Connecticut Books

While I enjoyed this story very much, it seemed to have two definite separate parts: one part contemporary love story, one part mystery. Not to complain, because I love detail and background and motivation in any plot, but, I kept anticipating the mystery part to happen and to have some sort of investigation take place! It seemed that it was a lot of plot buildup and the mystery part of the story seemed very glossed over and almost rushed at the end. This story could have been longer,with more thriller type things happening. I wouldn't have minded a longer book at all. It always kept my attention and kept the pages turning. I just wasn't satisfied with the mystery plotline. So, if you love romance, with a little thrill thrown in, this is for you. But, if you were looking for a real thriller/mystery you might be disappointed, but only a very little bit. I still felt it was a worthwhile read and I don't feel as if I was wasting my time.

Lainey, the main character, has to move in and take over her best friend's life aftger her friend is mysteriously killed. You go through all of Lainey's very real and believable problems - getting a ready-made family with two kids, dealing with a no-respect job, a failing love life, and figuring out exactly what happened to her best friend, Farrel, and Farrel's husband. This book is awesome and I couldn't put it down. I went out and bought all of Cynthia Victor's books after I read this one!

A certain elite university boasts (literally) an endowment of $5.7 billion (yes, billion with a B)--or did as of Tuesday, 16 September; you should add a million or two per day to get the approximate sum on the day you read this. On that same date the university announced that it will embark on a $1 billion (with a B) program to renovate the buildings on its campus. Yet just eighteen months ago, this same anonymous university--by far the biggest employer in one of the most economically depressed cities in the nation--engaged in a no-holds-barred campaign to break the two unions that represent its nonacademic labor force. And just before that, the university crushed the latest effort by the graduate students' union, which was seeking, before anything else, simply to get the university to admit the self-evident truth that teaching assistants are employees and that, as such, they have the right to bargain collectively.

This institution fosters an extreme but not atypical example of the condition described in this book's subtitle. The academic labor force in the United States, from the celebrated professor to the undervalued custodian, faces an unprecedented crisis, a crisis deftly delineated in the seventeen essays of this book, roughly half of which focus on the labor struggles at the above-unnamed (but named in the book) elite university. That struggle brought support from labor's allies nationwide, but in the end it did little to change the workers' status from what frighteningly parallels--as Stephen Watt puts it in the book's most poignant metaphor--that of miners trapped in a "company town," where the perverted law of supply and demand means that the company supplies the work, so the company can demand whatever conditions are to its liking.

The book does not pretend to bipartisanship, and at times polemic detracts from persuasiveness. But the best of the essays--like Watt's, Kathy Newman's, and particularly Michael Bérubé's--back up their rousing calls to collective action with coolly logical evidence and solidly ordered argument. This is an important book for anyone who is concerned with the state of labor and/or higher education; these days, who can afford not to be?

Will Teach For Food began as Social Text 49's "Yale Strike Dossier," which in turn grew out of a conference held at Yale to discuss the ramifications of the '95-'96 grade strike and the role of tenured faculty in persecuting advisees for union activity. Despite the omission of several key essays about the grade strike (Cynthia Young's "On Strike at Yale" from Minnesota Review 45&46, Corey Robin's "Blacklisted and Blue," (which may have been written after WTFF was published) and similar work by Gordon Lafer which appeared in Dissent, this first half or so of the book is indispensable. John Wilhelm's "Short History Of Unionization at Yale" provides a good framework for looking at the history of workers' struggles against taylorization and union-busting since the organization of maintenance and grounds workers in the late 1930s. Corey Robin and Michelle Stephens provide a solid account of the difficulties of organizing contingent academic workers, while Michael Berube takes yale's elite faculty to task for sabotaging students' academic careers and threatening them with deportation of union activity. Kathy M. Newman provides an insightful and funny analysis of the cultural meanings of and anxieties embodied in representations of graduate students in popular culture, also looking at the ways in which GESO negotiated these images and tropes in the early days of its organizing and at the tropes and images employed and mobilized by anti-union undergraduates to express their own particular anxieties regarding the prospect of TA unionization. The seconf half of the book takes a more structural look at graduate student unionization as a national movement and is a worthwhile companion piece to both the first half of the book, as well as to other volumes following a similar route.

