Customer Reviews

The Vineyard

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

One problem I've had when reading a book by Barbara Delinsky is that the end comes too quickly and I'm left waiting anxiously for the next new title. In the meantime, though, any reader will find as I have, that Ms. Delinsky's books are wonderful adventures and her newest book,The Vineyard, is no exception. In my opinion, it may very well be one of Ms. Delisnky's very best books.

As you read this book find out as I did that The Vineyard is filled with memorable characters and a unique place, Rhode Island wine country. And then savor this book as you would any fine wine. For within the book's pages, Ms. Delinsky introduces us to two characters, Natalie Seebring and Olivia Jones, whom we will come to know and remember. These women, from different lifestyles and years apart chronologically, will not only come to learn from one another but will also become bound to one another.

Thank you Ms. Delinsky for this wonderful read and please don't make me wait too long for your next book.

I won't go over plot...the other reviewers have already done so. I just wanted to add my own agreement to how wonderful this new book is. Like another reviewer, I tried my best to read the book slowly, but before I knew it, the book was over.

What I have liked about Barbara Delinsky's books, and particular the last few---Coast Road, and Lake News, it that I so easily find myself immersed in the setting. Many authors make this a minor part of the book, but she just draws me in to where I can picture myself part of the book. And after each book, I'm ready to move to the location of the setting.

The characters are wonderful although I found Tess somewhat annoying. I especially enjoyed Tess, because like me, she is a dreamer.

Olivia Jones accompanied by her nine-year old troubled daughter Tess agrees to write the memoirs of Natalie Seebring, owner of the Asquoniet Vineyard and Winery in Rhode Island. Natalie stuns her adult children, Susanne and Greg when she announces her intention to marry Carl Burke, the long-term manager of the winery although their beloved father has been dead only six months.

Iit is a struggle for her to talk about her feelings, Natalie hires Olivia to help her tell the truth to her children in order to gain their blessing for her wedding. Olivia is unaware that she is entering a major family feud. However, she quickly comes to love her employer, who makes her and her daughter feel like part of an extended family. Carl's son Simon makes Olivia want to believe in fairy tales, but she fears that he will desert her like everyone else in her life has done. Olivia, the Seebrings, and the Burkes have many personal obstacles to overcome if they are to learn what true loving means.

Because of the width of the talent, no one can predict what the next Barbara Delinsky book will be especially since the great author never repeats herself. Her novels are always different as writing style and the characters are unique to one tale only. THE VINEYARD is Barbara Delinsky at her best, delivering a first class family drama filled with a heartwarming and gut-wrenching story line. The passion and uncertainty of caring for another person and the vineyard, which seems at times like a person, feels true to life in what is certain to be the writer's latest bestseller.

Harriet Klausner

I could not put this book down. The story is a real portrait of what families can become without nourishment. The young girl character and her problem touched the teacher in me. The mother and tutor showed great love and patience to this struggling little girl. I also loved the grace and dignity of Natalie who wasn't afraid to work hard and tell the truth about her role in the history of the vineyard. The characters and their interactions made melaugh and cry. As usually Barbara Delinsky told a wonderful tale.

Once again I am recommending a Barbara Delinsky book -- It's nearly 3 AM in the morning and I've had tears streaming down my face. I could NOT put this book down. When I first started the book I was a bit disappointed. There was such a huge cast of characters I was becoming confused and the details of grapes and winemaking seemed to bog the story down. But since I've had good luck in the past with Barbara Delinsky books, I kept with it. Boy, am I glad I did!

Seventy-six-year-old Natalie Seebring is a recent widow - six months to be exact. Naturally, when they receive invitations to her wedding, her children are rather taken aback - not only is she marrying so soon after their father's death, but she is marrying Carl Burke, the manager of their vineyard of all people!

Olivia Jones's job as a photo restorer is just about finished as her boss is retiring. When she receives word that Natalie Seebring, whose photos she's been restoring, is looking for an assistant, she asks her boss to recommend her. This sounds like the perfect solution for her for the summer. A young single mother, Olivia is concerned about her 10-year-old daughter Tess who just doesn't seem to fit in with her classmates. This will be the perfect opportunity for Tess and a good interim position for Olivia while she looks for another, more permanent position. Besides, after restoring all these photos she feels she knows Natalie's family - and is curious, wanting to learn more.

The job as Natalie's assistant is idyllic for Olivia. She finds a tutor who is experienced in teaching dyslexic children like Tess, Carl can teach Tess tennis, and she is signed up for sailing lessons at the local yacht club. And Olivia fits right in - the Rhode Island vineyard has been having a rash of quitting employees -- and Olivia is thrown right into the mess and acts as if she's always worked there.

