Rating: 
Summary: Malancholy Beauty in Life: Echos
Review: For those of you who read these mixed reviews, do not give up on "Echos"! A fan of Maeve Binchy's works, I enjoyed this book. The landscape, the language, the people are very tangible in all of her works. Maeve Binchy writes about people living in Ireland with such color that you feel as if you know each place intimately by the completion of a book. Sometimes life is not what you expect. But just as people have hopes and dreams, each person has a story to tell. At times this book gives a melancholy tone, much like the sea-side town it takes place in. The overall story is as real and beautiful as life can be.
Rating: 
Summary: I'll continue to read Maeve Binchy...
Review: The little town of Castlebay comes alive in this thoroughly
readable novel. The characters seem compelling and believable. Small-town mores are depicted realistically, without apology. Although it was sad that Clair's education was interrupted, I
think the ending allows for Clare and David's reconciliation
and Clare's eventual return for her degree. If somebody had
to be sacrificed I could handle it being Gerry Doyle, there
was something disconcerting about his character. Angela O'Hara was great; her pairing with Dick Dillon was
at first a bit surprising but satisfying in the end. This was a pleasant story about average Irish people, how
they work, live, and love, and how and why they keep so
many family secrets.
Rating:
Summary: My favorite by Binchy
Review: I just identify strongly with Clare O'Brien, the heroine of this novel, a shopkeeper's daughter in the little Irish beachtown of Castlebay in the 1950s. Clare stands out from her myriad siblings with her determination to make something of herself by winning scholarships and attending university in Dublin. Along the way, she reconnects romantically with David Power, the doctor's son who has always been friendly to her even though there is a class chasm between them of which both of their mothers are keenly aware. David and Clare start an affair and before you know it, she is pregnant ... has all she has worked for been for nothing? This is a romantic, touching and soulful work from Binchy, and it is worth reading and re-reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Not up to my expectations
Review: The beginning is good, but the last 200+ pages seem very forced an formulaic. I finished the book because I had started it, but I didn't really want to. The story seemed to be heading in a predictable direction and I was disappointed at the end that I had wasted several hours of my life on this book. I love some of her other books like the Glass Lake and Firefly Summer, but this one didn't do it for me. I don't want to spoil the book by giving out details, but as usual the main woman is trod upon in some way and just sits there and takes it.
Rating: 
Summary: Not one of my favorites
Review: I have read 7 of Maeve Bichhy's novels and this one wasn't one of my favorites. With her other novels I was drawn right in with the characters, this one took me a while. My favorite is still Circle of Friends.
Rating:
Summary: Not her Best
Review: I'm a Binchy fan, but felt that this book lacked some of the really great content of her other books. Although the descriptive writing which helps you to feel as though you are there in the town was there - the characters and story did not engross me and pull me in as her other characters have.
Rating:
Summary: Not one of Binchy's better novels
Review: Binchy happens to be my favorite author but this novel was truly disappointing.Yes,it had it's moments but overall it's was not very pleasing.I would'nt recommend this as a novel by binchy to read first.It would discourage you to read others which are mostly very good.Instead I would go with Tara Road,Circle of Friends,Evening Class or my fav-The Glass Lake.It was uneventful until nearly the end.Binchy is known for a slow beginning but Echoes just never seemed to get very good.
Rating:
Summary: Perfectly captures the teacher/student bond
Review: I was mentored by a high school teacher who is closer to me than any person on the planet. In this book, Binchy captures the symbiotic growth experienced by both the teacher and pupil through a relationship that spans decades, from teacher and child to the eventual woman to woman relationship. I loved seeing that transformation on paper. To some, the maternal bond Angela and Clare share may seem unrealistic, but to me, it was perfectly depicted. Also, I find the ending fitting--in fact, I would say perfect--in that sometimes, as adults, we make very different and difficult choices that we would not have made in high school or even college--these sacrifices make us more compelling women in many ways, although they also may make us weaker to those whom expected so much of us.
Rating:
Summary: Left me unsatisfied
Review: I started reading this book about 6:00 one night, and ended up staying awake until about 4:00 to finish it. I loved it, the beginning anyway. The characters were very real and the story was very good. I got very caught up it in, and couldn't put it down. Then came the last fifty or maybe a hundred pages. Maeve Binchy set up an amazing plot, a little depressing maybe, but still good, but the ending was no where near my expectations based on the rest of the book. It seemed like she spent months building up the story, then realized "Oh no! I only have two days to my deadline!" then hastily wrapped up the book in a very unsatisfying way that was untrue to the characters and very disappointing. Read it anyway, it's still a very good book, just don't take the ending as personnally as I did. I spent the next day very sad and very tired.
Rating:
Summary: VERY disappointing
Review: After reading Tara Road, I was ready to read every Binchy book I could get my hands on. This novel started out very slowly, but by the time I got to the middle, I was glad I had trudged through to the "good part." What I did not know, however, was that the middle was the ONLY "good part." The last section of the novel was so disappointing. Clare changed so much, and in ways that were not true to her character. The Clare that Binchy had made me love would not have done the things that she ultimately did at the novel's end. If she had left out the first 200 pages and the last 100 pages, the novel would've been a good read.
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