During the summer since I had to read 2 books for homework, and I thought I'd try it. But even after 8 chapters I still didn't get it! I felt like going to sleep! I'd rather do a million math problem than read THAT!

One hot summer day in August, 10-year-old Winnie Foster sits on the front porch and thinks about running away. She goes into the woods, but she finds a boy named Jesse Tuck sitting underneath the biggest tree in the wood. After that, she finds herself on one of the greatest adventures ever. She meets the rest of the Tucks, who have had a twist of fate and ended up permanently immortal. Winnie learns lots of things about the value of life from the Tucks, and I was very satisfied with how the book ended.

Natalie Babbit has a magical way of turning a poetic novel into something that a sixth grader can enjoy again and again. I loved Tuck Everlasing, so maybe I will read some more of Natalie Babbit's work, such as Kneeknock Rise. If you enjoyed Tuck Everlasting as much as I did, maybe you should, too!

~Brooke G. 6th Grader at PWS Middle School~

The first week of August has brought a terrible heat to the little village called Treegap. 10-year-old Winnie Foster dreams of running away from home and into the woods her family owns. When she finally dares to go, Winnie discovers the Tuck family and the secret they've sworn to protect: a hidden fountain that bestows eternal life. She is swept up in the Tucks' lives and must decide if she will help them keep their secret from a stranger who threatens their way of life.

Natalie Babbitt's classic story forces readers to reexamine their own beliefs about life and death. Winnie Foster is forced to make some big decisions and, at times, she thinks and acts like someone older than ten. However, this fluctuation in character voice isn't as disconcerting as it would be in other texts; the story revolves around characters that are older than they appear. Tuck, the father of the family, speaks with a wisdom and sorrow that will stick with readers after they've finished the story. Babbitt uses a great deal of symbolism in Tuck Everlasting and the book can be read on multiple levels.

Yes!! Tuck Everlasting truly is one of the best books I have ever read. Natalie Babbit makes her writing poetic and yet exciting at the same time. I am the same age as Winnie Foster and I kind of know what it feels like to be fed up with being cooped up in a house. I absolutely loved the part where Winnie walks into the Tuck's home and describes it as, "...the gentle eddies of dust, the silver cobwebs, the mouse who lived-and welcome to him!-in a table drawer."
Now that I have read Tuck Everlasting, I think I will read Kneeknock Rise whick is also by Natalie Babbit. If you liked Tuck Everlasting; maybe you should too!

~Brooke G. 6th Grade~

Yes!! Tuck Everlasting truly is one of the best books I have ever read. Natalie Babbit makes her writing poetic and yet exciting at the same time. I am the same age as Winnie Foster and I kind of know what it feels like to be fed up with being cooped up in a house. I absolutely loved the part where Winnie walks into the Tuck's home and describes it as, "...the gentle eddies of dust, the silver cobwebs, the mouse who lived-and welcome to him!-in a table drawer."
Now that I have read Tuck Everlasting, I think I will read Kneeknock Rise whick is also by Natalie Babbit. If you liked Tuck Everlasting; maybe you should too!

A collection of sorts, based around the sixties experience and Vietnam, from early teenagerhood to many years later, following some people intersecting paths over the years. Maybe a touch autobiographical from what the author says in the intro.

The supernatural bad guys in the first long novella I think are likely from The Dark Tower series, which I have not read a lot of beyond some novellas that make up the first book.

Hearts In Atlantis : Low Men in Yellow Coats - Stephen King
Hearts In Atlantis : Hearts in Atlantis [short story] - Stephen King
Hearts In Atlantis : Blind Willie - Stephen King
Hearts In Atlantis : Why We're in Vietnam - Stephen King
Hearts In Atlantis : Heavenly Shades of Night are Falling - Stephen King

You can take me, but don't Breaker the boy.

