Customer Reviews

Black and Blue (Oprah's Book Club)

5 star:		(197)
4 star:		(134)
3 star:		(78)
2 star:		(50)
1 star:		(27)

 

 

Anna Quindlen is one of my Favorite Authors and I have to say that Black and Blue has to be her at her finest. This was a book I was not able to put down at all. The characters are very realistic and you get a true understanding of all the emotions that they are feeling.

Fran Benedetto, a nurse who lives in NYC and seems to be happily married to her husband Bobby but she is a victim of Domestic Violence. The book deals more with Fran trying to escape her situation by going underground and assuming a new identity with her son Robert but its extremely hard to run away from a police officer. I was able to feel the suspense on every page wondering if or when her husband would catch up to her.

Anna Quindlen does an excellent job describing each and every emotion that Fran must have been feeling and this book gave me a new understanding of Spousal Abuse. This book is a real pageturner and it is one I would highly recommend and I would also highly recommend One True Thing also written by Ms. Quindlen.

[Warning: a review below by "Drea248" unwittingly divulges a crucial element in the story line. Though a positive review, if you plan on reading this book, avoid the review.]

Anna Quindlan's latest work of fiction "Black and Blue" has the potential to do what few so called "women's books" are able to accomplish, have an intrinsic appeal which serves both genders. This is a story with the ability to be accessible on many levels and that is one of its strengths.

This is a book about women, about children, about men, about the building up and breaking down of relationships, about strength and weakness, about truth, about secrets, about courage, and about trust. It is enlightening, entertaining, and exciting; once started it will be difficult to put down. This is not an easy book to read or forget.

The issues raised, some resolved some not, remind us of the frailties and shortcomings we experience in our own lives. Hopefully the main topic is one with which many are personally unfamiliar. The description of the effort involved to achieve escape velocity from the gravitational pull of an old life is simultaneously interesting and frightening. But can you really escape?

This is the focal point of the story. The day-to-day events of the principal characters as they establish their new lives is beautifully and touchingly developed in every way, you almost forget how the main characters arrived where they are. Present experiences are cleverly woven with past memories throughout the narrative. However, this is a story that also has all of the underlying tension and menace of a good suspense novel, neither of which are ever very far from the surface.

I read this book about a year ago, and was deeply tocuhed by the story Quindlen told. I am son of a battered woman and while never witness to the attacks my father inflicted on my mother, this book allowed me to expereince her pain. The book afforded me the opportunity to find the truth behind what it means to be abused, to have one's dignity and self respect stripped from one's being day by day hit by hit verbal barb by verbal barb. The thing that I found most compelling about Quindlen's novel is that she did not conclude the story with a "pretty bow on the box". While it is true that brusies and scars heal, victims of domestic abuse never truly recover from being abused, as the psychological scars stay with them their entire lives. I applaud this book for its honesty, and I found Quindlen's character developemnt of Fran and the exploration of her internal motivations to be very compelling. This is an excellent book for readers who want to know about the impact domestic violence has its victims and the ripple effects the experience of being abused has on victims lives.

I gave this book three stars, because it, in some respects, is typical Anna Quindlen. Well-written, with a well-paced plot, lyrical flow, and gentle style.

I could not, however, ever quite manage to transcend my dislike for the main character. Yes, Fran has been victimized, and, yes, she has flaws and is imperfect and human like the rest of us. Her behavior, however, is so disjointed and dislikeable, it was impossible to warm up to her, and a remark the character makes toward the end of the book makes it clear she has learned nothing from her experience. In her effort to show the strained dance between abuser and abused, perpertrator and victim, Ms. Quindlen creates a character who, despite her best efforts, would enable the same behavior that nearly destroyed her.

This story left me with very little hope for any of the main characters. A real disappointment from the usually-excellent Anna Quindlen.

