Customer Reviews

The Most Wanted

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I've been reading some other reviews, and it seems that the people who didn't like the book disliked it because they thought the story was unbelievable. Wow! Wouldn't the world be nice if there were no abandoned children like Arley? No criminals like Dillon? No despicable parents like Arley's mother? The world would be a nicer place, I'm sure. But, the world is not a nice place. Screwed up things that make a plot like this credible happen every single day. Maybe some people don't like to read about them. But, if you are not one of those people - and if you like books about human compassion and the spirit of survival, this is definitely a book for you.

What got me the most about this book was the author's uncanny ability to bring you inside the head of a troubled teenaged girl. Then, when she would switch back to writing as if she were Anne, you were right inside the head of a woman who was sitting at the crossroad of her life. I could understand everything each character did, and why. This even holds true for the many "bad guys" in this book. They rang true and remained consistent throughout the book.

Some people only like to read about situations they can identify with and/or people they want to be like. If that were the truth for me, I would not have liked this book because God only knows, I would not want to trade places with any of these people. But for me, reading is about going places I would dare not go myself. And, boy oh boy did this book take me there. I wouldn't want to be Arley AND I sure wouldn't want to be Annie, either. And, maybe that was why I liked this book so much. Because, the author put me in a place I would never go myself and made me believe in it. She made me feel the hope that these characters needed to go on. Now if you ask me - THAT IS WHAT GOOD WRITING IS ALL ABOUT!

There are two kinds of books that make me read fast: A very good book that I can't put down and race through to see what happens; and a very bad book that I zip through just to get it over with. This book actually inspired me to read very slowly, savoring each word like a sip of good brandy. In spite of the controversial subject matter, there is an innocence and purity about this story. In fact, Arlington reminds me quite a bit of my own 15 year old daughter, who is both naive and hopelessly romantic and incredibly beautiful. I have given her this book to read, and look forward to hearing her opinion. If the reader can get past the their prejudices about adult/adolescent relationships (we somehow accept Romeo and Juliet who were just children!)then we can allow ourselves to feel the deep love between two very different people - a love that ultimately becomes destructive. Nor is the idea of a 14-year old girl falling in love with a hardened older guy at all incomprensible. It is probably the fantasy of many of our young teen daughters. Mitchard's ability to so accurately evoke the feelings of a young, budding girl/woman in the flush of first love is astounding. By the same token her rendering of Annie, a slightly cynical adult captivated by Arley, gives a wonderful contrast. The story weaves back and forth between Annie and Arley. And so, I found myself ready very slowly, losing myself in this emotionally charged story, in no rush to leave two women I had come to admire. I also find myself looking at my young daughter differently - I take her feelings much more seriously and realize that as young as she is, she is capable of deeper feelings that we adults would otherwise give credit to. Thank you, Jaqueline Mitchard, for a magical, tragic, but ultimately uplifting experience for this reader!

After being blown away by the brilliant prose of The Deep End of the Ocean and deeply moved by its poignancy and insights, I was anxious to read Mitchard's second novel, The Most Wanted. The premise of the book sounds great--the love-starved teen, the handsome prison inmate--but this book disappoints from the first page. It isn't the writing that disappoints. The prose, particularly of Arley, has the lyrical quality I have come to associate with Mitchard. It's the plot itself which is a let down. This story could have been a gutwrencher; instead,it is only a huge build up of such heavy-handed foreshadowing that by the end of the book you just want to get it over with.("Oh, so that's the blood and the fire mentioned on every tenth page. What a relief.") The conclusion is completely anticlimactic, and worse, confusing, leading to the supremely anticlimactic epilogue.

Also, the characters for the most part are not fully developed, their motivations are not believable or not fully explored; in short, they are completely unsympathetic, which is a real shame. It was never clear to me why Dillon and Arley fell so "in love" so fast, what happened between Charley and Annie to move their relationship along so fast. . .

This book is too full of impossibly beautiful, impossibly immature people moving through an irritatingly implausible plot. If you must read this book just to see for yourself, check it out from the library and save your money!

I never expected to enjoy this book. I bought it at goodwill for about ten cents because I had read The Deep End of the Ocean and thought it was ok. I was shocked by this book. Perhaps because at the time I read it I was only two years older than Arley, our 14 year old heroine, I was drawn in immediately to this book. But it wasn't just Arley's relationship with Dillon, her convict husband, I mean; goddess knows at 17 I've had my share of fantasies about an older man loving me, thats a normal thing for teenagers. But really, it was the loneliness that Arley felt, the sense of belonging to no one, and no one belonging to her that I identified with.