3.5 out of 5


Hunt the Bitch in a little more moderation.

3.5 out of 5


Post Vietnam dodgy begging.

3 out of 5


Old mamasan ghost.

3.5 out of 5


Fits like an old glove.

3 out of 5




3.5 out of 5

This reading, which is also the Audible reading, may take some getting used to. Stephen King does relatively little acting here, while William Hurt apparently does none at all, yet by the end of the book I thought it was one of the finest dramatic readings I had ever heard.

Unlike what you may hear from Frank Mueller or Jim Dale, both readers seem to believe the text itself is sufficient to invoke the reader's emotion. King does this through a reading that sounds like his natural speaking voice. Yet, perhaps because this book has a special significance to him, his plain, unadorned reading, by careful use of pause and emphasis, sets a mood and draws out nuance and significance that I had missed by reading.

William Hurt uses very little in the way of accents or attempts to act different voices. His reading at first seemed interrupted by ill-timed pauses. Yet as the reading continued, I realized that he was using silence, pace, and emphasis to wring out tremendous emotion. The simple moments of childhood were fresh, the scenes of confrontation edgy in a way I have rarely felt in a reading, and in the confrontation between Bobby's mother and Ted, you can hear every twist and distortion in her soul.

I hope William Hurt reads more books and intent to listen to them.

Low Men in Yellow Coats, the first long (300+ pages) story from Hearts in Atlantis, is a story I've wanted to read ever since hearing about it in The Dark Tower Concordance. If you are a King fan, you already know about his epic series of seven novels, which starts with The Gunslinger, and continues with The Drawing of the Three, The Waste Lands, Wizard and Glass, The Wolves of the Calla, The Song of Susannah, culminating in The Dark Tower.
Since finishing the series and the Concordance, I've enjoyed another related story, "The Little Sisters of Eluria," plus the Marvel comic books (The Gunslinger Born, a series of seven comics which concluded last year, and now The Long Road Home, a series of five more that launched recently.) Plus, while looking through my own library, I just discovered a Special Stephen King issue of F&SF magazine from 1991 which has a long excerpt from The Drawing of the Three called "The Bear" which I practically inhaled last weekend. It's great to be able to continue to live off-and-on in this strange world King created. Ultimately, The Dark Tower series is a karmic journey, which loops back to its beginning like a Möbius Strip.
Low Men is a coming of age story about a boy named Bobby who lives with his bitter and damaged mom in a boarding house, and Bobby's relationship with Ted Brautigan, one of the "breakers" from the Dark Tower series. The Low Men are Can-toi, demon soldiery of the Crimson King, sent to our world to bring Ted back to the world of the Dark Tower, and they amply fulfill their obligation to scare the living piss out of Bobby, (and readers like me!)

This book is actually two novels and some shorts stories with
a common thread. The first novel is an east coast Garrison Keillor with a PSI
grandpa added. The second is a college dorm story from the '60's about
a scholarship student. These two are pretty good, but the short stories except for the end one are dreadful.
I think he could have made a great novel of the first one by sticking to actual autobiographical material.
As it stands it leaves me, as most of Stephen King's work does,
feeling unclean for having read it. Last time I
read one of these I said to myself I wouldn't read anymore
of his trash...

I loved the movie so much that I wanted to read the book. The book had dark and creepy undertones, where the movie didn't show that at all. The movies made growing up in the sixties look fun, the book was strange, for example cars weren't really cars, they were alive. Movie was great, book not so much.

I read this book when I was ten, and loved it so much that I read it again.
This was in the late 60's and I still have it. Great story.

My office mate and I exchange book, and one day the Witch of Blackbird Pond was on my desk. I remembered reading this book in late elementary school and that I liked it. I decided to give it a go at age 28 and still enjoyed. Yes, now, some of the romance and struggles seem a tad childish, but the character IS childish, so I suppose it is par for the course. None the less, the basic message, 'everyone who is worth liking doesn't always fit in' is still a good one.

