Customer Reviews

Together Alone

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is one of Delinsky's best. She has researched and written about a terrible crime that effects everyone in this country and probably worldwide: Child Abduction.

The mix of characters, a dishrag mother, Emily, whose life has been dominated and controlled by her husband, Doug, who has been punishing her for 19 years by abandoning her in the trumped up guise of needing to work extra long hours, days, months, and, naturally it involves excessive traveling. Doug is a rigid jerk who despises and loathes Emily for leaving their son in a car while running into a post office in their small town only to return and find the child gone. His dishonesty with Emily is a real gut wrencher.

There is a cast of good girl friends and a "renter" Brian, who is a cop with a 2 year old left in his care due to his wife dying in an accident. He puts the moves on Emily right away when he sees her husband has literally abandoned her. And she doesn't resist. The plot thickens when Jill, their only surviving child, away in Boston at college, observes her lying, cheating father on the door step of a townhome there embracing a woman and kissing a little boy. Jill lets her mother know in a very oblique way and this leads to the discovery by Emily of the facts.

Emily finally gets the guts to remedy the problem, yet it is very hard to identify with her in a truly sympathetic way especially after the desperately dependent Emily starts cheating with the renter Brian while her husband is away. Two wrongs do NOT make a right no matter how justified the author wants us to believe. Especially since this is a morality tale and the immorality of the characters cancels its impact.

There are enough subplots to keep the most demanding reader
engaged. I hated her self pity and morose self absorption. I really hated her betrayal of her marriage BEFORE she discovers her husband's cheating. It was very jarring and I wish the author had introduced Brian late in the story, after the unmasking of the duplicity of Doug to make it, perhaps, more decent. Otherwise it is a story of two cheating spouses grieving over a lost child. The ending is a non event. The crazy old neighbor woman Myra is not at all believable and in fact is massively annoying. To find that she has harbored the secret of the lost child's death is just too far fetched. But, the fact of the missing children theme is educational and well meant.

This was the first book I've read by this author but it certainly won't be the last. I love how this book made me think about the people who mean the most in my own life. The saddest part of this book was when I reached the last page because I had come to know the characters so well that I didn't want the story to end.

I, personally, read this book while vacationing in Grand Caymand Islands. It was deliciously romantic, heart-warming and a suspenseful thriller. It takes you to softer places within your heart. It draws into question love, family, romance and creates suspicion of all of these puzzle pieces within a married life. The romantic drama is fantastically dancing at all times in Barbara's books. A must read for the romantic soul and anyone who loves to root for the underdog.

This book was such an inspiration! I couldn't put it down. The characters were so real and so true to life. This stuff can really happen to women today.

I consider this book a must read for any forty-something woman. It speaks volumes about adult friendships, relationships between parents and children, and marriage. There may be something to the old saying, "She doesn't know because she doesn't want to know." I didn't want this book to end. I'm a new fan of Delinsky.

It's a funny story at times. It's a sad story at times. It has the feeling of living right there on the street with the characters. All kinds of middle life struggles going on. Trying to stay fit as a 20 year old, midlife pregnancy, a husband that can't seem to talk to his wife because of his grief, an elderly eccentric neighbor, and on and on. Don't miss the chance to read this book............It's fantastic!!!!

This book was one of the best I have read in a while. I highly recommend the book to anyone who likes to read a good love story with a little detective work within the plot. The author began the story with developing the characters and lives of the main character, Emily,her husband,Doug, and Emily's friends,Kay,John, and Celeste. Emily and her husband lost their son years before the story begins and their relationship has deteriorated to almost nothing. There are several stories going on within the book having to do with the different characters concerning one person's husband and other characters' children. Basically, the story is about the saddness and the happiness of this life. It is about a people dropping as far as they can go and then reveiling their strength to develop a new life and be happy.

If you like typical women charachters that suffer from real world problems then you will like this book. I don't particulary like a lot of work done by this author but this book is well written and an enjoyable story. I found myself cheering for the charachter at the end. It is an enlightening story of love, marriage, and "life after the kids left for college" type of book. I recommend it.

If you are considering reading this book, I heartily recommend it. It was a beautiful book about coming of age, whether that age be 18 or 45. I also STRONGLY recommend that you do not read the review above by Kirkus Reviews: it completely gives away the whole storyline. Unlike some authors, Delinsky is good about throwing in surprises, but the above review uncovers them all. All in all, it's a really nice story, especially if you're a fan of hers.

I loved the story and the characters. Excellent buy.