A pilot's wife is taught to be prepared for the late-night knock at the door. But when Kathryn Lyons receives word that a plan flown by her husband...
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Aug 01, 2008
Laura
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Oct 18, 2008
Kerry
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This was an airport "argh, I need something to read on a 4 hour flight" impulse buy. Since everything at the airport shop seemed to be on Oprah's list, there was no avoiding it. I don't know what is more annoying about this book, the supposed idylic settinig of New England, or the preposterous misunderstanding of the IRA. The whole thing is implausible, unless the protaginist is a major idiot... Oh, maybe that is not that big of an assumption.
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Jul 12, 2008
jill
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Shreve did a good job capturing the main character's grief and confusion, but the book just didn't hold my interest. It was kind of boring in the first two thirds, and then when the main character travelled to England and discovered the "twists," it just seemed kind of silly.
I was also annoyed by the main character falling in love with the union rep. I get that people bond under intense circumstances, but I hate that falling in love seems to be the go to literary reaction. T More...
I was also annoyed by the main character falling in love with the union rep. I get that people bond under intense circumstances, but I hate that falling in love seems to be the go to literary reaction. T More...
Dec 23, 2007
Janet
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This could be a quick read but is sometimes painful & I would have to put it down until I could read and savor a passage or two at a better time. I often read during lunch break at work & some books simply aren't meant to be read in an office setting - this is one of them. Kathryn, the pilot's wife, is so well written - you not only feel what she feels, you eventually know what she will feel before it is written for you. No doubt this is because I could be the pilot's wife; I could live her l
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Jan 17, 2008
Coffeeboss
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An airliner explodes over the Atlantic, and at home the wife of the pilot is left to pick up her own life, as well as deal with the implications that her husband may have caused the disaster. This book didn't grab me on many levels, and by the end, I felt a bit hostile towards it. The big revelations that are unearthed seem a bit preposterous and convenient, and the fact that her husband has personal secrets from his wife... well, you could have seen that coming. I didn't feel emotionally involv
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Apr 22, 2008
Nicole
rated it:
I don't understand what all the hype was about with this book. I think Shreve's writing is pretty good - no complaints there - but the pace of this book is all over the place. It's very slow to start, to the point where I wanted to just give up on it, and then the last 2-3 chapters rush to wrap eeverything up into a neat package. The plot was pretty good, a bit "Lifetime movie" for my tastes, but decent enough. If the pace had been a bit more consistent, I probably would have given thi
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(4 people liked it)
Jan 21, 2011
Adele
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Jul 15, 2008
Debbie
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Another bomb from Shreve. Her husband had a secret life...blah blah blah. She can't confront her grief and betrayal over finding this out, because he is dead. Then the usual fairy-tale ending for books of this genre...while Kathryn is grief-stricken, unkempt and unshowered and at her blubbery worst, a gorgeous guy is right there to fall madly in love with her! Yes, this happens *all* the time!
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Dec 01, 2008
Kelly
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I really liked this book more than I thought I would. The reviews I had read (on Amazon, I think) all seemed disappointed and felt that Shreve ended the book prematurely. In this case, I think it was a perfectly fine place to end it. You can guess how the story would continue after all is said and done. You know there might end up being a friendship. You know there probably will be a relationship. Since you know what will probably happen, it's okay.
I actually found myself bored More...
I actually found myself bored More...
Jul 22, 2008
Julie
rated it:
This is my third Anita Shreve book and I am not sure if I am going to read any more of them. For the most part I enjoy her writing and her stories, but the endings are sometimes unbearable. Anyway, this book was another Oprah book. It was pretty short and I got through it very quickly. Plot summary: The wife of a pilot learns that her husband's plane has gone down and that he is dead. While dealing with all the initial shock as well as dealing with the grief of their 15 year old daughter, she le
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Jan 02, 2008
Cynthia
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This is the second Anita Shreve book I've read. I like how the author writes and describes the scenes and emotions. The flaskbacks of her early family life were partically good. Her tone impresses me, although Sea Glass seemed to flow a little better. I was hooked in the beginning and I felt Kathryn's pain. That half of the book I felt was written well but when Shreve attempts the different plot twists during the second half of the book, I lost interest. Which is sad, because those plot twists a
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Feb 26, 2008
Abby
rated it:
This was chick-lit in disguise. I feel dirty and tricked.