The Witch of Blackbird Pond is the perfect book for adolescent girls who are interested in love stories. The novel uses language that is true to the times and deals with the subject of Quakers and witch craft. I read this book when I was an adolescent and fell in love with Kit. Her character really comes to live throughout the pages of the book. Upon reading it again, I have renewed my appreciation for the main character and her trials and tribulations.

I read this as an adult for my mother-daughter book club. I thought it was amazing (though my 9 year old only likes it so-so.) While at its heart an age-old story of feeling like you don't fit in and looking for love, The Witch of Blackbird Pond's setting is what made this book so extraordinary for me. It takes place in the late 1600s in the Connecticut Colony (one of the locations is just a few miles from where I grew up). The descriptions of Puritanical life are quite well drawn, and -- as a Native New Englander -- somewhat familiar. I can see how my view of the world has been shaped by my Puritanical New England ancestors. This characterization, more than anything, is probably what made the book so compelling for me (and not surprisingly, not obvious to my daughter). I can highly recommend this book -- unless you are 9. :-)

I originally read this way back in jr. high and sadly only remember being entranced by it--not recalling any of the plot. I finally got around to the rereading and recalled why I had the original feeling of enchantment. This is one good book.

Kit Tyler is a sixteen-year-old girl who leaves Barbados after her grandfather's death for the more austere world of Puritan New England to say with her aunt's family. But Kit is completely unprepared for the ways of these people. Even so, she manages to grow in unimaginable ways as she connects with people with whom she would have never seen herself.

And it's not a simple moralistic book. It's a book about a girl coming of age. Unlike other books of the Puritans, there are no villains, just those who are different and it's amazing to see Kit come to understand that.

The characters are entrancing and dimensional, the setting is described in an honest prose that only shows Speare's love of New England.

It deserves its Newberry.

My son needed this for a school report. It is a very good book for middle school revolutionary war study. It came a day sooner than expected, I got 2 day shipping and it came in 1 business day. Extremely satisfied with condition, speed and product.

Maybe I don't read enough Revolutionary War fiction to have the best idea of its focus, but it seems to me that a good deal of it celebrates and romanticizes the war. And why not? It was freedom from oppression. It was the birth of nation. We know about Valley Forge and all of that suffering, but I think that too many people forget that the Revolutionary War was just that: a war. This story focuses on Tim, a young boy forced to grow up on the homefront. His elder brother Sam is an idealistic freedom fighter and his father is a loyal Tory--or maybe just someone who is anti-war. Tim is caught between them as the war rages on with all its ugliness.In the end, it's hard to tell whether this book is for or against the revolutionists who formed America. But that's not the point. The point is that it is the innocent who always suffer, no matter what the war's objective.

This is a great read for teens. I recommend for those who have not yet fallen in love with reading. Would have given 5 stars, but author fails to deal with some essential issues of that time.

It is a very interesting book. It talks about a boy named Tim who has trouble deciding if he was a tory or patriot.His brother goes to war as apatriot and leaves his family in danger by taking the brown bess from them. Tim hasn't experienced war yet, but he knows that his family are tories.His family makes there annual trip to verplanks point. He betrays his father to help Mr.Heron to deliever a letter. He meets cowboys who hate Tories. THey almost get killed. on the way back his father gets ambushed and gets set on a British prison ship and dies of chorela.War haa finally come to Redding ,Tim's home town. The British take the Rebel leaders and kill them.Later a execution is held at Redding. they were going to kill Sam.

It is a very interesting book. It talks about a boy named Tim who has trouble deciding if he was a tory or patriot.His brother goes to war as apatriot and leaves his family in danger by taking the brown bess from them. Tim hasn't experienced war yet, but he knows that his family are tories.His family makes there annual trip to verplanks point. He betrays his father to help Mr.Heron to deliever a letter. He meets cowboys who hate Tories. THey almost get killed. on the way back his father gets ambushed and gets set on a British prison ship and dies of chorela.War haa finally come to Redding ,Tim's home town. The British take the Rebel leaders and kill them.Later a execution is held at Redding. they were going to kill Sam.

