Customer Reviews

The Gift

5 star:		(61)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I had seen a few TV movie adaptations of Danielle Steel's novels but never got the time to reading any of her books. So I finally decide to get `The Gift', seeing that it would be a short read, just to give her books a try. I must say that I loved reading this book, and have already bought other books of hers to add to my bookshelf.

5 year old Annie Whittaker died of meningitis, the day after Christmas, leaving a bruise on the rest of the family: Tommy, her brother; Elizabeth, her mother; and John, her father. Each member of the family slowly secludes themselves from one another in their own way. What used to be a close knit family doesn't exist now. Meanwhile, we are introduced to Maribeth Robertson, a 16 year old girl who makes a mistake that would change her life. She runs away from her family and friends, and starts working in a restaurant as a waitress, where she meets Tommy. The two immediately hit it off, but there are a lot of problems standing in their way which they must face.

The story is very sweet, and we get to read how Maribeth changes the Whittakers and makes them a family again. Though the ending is a little sad, you feel touched by the story overall. Danielle Steel, famous of writing matters of the heart, does an excellent job in depicting the love between two lovers, between a mother and a daughter, and the love within the family.

Whether you are a fan of Danielle Steel or not, if you like reading romantic novels, then this book will be a perfect `gift' for you.

Set in the 1950s, The Gift by Danielle Steel is a touching novel about two separate families who meet and are changed by a special gift. It begins with the story of Tommy Whittaker and his family. They have a beautiful daughter named Annie, whose love changed the family into happiness and cheer. When her senseless death arises, the family is crushed; the loving marriage starts to unravel and Tommy begins to fend for himself, going out to eat by himself and rarely talking with his parents.

Then the story switches over to a girl named Maribeth Robertson who has one meaningless experience with a boy, and ends up pregnant. Her father sends her to the nun's and tells her not to come home until she gets rid of it. When she arrives, she hates it there and decides to leave with the money her father gave her to pay the nuns. She takes the train to a city where she gets a job at a café. One day she was working, that is where the two families first intertwine.
Tommy walks in to have dinner and Maribeth waits on him, eventually Tommy comes in everyday and he and Maribeth become very close. They share personal secrets about their lives, and become each other 's need that they were looking for. Maribeth becomes very close with the Whittakers and helps to bind the family back together. When the baby arrives, it is the gift to the Whittaker family of a new baby girl and a gift to Maribeth because she knows that the baby is in good care. When Mrs. Whittaker accepts her offer of adoption it is so emotional and uplifting.
This is such a touching story that I think is aimed more at a younger audience. It is a lesson to young girls out there to be careful, and a message to the world that a kind person can change a life. I really enjoyed reading this and it is a short read definitely worth a try!

This story is short, but you wish it were longer. However, it is it's "shortness" that gives it so much life and the reader so much enjoyment. Good book

I am a senior in my English reading class. I enjoy reading romance novels, comedies and some mysteries. I've read a lot of Danielle Steele's books and I love all of them, she writes a lot of romance novels and those are my favorite to read that is why I was first attracted to The Gift.

This is a book is about two families that have suffered tragedies and are trying to get there lives back. In the first part of the book you meet a perfect and happy family that loves each other very much, when there family is torn apart by an unexpected loss they struggle to stay close.

After that happens the book switches settings and you meet a young teenager struggling to get an education that her father says she can't have. This girl is devastated to find out something that will change her life forever. She is forced to leave her home at sixteen years old and has to make a living for herself.

The small town she moves to happens to be the town the first family lives in. This is an exciting and sad book as you watch these two families cope and help each other with there tragedies.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was like an emotional rollercoaster, it made me laugh and it made me cry. I would recommend this book to women of all ages; this book taught a lot about family, love and how to cope with pain and how to support each other.

