Resistance [Paperback]

Anita Shreve (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1995

Paperback, 222 pages, A Back Bay Book, copyright 1995, Stated First Paperback Edition. Author , Anita Shreve.

Product Details

• Paperback: 222 pages
• Publisher: Back Bay/Little, Brown & Co.; Later Printing edition (1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316789844
• ISBN-13: 978-0316789844
• ASIN: B002URAO5C
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (68 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,442,912 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Resistance, November 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Resistance: A Novel (Paperback)

Resistance was the fourth of Anita Shreve's books that I've read. I've just finished it, and find myself haunted by both the characters and the setting. It is an incredibly tense story, and each turn of the page is exciting and dreadful, as the reader becomes more and more afraid for the characters. When I reached the end, I simply sat down and cried. This book brought home to me, more than anything else, how fortunate we all are to sleep peacefully in our beds at night, quietly and without fear. A wonderful book.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars My least favorite Anita Shreve title, January 6, 2007

By 

Ratmammy "The Ratmammy" (Ratmammy's Town, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Resistance : A Novel (Paperback)

RESISTANCE by Anita Shreve
January 6, 2007

Amazon rating 3/5

I've read a few books by Anita Shreve and I have to say, this is my least favorite. Usually, I can count on Anita Shreve to pull me in and keep me totally glued to the pages of the book until the very end. EDEN CLOSE, WEIGHT OF WATER, FORTUNE'S ROCKS, THE LAST TIME THEY MET... all these books were great reading. For some reason RESISTANCE failed to draw me in, which is unfortunate because the subject matter was yet another opportunity for a wonderfully told story by Shreve. RESISTANCE takes place in Belgium and focuses on an American pilot whose plane falls near a small Belgian village. His life is saved by a young boy and is hid away from the rest of the village in the home of a woman and her husband who are part of the Resistance, helping to save lives that are endangered by the German Nazis.

Claire Daussouis is the woman who takes the American, Ted Brice, into hiding, and nurses him back to health. The two eventually start an affair, a time in their lives that becomes more treasured than they had expected. They know their time together is limited because of the war, but Ted is hoping that maybe he can find a way to stay with her, despite the fact that she is married to another man, a man that she has hinted she does not really love.

RESISTANCE was full of intrigue and danger but for me, it was the telling of the story that I think fell short. There were way too many characters introduced in the first few chapters that I failed to connect with anyone, including the American pilot. I have to say the overall story is tragic, and while a better-written book would have had me in tears, I didn't shed one because I just did not really connect with Claire or Ted. The ending of the story should have been more satisfying than it was, taking the story into modern times. But again, because I had not related to the two main characters, I was not moved as much as I should have been. To be fair, the story in itself was worth reading about, and it has been a while since I've read a book that took place during W.W.II, but from a master writer such as Anita Shreve, I had expected much more.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Shreve's Best, But Michael Pietsch isn't co-author!, December 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Resistance: A Novel (Paperback)

I'm a major Shreve fan, and her new Fortune's Rocks is, I think, her best. But Resistance is my next favorite. In this remarkable love story, Shreve captures the delicate balance between passion and loyalty that besets any romatnic triangle, but becomes so much more poignant set as it is in the world of anti-Nazi resistance, where both husband and lover are clearly good men. A beautiful book.