No offense to HARR POTTER fans, but I believe that this book beat all the Harry Potter books. I needed to find a book report book over 150 pages and I had just bought this one and I liked sharks and started to read it. Soon enough I was hooked. Yes, it's true that it doesn't really have to do anything about a shrk, but it hooks like a snap. This is my favorite book in the whole world. But I warn you, DO NOT READ THIS BOOK AFTER DARK!! It's really scary. If you have read JAWS and then seen the movie and don't like JAWS anymore, trust me you'll love this book by Peter benchly!!! A great book report book.

DO NOT READ THIS BOOK AFTER DARK!! I mean it!

First of all, the menacing creature in the book is not a white shark; it's not even close to being one. They just slapped that title on here because Benchley wrote "Jaws" and they wanted to cash in on it. Second of all, what the creature actually is is so completely ridiculous that it loses the power to frighten the reader. If you need a cheap summer thriller to burn through in a day or two, there are probably others out there that have at least a shred of credibility to make it interesting. How many more dead deer and sea lions do we have to see to build endless suspense for something silly?

OK, I love Peter Benchley & have all his books. This one was a bit of a miss for me. (Spoilers ahead - Stop reading if you haven't read the book) - I just can't suspend my disbelief this far. I can believe in monsters of all sorts - especially since one only has to read the headlines to see that they are out there in all imaginable forms. However, I had some trouble thinking that a half man-half shark Nazi had survived in a box for 50 years and now was wreaking havoc. Also, the ability to go onto land was a bit fanciful. It was a well written book, and Benchley always makes us care about the characters. Its amazing how this man does it... Anyhow, this book just wasn't for me, but it does have a very very cool ending - if you can handle the pressure! (Pun intended)

I can't wait for your next one Mr. Benchley!


Relic113

i love this book. it was about 300 pages long and i read it in 2 days (thats including all of the times i had to stop and eat, or sleep). this is one of my favorite books. its a must read if u like action/scary books!

OK, I love Peter Benchley & have all his books. This one was a bit of a miss for me. (Spoilers ahead - Stop reading if you haven't read the book) - I just can't suspend my disbelief this far. I can believe in monsters of all sorts - especially since one only has to read the headlines to see that they are out there in all imaginable forms. However, I had some trouble thinking that a half man-half shark Nazi had survived in a box for 50 years and now was wreaking havoc. Also, the ability to go onto land was a bit fanciful. It was a well written book, and Benchley always makes us care about the characters. Its amazing how this man does it... Anyhow, this book just wasn't for me, but it does have a very very cool ending - if you can handle the pressure! (Pun intended)

I can't wait for your next one Mr. Benchley!

Like most of her work, Steel pulls the reader in with an intriguing storyline. Unfortunately, she blathers on wayyyy too long with the conflict Victoria/Olivia have with the 'switch'. She could have skipped about 200 pages in the middle of this epic. Once the twins finally do take the 'no turning back' switch it gets good again. Overall, great read, good history, well developed characters.

I'm not the biggest Danielle Steele fan because I think a lot of her work is sappy and predictable. This is the second time that I read Mirror Image and will probably read it again. Though the story line is far fetched it is enjoyable. This book was a page turner.

To me, this book was far too long for the plot. I became so bored just waiting for something to happen that I quit the book right in the middle; skimmed to the end to see who the killer was. The plot would have been a good one had she not drug it out so long.

