Customer Reviews

Whitethorn Woods

5 star:		(51)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

This is, as is usual for Mave Binchy, quite a delightful book. But for those of her fans who treasure her in-depth family stories, where each person in the book becomes quite well known, this may seem a little disappointing.

The heart of the book refers to an ancient well in an Irish village, that over the years has been dedicated to Saint Anne. The village which surrounds it needs a new bypass road, and there is a strong possibility that the well will be destroyed in the name of progress.

At the heart of the book is the family that owns the land, including the woods where the well is located, but as the book progresses we touch on the lives of many people who have been exposed to the town, the well and each other. Most chapters are dedicated to two people, who usually have some sort of relationship, and we are treated to their differing perspectives. Frequently, as is the case with Ms Binchy's other books, their lives are strangely intertwined with others, but at other times less so.

It is as always quite charming, and I can recommend it. If others don't give it 5 stars, it is because it is a little different from her other works, but it is worth perservering with and wonderfully enjoyable!

Have you ever sat in a coffee shop and just watched people coming and going? Have you ever wondered what their life stories are? Where they are from, what their dreams are and whether or not they're heartbroken, or delirious in love? Have you ever just wished that you could hear their stories?

Binchy has always written about life ~~ stories that are just glimpses in other people's lives, dreams and hopes. This book is no different. In fact, it is one of her better-written collection of short stories that all have a common place threaded through each of their stories. Unlike her earlier novels (which focused on just one town and a small group of people over the course of their lives), this one is full of different characters in different stages of life and in different places. There's Father Bryan, the priest who absolutely hate St. Ann's celebrations. But he performs it because his parish asks for it. St. Ann is the mother of St. Mary, the mother of Jesus. There is a well in Rossmore, in the midst of Whitethorn Woods, that St. Ann presides over and seemly grant people's fervent wishes.

There is Neddy Nolan, "not-the sharpest knife in the drawer" whose farmhouse lies in the path of the new progressive road. He's married to Clare with secrets of her own. Then there's a 16 year-old girl from the US, June, who celebrated her 16th sweet birthday in Ireland; there's Lucky, her cousin who wanted to visit US but her parents wouldn't let her; there's Lily Ryan who has been abused all these years and now her husband's in jail. She had her baby kidnapped 23 years previously, and she prays at the well every single day. There's stories of love and friendship, career decisions, misunderstandings and forgiveness. There are stories that touch the heart very deeply and other stories that make you shake your head in understanding.

Binchy is one of the very few writers that writes so poignantly about life and humanness that can be found in each of us. She takes ordinary people with ordinary problems and turn them into wonderful characters. She has a way of writing that you feel that she knows everything there is about people ~~ the good and the bad. She has a way of making you feel like you're right there having a drink with the characters or perhaps walking the path in Whitethorn Woods to visit the Shrine. Yes, the characters are all built around the debate of whether or not the Shrine should be knocked down in the name of progress ~~ but it's really a minor point in this collection of stories. You get the idea that St. Ann has answered so many prayers, even in modern Ireland that seemingly scoff at old traditions. Sometimes, in spite of our best efforts, traditions still rule our thoughts.

If you're a Binchy fan, you're in for a treat. The stories are wonderful and I didn't have any problems reading it ~~ they were entertaining and once again, I felt like I was coming home to a cup of hot tea and delightful conversations about people that I "know." Binchy is utterly unbeatable in this genre.

3-15-07

I think you'll like this book better than any other that Maeve Binchy has written since Tara Road because of its original exploration of deep human emotions.

Before choosing to read Whitethorn Woods, however, please realize that the book is primarily a series of short stories built around the theme of making a wish. In most cases, the stories are tied together more to one another in her version/his version fashion than to the rest of the stories in the book. The ongoing link among all of the stories is that the characters have some connection to St. Ann's Well in Whitethorn Woods, a Christian-themed site of a pagan place of worship. A portion of the short stories also intersect with the theme of whether or not a new road will lead to the demolition of the well and the woods.

In other words, this is not a novel like you are accustomed to reading by Maeve Binchy such as Tara Road, Scarlet Feather, Quentins, and Nights of Rain and Stars.

I mention that point because I know that many readers who love novels aren't nearly as fond of short stories. And those who love short stories usually don't expect to find many connections between the stories in a collection.