Wives who are battered, or girl friends may relate very well to the character Beth in this book. She was very typical of the "if I am just better, my husband won't beat me anymore" personality. This book is a sad commentary on personl relationships and how we don't take care of ourselves very well. In this book, it is heart breaking to see a cop, a person who should uphold the law, abusing it. Not that it isn't common place. It is a well-known fact that men and even women who have high stress jobs, become batterers, and abuse alcohol or controlled substances. The really sad thing is how the the kid gets stuck taking side. Often in domestic violence, there are no winners, only losers. It is the women who usely loose the most. I am angry and disgusted by domestic violence, but as a woman, I believe given the right circumstances or the worst kind of stress, I could probably dish out battery if the shoe were on the other foot. Anna Quindlen is an easy author to read. She writes excellent dispriptions of places. This subject matter or this book should be rated R for violence. This novel also would most certainly trigger uncomfortable feelings in one who has been in an abusive relationship, or who has been abused.

This was a great book that I had a hard time putting down....it was also VERY depressing because it brings you to a reality that these violent domestic circumstances really exist and how it affects the innocent children. I strongly urge you to read it!

After reading this novel I discovered the severity of Domestic abuse and the effect it has on the family. Anna Quindlen used extremely vivid detail in describing the way that Fran Benedetto's husband Bobby beats her. Quindlen continusly is using the most vivid detail in all of her memories of her husband. This book is similiar to most books that I have read in the way that this author goes deep into the life of the characters and portrays their life in detail for all to understand. This topic of domestic abuse is a common topic especailly in this day and age. Too many couples are getting involved in abuse, Anna Quindlen realizes this and shows one woman who escaped the horror and moved her son to Florida under protection. The trials that mother and son go through are very challenging. Suspense is the key to this novel, the fear of Bobby Bendetto finding them and what he would do, even in her memories there is suspense because the detail is so real, "...after he'd grabbed me by the hair, and another time he's pushed me down, and another time, and another." The voice of the character is very strong, Quindlen portrays Fran Bendetto as a weak woman in the beginning and then her courage and strength is built up and by the end she is fearless and capable of anything. I liked this because it showed strong character and showed that Bobby didn't take everything away from her when he beat her. This story is very realistic, it's as I have mentioned, vivid. This makes the novel more powerful and leaves the reader feeling the impact of the abuse. This novel shows the inner spirit in the characters as they grow and change making this a well rounded book for all to enjoy. There is a setting change and is not only a physical relocation but and emotional relocation, this adds to the emotions felt by the characters and even the author's thoughts and feelings are revealed. This novel may be a little too emotional or feeling orientned for some readers. Overall this is an excellent novel.

What a fantastic book! From the moment I started to the very ending I did not put it down. Anna Quindlen weaves a complex tale of an abused woman on the run with child from her abusive husband. The plot starts with her escape and proceeds to show us the beginning of a new life for her provided by an agency that helps out women such as herself. The main character Fran/Beth is sympathetic mainly because she seems to be a real human being with flaws just like the rest of us. Her frustration in building the new life and worrying about her son really hits home. I admire the fact that Ms. Quindlen did not sugar coat any aspect of the book and gave us a realistic view as to what it would be in a relationship so horrific as well as the impact it could have for all involved. Definitely recommended if you have a few hours to spare - this book cannot be read in stages for it is impossible to put down.

This book was a great eye-opener to the world of domestic violence and abusive relationships by portraying the life of a woman and son in hiding from a wife beating husband. The gradual adjustment to a secretive life and the horrors of such an experience for both mother and child gave the reader a compassionate view of the struggle suffered by battered women. I do, however, have to say that the ending was disappointing and I would have chosen a much different way to end the book.

I'm not sure, now, exactly why I bought this book, as I generally read more upbeat fare. That said, once I began reading, I didn't want to put the book down. My curiosity was immediately piqued, and Fran's (the main character) narrative helped me to challenge some of my own assumptions and perceptions of what it must be like to be an abused wife/mother/woman. The characters, and their motivations, were believable, without requiring that readers wade through male-bashing dogma or stereotypes that detract from the story.

Fran Bennedetto's story resonates with me, although I've never been struck or abused. Perhaps it is because I could identify with her quest to better understand her motivations, and pursue the difficult search for her own voice, and a life of her own.

Don't pass over this book simply because you think the subject may depress you -- you may be surprised, as I was, at how the author sets the tone for expectation of Fran having a life worth living. This is a worthy and compelling novel.