As Olivia helps Natalie write her memoirs, she learns more of the mystery of her life - why did she marry Alexander Seebring when she had been so in love with Carl, her childhood friend and teenager love interest?

More of a mystery though is Simon Burke, the brooding son of Carl. Simon has been managing the vineyard for the past six years and keeps busy with the work which has become his life after the tragic death of his wife and daughter in a sailing accident four years previously.

Barbara Delinsky is a master at creating an emotional story - and with THE VINEYARD she gives readers two romances - the one of Carl and Natalie told mostly in backstory through the book Olivia is helping Natalie write, and the budding relationship between Simon and Olivia.

Readers who are able to get through the first part of the book will be richly rewarded by a beautiful story. She details the workings of a Rhode Island vineyard so vividly readers could easily visualize the setting and smell the grapes. I am now itching to read the books in Delinsky's backlist that I've missed.

When I first opened The Vineyard, I didn't know I was going to be making new friends. That's how the characters seemed to me and I hated saying goodbye. When Olivia Jones worked on restoring Natalie Seebring's old pictures, she made up a family for herself using the people in the photos. Her own mother ignored her for most of her life, then abandoned her when she graduated from high school. When she married a man more interested in his work than her and their daughter, the pattern continued up until his death. Then his parents refused to believe Jessie was their son's daughter. Added to all this, Jessie had dyslexia and couldn't get ahead in school or make friends. It was at this stage of Olivia's life when Natalie Seebring hired her to come write a book of her life story. Natalie and her hired employee announced their upcoming wedding six months after Natalie's husband died. Natalie's children felt betrayed and hurt and wondered if she had been having an affair while their father was alive. Always the quiet one, Natalie thinks if she puts her story down on paper, maybe they will understand why she is marrying Carl. Olivia brings her daughter to live at the vineyard that Natalie owns, expecting a large family atmosphere. What she finds are phone calls from Natalie's children that Natalie refuses to take and hostility from the vineyard manager who believes Natalie is playing match maker for himself and Olivia. The story develops beautifully from here as we learn Natalie's story and how it makes Olivia emerge from her dream world and face reality. This is one book where the romance wasn't overdone but added to the beauty of the book.

Olivia and Tess moves to a Rhode Island vineyard ~~ to help Natalie write a memoir about her life for her children. Carl, the former manager and Natalie are also planning a wedding ~~ which Natalie's children heartily disapproves of because their father had only been dead for six months ~~ and this is just the beginning of a fun novel.

This novel is also a look into the complex relationships between children and parents, between friends and lovers. It is not a deep, engrossing book ~~ but it will do for a satisfying read. It isn't a book that will stay with you forever ~~ it is what I call a warm, fuzzy read. It is predictable what's going to happen ~~ but it is a sweet and tender story.

If you like a romance novel with a few how-tos thrown in, then you'll like this one. If you despise fluffy reading, then don't pick this one up.

This is a wonderful blend of some of the most memorable characters I've ever been introduced to. The main character, Natalie Seebring, is a woman in her 70's that has done everything in her power to turn Asquonset, the family Vineyard in Rhode Island, into the productive enterprise it has become. It is when Olivia Jones is hired to write a book of Natalie's memoirs that we find out just how much she has given up for the vineyard and the family who has come to take it for granted. Natalie's Husband has been dead for 6 months and her family is scandalized when she announces her engagement to Carl, the manager of the vineyard. Eyebrows are raised and accusations of improprieties are insinuated, all to Natalie's chagrin.

This is a story of a family that finds itself after a long and arduous journey. It is an informative look at the cultivation of grapes and what it takes to nurture them to their full potential through some of the worst weather one might imagine. There is so much more to this enjoyable story with surprises that I didn't see coming at the end. Other parts of the story were totally predictable but the characters were so well written that I didn't mind following the author down that particular path. This book was a good read and I will be reading Delinsky's books for a long time to come. Kelsana 4/20/01

I have never reviewed a book before, but after reading "The Vineyard" I felt I just had to share...

I am a sucker for romance novels, and this story caught my heart. I found myself grabbing for it every free moment I had and it was worth every minute.

I loved the chemistry between Olivia, Tess and the Seebrings. Delinsky's characters are strong-willed and vulnerable at the same time. I found the story irresistable and I cannot wait to read Delinsky's other two books...I am going to buy them today!

Make some time for this one and enjoy with a good glass of wine!

What a nice escape for those sunny Sunday afternoons on the deck, or the rainy ones in the house! Be transported to the lovely RI coast and smell the grapes ripening on the vine. Barbara Delinsky draws a refreshingly realistic view of today's relationship dynamics....mother/daughter, male/female, husband/wife. Traveling through time as Natalie dictates her memoir is wonderful voyage!