Helpful Score: 8
Haunting and intriguing! I enjoyed this book very much!Very well written. I requested and read this book, because I loved The Pilot's Wife, The Weight of Water, Fortune's Rocks,The Last Time They Met, and Light On Snow. I guess you can say that I am an Anita Shreve fan! She is a brilliant author. She crafts a great tale. I love her books. Maybe you will, too! Great prose. Almost lyrical in her choice of words. Brilliant example of the art of the written word.
Helpful Score: 6
Great story! Some love and romance, some mystery and intrigue. Believable characters in semi-believable circumstances. Andy, Eden Close and her mother and father Edith and Jim are all intertwined in a rape, a murder, the blinding of a young girl and a small town in Kansas where everyone knows everyone elde's business, or think they do. I recommend this as an excellent read!
Helpful Score: 5
I got this book from this site for reading with my book discussion group. We had a great discussion of it. We not only liked the story, but were entranced by Shreves use of words and phrases, her description of physical surroundings, her insight into people's feelings, especially of those suffering emotional hurts. We were very impressed that it is her first novel. Others made a bigger 'splash' - The Pilot's Wife, etc. - but we think this one deserves lots of readers.
Helpful Score: 3
Wow! Shreve amps up the suspense and provides another fascinating look at the inner lives of families. Couldn't put it down!
Helpful Score: 1
Very good book.
Helpful Score: 1
Probably my favorite Anita Shreve book. She's so great!
Helpful Score: 1
I really enjoyed this book.
Helpful Score: 1
Great writer. Great book.
Helpful Score: 1
Well written, emotional and poetic in a way
Helpful Score: 1
A soft story which keeps one's interest and starts memories flowing.
Helpful Score: 1
A simply wonderful book, could not put this one down. Love, mystery, drama, danger, it has it all.
This was a great book. Had a hard time putting it down!
Begun in a way that immediately catches the reader's attention, this is a compelling story, made even more evocative by the use of spare language, leaving just the right amount to the reader's imagination. I love how Shreve revealed bits and pieces of the important event of 20 years prior as the story progressed. This is one book that I shall remember for a long while and recommend to others.
I did not enjoy this one as much as some of the others written by Anita Shreve. As soon as I began to realize that this was a case of incest, it soured my taste for the storyline. I was a bit disappointed. I've read better by Anita.
Started a little slow but had an unexpected twist at the end.
Excellent book as usual, from the first page to the last.
Like all her books, this is good story, good writing.
A compelling tale of edgy, small-town emotions, lingering obsession, and romantic salvation --from the back cover says it very well.
Anita Shreve is a great writer and this is a very good read.
Hard to put down! The story really draws you in.
One of her better books.
This is one of the best books I have ever read...I personally had trouble listing it because I wanted to keep it on my bookshelf to reread again and again!!
Another great book by Anita Shreve!
Very unusual plot with a unsuspecting "whodunit" ending. Quick read, well written.
Eden's story has the heightened emotions, the dark brooding atmosphere of a Southern gothic novel.
This is a great story about the boy who always had a thing for the girl next door when they were kids.
But he goes away for almost 2 years. But when he comes back, they get conected again. Andrews learns more than he bargained for, and the end of the book is a big surprise. I really liked this book and enjoyed reading it.
But he goes away for almost 2 years. But when he comes back, they get conected again. Andrews learns more than he bargained for, and the end of the book is a big surprise. I really liked this book and enjoyed reading it.
I couldn't put this book down. A very well written and compelling story.
A great story! Some love and romance, some mystery and intrigue. Believable characters in semi-believable circumstances.Andy, Eden Close and her mother and father Edith and Jim are all intertwined in a rape, a murder, the blinding of a young girl and a small town in Kansas where everyone knows everyone else's business, or think they do. I definitely would recommend this...it's an excellent read.
"An evocative and moving novel...insightful, haunting." - The New York Times Book Review
This book drew me in quickly like most of her books. I just couldn't put it down. Loved it!
An intriguing story about lost love, misconceptions, old memories, and with a great twist at the end. Well done!
Anita Shreve tells a compelling story of a foundling baby girl raised by a mother who didn't want her and a father who doted on her. Andrew is the boy next door who loves her like a sister. Not until he returns to this small town after 19 years for his mother's funeral, does he realize how obsessed he is with finding out the truth about her and her family. Shreve writes with guarded language and the tension slowly builds to a stunning climax. What a great read!!
I've read several Anita Shreve's books and found
them very interesting. "Eden Close", however, was
a very dull and boring book. The author took the
first half of the book to set the scene etc. and
the rest just plodded along slowly to the end.
Skip this one.
them very interesting. "Eden Close", however, was
a very dull and boring book. The author took the
first half of the book to set the scene etc. and
the rest just plodded along slowly to the end.
Skip this one.
This is another classic by Anita Shreve. Highly recommend it, especially for Shreve fans. It's one book I missed (thought I had read them all).
Haunting, sad, yet beautiful. Beautifully written in gorgeous prose.
I love Anita Shreve and this is truly one of her best. The mystery in the story keeps you hanging until the end.
Vary haunting mystery and love story.
Odd romance/mystery considering the author. I enjoyed this light read, despite how easy it was to figure out the mystery. I've read most of Shreve's books, and never would have guessed she had written this one.
Another really good read by Anita. A suspenceful page turner. A great story between the past and present.
Good read. I read this very quickly.
First book by Shreve; love being in her world; Very Ann Tylerish....Andrew, after many years away, return to his hometown for his mother's funeral and is drawn into the tragic legacy of his childhood friend and beautiful girl next door.
A good story for the most part, for a bit of it, I did speed reading to get more to the storyline I wanted to read
Another wonderful book by Anita Shreve! She is a master of words!
This was the second Anita Shreve I read after the Weight of Water. Those two are my favorites by this author.
Characters come to life in one of her best novels!
Part of the reason it's a good book is because it is such an easy read. Not one of my favorite by her, but certainly peeks your intest and keeps your attention!
An enjoyable read. Loved the ending!
At first I didn't think I was going to like this book. It was slightly confusing because it jumped back and forth between past and present without warning. I'm glad I stuck with it though because it ended up being a pretty good story.
Very well-written, good story. I had been spoiled on the ending, but it still had it's typical Antia Shreve twists.
Another wonderful Shreve read with remarkable characters, and a rivitng stoyline.
Andrew left home nearly twenty years ago, after a neighboring farm is devastated by disaster and heartbreak. Now he must pack up and sell his family home and is drawn to reconnect with his neighbor Eden Close, and find out what really happened that night.
this is a good book, fast read& very enjoyable!
Enjoyed this book a lot.
Good read. Took alittle to get into the story but was much better the longer you read.
A man returns to his home town when his mother dies.
This book is fantastic! Although I may be biased because I am an Anita Shreve fan-a-holic!
I would highly recommend this book and all that Ms. Shreve writes!!
I would highly recommend this book and all that Ms. Shreve writes!!
After many years away, Andrew returns to his hometown to attend his mother's funeral. While there he is drawn into the tragic legacy of a childhood friend, Eden Close. Young and beautiful, Eden had sought the attention of Andrew's friends and acceptance from a mother who didn't want her. When the sounds of gunshots echoed through the town one night, however, Eden's life was changed forever. Now, seventeen years later, Andrew begins to unravel the layers of thwarted love in Eden's tormented family.
A very different story. I haven't read another quite like it. I wouldn't recommend it to everyone, but some would enjoy it.