The book, The Gift by Danielle steel is a heart warming book. It has some adventures, comedies, and tear jerking parts. I got hooked on this book and couldn't stop reading it until I was finished. As the book opens, little Annie Whittaker is a happy little girl that her parents could not want more from. Whittaker's are a family of four: John, Liz, Tommy, and Annie. Tommy is Annie's older brother. He was an only child until he was ten. The parents, John and Liz, really wanted another child, but finally after three miscarriages they had Annie. Annie and Tommy got along so well and always loved to be around each other, unlike most siblings. It was near Christmas and the children were excited! At this time they were 5 and 15. One morning, two days before Christmas, they woke up to a town filled with snow. They went outside and made a snowman. That night, Tommy went to tell Annie good night and noticed her head was hot. Thinking nothing about it, he didn't tell his parents. In the morning, Christmas Eve, Annie woke up with a really high fever. They sent her to bed. It was Christmas, and Annie was still asleep. It was always a thing for Annie to wake up bright and early on Christmas. She woke up and barely moved. She fell back to sleep, and they took her to the doctor. There she was put into a hospital with Meningitis, a very futile disease. She died on Christmas and the Whittaker's lost they're only Christmas Gift. After this scene had ended it takes you to the home of Maribeth. She is going to a dance and her father won't let her wear the dress she wants to. At the dance, she gets pregnant. When she realizes that the father won't take care of the baby with her, her parents send her to a nun adoption home to have her baby. When Maribeth arrives there, she is horrified. She leaves there and goes to Omaha to get job. She is a waitress at a restaurant. One night, a guy who is always eating supper there, walks in and stats talking to Maribeth. His name is Tommy Whittaker. They get to know each other better and they become great friends and fall in love. While all of this happening, John and Liz are still very upset about Annie. They barely even talk to each other or Tommy. They never have meals together, and that's why Tommy is always at the restaurant. When Tommy founds out she is pregnant, he tells his parents, and with the parents wanting a child, they are willing to adopt the baby. Seven months later, John and Liz Whittaker are the parents of a baby girl, Kate. After the birth is over, Maribeth, not wanting to go back, goes to her home. She has to go back for school and her worrying family. She leaves Tommy behind but she will always love him and he her.

This is the first Danielle Steel book I've read, but I simply loved it!! It's a great heart warming story. Although it leaves you wondering about the two main character's future, the book gives me hope... hope that there is a love two people can share, a true love that sees no judgment, just feeling... it gives me hope for the main characters... and it gives me hope that one day I'll just walk into some new place and who knows... lightning could strike... and my life will change for the better. Somewhat perdicable, although I would have preferred a different ending... some stories are wonderful to read even if you know how it unfolds. I hope there will be a sequel about Maribeth and Tommy... a made-for-tv-movie about this would be nice too.

Danielle Steele did an excellent job when she wrote this book. It is a wonderful drama that puts a warmth in your heart, and a tear in your eye. This is a very touching book that covers a very touching subject. Everyone in the family can learn a lesson from this book, and it will bring them closer together. This touching drama deserves more, but I give it five stars.

I really liked this book. I found it quite enjoyable, except I already knew what was going to happen a little while after starting it. Also, it left me wondering what happened to Tommy and Maribeth at the end. Did she come back to visit? Did they get married? I would reccomend it though, because it was a great story.

The author, Danielle Steel, caught my eye right away and held it throghtout this book. As Elizabeth Wittaker (the main character) still believed in dreams, everything had started changing; dreams had definitely left her beliefs. To begin, a happy home was destroyed by a child's senseless death. Nothing had seemed to matter throughtout Elizabeth's life after that.

Throughtout this story, I seemed to relate to Annie the most (Elizabeth's daughter). When she suddenly became sick and senseless, I could relate to that. Personally, throughtout reading this book, when Annie was rushed to the hospital, I felt as though something had been the matter with me and I needed a doctor. At that point in the story, Elizabeth had felt that her little girl would nver, once again, wake up; as probably my parents wold feel too.

Before reading this book, I had expected to maked a personal connecton, and be able to feel what the actual characters were feeling. Indeed, this book definitely fulfilled my expectations.Throughout the explicit details told during the story between the characters and the true meaning of this book, I got the reality of the book right in fornt of me. I would most definitley read this book, if you had not already!

I listened to this book first on audio. But after I was finished listening, I had to go out and buy the book to read once more. It's definately my favourite Danielle Steel book I have read. The story about a young 15-year-old girl and how she found comfort in a new family is so heartwarming. I definately recommend this book to everyone. Especially mothers and those expecting!