There is a benefit, you can read one of these stories while you are in bed and reach a natural stopping point before you nod off. But in some cases, the first story in a sequence may create an irresistible desire to read the next story to see how things turn out. So you may end up being awake for 15-20 minutes longer than you expected.

If you are still interested, let me explain more. St. Ann (if you don't already know) is the mother of the Virgin Mary, who was mother of Jesus. The well in this case has a statue of St. Ann, but the well's connection to the saint is tenuous because St. Ann never set foot anywhere near Ireland. People come to the well to make their wishes for marriage, children, cures of diseases, and success in other endeavors. Because of the ambiguity, Father Flynn is of two minds about encouraging events at the well. Canon Cassidy, his superior, is pleased at any sign of faith.

For years, people have been seeking their dearest wishes for love and happiness at the well. As the stories suggest, more often than not they found fulfillment. Ms. Binchy leaves it somewhat ambiguous as to why these successes occur. From the stories, you can draw your own conclusions: Was it taking action that provided the desired result . . . or was something more spiritual involved? If more spiritual, was it pagan or God-inspired? From a few of the stories, some will argue that this is a pagan force. You'll enjoy making up your own mind.

If the paired short stories were longer, many of them contain enough character and story juice to make a novella, as for example the stories about Neddy and Clare. Many of the characters have slim ties to one another through family connections, having gone to school with one together, or employment. The purpose seems to be to give you a sense of how Ireland has changed in the last two generations. The effect is quite subtle and well done.

The best part of the book comes in meeting some unusual, and very endearing, characters. There's Neddy, who isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer mentally, but who has a heart of gold. You'll be charmed by Vera, the unmarried older woman who takes a singles vacation with a bunch of youngsters. You'll feel comfortable as Maureen (who becomes Malka) embraces another culture and gains a life-long friendship. You'll love the energy and positivism of Bar (Barbara) as she builds a weekend out of nothing. Can a taxi driver play cupid? You'll have to ask the charming Hugo. The best qualities of a good mom shine through in Pearl. Some people care about making the lives of other grand -- you'll love Poppy and Caroline for that quality.

It's not all sweetness and light. There are also some scoundrels here that you'll enjoy hissing, mostly at lusting men and grasping women. Above those stereotypes, the carefully drawn stories of Becca and Gabrielle will stay with you for a long time after you put this book down. Nasty Dr. Dermot is also a strong and original character. Helen's tale will sear you with a deep emotional brand.

If you are tempted to stop mid-way through, don't. The book gets better as more threads gently tug at one another in the last third of the work.

Ms. Binchy is very good at putting her characters into awkward situations and taking them in surprising new directions. That keeps the book fresh, interesting, and rewarding.

What's the weakness of the book? If you are like me, you'll crave a little more connection across the stories. They are flung a little too broadly for the whole collection to be totally satisfying. For example, I think a whole book about Neddy and Clare would have been more appealing. See what you think.

Meave Binchy has written a number of warm and memorable popular books about Ireland. WHITEHORN WOODS belongs in this category. For this book, we meet Fr. Brian Flynn, the junior curate of a parish in Rossmore. Fr. Flynn is not a throwback to a the overused stereotypical Irish priest of an earlier generation. He's well aware of changing religious attitudes in his country as well as the faith lives of his people and is an authentic and likeable member of the clergy. Rossmore, like so much of Ireland, is rapidly changing. The sleepy town is becoming the home of chic stores, a new populace, and may possibly have a highway running through it. The problem? The highway would go through a beloved wooded area in the town and possibly destroy its most famous landmark, St. Ann's Well. The well is believed to be a place loved by St Ann, the mother of the Virgin Mary. People go to the well to pray for husbands and other miracles as well. Fr. Flynn is not sure how to handle the situation. He hates the superstition associated with the well and its removal would allow him to spend more time on matters he believes are far more important, but he also respects the sincerity of the people who worship at the well. We get a pretty good idea of how the novel will progress as we're reading, but we meet so many interesting characters along the way, it's enjoyable seeing how it will, or perhaps will not work out in the end.

Most of the novel is a collection of short stories and vignettes about the people who have visited the well. Some are rather funny, others tragic. We hear stories about weddings, marriages good and bad, lives scarred by alcoholism, kidnapping, untimely deaths, and just about every other possible situation of the human condition. Each voice is distinct and reflects contemporary Ireland. The moods of the stories change from one to the next which demonstrate Binchy's gifts as a writer. Perhaps what is most skillful in the book is the way Binchy weaves all the stories together. Each character seems to be connected in a "sixth degree of separation" sort of way. The characters are distinct and while the novel is upbeat, it's never overly sentimental or sappy.

