Customer Reviews

Portraits

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

 

 

This is the best book I have ever read. I first read it when I was 19 years old and all the girls in my office were passing it around. I am 41 years old and have been recommending this book for years. It's a wonderful story about a family, taking place over 6o or more years. I think the characters are very developed - you feel as if you know them and identify with them. Certain parts actually make me cry no matter how many times I have read this book. Many years ago I read that there would be a sequel to Portraits but never heard about it any further. I would love a sequel, and also I think it would make a great movie. I have enjoyed all of Cynthia Freeman's books, but Portraits is outstanding.

I love stories that take place over several generations, so I was prepared to like this book. The first half was OK, but the second half started to drag. By the last 100 pages I was speed reading just to get it over with. I like strong women characters who stand up for themselves, but Rachel, Doris and Lillian, the daughters of the awful Sara, took verbal abuse all though their childhood, and still kow-towed to Sara to the point I started skipping the same old dialogue over and over. Sara was one of the most unlikable charactors I've ever encountered in a novel like this. The book was repetitious in that each generation went thru the same thing, so if you read one generation's trials and woes, you could skip the rest and use your imagination.

The book arrived in great condition, however I was disappointed in how long it took to arrive