The Book Club

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Summary: This book is inspiring; a true celebration of life!
Review: Mary Alice Monroe's THE BOOK CLUB is a wonderful story of friendship, loss, life and love. The characters come alive, the dialogue is sharp and beautifully written and I found that I just couldn't put it down. It was an emotional ride, and one that I want to take again.

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Summary: I loved this book!
Review: Monroe really makes you feel like you are one of the group. A compelling read. I started reading it on the beach and couldn't stop until late that night!

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Summary: Insightful read
Review: Monroe wrote an insightful book about the power of friendship and the effect books have on our lives. A great choice for bookclubs, especially with the Topics For Discussion included in the back. My bookclub loved it.

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Summary: Monroe's done it again
Review: Monroe's consistantly heartfelt stories keep me coming back for more. I can relate specifically to the character Eve as I have also lost a significant person in my life. I could identify with her and through her strength, could find my own. Monroe excels at developing realistic characters who deal with the everyday hardships we can all identify with. I always pick up one of her novels whenever I need my spirits raised. She's motivated me time and time again and can't wait to get started on her new book Skyward.

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Summary: Good for a backdrop to discussions on friendship
Review: My book club selected this book for our October meeting, which is themed "Celebrating Friendships." The book does provide a good backdrop for discussions about friendship because it raises interesting questions/issues: how do you deal with jealousy in among friends, how to deal with a friend who is depressed or going through life transition, what to do when your best friend gets a "new" best friend or the relationship cools, how to handle conflict among friends, how to confront friends with unpleasant truth, etc. Excellent! But the characters themselves were not impressive. Certain characters weren't developed. Some story lines were so fairy-tale like and unbelievable (Eve's 2nd love) that I lost sympathy for the character. I could only understand why 2 of the women were friends, and only those two seemed to have a genuine friendship. The others were facades or unrealistic. Sometimes the dialogue went on too long and certain major life transitions barely caused trouble for the characters. Not realistic. Read this to provoke thought and discussion about how issues are handled in friendships and to see one (not five) deep friendship in action.

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Summary: Great Characters...couldn't put it down
Review: Our book club selected this book for the title, and were blown away by the beautifully crafted characters and their stories. This was the first book by Mary Alice Monroe I had ever read, and will certainly search for other titles by the same author... I read the book and reached last page wanting more. A great read for groups!

Rating:
Summary: Great Characters...couldn't put it down
Review: Our book club selected this book for the title, and were blown away by the beautifully crafted characters and their stories. This was the first book by Mary Alice Monroe I had ever read, and will certainly search for other titles by the same author... I read the book and reached last page wanting more. A great read for groups!

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Summary: What a waste of a promising premise!
Review: Rousing discussions of good literature layered with subtle narratives of the key participants' lives. Natch! This book wastes the reader's time. What's particularly disturbing is that something so poorly and unimaginatively written got past a junior editor's first read, let alone got published. Save your time. Save your money.

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Summary: Too many characters
Review: The Book Club had too many characters and didn't stop to identify with all of them. I felt that the characters fell flat and I didn't learn to identify with any of them or really care about what happened to them. I was really hoping to enjoy this book.

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Summary: Insightful read
Review: The Book Club is a most entertaining and thought-provoking book. I agree with an earlier comment that some of the characters weren't well developed, however this does not make them any less real or less important to the developement of the story as a whole. I thought the book was beautifully written and the characters were, in general, representative of some of the women I have known in my own life. Some of their reactions and responses to the trials of life were, at times, difficult to believe or approve of. This may be a more appropriate representation of the way real people respond to life's twists. The lesson is: we are not here to approve or disapprove of peoples actions or reactions, we are to encourage and accept. Over-all, it is a great book, worth the effort to read...perhaps worth the effort to re-read on a regular basis.