Mare Winningham Books

This book is an unexpected little gem from the front cover to the very end. I stumbled upon it travelling and dealing with serious medical issues and it has unpretentiously reinforced my spiritual strength, and sweetly comforted and inspired me. I have a special place in my heart for this book.

A marvelous book from beginning to end. The utter unpretentiousness of Maura O'Halloran's rich spiritual journuey is a miracle to encounter. It's so difficult, at book's end, to take leave of this shining young person, this quiet buddha , but she strengthens us for the inevitable by teaching so pure, so real, so necessary, that the natural world of our own lives is changed forever, charged with her abiding and beholden to her example. Others here have stated well the 'content' one finds in these pages; I wish only to say thank you to Maura's wise and devoted family for making the effort to provide us with these journals and family letters. Her mother's Introduction, with its simple and moving veneration of her daughter's life, sets a loving compass for the journey ahead; her sister Elizabeth's drawings are clearly pulled from her own heart, and her brother's afterword together give us an infinitely deep understanding of the means behind the meaning of this extraordinary young woman's life's journey. This is a book of great hope, abundant humor, and sure grace for anyone who reads it. Abundant recommendation without reserve; read it and walk anew the paths of love.

This is a book which reads more like a hagiography than a journal. Maura O'Hallaran's both time in training and understanding were, for want of better words; brief and comparatively small. She may well have been embarrassed by the book herself if alive today.

What moves me very much is the lilting, playful, droll voice of Maura O'Halloran. You would imagine that the Irish character and the Buddhist tradition are poles apart. Maura's passion whirls them together in an instant.
This book is a good companion indeed.

This book is a lovely tale of a life well lived. It is told in simple, clear prose. These pages describe what it means to be fully alive to reality. Maura shares with us what Zen is all about as a lived experience, rather than some abstraction, which, I suppose, is the only way it can be demonstrated. The book is full of quiet, irreverent, good humor, which is one of the qualities of Zen if I understand it correctly.

Maura tells us a lot about Zen in this book. More importantly, she tells us in poetic prose what it means to be fully attentive and absorbed in the present. What I take from this book is that living a good life, after the fog has lifted, is as simple as a...b...c.......
I

You know how Stephen King will sometimes give us a big, epic, plot-driven story ("The Stand", for instance), but then conclude such a story with a fifteen or twenty page epilogue that's mostly about introspection, melancholy, poetic musings, and revealing flashbacks (as if the author feels the need to give us a more subtle landing after five hundred pages of bombast)? Well, anyway, "Lisey's Story" is like one of those epilogues stretched to an entire book length. It's actually not bad, and there's even a little "plot" in the form of a psycho stalking the title character, but you're mainly getting the author in that "epilogue" mode.

I actually listened to this book on unabridged audio, read beautifully by the actress Mare Winningham, so maybe that's why I'm being kind. But, honestly, as long as you know you're not getting a visceral, plot-driven story like "Cell" or the "Dark Tower" books, you'll likely enjoy this tale of a writer and his demons, and the wife who is subjected to it all.

Lisey's Story is a rich and tender story about true love, loss and the dark crevasses that childhood abuse can etch on the human psyche. This tale was a beautiful thing. I would love to see more stories like this one.

This is the worst King book I have ever read. The first part of this book to irritate me was the entire section devoted to describing the discomfort of Lisey's underwear. It was so overdone that instead of making the scene seem more "real" it drew my attention away from the story and made me wonder if King was perhaps trying too hard to capture the female voice. As I continued to read King continued to irritate me. All of the made up words became nauseating. So did the references to sex. I believe the reason I was so sickened by these passages was the combination of the cutesy factor coupled with the out of nowhere sex bits. It sort of gave me the uncomfortable feeling one gets if they imagine a middle aged couple making out heavily in public while baby talking each other. That aside, for every event to occur I had to wade through a ton of boring memories and internal dialogue. Then there was the character of Lisey herself who was duller than dull. I have the feeling that if I met Lisey in real life I would detest her, though it is hard to picture her in real life since she just seemed to lack some essential characteristics. She was more like something a man imagining a woman would create and less like a real woman. I have tried to figure out why Lisey comes across as such a one dimensional character used as a back drop to display the gem of her husband and I believe it is because everything she thinks or does contains a reference to him or a reaction to something he has said or says, has done or is doing. Despite the fact that she does some pretty feisty things she doesn't come across as feisty only as a slightly dimwitted woman who does what circumstances require while constantly putting herself down. King fails to flesh out his character and the result is that I didn't care what happened to her. I also found it irritating that King at the end of the book attempts to defend his editor by basically saying that any editor of an author who writes a lot of books is apt to be criticized for not editing enough and proclaims that his editor actually did do a lot of editing. While I suppose trying to defend his editor is admirable it would do King well instead of getting so defensive to consider that maybe the reason why so many of his books receive this criticism is because there is some merit in it and perhaps (gasp) adjust his own writing style accordingly.

