Customer Reviews

Grand Avenue

5 star:		(44)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

A group of reading buddies recommended this book in an online book club and since I was in the mood for something what I thought would be light and trivial ... I grabbed it at the library without a second thought. This book should have come with a warning. You cannot just put this book down to do chores or go to work. This book must be consumed in matter of hours because Fielding keeps you guessing throughout the whole book. Just when you think you have one of the characters figured out, you find another twist and turn.

A group of four women who live on Grand Avenue in Cincinnati formed deep friendships with one another over the years as their daughters grew up. There is Barbara, a former beauty queen, intent on keeping her marriage with her professor husband. There is Susan who was juggling college and motherhood. There was Chris who sacrificed everything to keep her family together while bowing to her husband's whims and maniac jealousy. There was Vicki, the superwoman who is also a top lawyer in Cincinnati. These women are very different from one another but the bond of attachment they have for one another is deep and solid ~~ till circumstances changed their lives.

This is a wonderful book about friendships between women and how despite everything it changes over the years. It is also a fast-paced novel ~~ best to be savored in one day. So I highly recommend you take the day off, turn the phone off the hook, lock the doors, send the kids to a babysitter ~~ and it'll be worth that couple of hours just to read this book. It is a fast-paced page-turner. One that I would read again! It's not a cheesy book either ~~ it is written with real emotion and passion.

So what are you waiting for? I wouldn't hesitate to pick this book up!

3/22/02

I started this book on a plane from Dallas to Los Angeles and continued reading to it's conclusion on a 15 1/2 hour flight to Melbourne--it was a great plane book ! I ran the gamut of emotions from terrible anger at an abusive husband, sympathy at some of the womens problems and joy at their closeness .It's an easy to read book, nicely written by a female who obviously enjoys a good relationship with other women. Don't want to give any of the plot away by going into details !

This is the second book Joy Fielding has written that diverts from her usual suspense fare. The first, THE FIRST TIME was one of my favorite reads of 2000. With GRAND AVENUE she proves that her foray into women's fiction wasn't just a fluke. She joins the ranks of such authors as Barbara Delinsky, Kristin Hannah, Luanne Rice, and Patricia Gaffney as the one of the best the genre has to offer.

Living on Grand Avenue in Cincinnati, Barbara, Susan, Chris, and Vicki met over 20 years ago when their daughters were just toddlers. Calling themselves "The Grand Dames," they became fast friends over the years despite their varied personalities and occupations. A number of social issues are addressed as housewife Chris deals with an abusive spouse, former beauty queen Barbara deals with infertility, magazine editor Susan deals with sexual harassment in the workplace, and attorney Vicki's drive for success affects her marriage and family.

As the years go by, their friendship goes through changes as everyday life seems to get in the way. But when one of the four is threatened the other three are there for her. When tragedy strikes, friendship takes on a whole new meaning.

I literally could not put this book down, devouring it in one sitting, and finishing at 3 AM in the morning! I've read quite a few wonderful "women's friendship" books in the last couple years (those by Patricia Gaffney, Robyn Carr, Mary Alice Monroe to name a few) and this one is definitely in the same caliber as these other fine books. If you like books dealing with families, women's issues, and friendship, don't miss GRAND AVENUE. I highly recommend it.

I enjoyed visiting "Grand Avenue" and highly recommend it. It's a truly 'Grand book' that held my interest from the first to the last page. The story is about four friends, Chris, Barbara, Vicki and Susan. It follows their lives over the 20 year span from 1972-1992. It's an emotionally packed roller-coaster ride of friendships, relationships, families, suspense and murder leading to a powerful conclusion. The four friends who live on Grand Avenue and call themselves the 'Grand Dames' first meet at a playground where they bring their young children. Barbara is a vain woman obsessed with plastic surgery, Chris is an abused housewife, Vicki's a career bent lawyer married to a wealthy older man, and Susan's a Doctor's wife and homemaker determined to get her college degree.
Ms. Fielding is a gifted writer and she's very effectively brought these four friends to life in this emotional and intense page-turner. It's definitely a 'Grand Read'!!

I read this book in two sittings over the course of one day. I seem to have read several books of this type in the past year, with the theme of women's friendships and their bonds with each other.

"Grand Avenue" was not the best of this sub-genre, nor was it the worst. If available, I would give it 3.5 stars.

While the story was compelling and kept me reading all day, there were some flaws too. First of all, I really do not like the foreshadowing device used by Fielding (and many others). In this book, the reader is told in the introduction that by the end, two of the four "grand dames" will be dead (one in a particularly terrible way) and one will betray another. Another flaw, to me, was that the end of the book seemed awkward, as if the author did not quite know how to bring it to a conclusion.

