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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
Another solid Maeve Binchy book. An easy read, full of beauty, a few surprises but not too many, and understandable characters. I loved watching the characters grow up and develop. There's a good introspection on entering pre-teens/teens, and how that changes friendships especially how that changes when people start dating.
This was an incredibly satisfying read for me. I love books like this, in which the entire community becomes a character. Binchy deftly handled all of the various strands of the story well. The death of one of the supporting characters was one of the most tragic things I have ever read, and it truly effected me.
Best summer book ever, been my loyal companion on years of holidays!
As often appears in Maeve Binchy’s books, a cast of thousands. Most of them weren’t crucial to the story but if not for them it wouldn’t be a MB story. I enjoyed the story, if the ending was a bit abrupt.
That last line.
Team Slattery!
Kate has a Ned Stark level of self-righteous hubris.
Team Slattery!
Kate has a Ned Stark level of self-righteous hubris.
An easy and enjoyable read. Very long at 900 pages +, but it goes quickly. Maeve Binchy for me comes in the category of easy reading, pretty predictable but well written, and this particular novel was very evocative of my childhood, as the main characters must have been born at the same time I was.
As always, I enjoyed Ms. Binchy's characters, the Irish setting, the lovely voices. In this novel, an American of Irish descent comes back to a small town to build a hotel . . . and the story follows the impact his hotel and his family have on the town. While I enjoyed the reading of the book as a whole, I felt let down by the ending. Nothing major . . . just wasn't satisfying. Still, I enjoy Maeve Binchy's writing so much, I do not regret the reading.
I think i need to be in a different headspace or try a different format.
As always, Maeve Binchy's writing is impeccable and keeps you hooked. I love the style with which she writes dramatic moments as simply happening - there is no big sweeping score or foreshadowing music in real life, and there is no literary equivalent of it here. In fact, the "big event" in the middle of the book caught me SO off guard that I slammed the book down in a fit of shock and rage, and couldn't come back to it for a few minutes. In contrast, though, I could see the ending coming a mile away, which was disappointing, even though the ending was itself dealt with in the same simple style. A fitting result for the O'Neill children, though I would've liked a bit more tied up for Michael and Dara. The little bump toward the end of the Rachel story was also not a great plot device, but overall, she was my favorite character and ended her story well.