Tara Road |
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Maeve Binchy
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Pages: 656 (Paperback)
ISBN: 0752876864
Pub: Orion
Pub date: 1999-04-30
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 154345
Editorial Review:
Amazon.com Oprah Book Club(r) Selection, September 1999: Against all odds, two newlyweds manage to buy the house of their dreams. In 1982, property speculation is beginning to be a big, big thing in Dublin--and their street is very much in an up-and-coming part of town. "They laughed and hugged each other. Danny Lynch from the broken-down cottage in the back of beyond and Ria Johnson from the corner house in the big, shabby estate were not only living like gentry in a big Tara Road mansion, they were actually debating what style of dining table to buy." But for its various inhabitants, the street is to become a boulevard of dreams--some broken, others created anew. Maeve Binchy has long proved herself a secure hand at multiple story lines, and over the course of 500 satisfying pages she focuses on Ria; her best friend, Rosemary Ryan, a beautiful, endlessly selfish career woman; Gertie, the battered wife of a drunkard; and several other intriguing women, each of whom has secrets not to be shared. There is even an all-knowing fortune teller who early on hints that Ria will travel and start a successful business--two things she knows are definitely not in the offing. Yet after our supposedly happy housewife and mother of two is confronted by some inexorable home truths, a chance phone call from America will change her life, forcing her to discard her illusions about men, women and marriage and start all over again. At the same time, the Connecticut caller, Marilyn Vine, has her own lessons to learn when she and Ria swap houses for the summer. Yet there's nothing remotely preachy about this novel--even the bad guys (and yes, they're usually guys) and beautiful mistresses get to maintain some appeal. Instead, Tara Road is a stirring look at the reality behind our consuming fantasies, and a page-turner to boot. --Siobhan Carson
Reader Reviews:
If you have high blood pressure and you`re not supposed to get worked up - (0/1 people found this helpful)
- you`ll be safe with this. I suppose this would be classed as `light reading.` Anybody got a match...?
A PLEASURE TO READ (6/6 people found this helpful)
If I want to read a lovely warm, affectionate family book I usually pick up a Maeve Binchy. Tara Road, I think, is one of her best books. It's got love, friendship and passion and on the flipside has cheating husbands, devious best friends and mistresses galore. There is more than one story going on here, the main one is Ria and Danny Lynch and these two are followed throughout their lives in each chapter. But there are so many sub-stories which add to the depth of the main story and keeps the interest up. Ria's mother, sister, best friend, Danny's business partner, not to mention the local restaurateur all have their own stories intertwining. The book then introduces Marilyn in America who has her own problems and on the spur of the moment both Marilyn and Ria decide to do a house swap. This part of the book is very interesting in that it shows up the warm friendly qualities of Ria and the lack of them in Marilyn. Overall this is a very enjoyable read.
How Do You Play the Hand You're Dealt? (2/4 people found this helpful)
Tara Road's strength is that you get an unusual degree of character development, both in quantity and quality. Many new novels reveal an unchanging character through one incident, combined with a brief reference or two to what the person was like when younger. Tara Road instead builds a long-term picture of the values, motives, and perspectives of a variety of characters by exposing them to ordinary life issues in both small and large ways. The characters often change in subtle and important ways, and they seem more real as a result. This connection is much like what you observe with family members, friends, and neighbors.
Each character has the same flaw, an inability to see themselves objectively. The point seems to be that we are all fallible in that way. Eventually, developments occur that strip away some of that self-deception. How each person handles the reality is the ultimate test of what their essential characters are like. The good are reinforced in doing the right thing, and the corrupt drift off with the tides to their own best advantage.
The book is also noteworthy for its structure. The first half deals with a series of family, friends, and neighbors in Dublin over more than a decade. It would make a novel in and of itself. Then a crisis shifts everyone's relationships to each other. To explore what this means, Ms. Binchy sets up an unusual plot device. Two women who are hurting, but do not know one another, exchange homes for two months to help them deal with their issues. In the process, they find that they exchange more than homes, and both grow from what they learn about the other person's life and issues. I was fascinated to see how this part of the book developed, and enjoyed it very much.
I did not grade the book as a five-star effort because many themes are just dropped in with little explanation. In particular, there are a lot of people who have compromised their integrity. We are told that they did it, but we never quite get a full sense of what they did and why. So the perspective is as though you are hearing some vague gossip from someone who doesn't really know the facts. Some major plot developments are handled in exactly the same way. After it's all over, you wonder what in the world that development meant and where it came from. Ms. Bincy would be well advised to avoid writing mysteries, because of this tendency to be casual about details. I could not really imagine any reason that the story should have so much vagueness, when so much else is made crystal clear, other than from undealt-with plot development flaws.
I found that I cared about these characters, even the most flawed ones, much more than almost any other fictional characters I have read about in years. The book made a significant emotional impact on me, and I thank Ms. Binchy for making that possible! People who have experienced personal losses will find this book full of potential strength.
