Customer Reviews

The Woman Next Door

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

The premise of "The Woman Next Door" is relatively simple. A lovely widow turns out to be pregnant. Only problem is, her husband has been dead at least a year. She lives in a cul de sac with three other couples. The three couples are all experiencing some manner of strain in their marriages. Once the pregnancy of the widow becomes apparent, each of the wives silently wonder if her husband is the father.

The main couple of the story, Amanda and Graham, is the most intriguing. They are struggling with infertility. Married for five years they both desperately want a child but are turned off and wearied by years of fertility procedures. The interesting issue that Delinsky explores with this couple how the idea of conception can begin to overpower everything else in a marriage. Even a very strong and healthy love.

The second couple, Karen and Lee Cotter are much more volatile. Lee has had infidelity issues in the past. They aren't as much a focus as Amanda and Graham but they do provide a stark contrast to Amanda and Graham. Karen and Lee have 4 children and many more problems.

The third couple Georgia and Russ seem almost an afterthought. Georgia is the driven executive who travels four days out of five. Russ is the stay at home husband who watches the kids and writes freelance articles. It is a reversal of traditional gender roles. Comparatively speaking, Georgia and Russ have few problems except her absence.

Delinsky gives each man a plausible motive for possibly having slept with the widow. And she even manages to throw suspicion on each one of them in various parts of the book. Although the identity of the father adds a nice little bit of suspense, the more engrossing part of the book is the makeup of each of the three marriages and the reasons why these women can find it so easy to suspect their husbands of infidelity.

I always enjoy Barbara Delinsky's work. This book is no exception.

This is just another in a long line of wonderful books by Barbara Delinsky.The book revolves around the occupants of four houses in a cul-de-sac,with Amanda and Graham O'Leary being the primary characters. Amanda is a school psychologist and Graham is a landscaper. They are trying desperately to have a child with no luck, and their marriage is suffering from their total focus on this. The other neighbors are Georgia and Russ Lange. She runs a large business, necessitating constant travel,and would like to sell it and remain at home. Russ stays at home with their two children, writing articles on the side.Karen and Lee Cotter come next;she busies herself with much volunteer work, and he owns a computer business,being frequently away from home and seeing other women.They have three young children and teen-age,Jordie who plays a vital role in the story. The fourth house harbors Gretchen,a young widow who married Ben after the death of his wife, and who has also now died. She is pregnant, long after Ben's death. Her pregnancy stirs many questions among the other three women, all wondering if perhaps one of their husbands fathered this child. Things in each household become unstable,with potential estrangements arising. A tragedy, followed by a major crisis, shakes up everyone and resolves many of the situations. Barbara Delinsky's characters are so believable. Her story flows smoothly from one event to the other and the people are like people we all know.Her characters have such substance,and, Amanda, the main character, is so lovable, you want to rush to her aid during her difficult times.Barbara Delinsky engenders such strong feelings for her characters in all of her books and she has done so again. This is a highly readable book.

In The Woman Next Door Barbara Delinsky has written a simple character study of 4 totally different women and 3 spouses who live next door to each other on a cul-de-sac. The story is slow paced as she develops each one - the couple desperately trying to have a baby but work and family responsiblilities hindering their attempts; the stay at home Mr. Mom/Mom couple where the wife is the main breadwinner wrestling with guilt; the stay at home super mom with a philandering husband; and then the widowed, but pregnant Gretchen. How each react to Gretchen is the main plot but subplots of carefree romance, loving according to the clock, suicide, career first, concern and lack of concern for children, a runaway kid, breaking and entering and family interference show how ordinary people do live. There's trust and distrust, deception, love, faith, loyalty,courage and friendship at every turn. This is what many peoples' lives are all about today. Barbara took the ordinary and created a novel depicting many problems in real life.

Not the best of Delinsky - my personal favorite being Coast Road - but a satisfying read nevertheless.

This is the first book I've read by Barbara Delinsky but it won't be the last. I love the way she writes about real people with real problems, real emotions, and real solutions. In this novel, we meet four women--a dedicated school psychologist whose biggest wish is to become pregnant, a savvy businesswoman married to Mr. Mom, the supermom who leads every school committee but can't control her philandering husband, and the rich, young, widow who is pregnant by an unknown lover. Naturally, all the other three women on the cul-de-sac suspect their husband of being the father. Each marriage is under just enough stress to cause each wife to jump to this conclusion. But which one will be correct?

This is the stuff soap operas are made of, but if you want something light and easy to wrap yourself in for a few days, this is the book for you. Delinsky accurately portrays the stress of not being able to conceive, the pressure of being married to a wayward husband, the guilt of letting your career separate you from your family, and the loneliness of the neighborhood "outsider." She also adds the drama of a teen suicide and enough sexually-charged scenes to keep you turning the pages.

I've have always looked forward to a new book by Barbara Delinsky, but if this had been the first book of hers I read, I would never look for another. It reads like something that had to meet a publishers deadline and not a well thought out story line. After Coast Road, The Vineyard and some of her older ones this was a real disappointment. The first 110 pages is dedicated mostly to Greg and Amanda and their quest for her to get pregnant, one page reading pretty much like the other. It skips back and forth from them to the different neighbors with no real character development of any of them, I have no feeling of knowing any of them and didn't even care who the father of the widow's baby was! Everyone has a bad day now and again, and I am hoping that's what happened to Delinsky when she wrote this one! If you want to read the book, my suggestion is wait for it to come out in paperback, not worth the hardback price! I rated it 1 star, when I usually rate her books a 4 or 5.

