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efa
posts on 5/21/2005 7:55:08 AM
just wondering if any1 has any views on the key moment of this book?
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Carmel Breathnach
posts on 2/22/2005 3:10:03 PM
I have just finished Maeve Binchy's book Quentins and I was very disappointed with it! I loved Echoes, Circle of Friends and especially The Glass Lake. I wasn't that gone on The Lilac Bus although it's been years since I read it. But Quentins didn't grab me at all. I didn't like Ella, so therefore I felt no empathy for her. She appeared independent at first but fell for Don so suddenly that I lost any belief in her strength of character almost immediately. I could tell all along that Don was a liar and also that he wasn't dead. Personally I like a twist in books, I'm not one for predictable stories. The mini-stories in the midst of the novel were pure distractions and it seemed to me that the author had these little tales in her head that she wished to throw in somewhere and just stuck them in here. They didn't fit and although they were cute they all ended so cheesily happy that I just couldn't bear it! All of them had that 'perfect' ending which only added to the unrealistic tone already in the novel. I felt that Ella was a fool for Don and maybe if their story had been built up with more detail or if she hadn't fallen for him so quick I might have had some empathy for her but all I felt for her was that she needed a good wake up shake. I did like some of the characters, in particular Derry, Brenda and Deirdre but this wasn't enough to keep me enthusiastic. I hated the ending. What woman would want an audience in a restaurant watching her as she pushed and shoved and screamed a baby out of the most private part of her body with a bunch of love-sick fools smiling and willing her along! There was no suggestion whatsoever of Ella being attracted to Derry and although it is of course what the reader wanted, it was so ridiculous how they told each other they loved each other in the last few lines of the story that I actually closed the book with a groan! I must add that I hated the use of the word 'wonderingly' somewhere in the novel and Im wondering myself if this is not a contrived word. Contriving words is ok when they work but an adverb like 'wonderingly' made me cringe! Sorry Maeve! I loved the books I mentioned above but this one was a huge let down.
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nilay
posts on 1/23/2005 2:05:17 PM
when I start to read her, I can't understand that how quickly I finish it.
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Les
posts on 1/23/2005 1:47:03 PM
Maeve Binchy has offered us another great read. Characters are developed well and there's at least one we can relate to by personality or woes of life. She gives of tones of situational ethics without it being in our face but in the characters'. Very illuminating writing, please give us more.
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Kathy W.
posts on 1/4/2005 3:29:41 PM
I just started reading "Nights of Rain and Stars" last night and was hooked immediately. I've read all of Maeve Binchy's books and have loved them all, but "The Glass Lake" and "Circle of Friends" are my favorites so far. I agree, that the film did not do "Circle of Friends" justice. Hope the new "Tara Road" film is better.
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