The White Rose: A Novel [Paperback]

Jean Hanff Korelitz (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Miramax Books (2005)
• ASIN: B000SOBQ38
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely satisfying!, December 29, 2004

By 

ZippyBooks123 "ZippyBooks123" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The White Rose: A Novel (Hardcover)

I truly enjoyed reading The White Rose. The pace of the book was just perfect: lots of background, in-depth character analysis, but enough action to keep me engrossed in the plot. Marian is quite a believable person; it was easy to identify with her struggles. I loved Oliver, and cheered him on, especially later in the book (can't say what he does, exactly, or it will give away the surprise) when the fate of the woman he loves rests squarely on his ability to foil a plan. The plot is intricate, and the ending is surprising. I highly recommend The White Rose.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a romantic comedy you can feel good about loving, January 30, 2005

By 

Meg Cox "journalist/author/quilter" (Princeton, New Jersey USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The White Rose: A Novel (Hardcover)

This book is a breezy, fun read but it also makes you think. There are elements of social comedy and farce, as well as delicious accounts of sex. It's a very hopeful book that cheers for its middle-aged heroine without bashing men. It's a book where (almost) all the characters grow from and are strengthened by the ordeals they endure. There is history here, and scholarship, and a social conscious, but mostly it's just a fun romp.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A perfect bloom!, June 10, 2005

By 

HeyJudy "heyjudy" (East Hampton, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The White Rose: A Novel (Hardcover)

THE WHITE ROSE is everything a novel should be. This is a beautifully written book, and author Jean Hanff Korelitz is to be congratulated.

The story is rich and complex. There are a variety of plots and subplots, each of which is compelling enough to be the center of its own novel.

The story gets off to a slow start, which serves neither the author nor her readers well. Yet once one immerses oneself in these characters, THE WHITE ROSE is touching and gripping.

There are a multitude of love affairs described, with excellent descriptions of passion.

There are different versions of the story of the White Rose, including the real one about a small group of upper class Germans who resisted the Nazis.

There are details about the highest levels of academia and scholarship, and about the lifestyles of those New Yorkers who, quietly and without ostentation, are very, very rich.

THE WHITE ROSE is filled with amazing insights, so incisive and so clear that these literally are breathtaking.

The only quibbles go to the author's descriptions of cooking. In one scene, on a day she describes as warm, a character puts on a tweed jacket and necktie to reduce a sauce and boil some pasta. Please! Who wears wool to labor over a hot stove? In another scene, a different character cooks a brisket in less than an hour. It takes more than an hour simply to prep a brisket, and the cooking needs four to six hours. Didn't anyone associated with the manuscript--author, agent, editor--have a clue?

The other issue is the author's sense of direction. The route she suggests using between Manhattan and East Hampton is preposterous. Once again, this weird discrepancy stops the lovely flow of her story.

Yet as a book, THE WHITE ROSE is the finest use of the metaphor of the rose as an example both of the life cycle and a thing of pure beauty since the excellent novel THE ROSE GROWER was published in 2000.

THE WHITE ROSE is a perfect bloom.