Customer Reviews

A Woman's Place (Charnwood Library)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A WOMAN'S PLACE by Barbara Delinsky

June 12, 2005

Rating 4/5 stars

A WOMAN'S PLACE by Barbara Delinsky is the story about a woman who finds herself kicked out of her house and not allowed to see her own children, due to the lies of her jerk of a husband. The narrator is Claire Raphael, and she's a successful business owner who earns about five times more than her husband does. It never bothered her that she made more money than her husband did. She loved him unconditionally.

Unfortunately, because she was so absorbed in her job and her children, she failed to see that Dennis was starting to resent her success. After she returns from a trip to visit her ailing mother, she finds that he has filed for divorce and has taken custody of the kids and kicked her out of the house. She has no where to go, except to her best friend and business partner, Brody. Unfortunately, one of the things Dennis has accused her of is infidelity and he claims she has been sleeping with Brody, which is not true at all. Claire has no idea how to fight back, since Dennis is telling all sorts of lies about her and the judge has taken his side.

I have to say this is one of my favorite books by Delinsky so far. The plot was well-developed, making it a fast read with so much going on - Claire's issue with her own family (sibling rivalry and a mother that has only seen Claire as the good daughter), Claire's need to be with her children, and finally the demise of her marriage. The reader will watch as Claire goes through the legal motions to get her life back, and with the help of a lawyer who actually cares (as opposed to the judge who seems to think all women belong barefoot and pregnant), Claire fights for what belongs to her. Some may see this as a somewhat soap-opera-ish type of novel, but I found myself wanting to read this in one sitting and wishing Claire could find a way to fight back against her husband.

I love this book because the writing is excellent but the story is one of the most compelling I've ever read. Delinsky made me care about the characters, to the point where I wanted to cry, laugh and scream at times. I can honestly say I hated being interupted when reading it and couldn't wait to get back into it. I think this is the best Delinsky book I've read thus far.

Bravo for Barbara Delinsky. A Woman's Place captures the real-life trauma one woman faces when her world falls apart. This book is smart, thoughtfu, realistic and, for me, portrayed each character with balance and tolerance. I was struck particularly by the main character's strength and how she was able to negotiate and survive one of the most difficult experiences a woman can face. As a reader, I felt her horror and her confusion; this is the sign of a well-crafted and successful book. I heartily recommend A Woman's Place and look forward to Barbara's next book

The premise is not terribly original, but Delinsky does a good job with it, weaving a realistic tale of a woman who finds herself turned out of her own home without her children. It was the realism of the plot that captured and held my attention. Definitely not an action-packed plot...this roller coaster is an emotional one. This is a book about the punches life can throw, about learning to examine one's own frailties, about growth and maturity. All in all, a pretty satisfying read.

The book begins with a glossy 8x10 picture of life. Claire has her family, her children, her marriage and her career and, then
everything falls apart. She is booted out of her home, her husband wants a divorce and she looses custody of her children who were her life.
Barbara Delinsky identifies each character in such a way a reader cannot but feel like he/she really knows each person. I had feelings for each character and felt sorry, happy,angry and even love for each of the characters at one time or another during the story.
In the end, each character finds his or her strengths and understandings of the situation they were in and become emotionally healthy again. Scars are left in everyone's life but pain does not stop life from going on.
I highly recommend the book for anyone who likes love stories, stories about life's struggles and triumps or books about surviving life's tragic surprises.

This was a great book. I couldn't put it down from the moment I began reading. It made me angry in the beginning and happy at the end. It showed the growth of all the characters, including the children. Normally I probably wouldn't have picked this up because of the subject matter, but anything Barbara Delinsky writes is usually good. Pick this one up if you like a page turner!

I thought that A WOMAN'S PLACE was very well written and timely. One of Delinsky's few books that did not have a "happy" ending in the sense of all's well that ends well. Its ending of compromise reflects the compromises that most of us have to make today. Things don't always work out the way we want them to and we don't always do things as well as we would like. The book made me think about the changing roles of women within the family dynamic. The setting, especially the introduction of the lighthouse, was excellent and the story was riveting. The smallest details picked up the nuances of everyday family life and the book was very realistic as well as being a great story

Yes, A Woman's Place is a departure from previous Barbara Delinsky books, but Claire Raphael is reacting the way women would in the REAL world when confronted with a divorce and custody battle as well as a takeover bid for her business.
Barbara Delinsky has Claire react the way any normal woman would who was involved in a nasty custody battle - first with shock, dismay, and then finally with gusto.
Only poor fiction would have the heroine become an "aggressive bitch" immediately, going after the husband without confronting their feelings.
Barbara Delinsky does a great job in having us commiserate with Claire, in feeling her pain, and in rooting her on towards achieving some well-deserved happiness at the end.<BR

I picked up three BD novels from the library and have read them in a space of 1.5 weeks...a tribute to her writing. Yet, try as I might I simply dont find her characters fully developed or believable. Dennis, Claires' husband is a total ogre..but somewhere towards the end there is a subltle shift in depiction. We see shades of sensitivity in him (ending up in joint custody) and feel frustrated as to why we didnt get a better insight into his feelings about why the marriage failed. we get some hints in passing when Claire admits that she may have been too controlling but I wish this theme had been expolored more. This has been my main complaint about her books so far: she TRIES to appear balanced without giving the reader enough material to judge themselves. I understand this is woman's fiction but she always has her male characters less than fully developed...it wouldnt matter if they (like Dennis) werent so central to the book.

And for some reason that baffles me, I simply dont identify or fully sympathesize with any of her heroines, even though the author throws every possible misery at her in this book....it could be because of the missing pieces that I mentioned above.

I think I am giving up on her novels for now.

This was the first Delinsky book I'd ever read, but I thought it was absolutely wonderful. The characters were very well developed, the story line was smooth and flawless. I would definately reccommend.:o)