For me, the novel was enjoyable for two reasons. First, even if readers do determine the plot and eventual ending, the characters and their stories are always fresh and surprising. We want to meet them and think we may even know some of them. Second, while it's not a religious book per se, the private stories of the characters and their devotion to the well, all somewhat mixed, some based on devotion, others borderline superstition, all demonstrate the varying ways belief plays a role in so many people's lives. The book also reveals a new and changing Ireland, but Binchy has the ability to tell a story like so many great Irish writers.

Maeve Binchy is a master storyteller and this novel spotlights all the things she does best: create endearing characters; give them very human needs, fears, expectations, and feelings; place them in a cozy community bound together by some thread. In WHITETHORN WOODS Maeve Binchy takes readers to a charming Irish village facing twenty-first century expansion. The whole community is divided on whether to hold onto traditions of the past or to embrace the future filled with financial gain for the adventurous.

Because in life there are two sides to every story, Maeve divides each of the thirteen stories in this book into two sections. It is an interesting device to give the reader a story and then to be presented with "the rest of the story" or a "flip" side.

Tying all the stories together is the thread about the statue of St. Ann, a place where many people have gone and asked for intercession from St. Ann to achieve their wishes. A highway is being planned to cut through Whitethorn Woods and bypass the village of Rossmore and destroy this ancient shrine. No one is more distressed or perplexed about the issue than Father Brian Flynn, curator of St. Augustine's parish.

To propel his story you will meet many richly drawn characters: Neddy, a pleasant young man no one considers the sharpest knife in the drawer until Clare discovers the love and wisdom he radiates; Vera, a sprightly septuagenarian who enjoys a singles holiday as does her much younger counterpart Sharon; Malka and Rivka, two friends who meet in Israel and embrace new customs while discovering the treasure of a lifelong friendship; Becca, an off-balance young woman who arranges to have another woman killed but loses her boyfriend to her equally off-balance mother; Barbara, the office worker who is hurt deeply by her co-workers but makes her own happiness with help from Alan and Harry; Dr. Dermot, a very set-in-his-ways ogre and Chester, the Irish-American who can't give enough to his grandfather's native land; Helen, who has a chilling story to tell and James, the husband who always knew; June, the American teen visiting Dublin and Lucky, the cousin she never knew; Emer, a young single hopelessly in love with Ken, who gets divine intervention from Hugo, the cab driver; Pearl, the altruistic mother who suffers a serious letdown from her children, Amy and Generous John; Poppy, who may have discovered the secret of a happy life much to the chagrin of her sister, Elegant Jane; Pandora, the beautician who massacres the hair of a woman she thinks is involved with her husband, and Fabian, the determined salon owner; Melanie, the deaf young girl who seeks a brighter future and Caroline, the career woman who can't turn away from her.

Their stories will delight you and point up the many facets of human nature that Maeve Binchy so cleverly writes about. Warm and entertaining, this is a treat for long-time Binchy fans and a wonderful introduction for new readers to her trademark style.

From the time she began writing her novels some 30 years ago, Maeve

Binchy has chronicled the changes in Ireland and the life and loves of its people. The once heavily Catholic and superstitious land has become more affluent, has embraced multiculturalism, and is slowly turning its' back on "the old ways". Whitethorn Woods is the next chapter in the narrative of this ever-evolving land and takes us on a wonderful journey into the lives of the citizens and visitors to the towns of Rossmore and Doon.

Binchy's initial premise: The consequences of building a new highway through Whitethorn Woods, bypassing the town of Rossmore, and destroying St. Ann's Well, a place thought to possess spiritual power by many of the locals.

As with many of her previous works, Binchy has managed to weave the many tiny threads of compelling individual allegories into the beautiful tapestry of a novel. Wonderfully plotted and populated with appealing and engaging characters, the reader is invited into the lives of Father Flynn, amiable Neddy Nolan (a pretty sharp dull knife), Dr. Dermot,(a wily old fox who shows us that jealousy is a dangerous and ugly thing), Lilly Ryan (whose first child was abducted 22 years earlier) and Helen and Becca (a couple of women with dangerous plans). These are only a few of the souls in Rossmore who have a tale to tell and a lesson to teach.