Although I probably am being harsh by giving it two stars, I don't really see too many good things about this book. The bits where Kathryn are at her house are far too dragged out. Shreve relies only on the 'feel' sensory to explain what her character is going through, rather than the 'show'. The important parts where things could have been really interesting--such as the funeral or the first Christmas without Jack--are glossed More...
Although I probably am being harsh by giving it two stars, I don't really see too many good things about this book. The bits where Kathryn are at her house are far too dragged out. Shreve relies only on the 'feel' sensory to explain what her character is going through, rather than the 'show'. The important parts where things could have been really interesting--such as the funeral or the first Christmas without Jack--are glossed More...
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Sep 29, 2007
JG (The Introverted Reader)
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The Pilot's Wife in a nutshell: Jack Lyons, a commercial pilot, is flying a plane when it explodes. The book follows the grieving process of his widow, as she tries to figure out what happened in that plane. The overriding question in the book is "How well can we ever really know someone else?"
There wasn't anything really wrong with the book, it was just overly gray for my taste. I don't think the sun shines in the entire book. It was solidly written though, and it did More...
There wasn't anything really wrong with the book, it was just overly gray for my taste. I don't think the sun shines in the entire book. It was solidly written though, and it did More...
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Jul 13, 2008
Kateri
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I have no idea how I ended up owning this book, but I decided it would be a quick read on the plane. It was quick... but every second of the three hours was painful. The book suffered from multiple personalities. The first half was all grieving (fitting for a self help book), the second half attempted to bring in some more mystery and intrigue. Unfortunately the mystery involved was the "pilot" having an affair,,, which comes as no surprise to anyone who has worked in the airline indus
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Aug 08, 2011
I thought this book was OK but thats about as good as it was. There was something lacking from this which stopped it being an excellent novel, which I think it had the potential to be. The climax of the novel was short lived and not therefore didnt develop the plot as much as it should done and it really was a long time coming. I also think the use of 'she' throughout made me quite detatched from the characters meaning I didnt really feel any emotion in relation to their plight which I really
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Mar 24, 2009
Michelle
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I got a great book from my friend, Kathran for Christmas, and I just finished reading it... The Pilot's Wife by Anita Shreve.
Shreve is a great writer... I love her language and use of words. I'm such a lover of language and the ways in which it can be swirled and whirled and encircle your mind making you want to read the same sentence over and over. Shreve is excellent at this task.
She makes you think. And I like thinking.
Right from the second page of the book she sets the essence of the whole b More...
Shreve is a great writer... I love her language and use of words. I'm such a lover of language and the ways in which it can be swirled and whirled and encircle your mind making you want to read the same sentence over and over. Shreve is excellent at this task.
She makes you think. And I like thinking.
Right from the second page of the book she sets the essence of the whole b More...