The plot itself made me want to read this book. I found it intriguing how it revolved around a pair of beautiful twins who are identical only in appearance. The fact that Victoria had an affair with a married player causes her father to engage her to Charles. However, Olivia is obviously the one suited to him. She's the one who finds him respectful and whom adores his child. The new engagement is convenience only on both parts of the party. There is no love. Victoria marries to cover the scandal of the affair and Charles needs a mother for his child. Victoria eventually convinces Olivia to switch. She wants to go to the battlefields. Victoria sinks in a ship but later is discovered that she is actually alive. From that point on, both the twins find love. And voila, you got the plot.

And yet, it was just so poorly written at times!(the first half anyway). There were many times where Danielle Steel kept talking about 1)how identical they looked 2)how beautiful they were 3)how Charles felt Victoria was more wild and fiesty. 4)how ppl kept staring at their remarkable beauty. It just started getting corny after a while and I found myself rolling my eyes at times. I get the point after the first 5 times...

I love Danielle Steel's books but this one isn't as good as some of her others. For another book with almost identical plot, I suggest reading 'Deceptions' by Judith Michael.

I have read most of Danielle steel's early 90's late 80's work, and they, in my opinion, are her best and most prolific novels.
Not even comparing Mirror Image with those beautifully written novels, I would still give this book a 1 star-rating.


Steel portrays the twins as a hackneyed personality split of GOODvsEVIL,in a one-dimensional characterization. The "evil" one is a selfish, spoiled brat with an empathetic scale of a psychopath, while the "good" one is vicariously living through her sister's escapades and cleaning up her messes because she is too boring and dull to create an interesting life for herself. Meanwhile, a prudish lawyer walks into their lives and falls in love with the boring one while desiring the selfish one and confuses his feelings for the two so often he marries the wrong one who loathes him in bed and out-ridiculous! Predictably the good sister says and does nothing, like the martyr that she supposedly is and yet she has no problem switching places with her sister(when the evil sister runs away and forces the good one to take her place) and sleeping with her sister's husband-too incestuous for my taste!


In short, skip this novel it was truly ridiculous. I would recommend Zoya, The Ring, Remembrance, Palomino, To Love again, and many others of her early work.

A boy is killed by a hit and run driver. The family members blame themselves, disintingration of the home, etc. etc.

This should be a moving story and the characters should be easy to sympathize with, but it's not and they're not. Though written by a male author, he doesnt' succeed in crafting male characters well, much less female characters. The only thing that saves this book is that each section, narrated by a different character, is short, otherwise no single character could hold your attention beyond, say, 3 pages.

What really grates on me is the banal stuff found in so many novels: obnoxious, unreasonable women, tough but tender guys, and perfectly wonderful children. Then there's the typical abuse of the cop, by the victim's parents, during every conversation they have with him. You know how it goes, the cop is a disinterested idiot, the parents are so superior in their grief.......

I just could not sympathize with anyone here, not even the moody violinist kid who was killed. This is a flat but fast read not the worth the list price.

I don't usually write reviews.
I've not hated a book as much as I hated this book.
The characters in this books live in the 21st century?
Of-course the author's intention is to present a tragic situation.
And it surely is, but how can any reader suspend believe that these people live in a fairly educated environment, yet none of them have friends to comfort them in some way and care for them? No one came to visit after the tragic death of a boy?
The author mentioned after the funeral visitors brought food and sympathy. What happen to these people? That's unbelievable!
I am really surprised at the editor of this book. Since this is only the author's second book. I think he needs to rethink his next one, if he really wants to be a novelist.

Though the subject matter of this book was very tragic I still enjoyed this book tremendously. The author taking each of these characters and letting you see into their minds,hearts, and souls, is what really fuels this book after then initial tragedy. The book flows really well and it is an easy read. I can't wait to see the movie which will be released on dvd Jan. 22nd.

Sunday, July 24, 1994. 8:45 PM...

Waiting for his family to come out of the gas station where they stopped to let his little sister Emma go to the bathroom, ten-year-old Josh Learner stood by the side of Reservation Road. Then a car came around the curve and knocked Josh thirty feet into the nearby shrubbery.

