Customer Reviews

This Year It Will Be Different: And Other Stories

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

In her novels, Binchy frequently addresses some of the more tragic aspects of life with humor and grace, and she does the same in this collection of stories. Each tale takes place at Christmastime, but there is little sentitmentality here. Instead, Binchy offers us a peek into the more trying aspects of the holidays: the teenager who captures all of her family's flaws on film, the young woman who realizes that her affair with a married man isn't quite as wonderful as she had been telling herself, the happily married woman who struggles with her rebellious stepdaughter, the wife and mother who is tired of having the entire responsibility for the holidays fall on her shoulders, the group of crotched-y nursing residents who have no families to go to on Christmas day, etc. Although these are not exactly "feel-good" stories, many incorporate an aspect of triumph. This book is likely to be appreciated by anyone who has ever strived for the "perfect" Christmas and has fallen short.

Maeve Binchy has povided a series of short stories about the holiday season and how it affects people. Many are bitter sweet, some are just plain sad, while others provide hope and insight. While some people may say that the character development is not what you would normally expect from a Binchy story, the fact that these are short stories make the task all the more impressive. Each story hits a nerve. My particular sensitive spot was relfected in the story of the "difficult" step daughter who eats all of the hors d'oerves to the horror of the step mom only to think that they were going to decorate her bedroom for her. An instant bond is built between the two women, one young and one old. Age differences, women in love with married men, widows dealing with the holidays and people with dreams. This is an excellent book for the holiday season. It is easy to read and would make an excellent gift.

The atmosphere around the end of the year is always peculiar, it is specially "crazy", there's a lot of fuss, people are running here and there with their Christmas shopping, we experiment a plethora of mixed feelings and emotions such as melancholy and excitment, and it's mainly the time to think about and evaluate the finishing year. Binchy is a master at capturing these kinds of mood and expressing them in this outstanding collection of 15 short stories. There are some interesting ones about single women who date married men and their turning points that will arrive with the season. Again, the author offers us dialogues that make the characters real and believable - Binchy proves she is perfect at writing both short compact stories and long, full of details, engrossing novels. Pay special attention to "The Ten Snaps of Christmas", about a teenage girl who gets a Polaroid camera and decides to take some "secret pictures" as her Xmas day goes by. It shows readers how families can be hypocritical. What kinds of snapshots would we come across if we had the chance of taking them? And also enjoy the tale of a hard-working carer in an Australian home struggling with a group of four very difficult old people entitled "The Hard Core".
After a year or so you will probably have forgotten many details, and it will be a pleasure to read these stories again and have some new insights.

I bought this book the year it came out, and was slightly disappointed in the dismal tone some of the stories begin with. But Binchy is at her finest with characters that are full of flaws and concerns just like all of us. I have read it again and each year the characters become closer to me and I appreciate her writing more fully. Not heartwarming holiday faire, but insightful. Quietly thought provoking. Details make it rich. Thanks Maeve.

As always, Binchy's stories stand out for two reasons: interesting, page turning plots and characters, and unpredictability. You may not be able to depend on happy endings and all loose ends neatly tied together in any of her fiction. But as always, you can look forward to learning something about human nature, and being highly entertained in the process. If you liked her other books, you will not be disappointed

This is in no way an inspirational or uplifting book for the holiday season. I found nearly all of the short stories to be modern day and even realistic stories - but of disfunctional families or relationships. I found it very depressing and hope to warn others that this book will definately not leave you in the holiday spirit but further depress you about the state of the world and how poorly people can treat one another.

Let me set something straight here ~~ I love Maeve's books. I have read them all and there are several that I re-read over the years simply because they're honest and uplifting. So it was with great anticipation that I sat down with this book ~~ I was expecting something to set my mind on the proper Christmas mood and boy, was I disappointed.

This book is not uplifting at all. In fact, the tone I detected throughout the entire collection of short stories is bitterness. Not bittersweet, just bitterness. Like Maeve has a grudge against Christmas. Maybe she does have a grudge ~~ but anyhow, this entire short story collection is not for the reader who is looking for something to cheer her up before the craziness of the holiday descends. In fact, if you're bitter about the holidays, then this book is perfect for you.

The short stories don't even feel complete nor full ~~ she has written better short stories than this collection so it is very disappointing that I put the book down and say, where's my Maeve?! This one is about women having affairs with married men, parents grown distant from their adult children, women who miss their spouses and lost dreams, and so on. There was nothing, I mean, nothing redeemable about any of these stories.

If you're a die-hard Binchy fan, you might like this collection. But save your money and buy her other books. This one is definitely not going into my personal library.

11-30-07

What I am at a loss to explain is why I finished it. Ever hopeful, I guess. These are the basic formulaic Binchy-craft, and just how many women can keep justifying their existence as the mistresses of married men, and why are the men so shallow, and why does it always take a handsome single stranger to lure poor, misunderstood mistress back to righteousness?

Maeve Binchy books are typically a delightful reading experience. I can't say that about this one. It was a downer. Very disappointing. If this had been my 1st Maeve Binchy book, it would have also been my last.

This book had some stories in it that were a tad uplifting, but there were too many other stories with cheating husbands. That was a bummer; I was hoping the whole book would be full of feel-good Christmas tales, not feel-depressed. Anyway, my favorite was the first story, "The First Step of Christmas." I just prefer the happy endings!