Having just read Stephen King's brilliant and generous tour-de-force "On Writing," I decided to read one of his books. In my opinion,
"Lisey's Story" is too slow. And after we've slogged through 200+ pages that have demonstrated the widow's raw grief we are told that prior to the opening events of the book (two years after her husband's death) Lisey had come to the point of "doing just fine." This is what in film would be called a "continuity glitch." I had the impression that King had put down the writing for a time, and then picked it up and got fascinated with creating the basis for a metaphor about waiting for water to come out of a long-unused wetbar pipe.
Elements of the plot and language at times felt organic, and at others contrived. Less might have been more.

"Lisey's Story" does have elements of magic. Black magic. I read some bits of it while on the treadmill at the gym, and I found that I was simply unable to keep my pulse within its usual range. "Lisey's Story" is an effectively disturbing book.
All of this said, I marvel at King's imagination, at his extraordinary capacity for observation and description ("worn pink swooshes" on an old pair of girls' beloved cowboy boots), and at his ability to let a story tell itself.

Started out interesting, strange, the way a true King novel reads, it became so bizzare that I could not even enjoy it, I had maybe 150 pages to go and I could not make myself finish this. Maybe the diehards will make it through this tangled web of confusion, if so Kudos to you!!!

The book started off pretty good, but about halfway, I felt like it repeated itself. I am a Hoffman fan, but this book truly was not one I would recommend. The characters were unbelievable. I disliked Sam and his sister, although I know that was not the intent of the author. I found myself skimming the last 4 or 5 chapters just to finish it.
The ending was pretty bad too.

Overall, the book was interesting and consuming.

The beginning was a little odd. These two said very little and then were in bed. He regretted it and, childishly, tried to get away. She followed hilm and ended up the love of his life.

Although he neglected her, he silently tried to do right by her. He raised her two children, but he was extremely distant. He was afraid to show love, and this trait rubbed off on his children.

This was a story of loss and emotional pain. It is a illustration of a dis-functional family.

I've read some of the other reviews here and decided to add my own view. This is the first novel I read by Hoffman and I'm impressed. I couldn't put the book down and read it over the weekend, loving the end of the book.

I have read here that Hoffman writes "magical" stories, but I found this one to be very grounded, very real life like, if it did happen somewhere ... especially in CT!!!

I recomend this novel to anyone who likes being drawn in to the story and feel the emotions of the characters.

Once again Alice Hoffman proves why she is such an interesting writer. Although her themes of slightly supernatural characters are her formula for each book she handles them in such different ways. This book is no exception and is welcome departure from some of her previous "witch" themes. Her characters are interesting and fully developed. Most important she makes them so fascinating and poignant that you don't want to stop reading until you get to the end. I liked the closure of this book because of the realistic way her characters bring conclusion to their life's dilemna. I can't say it was a happy ending such as you find in Practical Magic however it was a sensible one that did not leave you feeling cheated by the characters.

another good Hoffman book, not as intense or complex as some of her past stuff, but definitely a good, quick read...enjoyed the characters immensely

Mare Winningham does an excellent job narrating this two-CD audio version of Stephen King's long story. It doesn't feel long, though. This one is a well-built thrill ride, and King proves once again that he can reach into his bag of tricks and scare the daylights out of the listener. The story is simple almost to the point of bare-bones, but it has a lot of tension and plenty of surprises in store. Any fan of King who enjoys audiobooks will like this one. It's not profound, but it's great at what it does, gripping the listener in a vice of tension and suspense and not letting go. Saying any more would only risk spoiling this delightful treat for King's fans.

It's Stephen King, it's not too long, and it's beautifully read by Mare Winningham (who also read Lisey's Story on audio cd). It wasn't my favorite story by him, but it wasn't bad. It's definately suspenseful in parts, but I felt a little cheated at the end.

This story had me on the edge of my seat, begging to hear more and gasping in fear right along with Emily. I became Emily in my imagination and suffered along with her. Her fears were mine as well as her triumphs. This is one I will listen to again and share with my friends and family.

Having read and/or listened to nearly all of King's work (okay, uncle, I didn't make it through _Insomnia_ or _Lisey's Story_), I have to say that this falls somewhere between _Gerald's Game_ and _Rose Madder_. This isn't King at his worst, but he's not at his best either. Other than _The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon_ (and that was written from the kid's POV), I'm not at all sure that King does well when it comes to writing about women or from a woman's point of view. As was the case with Lisey, this female protagonist was neither believable nor particularly interesting, and the action was drawn-out waaaayyyy too long.

Oh, and I agree with another reviewer: just WHAT did the title have to do with ANYTHING?

The narrator was credible; she's a bit like Lindsay Crouse who did _Gerald's Game_, but I found myself glancing repeatedly at my iPod, wondering just how much longer I had to listen to the perils of Pauline.

If Florida is to become King's next "Maine" -- as it seems from this and _Duma Key_ -- then I hope he figures out something more interesting to do in such claustrophobic climes. _Duma Key_ was very good, but if I have to sit through one more island narrative, I might build myself a raft.

As usual good story, expected a longer one. He always keeps you on your toes.