Local attorney Dwight Arno was in a hurry. The Red Sox game he had taken his (also ten-year-old) son Sam to went into extra innings. As Sam's noncustodial parent, he was expected to return Sam home sharply at seven. It was already almost nine. He didn't see Josh until it was too late.

But he didn't stop. The impact made Sam scream. Worried that it had somehow redone some of the damage caused by Dwight's own fist (it was an accident but was also totally preventable) years ago, Dwight continued on, wanting to get Sam home even faster now.

Ethan Learner, Josh's father, saw it all happen as he exited the gas station on his way back to the car. But it was dark, so he didn't see the driver, the color of the car, or the license plate. When the policeman at the scene tells him later that it is very possible the driver will never be caught, Ethan decides to pursue his own justice.

For me to go any further with this description would be to give away the closest thing Reservation Road has to a plot twist. It is purely literary fiction, after all, simply disguised as a crime thriller. In fact, after the crime is committed in the first few pages, there is little in the way of "action." What author John Burnham Schwartz does instead is put the reader in the minds of Dwight, Ethan, and Ethan's wife Grace as they go through the aftermath of the tragedy.

I got interested in Reservation Road from seeing the trailer for the recent film adaptation. The premise was intriguing, but I didn't expect a movie to be able to tackle the subject matter with enough depth, so I sought out the book.

It was a stroke of brilliance to have the audiobook of Reservation Road read by three different people. This helps the listener delve even deeper into the individual psyches of the characters. And "individual" is the right word. There is never any chance that the reader is going to get characters confused because Schwartz (or is that Burnham Schwartz?) has created three distinctly different personalities, and he is not clear as to which characters we are supposed to like and which ones deserve our derision.

I used to read a lot of literary fiction, but I stopped because of the popular interest in character over story. Reservation Road is an example of how both can be done well together -- a compelling story with people that really exist, and a level of suspense that is unmatched, primarily because these are people we've come to know intimately.

These are not characters we've seen before in other books. There are books you read, and there are books you live. Reservation Road is one of the latter. It's a book that I believe will stay with me always.

The world shatters in a single instant. One moment ten-year-old Josh Learner is standing beside the road, the next moment he's dead, the victim of a hit and run driver. His father Ethan observes the devastating accident. Ethan's wife Grace and daughter Emma are in the restroom of the rural gas station. The dark colored car continues on into the night, leaving behind a tragic death that must be dealt with from all sides.

Dwight Arno is late returning his son back to his mother on his single visitation day. It had been a good day, the ballgame going into extra innings. He has a horrible past with his ex and his son, having lost control of himself when his ex-wife Ruth first told him of her affair and her intent to divorce him. Dwight his Ruth, then accidentally hit his son who'd come from his room to investigate the sounds of the fight. Dwight is desperate, after years of not being able to see his son at all, to be the father he should be to young Sam. Losing control of his car on Reservation Road, Dwight is the man who hits and kills young Josh Learner, the same age as his own son. (this is not a spoiler, its revealed early in the book. The book isn't a "whodunit" mystery)

The book is written in three POV's (Point of View), Ethan, Grace, and Dwight. The interesting part is that Ethan and Dwight are written in first person, and Grace is written in third person. It works extremely well because Grace becomes so disconnected from real life. While not being a "thriller", there are many tense moments in the book, wondering what our characters are going to do with their thoughts and their lives.

The characters themselves are so fully fleshed out that you'll feel you know them personally. Grace falls into a depression that stops her entire life, Dwight is eaten with guilt and finds himself having more difficulty with his son Sam because of the horrible beast he believes himself to be. Ethan is eaten up with thoughts of revenge, desperate to find his son's killer. The scene where Ethan confronts the police for dropping his son's file into the cold cases is highly emotional and very well written.

