The War of the Roses [Hardcover]

Warren Adler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2001

This is the novel that inspired one of the most famous movies about divorce ever made, starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner. Oliver and Barbara Rose are a passionate couple who meet at a Cape Cod auction while bidding for matching figurines. The figurines belong together, and so do the Roses. Their perfect love, complete with dream home and wonderful children, is fated to disintegrate, however, and when Oliver collapses in an apparent heart attack, Barbara's indifference brings the true state of their marriage out into the open. The war they wage against each other eventually descends into brutality and madness, as they destroy each other's most prized possessions and spiral into chaos.

The global impact of both the book and the movie has brought the phrase "The War of the Roses" into the popular jargon describing the terrible hatred and cruelty engendered in divorce proceedings.

The Roses' bereft children are featured in the novel's sequel, The Children of the Roses.
"Warren Adler writes with skill and a sense of scene."--New York Times Book Review

"Warren Adler surveys the terrain [of marital strife] with mordant wit. This accomplished tale...builds to a baleful yet all-too-believable climax."--Cosmopolitan

"The War of the Roses is a clever look at the breakup of a marriage....It is Adler's achievement that he makes the most bizarre actions of each (party) seem logical under the circumstances....Both frightening and revealing."--Washington Star

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Tight, unique, intimate . . . fascinating and unusual." -- West Coast Review of Books

"Warren Adler writes with skill and a sense of scene." -- New York Times Book Review

From the Inside Flap

The classic story of a nasty divorce, this is the book that inspired one of the most famous movies about divorce ever produced. The movie is shown somewhere in the world every week, and the book has been translated in almost every language on the planet. War of the Roses tells the story of Oliver and Barbara Rose, who thought they had a perfect marriage, only to discover that their relationship was barely skin deep. The war they wage against each other eventually descends into brutality and madness as they destroy each other's most prized possessions and spiral into chaos. The global impact of both the book and the movie has brought the phrase "The War of the Roses" into the accepted jargon describing the terrible hatred and cruelty engendered in divorce proceedings.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Stonehouse Press (April 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590060083
• ISBN-13: 978-1590060087
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,084,622 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Warren Adler is a world-renowned novelist, short story writer and playwright. His 32 novels and story collections have been translated into more than 25 languages and two of his novels, The War of the Roses and Random Hearts, have been made into enormously popular movies, shown continually throughout the world.

Three short stories from his acclaimed collection, The Sunset Gang, have been adapted as a trilogy and shown repeatedly on the Public Television network.

Mr. Adler's blogs appear regularly in the Huffington Post and other sites throughout the world and his short stories appear in numerous anthologies.

Mr. Adler is a pioneer in electronic publishing. He was one of the first authors to acquire his complete backlist and to convert his entire library to digital publishing formats.

A product of the New York public school system, Mr. Adler graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School and New York University, where he majored in English literature. In 2009, he was honored by being chosen "Alumni of the Year" at NYU's School of Arts and Science. He has taught novel writing at honors seminars at NYU.

After graduating from New York University with a degree in English literature, Mr. Adler worked for the New York Daily News before becoming Editor of the Queens Post, a prize winning weekly newspaper on Long Island. His column, "Pepper on the Side," became a staple of a number of newspapers in the country.

During the Korean War, after basic training, he was recruited by Armed Forces Press Service to serve in the Pentagon as the only Washington Correspondent for the service. His Washington by-line went all over the world and was published in every publication put out by the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Coast Guard.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars On the wrong track..., June 12, 2006

By 

Matthew M. Mahan (Dallas, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The War of the Roses (Paperback)

I have seen several reviews of this book which were negative. I have also seen the movie. The conclusion that I have come to is that most people--including the script writers--have missed the main point of the book.
The impression that I have is that everyone thinks this book is about the moral destruction that divorce can cause. Admittedly, there is a lot of this in the book. Still, I feel that the main point is that the moral destruction isn't caused by the divorce so much as it is the passion for material objects.
The Roses define who they are by what they own, and giving away any part of what they own must therefore diminish who they are. As a result, the only outcome of a property division is obviously a fight to the death. Not even the children matter as much. And the finale, with the children following the parents' footsteps, is truly chilling. One does indeed sympathize with Anne.
In the end, remember that this book was written in 1981. Don't read it as a black comedy on the horrors of divorce. Read it as a black comedy on the horror of the onset of the Yuppie phenomenon.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Negative, Realisitic, and Gritty, but the best book ive read, January 15, 2003

By 

jennifer underwood (Cleveland, Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The War of the Roses (Hardcover)

I was obsessed over the movie for a long time and when I read this book it had the same theme and characters but it was vastly different than the movie. The ending was almost the same, but it was shocking how much they did to each other. Everyone seems to think it was about materialism only. I disagree. It was about investing twenty years of your life and wanting something to show for it, and I think their anger and revenge stemmed more from an attitude of 'How dare you waste my life' or 'How dare you ruin our family' that it was more the main theme than the house. The house just happened to be caught in the crossfire. It definetly makes you think, and is by far one of my favorite books.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book - better movie, December 7, 2008

By 

Cathy (Pennsylvania, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The War of the Roses (Paperback)

This is one of the extremely RARE times when the movie was better than the book. In the movie, things escalate logically, with a little humor to keep it from getting too dark. Even at the end, when both spouses have "lost it," there was an enraged logic to their actions. In the book, things got TOO over-the-top. Filling a bathtub with rancid food, turning the whole house into a booby-trap, it was just not believable.

At times, it digressed into a "women's lib" commentary on how a woman exists just to validate a man. A key plot point is that Jonathon doesn't understand why his wife wants a divorce. In the movie, we can side with Barbara at times, just as we side with Jonathon at other times. In the book, she just comes across as needing some cheese with that whine.

Get the movie, skip the book.