So many of the familiar Delinsky elements are here: a major character thwarted from her career path, a tangled family relationship, sibling tension. This is both a good thing and a bad thing.

What makes this book so wonderful, however, is the tightness of the narrative. It takes place over a very short time (compared to some of her other titles). As each day passes, the tension increases until the characters finally have to make the confrontations they've been dreading.

I have a sister that I love More...

More of a 2.5 for me. There was just too much that Delinsky tried to cram into this book--too many people, too many issues. I really didn't feel like I knew the main characters or understood their motives.

I really didn't like this book. I didn't like any of the characters. The story revolves around a family who owns some famous nursery in New England where they all work except for the oldest daughter who is a famous runner training for the Olympics. She winds up having a heart attack while running which causes severe brain damage. The story basically involves the family members coming to terms with what happened as well as with each other. The characters are painted in such broad strokes that the More...

It's been a while since I gave a book 5 stars, but this one definitely deserves it. Robin Snow is a star athlete and an Olympic hopeful to run the marathon. One day when she's out for her usual run, her life takes a dramatic turn for the worse. This beautifully written story follows each family member's journey through this crisis and shows how they grow, individually and as a family, through this terrible situation. There's a lot going on in this story, but it is beautifully woven and it all ti More...

My review: Robin is the star athlete of the Snow family. All family activities revolve around her running. Molly is the younger sister, always feeling second best to Robin. Even as an adult, Molly continues to struggle living in Robin’s shadow. It’s not until Robin’s last run, that the Snow family will finally face the reality of their dynamics.

One that fateful day, Molly was supposed to be with Robin during her long run. True to Robin’s fashion, she changed her running plans at the last minute More...

I just finished this book on my eReader. It was a very good book. Sad and so true. It is about family relations, dementia, life support, heart problems, love, giving up and holding on. This is the second book written by Barbara Delinsky I have read. I can't tell you which was better. Both dealt with family relations and how important that is between sisters, brothers, mothers and fathers.

Robin is the oldest child, she is a runner. She goes out for a run and has an accident. Chris, the only son More...

Goodness, I had thought this book sounded so good when I read about it. So I contacted the author to see if she'd be kind enough to send me a copy. I have to say that this book is the most amazing book. It's going on my list of favorite books of all time! While the premise of the story is one we've heard before, I could never have imagined the depths that it would uncover. The emotions that it evokes are complex and will have you really feeling a bit raw. All of us have wondered at one time or a More...

Olympic level marathoner and egotistical Robin Snow does not get along, for the most part, with her less athletic, younger sister Molly, a horticulturist. Though they share a sisterly bond, especially when things go bad for one of them, Molly resents her older sibling’s fame and accompanied gloating haughtiness, so she refuses to run with Robin as she trains. When Robin, running alone, suffers a heart attack that leaves her comatose, Molly feels guilty for not being there for her.

As Robin's heal More...

This book was chosen as the October read for a local book club of which I am a member. The story swirls around a young, world-class runner who collapses as the result of a major cardiac event. By the time she is found, the damage has been done and there is little left to do other than place her on life support. Her family struggles with the resulting end-of-life issues in all the ways you can imagine. Family secrets emerge, dysfunction is confronted, relationships are both built and broken, and More...

This is the story of a family facing an unspeakable tragedy. Robin is only 33 and her family is shell shocked. Molly tries to figure out what Robin wants and Kathryn vents on anyone who comes her way, even the good Samaritan who saved Robin’s life. When Molly discovers a long kept family secret and does something about it, Kathryn is horrified.

Molly was a great character, sort of a good friend who has no idea how great she really is. Her mother expected her to support Robin in her lofty goals an More...

Ok.. I dont usually read books like these but when I am bored at the Nursing Home and have want something to do I just stop by their library and pick something out, go back to my office, and slack.

I picked up this book because the story looked ineteresting. Two sisters, a brother, and parents. What I got was a cluster of a book that kept me reading, feeling sorry for the sister who is brain dead, even worse for the sister Molly left to deal with it all.. wanted to shake the brother and father un More...

Not a bad read, but not a great one either. Robin, the track star in the family, suffers a heart attack while jogging which leaves her brain dead and hooked up to machines. The novel follows the fallout of a family struggling to deal with the trauma and all the secrets Robin had so carefully kept hidden. The book mostly centers on Molly, Robin's very likable sister. Unfortunately, Molly has to deal with Kathryn, their mother, and Kathryn is an absolute bitch.

Upon hearing about Robin's condition More...

Mind candy, a beach read, read in 6 hours on the holiday weekend. I may have to go back and read Coast Road to compare.

Current situation, daughter Robin, a world class marathon champion, collapses on a lonely road and despite cpr from a good samaritan does not regain consciousness by the time the ambulance reaches the ER at the New Hampshire community hospital. A younger sister is summoned to the ER; she is first on the contact list on the tongue of the runner's shoe.

The parents are returning fr More...

I liked this book, the way the author writes, I found myself eager to read and not wanting to put it down. However I was disturbed to see Teri Schiavo name used in the book and compared to the character in this book, who is brain dead and left going by machines. Teri Schiavo was awake, alive, breathing on her own, and especially loved and wanted by her parents. Yes she did have a feeding tube inserted, because of her possibility to aspirate. Teri Schiavo was starved to death. She was like a chil More...