'Reservation Road' is an poignant and intimate look into the human psyche after unbelievable tragedy. Coping seems impossible. Each character seems to eat themselves alive through one emotional way or another. Can Grace find her life again? Can Dwight let go of his fear? Can Ethan let go of his horrid anger? I can't recommend this book highly enough. The storyline, the prose, the characterizations are all perfect. The book is a journey through life's most horrid tragedy, seen through the eyes of victim and perpetrator. Its hard to even lay blame here because of all of the characters have their own exposed flaws. The ending will surprise you. It's an ending I had to stop and ponder before writing this review. Whether you consider it climactic or anticlimactic, it will definitely touch your soul.

Again, I highly recommend this book. Enjoy!

This is a short, highly-readable slice of life that rings utterly true. Lord knows I've eaten often enough at Red Lobster restaurants and always enjoyed it, while scarcely giving a thought to those who work there. O'Nan takes you inside their world, in which blue-collar professionalism flourishes here and there but is always under siege by corporate indifference and difficult personal circumstances. And, sometimes, the weather. If you suspect we're drifting toward "two Americas" you need to read this small masterpiece.

Last Night at the Lobster I purchased this book for 4 reasons:

1.) The cover grabbed my attention

2.) The size of the book....not for a shorter read, but because for some reason, I have always managed to pick up this sized book, and it has always been an enjoyable, thoughtful read for me. A touch of fiction with some reality mixed in.

3.) The back cover recommendations

4.) I always look at the first page to see if I like the writing style of the author....especially in the summer months.

Unfortunately, the old saying, "Never judge a book by it's cover," seemed to fit this go around for me....I did like Stewart O'Nan's writing, but I kept waiting for something to happen....

Manny, the manager is a down-to-earth, hardworking guy, who is the manager at a restaurant that is closing that night. He's sensitive, and always thinks about others--his customers as well as his employees...but also is a worrier and a dreamer...what if....?, seems to be his mantra's life story. I realize the importance of looking at everyone's situation, and seeing the little guy in the picture of life...but for entertainment purposes, which is the way I looked towards this book, it wasn't for me.

I felt the storyline didn't really go anywhere...it just ended. I just kept waiting for something to happen, and nothing ever did. I would not recommend this for a comfortable, relaxed read.

The writing was my style, I suppose the theme wasn't!

For the last night at another chain restaurant, this story is a one afternoon read for any restaurant working veteran. The everydays that make a restaurant's pulse race as well as slow are channeled through a narration is captured concisely and swiftly. The book almost makes one proud to be part of a culture of restaurants, but at the same time is striking as to how so many of our clubs are the same all over the strip malls to the hole in the walls to the big cities. Funny, touching and a bit sad. Lonely but conjoined. Worth the time to read.

Manny is the manager of Red Lobster, in Con. Corporate says it isn't making enough money, so tonight is the last night. Manny wonders who will show tonight for the last night. He is taking a few of them with him when he switches to Olive Garden. It is also a blizzard this final day, which could have an impact on their last day.

Manny has a girlfriend that is pregnant, Denna, but he also used to have a relationship with one of the waitresses. He is still in love a bit with her; replaying a lot of memories and what if's throughout the book.

Manny goes and starts his day like normal. Who comes in to work this final day? Who stays for the whole day, regardless of the weather outside? How many customers actually come in? What will Manny think upon his final minutes in the Red Lobster? (final in a sense because he has to go back the next day for a few hours)

Read this book, you can read it in ONE sitting! It was an enjoyable book, however it was a bit predictable and just OK for me.

Last Night at the Lobster chronicles the last day of business for a New Britain, Connecticut Red Lobster location from the perspective of the restaurant's long-time general manager, Manny DeLeon. I can't imagine a more banal subject, but O'Nan handles the narrative with supreme grace and sensitivity and with plenty of empathy for his characters. Manny is sweetly sentimental as he goes through his last-day tasks and interacts with the staff he's grown to love. The entire novel spans just one day, and this limited focus gives O'Nan plenty of room to focus on the details (like the six steps Manny must follow to turn on the snow blower he uses to clear the parking lot of the effects of a winter blizzard). Although unapologetically limited in scope, Last Night at the Lobster is perfect for what it is trying to accomplish.