Customer Reviews

The Cottage: A Novel

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

I am a devoted reader of Danielle Steel that is why when I finished this book I was truly disappointed. She chose to have Coop as the main character, a character that I found extremely selfish and way to old (70 to be percise)to be able to change so drastically. She then hooks him up with a 29 year old doctor,Alex. Okay Ms. Steel I can understand 10-15 years difference but 40 that is just [not right]!
The book did not hold that much substance and this is why she is constantly repeating the same scenarios and doubts. I was expecting a lot more from such a great author. Hopefully her next one will be better.

Cooper Winslow is a movie star that is as big as life. At the age of 70 it has been years since he has been able to get a part that will sustain his wild spending sprees, and grandiose lifestyle. His accountant is about to come up with a solution, and Coop isn't too happy with the lengths he will have to go to save The Cottage, a magnificent mansion that he has called home since his earlier years. As Coop is forced to take in borders the lives of three men become entwined in what will be an interesting as well as productive outcome.

Like all of Steel's books we have a romance or two in the making, and the reader enjoys the emotional impact this imparts. Coop thinks he finds love, and then questions his motive, something new for him after a lifetime of playful young starlets. Jimmy has to find his life again after a tragedy that will never leave him the same, and Mark is dealing with the break up of his family, and the confusion that has become his children's life. The characters are likable, and I found myself rooting for them from time to time. This was a predictable book like most of this author's books yet enjoyable none-the-less. The pleasure was in the journey, and not the expected ending. It was a fun read to end my summer. Kelsana 8/30/02

I had not read Danielle Steel in several years. I found The Cottage to be shallow, implausible, and completely predictable. I was very disappointed with this work.

We all read Steele to escape from reality but this storyline is too far out there. We're expected to believe that a neonatal doctor would support abortion of her lover's child, that a woman might find happiness with the lover of her future daughter-in-law, and that a long lost daughter would instantly bond with a self-centered father that never knew she existed. I don't think so. This is the last Steele I'll read for sometime to come.

I go back and forth with Danielle Steele's books. Some I love, others are ho-hum, and some have such implausible plots that I don't even bother to finish reading them.

"The Cottage" is one of the better books Ms. Steele has written in a while. The characters are well-developed and, for the most part, likable; the dialog is fun; and the story keeps you interested with its various twists and turns.

I did have problems in a few chapters, and found myself asking questions like these:

How can a man who just lost the wife, whom he professed to be the love of his life, fall deeply in love with another woman not even six months after his wife's death?

How can a father and his child bond so swiftly and completely when they knew nothing of each other's existence for 39 years?

How can a well-educated, independent woman put up with the egocentricities and obnoxious behavior of a man old enough to be her grandfather?

I have to be in the right frame of mind for a Steele book: A hard day at the office, and a need to chill out with some light reading set me on to this book. Although I did say, "Oh c'mon," in several spots, I enjoyed it.

I began reading this book and felt like I was walking in quicksand. Next, I felt like I was going round and round in circles. I said "I've been here before". DS kept telling the same thing over and over about the characters and each of the different life styles.

I would have rated the book a 3 but the story got better after "the accident" which takes place about midway the book. I started enjoying the book at that point. The main character,Cooper Winslow, leaves a lot to be desired by most women.Cooper has one relationship after another with women young enough to be his granddaughters. His relationship doesn't last very long with any of them. Cooper refuses to acknowledge that he is not a young man any longer.He will not take movie roles that don't portray him a leading man. Cooper doesn't realize he should be playing the roles of a father or a grandfather.

Cooper's poor management of money and his vanity threatens his financial future.His self-centered,egotistical,selfish personality made me gag. It took two special mature women in his life to turn him around.

The Cottage is not Ms. Steel's best work, but it was an enjoyable and quick read. I thought it was unfortunate that Ms. Steel chose to make her main character, Cooper Winslow (an ageing Hollywood legend), so unlikable. I simply could not warm up to him. Coop, was so shallow, immature and self-involved. And worse still, at 70, he preferred dating (and sleeping with) women in there early 20's. Yikes!...
Having said that, it was nice to read a romance novel that revolved primarily around men. I thoroughly enjoyed the side stories that involved Mark Friedman (freshly dumped by his cheatin' wife) and Jimmy O'Connor (recently widowed). All-in-all, it was a good read.

This is the first DS book that I have read in about 20 years & it made me realize why did I try again???????

Can I really find a book centered around a 70 year old male stud-muffin real? I wonder to myself if anyone has ever portrayed a 70 year old female stud muffin? I would hope as we age we would like to be portrayed with a bit more substance.

Coop only dates 20 something's. He has a 20 something porn star black-mailing him that she is pregnant with his child. This doesn't bother his new girlfriend, an (early 30's) resident Pediatrician, who works in ICU with preemies at all, who tells him to "have her get an abortion". A bit too blasé for me. Coop is supposed to be unbelievable beautiful & sexy. I had a hard time getting into this premise.

The way DS totally changes his character toward the end is unbelievable. Everyone falls in love all of the sudden with the other characters. Every character is, of course, extremely wealthy (even though several are hiding it). Most characters are extremely beautiful & look many years younger than they are. I realize we read to escape but this was a bit too much even for DS.

It is hard to believe that this book, as well as most of Ms. Steel's most recent works were written by the same author as her earlier bestsellers, such as Wanderlust and Zoya. The Cottage lacks any depth of character development, and the author has fallen into a pattern in her more recent works of stating the same character trait many times throughout the book, simply in different ways. As one who has always purchased the newest Danielle Steel novel as soon as it came out, I believe that I have just purchased my last. There are other newer, less popular authors writing books just as good as Danielle Steel's earlier ones who deserve receiving my book budget quite a bit more.

I have been reading Miss Steel since I was 18, my sister gave me Palamino. Over the last two years, I have found Miss Steel's books to be utter trash, she just keeps repeating herself over and over and over, page after page. It's like reading the same chapter 20 times. Miss Steel, what has happenned to to your ideas, like Jewels, Message from Nam, Zoya, wwhere the stories were actually good and interesting. I think you're the only author that seems to put out 4 to 5 books a year. Maybe slow it down and put out something of quality again. People work to hard to buy garbage like The Cottage and Bungalow. Shame on you, for becoming a lazy author. My advice to readers, find a new author to read, as Miss Steel is obviously out of ideas.