I'm a fan of Barbara Delinsky. I've read a few of her books, and enjoyed them, as I did this one. However, I thought the story was a bit repetitious...like she had to fill so many pages. The story is centered around Amanda and Graham O'Leary. The couple has been married for 5 years and is struggling to conceive a child. They have been seeing a fertility specialist for some time and nothing seems to be working. This part of the story got old real quick. The two of them would fight, and voice their fears, and then 20-30 pages later they'd be fighting about the same thing, and worrying about the same fears.

I found the other three households on the cul-de-sac to be much more interesting, though we didn't get to learn nearly as much about them. There's Georgia, a high powered business woman, and her stay-at-home husband Russ...Karen, a mother or four and her philandering husband Lee...then there's Gretchen, the young beautiful widow who becomes pregnant months after her husbands death. I really enjoyed this part of the story. Which husband was responsible for this? Who was the cheater? It's what got me to finish the book. But alas, I was disappointed with the end. I can't get into it without giving anything away, but I wasn't happy with who turned out to be the father of her baby.

Regardless, it wasn't a bad book, just a bit monotonous. I will say that I was pleased with half the ending, and the side stories were really what kept me interested. Ms. Delinsky is still a favorite of mine, but this book was just ok. Oh well, better luck next time.

I've been reading Barbara Delinsky for years. Recently though I haven't enjoyed the novels as much. I can't really put my finger on why.

In any case, this was an okay read. The premise was interesting, as was the glimpse into the married lives of the neighborhood. But it never really grabbed my attention. The characters were not particularly likeable. You never really get to know much about Gretchen, so she isn't the most sympathetic of characters. Graham seems kinda disconnected and oblivious about his wife's problems with his family. There are hints as to his marital history and why he behaves the way he does, but frankly, this needed more development. The ending for Graham and Amanda seemed abrupt and hurried. Sort of a slapdash, happily ever after ending without actually working through their problems.

I guess I'm giving this 2.5 stars because I like Barbara Delinsky's work generally, and am not ready to give her work thumbs down.

Barbara Delinsky once again displays her supurb talent for insightful and authentic characters. Using well-thought-out action and dialogue to draw the reader into the plot, this author writes with a having-lived-it kind of reality. I found this page turning novel hard to put down when chore time came. "The Woman Next Door" is another winner for Delinsky.
Beverly J Scott author of Righteous Revenge

The Woman Next Door focuses on three married couples, two with children, and a widow who live on a cul-de-sac. Amanda and Graham have the perfect life-except for the baby they want so much to have and can't. Georgia and Russ have reverse roles with Russ being the stay at home parent and Georgia the traveling business woman. Karen and Lee have the most turbulent marriage of the three couples. Karen is a stay at home mom who volunteers for everything and Lee is the computer wizard who owns his own business and has a record of cheating on his wife. Gretchen is the lonely widow who is pregnant. When the women of the cul-de-sac find out Gretchen is pregnant distrust runs wild in the minds of the three wives as they try to figure out who the father is. They not only suspect their friends husbands but also their own.

This book was absolutely wonderful. It was my first, but definitely not last, Delinsky novel. The plot was well thought out and the characters were well developed. It was almost like reading a whodunit novel. Ms. Delinsky keeps you riveted to the pages until the end when you find out who the father is. This is a book about self-discovery and discovery about other people and what makes them tick. The storyline of teen suicide was very well written. Ms. Delinsky obviusly did her research well and did an excellent job of writing this book.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone. It is a great read and is a book to read more than once. Definitly a keeper.

It has been such a pleasure to watch Barbara Delinsky mature from a formula-romance writer (albeit talented) to a seasoned author with something to say.

"The Woman Next Door" addresses several meaty issues, and addresses them well. One is the anguish of infertility, and how it can tear apart the strongest of marriages, causing bitterness that can run rife through extended families. Another is the terror of teen suicide and its aftermath of copycat suicides among impressionable and troubled youths. The third issue is the destructive nature of gossip, and how it can harm the gossipers as well as those being talked about. And finally, there is the old standby--marital infidelity.

If all this sounds too heavy to stand, forgive me. There is a good story here, made all the more interesting because the main characters are facing and coping with real-life problems, and they do NOT respond to them with perfect solutions, but rather bumble along doing their best, like real people do.

Amanda and Graham, the infertile couple, react helplessly as their passionate and strong marriage all but disintegrates in the wake of prescribed sex and mood-altering fertility drugs. Karen and Lee, whose marriage has been strained to the breaking point by his infidelities, find their lives torn asunder in ways they could not have predicted. Georgia and Russ, seemingly the perfect 21st century couple (she runs a business, he's a house husband), are facing the strain of trying to keep a family going while remaining a successful upscale couple.

And then there is Gretchen. Beautiful Gretchen, young second wife of a much-beloved neighbor, Ben, who has died over a year ago when the book begins. Ben's first wife, June, had been friend and mentor to the three women, Amanda, Karen and Georgia--and her own death years earlier devastated them all. When Ben brought his new wife Gretchen into the picture, none of the three women could stomach her. And that is the only part of the book I found annoying--three highly intelligent, sensitive and thoughtful women are going to blackball a young woman and label her a trophy wife with no attempt to get to know her? Apparently so.

And when Gretchen shows up pregnant long after her now-deceased husband could have fathered the child, vicious tongues start to wag. Who is the father? That question, and Gretchen herself, becomes the catalyst for all that follows.

Despite the real annoyance the reader may feel about the neighbors' treatment of Gretchen, nevertheless, this is a good book and a satisfying read.