Ladder of Years

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Summary: Delia still needs to get a life!!!!
Review: Just finished this book and I just remembered why I usually don't read fiction. Delia, honey, everyone feels overlooked and unappreciated from time to time. Walk out for 18 months and then come back like nothing ever happened; ooooooooohh that'll show'em! Except for having the moxie to walk off the beach, Delia was about as interesting as paste. If Anne Tyler's objective was to get me to the end of the book she did the job. I kept reading hoping and praying Delia would "find herself" somehow. As an avid reader I don't require a neatly, summed up happy ending to any book; I just require an ending worth reading. Did not happen for me in "Ladder of Years"

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Summary: loved it
Review: Just a brilliant novel with great characters and an intelligent plot. Terrific. If you haven't yet read Anne Tyler, you've Got To!

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Summary: A touching story that continues after the last page
Review: "Ladder of Years" is real. I grew up on the Delaware/Maryland shore and I could taste the sharp autumn salt in the air at Bethany. Delia isn't a heroine, she's a woman. Her malaise is real, her unexciting affair is real, her desire and ultimate decision to "walk away" is real. Delia is all of us at different times in our lives. Like most of Tyler's books, "Ladder of Years" isn't written for the reader who likes happy endings and neatly tied up plots. It isn't written for those who always know where they're going and always know where their greatest responsibility lies. It's written for the rest of us.

Rating:
Summary: Ambivalence.
Review: At times I loved the story and at other times was ready to quit listening. Delia was a product of her times and environment and found the weak way out -- which we all do at times. I was exasperated with Tyler for not tying up loose ends about Noah. Readers were just left dangling. She had friends, too. Real friends for the first time....are we to assume she just deserted them forever? Tyler is capable of writing a good story, but this felt flat at the ending. Sometimes I sympathized with Delia and at others I just wanted to kick her. Which maybe is Tyler's aim. Husband was still pretty much of a self-centered male accustomed to having his own way. He didn't learn anything from the experience. I bought a copy at the thrift store -- full price would be too much for this one, and gave it to a friend because I think the story does have value -- we've all felt like running away. Also, some good humor in it.

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Summary: Ladder of Years was one extrordinary climb
Review: Ladder of Years was the first Anne Tyler book that I had ever read. I loved it, absolutely loved it. My biggest problem was that I didn't want the book to end; I longed for weeks and even months to know what became of Delia and more importantly, Joel and Noah. I felt such a deep connection to Tyler's characters; I believed that I knew them personally and that I could relate to what they were going through. Since reading this book, I've read four more books by Anne Tyler and I just can't say enough great things about her. Anne Tyler is one of America's greatest novelists and I hope that all the rest of her books provide me with as much enjoyment as Ladder of Years.

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Summary: Big fan of Anne Tyler, not of this book
Review: Anne Tyler is one of my favorite authors, so I relish the thought of diving into one of her newest titles. However, Ladder of Years did not engage me like so many of her previous works -- including Saint Maybe, Searching for Caleb, A Slipping Down Life. Although many of Tyler's characters are downright odd (which is why I love her books), Delia Grinstead was just plain selfish. I could definitely identify with some of the issues she faced - loss of identity, missed opportunities - but I found her "solution" to these problems baffling. I didn't find her experience to represent "growth", just childish whim with no seeming consequence. I definitely recommend that readers skip Ladder of Years and discover Anne Tyler through her other, more satisfying works.

Rating:
Summary: Well-written, but inplausible
Review: As both a mother and a daughter I could not 'buy' this story line. Like the character I went from my parents house to my husbands house, but I could not identify with her leaving the way she did. As a mother I couldn't imagine my kids letting me go without a fight. As a daughter there is no way I would have NOT put up a fight to get my mother back if she walked away like that. I had no sympathy or understanding for any of the characters.

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Summary: Another great book from Anne Tyler
Review: Anne Tyler fulfilled every woman's fantasy (and probably some men) when she wrote this story. Delia felt disconnected from her family and her life and just left. She slowly starts to build ralationships and responsiblities in her new life. Even though she resumes some of the same responsibilities in her new life, people seem to value her more. She also begins to value herself more. I felt that when she drifted back to her own family, they still had not changed. I was disappointed with the ending. I feel that Anne Tyler likes to have real life endings. How many readers know people that seem to drift through life without making any decisions. I felt that Delia had grown too much to just drift back to her insensitive family. I enjoyed some of the descriptive language so much that I plan to read this book again in the near future just to savor the pictures drawm in my mind.

Rating:
Summary: Incredible story-telling
Review: Once again, Anne Tyler does not disappoint. She treats us readers as intellectuals, not going out of the way to explain the emotions of her characters, leaving us to identify with them ourselves, to wonder and guess and imagine along with them. Her writing is easy to read and leaves us wanting more. Delia and the people she encounters are a delight.

Rating:
Summary: Boring, Terrible Ending
Review: What is with Anne Tyler? This is just one of several of her books that contain a weak female lead character. Delia is very selfish in leaving not only her 1st family, but then her "adoptive" family. No one has a perfect life, but most of us deal, not walk away. No sympathy for her at all. And the ending was awful. Also unrealistic. Don't waster your time.