I also identified with Annie, Arley lawyer who is hired to get her and Dillon a conjugal visit, in this book. Her sense of loss from her long term relationship, her strange rush of mothering emotions for Arley, her wonder at buying her own home.

I do have to say that the love story with Dillon was odd, to say the least, and I wasn't unhappy that it ended the way it ended. Arely more than deserved a chance to be a kid, but she deserved to be loved as well, and that what Dillon did, besides, if she never met Dillon, she never would have met Annie, and that's what really changed her life.

I'm afraid I can't express my love of this book with words. I would just like to say that this book is about love in all its forms. It's about the beauty, danger, lust, wonderment and expectations that go along with love, and how they change our lives.

Jacquelyn Mitchard is a genius at expressing emotion with words. She can make you feel love, anger, hate, pain and rage. She can even confuse you, bewilder you and make you feel as tormented as her characters are.

The plot of this book has been summarized many times before, so I'll just say this. If you've ever been in love, or loved anything, a dog, a parent, another person, a plant, or if you've ever been lonely, you'll love this book.

I also found the poem at the very end of book that Arley wrote for her daughter to be incredibly beautiful, and I hope if I have a child one day I would read it to them

I was pulled into "The Most Wanted," but found myself becoming more disillusioned with it as I progressed. The two main characters are interesting, likable, and well-drawn, but from the start (even in the prologue), the foreshadowing is gimmicky. I kept waiting to read about the cabin and the fire, and it was quite different and in some ways "less dangerous" than I expected. Further, the relationships between Stuart and Annie and Annie and Charley get resolved too easily. In the end, everyone ends up happily living in the wonderfully renovated house, each getting what he or she wants, with only a few nightmares to disturb the peace.

The Most Wanted was far more readable and enjoyable than "Deep End...." Characters were fairly well developed and believable. I enjoyed the parallel themes of forbidden love that weave throughout the story. That theme is evident not just between Arley and Dillon, but also with Annie and Stuart, Janine and her many boyfriends, and Rita and the man who Arley discovers is her father (I don't want to spill the beans for anyone who hasn't read it.) I hope Mitchard's work keeps improving as it did in this novel. This was an enjoyable summer novel that I would definitely recommend.

I read the Deep End of the Ocean, and I must admit, it didn't touch me, as this book did. The Most Wanted is a title that fits the book for many reasons, but mostly for the reason this book is all about being wanted: as a daughter, a criminal, a lover, a mother, and a wife. To where you feel the most wanted, and who you feel the most wanted by is where you'll be the happiest. The main message is if you're not the most wanted, find somewhere you will be. I must say again HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

It's not often that an author gets inside of a teenage mother's head--and reveals one of those that tries very hard to be careful and logical. There are some of these girls out there: those that want to do the best things and yet the rest of the world would never see the method behind the madness; or the logic (skewed, but understandable) in what they're doing. I found this to be an EXCELLENT book... true to the times and yet not downhearted enough to make me want to put it down (because we have enough misery--don't we?).

Having read Ms. Mitchard's last book, I was extremely interested in her latest release. I was not disappointed. While I sympathized with Arley, I found myself feeling much more aligned with Annie. I felt Annie's pain at watching Arley make destructive decisions with her life. I wished that there was more Annie could have done. Ms. Mitchard developed the story nicely, letting us see how Arley dealt with the outcome of the choices she made. I wish the storyline with Charley had developed with more detail; it seemed to only brush the surface. All in all, I would recommend this book-I enjoyed Deep End of the Ocean much more, but this was good. I am interested in seeing what she has up next!

I enjoyed this book, yet couldn't quite read it with the passion that I did her previous book. I found the character Stuart annoying and his cliches like "Don't ever change Babe" put me off tremendously. The ending was very contrived. I loved the relationship between Annie and Arley, it seemed true and sweet. It broke my heart everytime the character of Rita was brought in. So many things about this book were great, so many were not. I hate to keep comparing to Mitchard's previous novel, but I loved it so much that this was a bit of a let-down. Charley was such a wonderful character, he had color and wit and kept me interested all the way through. I wish I could say the same for all the characters. So I'm torn, I liked it, but certainly did not devour it with the fervor and passion of some of my other summer reading.