it seems like a lot of people really love this book or really hate it. i am pretty indifferent toward it.

my first kingsolver since reading "bean trees" in high school. an impressive work.

Wonderful book - rich and different!

It was okay. The weird thing is that I have three sisters and each of the Price sisters corresponded to one of us (almost in birth order, too), which I didn't realize until I was about 4/5 through the book. Other than that, I didn't really care for the book. I've read worse, but I've also read better.

A missionary family goes to the Belgian congo in 1959 and stay for three decades. Kingsolver is an excellent writer. Also wrote: "Pigs in Heaven," "The Bean Trees," and "Animal Dreams."

This was required reading for my AP Lit class. I don't really like most religious books, but this one managed to keep my attention long enough for me to finish it.

I just reread this book. I loved it when I first read it for my book club back when it was first published. It's such a rich, dark story. When I read it again a couple of weeks ago, as usual, I discovered whole new worlds in the story. This is generally what happens for me when I read something for the second time, especially if I wait many years between readings. It's not my normal mode to reread something at all, but I was vacationing and finished my book, and this was the only one available. I'm so glad I read it again.

Kingsolver tells such an intricate story. I love the way she interweaves the characters and tells this story from so many perspectives. I also appreciate the imperfection of all the characters. The historical lessons available in this novel were rich. It's one of those books that inspired me to go back and research the history drawn upon to tell the story.

Excellent reading!

it's so restful to read Eliot. soothing prose, fascinating character study, and all without preaching.

Wonderful. Simply wonderful. The climactic scene between Will and Dorothea is just begging to be put on film.

Okay I'm not all that fond of it. I found it entertaining in the fact that some of the characters are so blind by religion that their willing to jump to crazy conculsions. Also the fact that all the girls start acting weird just to get rid of people. Not all that great to me

Okay in truth I still haven't finished all the books yet, but the majority yes. In truth it is a book related to christianity, but it is not as 'linked' to it as it may seem from rumours. A non religious person can enjoy these books as much as an avid chirstian will. I think they are wonderfully written and have a way to make you wish you were a kid with a magic portal to a beautiful land.

I just couldn't get into it. I enjoyed the Inferno more than the other two sections; there's just nothing interesting about people who go to Paradise.

This book to me was (and is) not very intresting anymore. I've lost my taste for it, but I'm still determined to read it all the way through. This started out as a class read, but we only read bits and pieces. So I took it upon myself to read all of it. This is a good book for those who are religous and like to read such things. The story will take you on a journey with Dante to the Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise. This book on a private note (to the author) seems to be more of a revenge fantasy aimed at those who corrupted Italy, and Paradise is where he reunites with his love.

This is a book I borrowed from Justin, that his cousin gave him. Some of the chapters about accepting things as they are, relaxing, loving without asking anything, touched me deeply. A few I even copied into my journal.
But taken as a whole, with several of the chapters in particular, I felt that the philosophy of the book required the negation of everything I consider love. One cannot need, cherish or desire anything or anyone. de Mello says it is these desires and needs that make us unhappy. While I agree this can be true, I believe that to passively accept everything is not to truly love either.
I cannot accept that the outside world is unimportant.

I started this book because it's a classic and I vaguely remembered the film. I was sucked in pretty early in the novel and enjoyed reading it. It's pretty pat all through it, and the characters are all very idealized. The good men are strong, loyal, and clever, and the good women are beautiful and pure, and the bad characters are so treacherous and evil that you have to be glad when they get their due.
I think the clear cut nature of the book made it a predictable but fun read, almost like reading a really long children's story.

I didn't really expect to like this book much- it seemed like it was going to be a bit too new age-ish for me, and I'm generally not into stories about "finding oneself". There was a lot of that, but it was also couched in really interesting observations and experiences so I'm willing to forgive it.
My favorite part was in Italy, where she goes to eat. She discusses the notion of self-indulgence and how absurd it is that it's so looked down upon in our culture. Well placed, since I had been considering how self-indulgent her entire trip is. Her justification for that made me feel better about my own indulgences and also made me better disposed to the rest of the book.
The religious and cultural experiences in India and Bali seemed to me more contrived and less interesting. The end also seemed too simple and pat. But overall, I liked the book and enjoyed it immensely.

Read this book while on Spring Break with my family in Mexico. Loved it!

Started 29 Feb 2007

Finished 7 May 2007

Enjoyable, but for me not an life changing book like so many of my friends.

My one regret is that I watched the film before I read the book. This was amazing. Towards the end the tension was so great that I was spasming on the sofa.

Actually, my other regret is that I read Saturday before I read this, because the whole 'intruder in your house attacking your loved one(s)' thing felt a little tired, simply because it happened in both, and Saturday is so much more deserving of that feeling. In fact, Saturday seems to be Enduring Love's shadow the more I think about it - Ian McEwan walked the line beautifully between likeable and so-smugly-middle-class-they-should-have-seen-it-coming when he wrote Joe and Clarissa, whereas the Perowne family were consistently irritating. But that's not really revelant: the point is, Enduring Love is mindbending, mindowning, wonderful.

This book was a painful read. It started out with a lot of promise, but the interactions between Jed and Joe are so unbelievable and that I spent most of the book just shaking my head.

Clarissa and Joe are originally portrayed as having a very close, very connected, loving and bonded relationship. Within twenty-four hours of a tragic accident, Clarissa is suddenlty accusing her husband of being delusional and dishonest. Joe, as we've been told, is an extremely stable, methodical research scientist without a hint of a troubled mental health history.

So why the sudden mistrust? I hoped that perhaps this would be explained to me as I read further but alas, it just becomes more ridiculous and unbelievable.

Clarissa finally ends her relationship with Joe, at least temporarily. This after there is irrefutable evidence that Joe has been sane from the very beginning. Still, apparently, she perceives him as "cutting her out" and going it alone, despite the fact he spends most of the book trying to communicate his concerns to her.

I am baffled. What was this book really about?

I loved Ian McEwan's "Atonement" and "Saturday." This book, however, just seemed overwrought, long, and senseless. I never understood the obsession at all and was irritated by C's rightous attitude.

My one regret is that I watched the film before I read the book. This was amazing. Towards the end the tension was so great that I was spasming on the sofa.

Actually, my other regret is that I read Saturday before I read this, because the whole 'intruder in your house attacking your loved one(s)' thing felt a little tired, simply because it happened in both, and Saturday is so much more deserving of that feeling. In fact, Saturday seems to be Enduring Love's shadow the more I think about it - Ian McEwan walked the line beautifully between likeable and so-smugly-middle-class-they-should-have-seen-it-coming when he wrote Joe and Clarissa, whereas the Perowne family were consistently irritating. But that's not really revelant: the point is, Enduring Love is mindbending, mindowning, wonderful.