Customer Reviews

Lace

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Shirley Conran knows how to weave an exciting, glamorous story of the kind of life most women dream of but never get to experience. If she didn't, there wouldn't be the wonderful miniseries that it inspired, minus Kate, whose character was honestly not all that impressive. Yes, the novel goes into more detail, but the movie itself was a real gem, and I will admit that it's what turned me into an Arielle Dombasle fan 20 years ago when I was 19. It is impossible, after seeing the 5 1/2 hour miniseries not to see Pagan, Judy, Maxine, and Lily being portrayed by the actresses in the film once you read the book. I also liked the movie slightly better because it was a gorgeously lavish production, trashy, glamorous, tragic, and touching. Conran's classic novel beguiles like a loaded treasure chest, but the film adaptation sparkles and dazzles as if the lid was strewn wide open. I recommend both the book and the movie for full effect, but I really wish Ammy would supply us with the option of procuring the miniseries on DVD. I already know one definite buyer!

Originally published in 1982 when Conran was 50 years old, this book is as great today as it was when first written.

The story chronicles the lives of five women, four of whom meet up at a Swiss Finishing School. It follows the their growth to maturity as each one carves a successful future for themselves. However, their lives are laced together by a shared secret!

Lavishly descriptive, you will be seduced by the glamour as well as the hard realities that the five women have to endure. Ultimately, it is a book about friendship and what it means to be a woman. Conran writes with heartfelt understanding and accuracy. She is first rate!

I believe a wealth of Conran's life experience (and cultural awareness) is evident in the development of the characters. And, I can honestly say as a man, that my understanding and empathy for women has changed for the better.

Shirley is a real woman and she writes from a real womans perspective. The intimacy, pain and passions of the characters are viewed from an intimately feminine standpoint. I feel I have shared something of what was in the authors mind and the minds of the characters in this magical book. Thankyou Shirley.

As you get more and more trapped inside the well woven fabric that is "Lace" on your way to unravel the answer to the curiosity-arousing question presented by Lili at the beginning, you realize what "Lace" is all about. Money, sordid love affairs, haute couture, friendship and lots more is what you encounter as you turn page after page and follow the sizzling plot and connect to the lovable characters.

"Lace" is a richly enjoyable novel not of the cheap supermarket kind, but truly an amazing book that'll keep you on the edge and mesmerize you from beginning to end. Once you started reading this book, you'll never want to put it down, and will want to reread it a good many of times- I know I have.

A truly amazing, staggering story of the dramatic (and humor full) lives of four best friends from being teen angers to adulthood. It is my favorite novel.
As Sarah said a prime choice for rainy days and Sundays, indeed!

By following this intricate tale of a friendship formed by four young girls in a 1940's Swiss finishing school, you become one with them and feel as though you've lived all their lives.

Tracing their lives from the beginning of their friendship to the present (then ~1980), this is not a "romance novel", but a guide to life, and love.

One of the few books I have that I have read that is so totally engaging that you become part of story each time you read it and you hesitate to put it down, and at the end are sad that it's over.

A prime choice for rainy days and Sundays.

this book is everything a young lady in her teens to 100s would love to dream over i was hooked from the first page i have also seen the film and screen play and would love to know were i can buy it from right now i want the film so bad if u can help let me know thanks

This book is really good. If you have seen the TV series and you liked it, this book is a must. It contains more details than the TV series and even there are four friends instead of three, which makes this book more interesting. The author describes every episode in such a lively way that you can't help yourself feeling inside the story, and it is a mixture of mystery and romance. The ending is great and this book is far much better than the TV series. You must read it to fully understand what I mean.

Here's an example of a novel less impressive than its adaptation to the small screen. We still get Lili, the sexy superstar in search of her mother. We get the three school chums who stay united through thick and thin (or through "sick and sin" according to French Maxine), the men in their lives, the Valentine dance ball, and the birth of an illegitimate child. But what's added to this already rich cast of characters is a brochette of less than colorful ones, like Guy, the struggling designer who's storyline about stolen creations doesn't really go anywhere, and the introduction of a fourth friend named Kate who's presence only ends up being lukewarm. How many times can the reader endures her failed relationships with men without being ill at ease. Just a much too long distraction that lacks punch. Yet author Conran knows how to create effective moments. Lili's trapped-in-a-spiderweb-like lifestyle is a page-turning experience that adds depth to her thinly veiled character, and Abdullah's political marginality is a riveting take from the already established views of the Frenches and the Americans. But moments like those aren't a dime a dozen in this novel. What could have been a fun, unique experience of getting into the psyche of all the main characters already introduced on TV turned out to be an overlong, under-edited unimpressiveness that shouldn't have been. A shame.-----Martin Boucher

I think this is one of the most well-written books I have ever had the pleasure to read. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wishes to read a good book with an enthralling plot!

This is one of those books that once you start you can't stop. A Highly enjoyable reading experience.

I read this book when it was first published in 1982, and am currently re-reading it. It is as enjoyable now as it was the first time around. While this is not great literature, it is great story-telling, and the details, backdrop, characters, etc., show Ms. Conran's first-hand knowledge of the upper crust lifestyle. They made a perfectly decent miniseries of this book (although Phoebe Cates, as Lili, did affect a strange Eastern European accent), but subsequent sequels fell flat. While a tad dated (some of the more shocking events seem almost commonplace now), reading this book is still a wonderful way to pass an afternoon.

I am only 14 and this is so far the best book I have ever read. I thought it was very interesting and the end (I won't give it away) was great I have read it twice already and I will probably read it again if you like romance and plot twists read this book. You won't be sorry you did.