Rating: 
Summary: A Fairly Good Read, But Not Her Best
Review: "The World Below" tells the story of a woman who goes back to her grandmother's home and unravels some of the details of her grandparents' lives when they were young. The novel writes alternately about modern-day Cath and Georgia, her grandmother. The parts detailing her grandmother's life are compelling and rich and make for pleasurable reading. The transitions back to Cath's life are jarring and just a teeny bit dull. Many books successfully employ this method, but Miller's character, Cath, wasn't interesting enough for me to remember her story when the focus switched back to her. At one point, after a particularly long and enjoyable look at Georgia's life, the story switched back to Cath, and I found myself really struggling to remember who "Fiona" was a how they were related. I think the reason for this difficulty is that the book wasn't as compelling as usual. Normally, I start and finish books within a couple of days, but I kept putting this one aside. Sue Miller's main characters are usually selfish and self-absorbed individuals that I find vaguely annoying, and Cath is no different. This is not a criticism of her character development - it's just an observation.
"The World Below" was good enough to finish, but wasn't as good as "While I was Gone". If you haven't read her books, I would recommend the latter instead.
Rating: 
Summary: Sue Miller is an Amazing Writer...
Review: ... she really is. She captures everything from that sense you have as a kid that your grandparents' house has always been there and always will be, with them on the doorstep ready to take you in -- to the discovery of what's true about life and what's true about any one life, the individual life. Some things I especially enjoyed, no particular order: 1. the way Cath, and we the readers, learn slowly how significant were the months her grandmother spent in the sanitarium
2. the small betrayals that we stumble over in each other
3. how you can know the "weather" of someone's life without knowing the hidden-away organizing principle
4. amazing descriptions and metaphor that resonates forever Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Denis Johnson are my 2 favorite writers -- but gosh Sue Miller sure comes close.
Rating: 
Summary: A time for reflection
Review: Catherine Hubbard, a twice-divorced middle-aged school teacher and mother of three grown children, decides to take a sabbatical leave from her job and spend autumn at her grandmother's house in Vermont that she recently inherited. Upon her arrival Catherine delves into a period of discovery about the life of her grandmother who she had always had a fondness. Catherine's memories of her family's past is intertwined with passages from her grandmother's diaries that she finds hidden in the attic. Through this process Catherine learns about her grandmother's life in rural Maine during the early 1900's and she becomes aware of events that were previously hidden from her, such as her tuberculosis and the time spent at a sanitarian. I listened to the personal histories of THE WORLD BELOW unravel during my commute to and from work and was kept fairly entertained. This was my first encounter with Sue Miller and would consider reading another one of her novels if the opportunity presents itself.
Rating:
Summary: MOVING AND MEMORABLE
Review: I found these two interweaving stories of Kath and her grandmother, Georgia, to be a compelling read that has stayed in my mind months after reading it for the first time. I'm now on my second reading (something I rarely do), and find it as amazing this time around as in my first encounter. What a deep, profound novel. The reader must be patient. It's definitely a character driven book, not a plot-heavy pageturner. But once you immerse yourself in these wonderful characters from two different generations, you can't help but be drawn in deeply and feel as if you're getting to know "real people" as memorable and poignant as perhaps the secret stories woven into your own grandmother's past. To me it is truly amazing the way that Cath was raised by her grandparents after her own disturbed mother's suicide. She always thought her grandparents had boring and quite ordinary lives. But what she discovers, through reading her grandmother's diaries, is that her grandmother, Georgia's marriage was much deeper, more filled with quiet conflict and inner struggle than she'd ever imagined possible! I won't spoil the story by revealing the secrets - but the heartwarming way that her grandparents solved some deep problems in their own relationship is a model for today's couples to follow. It was so heartwarming and inspiring. Like many readers here, I've read both The World Below and While I Was Gone. They are quite different books, but I liked both. Sue Miller is now one of my very favorite authors. Bravo!!
Rating:
Summary: A good read
Review: I had read While I Was Gone and enjoyed that, so that was the only reason for reading this book. Sue Miller is a great author and as expected, I got an enjoyable read. She has a way of making her characters seem real and flawed, and I enjoy that she did not disappoint me in any way with this one.
