friendships stories I have ever read. Four women, Elly, Sable, Barbara Ann, and Beth are drawn together by the death of their friend Gabby. All four women are writers, and all four women are experiencing difficulties in their lives. As they spend the summer sorting through Gabby's personal papers, they come together in friendship and support.
This is a wonderful story, as each character's story is presented separately, yet they are connected tightly throughout the novel. Each character has a secret, but until they can admit to the truth in their lives, they cannot move on.

Rating:
Summary: The Power of Friendship
Review: This is one of the best female friendships stories I have ever read. Four women, Elly, Sable, Barbara Ann, and Beth are drawn together by the death of their friend Gabby. All four women are writers, and all four women are experiencing difficulties in their lives. As they spend the summer sorting through Gabby's personal papers, they come together in friendship and support.
This is a wonderful story, as each character's story is presented separately, yet they are connected tightly throughout the novel. Each character has a secret, but until they can admit to the truth in their lives, they cannot move on.