Once again, Maeve Binchy has produces an enchanting story that bewitches us with its discerning logic and genuine cast of characters.

If your not already a member of the Binchy fan club, this book will have you sending off for your enrollment forms!! A BIG 4 1/2 STARS.

Maeve Binchy has come off of a run of mediocre books and has regained her previous form. Whitethorn Woods has a clever structure; it begins from the point of view of Father Brian Flynn in Rossmore, a modern town in prosperous modern Ireland. Father Flynn feels beleaguered in his vocation: church scandals, the much reduced role of the church in everyday life, and the low esteem in which his profession is held by so many in the community (particularly his own family). Perhaps because it isn't really his biggest problem, he fixates on an ancient holy well in the Whitethorn Woods. Now dedicated to Saint Ann (mother of Saint Mary), believers have made a shrine out of the grotto in which the saint's statue stands. Father Flynn finds this to be all superstition and nothing to do with the true faith. He resents the attention the shrine gets as compared to his church. The shrine becomes the subject of divisiveness in Rossmore when a new road is proposed that will relieve the aggravating traffic in Rossmore, but pass through the Whitethorn Woods and obliterate the shrine.

Most of the book is taken up with the stories of the individual women and men whose lives the shrine has touched. These stories are all told in the first person and are remarkably varied. They are like a sampler in which Binchy demonstrates her mastery of the craft. And the stories are much cleverer than just beginning with a request for intercession and then showing how it worked out. Some of the characters aren't even aware of the shrine at all. After a group of stories, the narrative returns to the impasse of the bypass, and then back to more lives of ordinary people who have some relationship with Rossmore or St. Ann. Finally the book concludes with an unexpected resolution to the conflict between progress and tradition.

After reading this book, I feel like an empath that has touched too many minds in too short a time. The stories within it are powerful and told in many different voices. The situation in Rossmore that frames them is also well told, but it's the lives depicted in the stories that stand in the fore.

I've been a fan of Binchy's work since high school. Her stories of Irish communities have always touched me and made for great comfort reading. I always feel good when I read a Binchy book, and it is such a pleasure to visit the kinder and fairer world that Binchy creates for us.

Her last book before this one, The Night of Rain and Stars, didn't touch me as much as her previous books did, which is why I am so thrilled to report that Maeve Binchy's work on Whitethorn Woods is back to its previous high standards! I loved every bit of this charming audio book, and wished there was more. But wait, there was supposed to be!

The reviews and synopsis that I have read included all kinds of characters and adventures that didn't show up in my abridged CD version of this book. Usually when something is abridged, I expect that I lost a bit of dialogue or description here or there, but whole chapters, many of them, were left out of this one! There are characters that I never met and whole storylines chopped out of this book.

At the end, not knowing how much had been lost, I did still feel that there was more to be resolved, and lo and behold, there was. I listen to 2-10 audiobooks a month, some of which are abridged and some of which are not, and it is rare to find an audiobook abridged so thoroughly - I really feel as though I missed half the book!

So 5 stars and a huge rave for this book - I just loved all the characters and storylines, and the writing quality was excellent. But a grouchy 2 stars for the abridgement of this audiobook. Please publishers, next time don't abridge it, or if you do, don't cut out whole chapters, please.

Though each of these vignettes (of a variety of people who live near or know of the famous well in Whitethorn Woods) is very well written, pulling you into ta variety of interesting lives, they only rarely overlap and have very little to do with the "wishing" well that is to be destroyed in a road development project. Fans of Binchy will appreciate the story lines but they leave one wishing for more......as do all her other novels. But this one is more lacking than her others and a relative disappointment.

This book is really a collection of vignettes, all to do with the people of the small Irish town of Rossmore. The people of the town are divided on the main issue at hand, which is whether or not to carve a new road through the woods and thereby rid the town of the excessive traffic caused by trucks and industrial vehicles. The only drawback to this plan is that it would destroy part of the famous woods and also an old well which has been there since time immemorial, presently devoted to St.Anne, mother of the Virgin Mary. Legend has it that it was also an old pagan shrine before Christianity came to Ireland and the Catholic Church is reticent about calling it a sacred place. In one way or another, most of the townspeople are involved in this story, with one leading to another, which makes for a charming and interesting read. I hesitate to call it a "nice" read as that seems almost derogatory but, if you're in the mood for a gentle book, this is it.