I read this book in (almost) one sitting. I could barely put it down. Barbara Delinsky is one of my favourite authors - has been since her days writing romance novels under the names Billie Douglass and Bonnie Drake and I have enjoyed reading her books as her writing grew in both length and depth.

**(SLIGHT)SPOILER**

More than any of her other books, though, this one touched me and gripped me, maybe because I could relate very easily. I've sat at the bedsides of several family and friends as they More...

Now this was a gripping story!!

"Molly and Robin Snow are sisters, and like all sisters they share a deep bond that sustains them through good times and bad. Their careers are flourishing-Molly is a horticulturist and Robin is a world-class runner-and they are in the prime of their lives. So when Molly receives the news that Robin has suffered a massive heart attack, she couldn't be more shocked. At the hospital, the Snow family receives a grim prognosis: Robin may never regain consciousness.

As R More...

Olympic level marathoner egotistical Robin Snow and her less athletic younger sister Molly the horticulturist do not get along for the most part though they share a sisterly bond especially when things go bad for one of them. Molly resents her older sibling's fame and accompanied gloating haughtiness so refuses to run with Robin as she trains. When Robin running alone suffers a heart attack that leaves her comatose, Molly feels guilty for not being there for her.

As Robin's health worsens, Molly More...

OMG, what a good book. I hated to put it down for a while to do anything else, even to get onto Goodreads. What a heart wrenching story with no sugar coating and no surprise "miracle" at the end. The story is told mostly through the eyes of the younger sister that has always come in second to her sister the track star. The younger sister always goes with her sister when she is running/training. One day the older sister changes the time that she normally runs and the younger sister who always kow More...

Wow, what to say about this book? It wasn't my usual type of book, but it was another of those that fell into my lap and I started reading. By the end either I really didn't like any of the characters or I really didn't care about them at all. In fact, the only one I grew to like even marginally was in a coma. (I don't think that's a spoiler, since it's clear from the description that's what the book's about. And how did she get away with using the title? I would've thought that the people who m More...

I think that how you read this book will be influenced by whether or not you are an only child or have siblings. I always like this author, but this book was a whole 'nother story. The book I read this week is not the same book as it would have been six months ago. My circumstances changed how I read the book. Normally I would have read the book and agreed with other reviews...this is a book about a spoiled woman and how the world revolves around her life and death. But at this time in my life, More...

This is such a poorly written book. The only reason I keep reading it is to help me fall asleep at night. There is no depth to any of the characters. Sure, there's a bit of conflict between the mother and one of the daughters, but it's on the surface. There is entirely too much conversation going on. We don't get into anyone's head about how they're really feeling or thinking. It's all just shallow talk. I had high hopes for it because I thought the storyline was intriguing, but I'm very disappo More...

I personally don't care for the 'chick lit' name; after all, Middlemarch and Wuthering Heights would have fit that description but they were both examples of great literature, period. Not that this book is in their league but neither is it as bad I thought it would be when it was first recommended. Mostly because of the main character, Molly, did I enjoy this. She's a great protagonist and feels real but the story itself - mom/sister struggling with letting go of brain dead daughter/sister, anot More...

This was the second book that I have read by Barbara Delinsky. I like her writing style. It is easy to be drawn into the story.

This is a story about the Snow family. There is Kathryn (mom), Charlie (dad), Robin (oldest), Chris, and Molly. Robin is a marathon runner and star of the family. She collapses on a run and is found by a man running behind her. He starts CPR and gets her heart going again. Robin has had a heart attack. She is 32 years old. While she is unconscious in the hospital, her fa More...

I picked up this book because I had read The Secret Between US and enjoyed it, but it did not live up to my expectations.

While My Sister Sleeps has a lot of dialogue in it. The way the plot moves is through dialogue, as the characters talk their way through the crisis of a medical emergency that leaves the sister in a coma. But a lot of that dialogue felt forced. Some characters said things just to move the plot forward, or to introduce new elements that weren't even hinted at in the descriptio More...

Summary: Young woman is rendered brain dead from a heart attack; family sits by the bedside for days agonizing about whether to take her off life support and donate her organs; they decide to do it.

That's a situation, not a story. It should not constitute a full-length book. And it's obviously written by someone (yes, I know she's a popular writer) who has never been through this.

I'm super critical, because my own daughter, Kaitlyn Arquette, 18, was chased down in her car and shot twice in the h More...

While My Sister Sleeps is the story of two sisters. One is an elite marathoner, training for the Olympics. The other works in the family business and lives in her sister's shadow. That is, until the marathoner suffers a massive heart attack and is left with brain damage from the lack of oxygen. Then the family must decide what to do next.

The writing was fairly weak.

But, I do like a book that makes me think about issues. This book made me think about....

-end-of-life care... what do I want my fam More...

This book could have been written as a short story. HOw does a family deal with the results of a sister/daughter who is the "star" of the family after she suffers a heart attack and is pronounced brain dead? Any family would have terrible emotions to deal with but this dysfunctional family was really a mess! Tod from the sister's point of view, I grew tired of her timidity in dealing with people around her, expecially her control-freak, unloving mom, her inept father and quiet brother. I likes f More...