On the other hand, the characters were interesting and very different from each other, and their lives kept me interested in knowing about them. I think Fielding did a decent job of character development of the women and of their daughters, although Tracey's motivation for what she did was vague at best.

A good book for a few hours of reading pleasure.

Joy Fielding's books have usually featured women who face significantly difficult challenges--serious illness, divorce, abuse, amnesia--and in each of her previous books, the characters have a depth and detail that make it easy for the reader to be involved in the story. Unfortunately, Grand Avenue does not live up to Ms. Fielding's previous books.

The book follows the lives of four neighbors, and as the (initially) unnamed narrator lets you know, by the end of the story, two of the neighbors will be dead, and one will betray the others. One woman is a former beauty queen who is obsessed with maintaining her looks, one is a go-getter career woman, one is abused by her husband, and one is a housewife trying to balance her needs with her family's. The characters never develop much beyond the previous description, even though the book follows them over the years. The power of Joy Fielding's books has been in watching her previous characters develop, mature and become strong enough to face their greatest fears. The women in Grand Avenue didn't mature or change in a believable way. (In fact, the most interesting characters weren't the adults but their daughters.)

In addition to the characters, the book felt very much like a formula --a-four friends' passage through time-- book. The disclosure of the last death seemed forced, and the last scene seemed out of place.

If you're at the airport and need a book to pass the time, this one will do. If, however, you're looking for the absorption and soul satisfaction of a standard Joy Fielding book, you'll be disappointed.

This book was absolutely amazing! I literally stayed up a full night to finish it, once I started I could not turn the pages fast enough. I found myself chuckling in one instant and then having to read a paragraph again due to blurred vision from crying. I grew to really care about the characters, finding myself rooting them on and feeling the emotions that were smoothly drawn out in the book. I truely believe that Ms. Fielding has a total masterpiece with this one! Although the book is finished I still feel myself thinking about the characters, so the book really stays with you long after the last page is turned. And, quite honestly..I feel I could read this book again, too..which is remarkable because I am usually not one to do that at all.

This book by Joy Fielding has both of these qualities plus great character development. It centres on the lives of four women who have met and became close friends. But how close are they? Fielding delves into their most private lives and slowly each woman finds her life unraveling in one way or another.

I enjoyed the suspense of the book, it kept me wanting to turn the pages. I never really understood the character of Tracey or why she became the person she did but overall I feel it was well written.

This is a book about women's friendships and their struggle with themselves and each other. It is a story that covers a vast amount of issues and shows the reader that sometimes everything isn't as it appears to be.

Pick up this book, you'll be glad you did.

I am so grateful to the folks in my book club for recommending this book! From the opening page I couldn't put this book aside.

I was immediately drawn into the lives of Chris, Vicki, Barbara and Susan, four women who touched me deeply. How could such wonderful lives go so terribly wrong? The ensuing story of love and friendship mixed with mystery and tragedy kept me on the edge of my seat.

If you've never read a Joy Fielding book, I'd recommend you start here. Bravo!!

I loved this book and loved being part of the warm and cozy friendships developed among four women who lived on the same suburban street. They meet at a neighborhood park where each has brought her firstborn, a two-year old girl, to play. The chemistry amongst them is immediate and the reader is privvy to their darkest secrets as the book follows them over the course of the next 23 years.

We are warned in the introduction that two will die, one violently, and one will turn out not to be a friend at all. Thus, the stage is set for suspense as we become involved in their lives.

Chris is the abused wife who is beaten by her husband. Her bruises and broken ribs shame her and she hides her horrible secret behind the walls of her home. Barbara is the ex-beauty queen who never stops walking the runway and whose biggest decision is which plastic surgery to have next. Her greatest challenges, however, will come from her wandering professor husband, her inability to conceive again, and her relationship with her subdued daughter. Susan is the modern-day homemaker who goes back to school and finds a career as an editor, but also finds sexual tension and harrassment in the workplace as well as a rebellious teen at home. Vicki is the high-powered attorney who puts her marriage and family low on her list of priorities while concentrating on her career and sexual dalliances. The reader will be engrossed as the four bond and choose which secrets to share and which to hide.

This is a can't-put-down novel that never lets up, gives you twists, turns, and unexpected surprises aplenty. So if you enjoy relationship dramas, uncovering the human qualities that bind us and the deep distress that tears us from our family and friends, you too will love this outstanding novel and long remember the four friends from Grand Avenue.