Rating:
Summary: Sue Miller-Review of World Below
Review: I have read all of Sue Miller's books and in true fashion, she has kept me mesmerized. This novel like many of her others, crosses generations, timelines and has many layers that all somehow get pulled together in the end. I especially enjoyed the chapters set in the past (early 1900's) devoted to her grandmother's romances as a young girl. Her depiction of times and places is uncanny. This book is fairly lengthy but a very quick read, you won't want to put it down.
Rating:
Summary: Ya Gotta have a Point of View!
Review: I suppose that many will take Sue Miller's "The World Below" as a quiet, subdued examination of the lives of two women: Georgia and her grand daughter, Catherine....and leave it at that. And unfortunately, except for some well written passages it is...just that. But having just read Leif Enger's "Peace like a River" and Joyce Carol Oates'"Middle Age," I can't let Miller off the hook so easily. What these two novels have that Miller's work doesn't is a point of view, a substantial world view that would give "The World Below" some pizazz, some oomph...something to take you beyond the bare bones of the storyline.
The basic story of "The World Below" is somewhat interesting: a woman, Catherine Hubbard, is willed her grandmother's house and she, needing a change of venue after two failed relationships , decides to visit this home in Vermont. While there, Catherine discovers a cache of her grandmother's journals. The novel then becomes the story of these two women and the narrative moves back and forth between these two lives. And this is a good thing because the "Georgia" portions of this novel are the most interesting and provocative as they relate Georgia's stay in a TB sanitarium and her subsequent marriage to her much older doctor and the problems inherent therein.
Miller can write beautifully when so inclined: "The thick flakes coming out of the dark at the windshield, the steady shuddering slap of the wipers, the vehicles looming ahead of me on the road--all this was hypnotic...the flakes landed silently on the car and melted with the engine's heat..light that fell into the yard and made the steadily falling snow seem thicker and heavier than it was."
In "The World Below," Miller spends her time and efforts on the exposition of this story...propelling the novel forward. But where's the attutude? Where's the interpretation of these words to make it all more substantial and therefore more personal, interesting and multi-layered?
In the past, Miller has proven to have the skills to make her words sing not only in our heads but in our hearts and souls. Unfortunately, "The World Below" is not an example of this.
Rating: 
Summary: NOT ONE OF MILLER'S BEST!
Review: I usually enjoy Sue Miller's books, but not this one. Why? The plot was weak, lacked originality and the story itself was rather drawn out. It expressed lots of feelings and words, but at the same time, the story lacked action. We have read similar scenarios before where a family member dies, a divorce takes place causing one to return to their painful roots of childhood, and on, and on, and on. This book was no exception, it followed that same path and the author spent more time dwelling about the heartaches, pains and trauma of her past rather than focusing on any upbeat, positive drama. Many readers will probably say they enjoyed the book, but for me, it was just too much of the same old song and dance we read about so often these days; it lacked creativity and originality.
Rating:
Summary: Sue Miller's World
Review: I was lucky enough to get this book at the library before it hits the bestseller lists. I predict it will. I can also see it as a movie. Sue Miller explores the past and present, drawing parallels with the modern day Cath and her grandmother, Georgia. When Cath discovers her grandmother's diary, she is compelled to read it and fill in the blanks of her life. Learning from Georgia's past mistakes and also seeing how much alike their lives were, Cath comes to a deeper understanding of her own life. The allegorical submerged town under the lake illustrates poignantly the themes of the story. This well researched tale explores a part of history little known till now-the TB epidemic and life in the "sans". A compelling story, with many layers.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully surprising!
Review: I was surprised at how much I loved this book. As I was reading it I was so involved with the characters I didn't even think to critique what I was reading. When I finished I realized how involved I was and how much it affected me. It caused me to reflect on my own grandmother's life and how much I wish she were still alive so I could ask her about her own life and learn the daily specifics of it. The writer does such an amazing job of showing the reader the granddaughter's point of view then telling the reader the entire story behind the diary entry. The switching back and forth from one point of view to the other just improved the story for me and made me feel excited about learning more once the full story was covered through Georgia. The writing reveals so much to the reader without being blunt and much insight seeps in without the reader's knowledge. My mother gave me this book and said she went out and found all of Sue Miller's books from the library after reading this because she loved it so much and I think I will do the same. Overall, a deeply reflective read while still entertaining.
| 
