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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
Enjoyable read, and though I didn't particularly like the ending, I did wonder if it was somewhat realistic of women in Franny/Beth's situation. The disappointing part for me was that in the end, she never came across as a strong woman, even though she took steps to get control of her life. Her efforts seemed halfhearted in a lot of ways. Again, maybe it's a realistic portrayal of a battered wife, but it frustrated me that she finally made the decision to leave, and then she didn't seem to TRULY commit to it.
She is one of my all-time favorite writers. I read her columns in Newsweek and I loved her books...
Good story. Interesting read on domestic abuse and then the challenge of getting away and starting over with the ever-present fear that you will be found.
So--I'd put Anna Quindlen on my short list of favorite authors, for a half-dozen reasons with the most important being her lucid, lyrical writing. Every Quindlen book I've read turns a commonplace story (and domestic violence is as commonplace as it gets) into a gorgeously rendered, delicately layered case study of ordinary life events. In many ways, Anna Quindlen is the diametric opposite of the Lifetime movie writing--none of her characters are all bad or all good, and her plots aren't predictable tragedies or feel-good endings.
In "Black and Blue" Quindlen does a really good job of explaining how love and attraction and family get in the way of personal dignity and self-determination. Even a bad-dude character like Bobby is made human, and the life Fran built with him a mix of the good--her son, her home, her job--and the terrifying. I thought the story ended the only way that it could and the last chapter was luminous.
In "Black and Blue" Quindlen does a really good job of explaining how love and attraction and family get in the way of personal dignity and self-determination. Even a bad-dude character like Bobby is made human, and the life Fran built with him a mix of the good--her son, her home, her job--and the terrifying. I thought the story ended the only way that it could and the last chapter was luminous.
Not my favorite from this author. Sad story and I had a hard time connecting with the main character.
I have to admit, I have never been a huge Anna Quindlen fan. This book is interesting, but there are a lot of things I really didn't like about it, including a very unsatisfying ending.
Black and Blue is the story of a woman who flees an abusive relationship, taking her son and attempting to disappear into residential Florida, all the while waiting for her husband, a New York cop, to find and hurt her. The book is not Quindlen's best and while it is readable, and at less than 400 pages a manageable length, it feels like little more than a Lifetime "woman's" movie in novel form. I wouldn't recommend this book, especially in comparison to Quindlen's other work, although the lessons of what abuse is, how it happens, and how difficult it can be to escape are good ones to learn about, even in a fictional context.
Anna Quindlen is also the author of One True Thing, a book-cum-film about a daughter's experience with her mother's terminal cancer. That book is good--realistic, emotional but not maudlin, and challenging. Black and Blue is merely an example of weak writing that reads like a made for TV movie. It made its way into Oprah's book club but would never make it on to any of my must-read lists. Facing the realities of abuse is a good lesson to learn, and so the subject is worth reading about, but Quindlen's portrayal is less than realistic or compelling. All of the checklist facts are there: abuse leads to abuse, specifically carried from father to son; some women are drawn to the type of men that are/become abusers; legal protection can be inadequate; violence can lead to death. So on, so forth. The list of facts is there but the emotional context is filmsy, centers on children (rather than personal strength) and strange, powerless situations. Even when she flees her husband, things seem to be done to the protagonist rather than done by her. It's unfulfilling and disappointing to the reader and detracts from the whole text. In fact, the more interesting characters are mere foils and supporting roles like her new friends and romantic interest. They seem to have more personality and depth than the protagonist.
It will take less time and energy, and induce the same emotional response, to watch any one of the numerous women's TV daytime movies about the same subject. Black and Blue is gripping only because you want to know if her husband will find her or not, and presents very few challenges, either in the writing or the ideas, to the reader. It's readable and I was able to get through it, but it's still a poor example of literature and even of the lesson it attempts to teach. Don't waste your time on this one. There is so much out there worth reading--spend your time on it.
Anna Quindlen is also the author of One True Thing, a book-cum-film about a daughter's experience with her mother's terminal cancer. That book is good--realistic, emotional but not maudlin, and challenging. Black and Blue is merely an example of weak writing that reads like a made for TV movie. It made its way into Oprah's book club but would never make it on to any of my must-read lists. Facing the realities of abuse is a good lesson to learn, and so the subject is worth reading about, but Quindlen's portrayal is less than realistic or compelling. All of the checklist facts are there: abuse leads to abuse, specifically carried from father to son; some women are drawn to the type of men that are/become abusers; legal protection can be inadequate; violence can lead to death. So on, so forth. The list of facts is there but the emotional context is filmsy, centers on children (rather than personal strength) and strange, powerless situations. Even when she flees her husband, things seem to be done to the protagonist rather than done by her. It's unfulfilling and disappointing to the reader and detracts from the whole text. In fact, the more interesting characters are mere foils and supporting roles like her new friends and romantic interest. They seem to have more personality and depth than the protagonist.
It will take less time and energy, and induce the same emotional response, to watch any one of the numerous women's TV daytime movies about the same subject. Black and Blue is gripping only because you want to know if her husband will find her or not, and presents very few challenges, either in the writing or the ideas, to the reader. It's readable and I was able to get through it, but it's still a poor example of literature and even of the lesson it attempts to teach. Don't waste your time on this one. There is so much out there worth reading--spend your time on it.
Excellent story! I was sad at the end but sometimes it’s nice when things are not all wrapped up nice and neat.
I had not read an Anna Quindlen book before, and the subject matter--an abused wife flees from her husband with their only child--was also something new for me. Quindlen takes time and care to authenticate the narrator's voice. I recognized the merit in that later in the book, but for the first 50 pages or so, I felt disconnected from the story. I suppose that first-person narrative is challenging for that reason, because it plays like a conversation instead of an observation.
However, once I was invested in the story, I recognized the intimacy in this mode of narrative. It was as if the speaker was wounded and needed to skim the surface at first with the reader, to build up to a trust that would allow more revelations. The second half of the novel was less procedural, even as the action increased. I'm interested in reading another of Quindlen's novels in comparison.
However, once I was invested in the story, I recognized the intimacy in this mode of narrative. It was as if the speaker was wounded and needed to skim the surface at first with the reader, to build up to a trust that would allow more revelations. The second half of the novel was less procedural, even as the action increased. I'm interested in reading another of Quindlen's novels in comparison.
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character