After you finish reading this book, consider for a moment what you may be missing about yourself. Who could help you get a more objective view?
Engage important issues before they overwhelm you!
How Do You Play the Hand You're Dealt? (0/3 people found this helpful)
Tara Road's strength is that you get an unusual degree of character development, both in quantity and quality. Many new novels reveal an unchanging character through one incident, combined with a brief reference or two to what the person was like when younger. Tara Road instead builds a long-term picture of the values, motives, and perspectives of a variety of characters by exposing them to ordinary life issues in both small and large ways. The characters often change in subtle and important ways, and they seem more real as a result. This connection is much like what you observe with family members, friends, and neighbors.
Each character has the same flaw, an inability to see themselves objectively. The point seems to be that we are all fallible in that way. Eventually, developments occur that strip away some of that self-deception. How each person handles the reality is the ultimate test of what their essential characters are like. The good are reinforced in doing the right thing, and the corrupt drift off with the tides to their own best advantage.
The book is also noteworthy for its structure. The first half deals with a series of family, friends, and neighbors in Dublin over more than a decade. It would make a novel in and of itself. Then a crisis shifts everyone's relationships to each other. To explore what this means, Ms. Binchy sets up an unusual plot device. Two women who are hurting, but do not know one another, exchange homes for two months to help them deal with their issues. In the process, they find that they exchange more than homes, and both grow from what they learn about the other person's life and issues. I was fascinated to see how this part of the book developed, and enjoyed it very much.
I did not grade the book as a five-star effort because many themes are just dropped in with little explanation. In particular, there are a lot of people who have compromised their integrity. We are told that they did it, but we never quite get a full sense of what they did and why. So the perspective is as though you are hearing some vague gossip from someone who doesn't really know the facts. Some major plot developments are handled in exactly the same way. After it's all over, you wonder what in the world that development meant and where it came from. Ms. Bincy would be well advised to avoid writing mysteries, because of this tendency to be casual about details. I could not really imagine any reason that the story should have so much vagueness, when so much else is made crystal clear, other than from undealt-with plot development flaws.
I found that I cared about these characters, even the most flawed ones, much more than almost any other fictional characters I have read about in years. The book made a significant emotional impact on me, and I thank Ms. Binchy for making that possible! People who have experienced personal losses will find this book full of potential strength.
After you finish reading this book, consider for a moment what you may be missing about yourself. Who could help you get a more objective view?
Engage important issues before they overwhelm you!
How Do You Play the Hand You're Dealt? (0/3 people found this helpful)
Tara Road's strength is that you get an unusual degree of character development, both in quantity and quality. Many new novels reveal an unchanging character through one incident, combined with a brief reference or two to what the person was like when younger. Tara Road instead builds a long-term picture of the values, motives, and perspectives of a variety of characters by exposing them to ordinary life issues in both small and large ways. The characters often change in subtle and important ways, and they seem more real as a result. This connection is much like what you observe with family members, friends, and neighbors.
Each character has the same flaw, an inability to see themselves objectively. The point seems to be that we are all fallible in that way. Eventually, developments occur that strip away some of that self-deception. How each person handles the reality is the ultimate test of what their essential characters are like. The good are reinforced in doing the right thing, and the corrupt drift off with the tides to their own best advantage.
The book is also noteworthy for its structure. The first half deals with a series of family, friends, and neighbors in Dublin over more than a decade. It would make a novel in and of itself. Then a crisis shifts everyone's relationships to each other. To explore what this means, Ms. Binchy sets up an unusual plot device. Two women who are hurting, but do not know one another, exchange homes for two months to help them deal with their issues. In the process, they find that they exchange more than homes, and both grow from what they learn about the other person's life and issues. I was fascinated to see how this part of the book developed, and enjoyed it very much.
I did not grade the book as a five-star effort because many themes are just dropped in with little explanation. In particular, there are a lot of people who have compromised their integrity. We are told that they did it, but we never quite get a full sense of what they did and why. So the perspective is as though you are hearing some vague gossip from someone who doesn't really know the facts. Some major plot developments are handled in exactly the same way. After it's all over, you wonder what in the world that development meant and where it came from. Ms. Bincy would be well advised to avoid writing mysteries, because of this tendency to be casual about details. I could not really imagine any reason that the story should have so much vagueness, when so much else is made crystal clear, other than from undealt-with plot development flaws.
I found that I cared about these characters, even the most flawed ones, much more than almost any other fictional characters I have read about in years. The book made a significant emotional impact on me, and I thank Ms. Binchy for making that possible! People who have experienced personal losses will find this book full of potential strength.
After you finish reading this book, consider for a moment what you may be missing about yourself. Who could help you get a more objective view?
Engage important issues before they overwhelm you!
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