Customer Reviews: Read 214 more reviews...
 Awesome! August 20, 2008
I loved reading about Ellen, Andy and Leo! This was a great love story about a woman's past and present colliding together and what she does about it. I also loved Suzanne and even Margot, though I hate her friend Ginny. What a b...
Also, you guys have to try out the Kindle if you haven't already! So cool.
 good ending August 19, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is not her strongest book, it took a while to build up, dragged on a little but the ending was great. Its a fun summer read, if you have the time and the patience.
i liked it August 18, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
i thought this book was really good!
i think some folks are being kind of harsh on ellen. i wasn't really down on her that much. i don't think there's anything wrong with wanting the best possible life for yourself, or to look for your own happiness, especially since ellen's own family life had been so sad (her mother dying, her family falling apart, etc.). i actually would have been mad at her if she didn't go after the things she wanted. however, i don't think she should have lied to andy about it though. that was bad. but i can understand why she wouldn't want to give up something in her past until she was sure she was doing the right thing, not only for herself but for those she cares about too. life is messy and she redeems herself in the end i think.
also, i agree with the previous reviewer who said that andy was kind of milquetoast. that is a perfect description for him. i wouldn't want to be with him, but i do think ellen really did love him. did she love him more than leo? that's up for debate. but that's what makes this book work, imo.
 Old-Fashioned? August 18, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Perhaps I am labouring under an over-developed sense of justice and what is right, but I HATED the main character in this book. She is shallow, self-indulgent, and has the sort of overwhelming sense of self-entitlement that I thought went out with the Reagan Era and "American Psycho." I felt no empathy for her immature, selfish choices whatsoever, and disliked her strongly enough that I eventually found myself rooting against her, hoping she'd end up alone.
While I like Giffin's work, this novel, while attempting to address the issue of "life's other paths", is executed clumsily with a "heroine" one can neither identify with nor pity.
I was a HUGE Giffin fan but this book is terrible - SPOILER ALERT August 18, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I've read all of Giffin's books (my favorite is Something Borrowed) and enjoy the way she captures the angst and emotion of relationships. Generally, her characters seem like real people, and the heroine is someone to whom I can relate. This book, however, as a huge disappointment. As we meet the protagonist and her hubby, I immediately thought he sounded like a milquetoast guy who didn't really "get" who she was, and that she had obviously settled. So, I anxiously waited -- through hundreds of pages -- for her to get back together with her ex, whom she had truly loved, and who seemed to have changed and grown. Then, in the end, Giffin baits and switches, lamely telling us that the ex hadn't changed, and the protagonist stayed with her boring loser hubby, as much because she liked being a part of his family, as because she loved him. I felt betrayed. Don't think I'll be buying another Giffin novel...
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