Jan 06, 2012
Jennifer
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I just loved this book. It took me through such a range of emotions. When I first started reading, there wasn't much info on Jack to where you could really feel like you knew him, but still I was so sad for Kathryn for losing her husband. As time went on and I got to know more about him through the flash backs, I was so sad for him that he had died. I kept thinking ahead to how the book would end, but it totally twisted in the way I didn't expect. I suddenly hated Jack. I hated a fictional chara
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Jan 06, 2012
Terri
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Dec 31, 2011
Cherylann
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I avoided this book for years because it had the "Oprah's Book Club" label on it. I typically don't like Oprah's Book Club books - or maybe I just don't want to be a lemming who mindlessly follows Oprah. Anyway. Like a lot of Oprah books this one is emotionally heavy. I felt like the flap copy gave away too much of the plot, which annoyed me. However, there were many things about this novel that I found refreshing - or refreshing compared to the muck I've been slogging through. First,
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Dec 27, 2011
Amber
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Jun 18, 2011
Britni
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It's been a while since I've just picked out a book to read because I felt like it and not because I was asked to review it or because it was recommended to me by someone else. As part of my 100 in 2010 adventure, I ordered a bunch of books from paperbackswap.com that fit into my categories, and this is the first one that arrived. One of the many books on Oprah's book club list, this was just wanted to be read.
The Pilot's Wife is about a wife of a pilot (surprising huh) who finds out h More...
The Pilot's Wife is about a wife of a pilot (surprising huh) who finds out h More...
Apr 15, 2011
Yvann
rated it:
This was an Oprah’s Book Club choice and I’ve heard rumours of Anita Shreve writing “chick-lit”, so I didn’t really know how hefty this was going to be. A pilot’s wife receives the news that her husband’s plane has exploded and there are no survivors. She follows her grief and her daughter’s devastation through the suggestion that it was suicide and into the (entirely unexpected) conclusion.
I found this a struggle to read – it’s emotionally difficult and I loathe flying, planes and eve More...
I found this a struggle to read – it’s emotionally difficult and I loathe flying, planes and eve More...
Feb 15, 2011
Cheryl
rated it:
For starters the woman they chose to read this novel for the audio book was a terrible choice. The whole time it felt like I was having a "I'm not angry, just disappointed with you" lecture from a parent. So that may have tainted my enjoyment for this novel.
Katherine's husband has died in a plane accident. The Pilot's Wife, is the story of how she and her young daughter deal with the accident, the things that are revealed about her husband due to his death and again the ramif More...
Katherine's husband has died in a plane accident. The Pilot's Wife, is the story of how she and her young daughter deal with the accident, the things that are revealed about her husband due to his death and again the ramif More...
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Feb 11, 2011
Megan
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Good read...
Oprah Book Club® Selection, March 1999: With five novels to her credit, including the acclaimed The Weight of Water, Anita Shreve now offers a skillfully crafted exploration of the long reach of tragedy in The Pilot's Wife. News of Jack Lyons's fatal crash sends his wife into shock and emotional numbness:
Kathryn wished she could manage a coma. Instead, it seemed that quite the opposite had happened: She felt herself to be inside of a private weather system, one in More...
Oprah Book Club® Selection, March 1999: With five novels to her credit, including the acclaimed The Weight of Water, Anita Shreve now offers a skillfully crafted exploration of the long reach of tragedy in The Pilot's Wife. News of Jack Lyons's fatal crash sends his wife into shock and emotional numbness:
Kathryn wished she could manage a coma. Instead, it seemed that quite the opposite had happened: She felt herself to be inside of a private weather system, one in More...
Dec 24, 2010
Hanna
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Sep 27, 2010
David
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I didn’t want to like "The Pilot’s Wife." The plot reads like the synopsis of a Lifetime Original Movie ("On today’s program, a widow struggles with grief and suspicion after her husband dies in a plane accident. Starring [insert has-been TV actress name here]")
But I couldn’t help myself. I kept turning the pages at a steady clip. Author Anita Shreve has a way of pulling the reader inside her characters. After a while, I too started to feel grief and suspicion.
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But I couldn’t help myself. I kept turning the pages at a steady clip. Author Anita Shreve has a way of pulling the reader inside her characters. After a while, I too started to feel grief and suspicion.
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Sep 05, 2010
Bree
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Kathryn thinks that life is pretty good. She’s married to the handsome pilot Jack, they have a good marriage and they have a wonderful 15yo daughter Mattie. They live in a beautiful house overlooking the ocean on the east coast of the US, their ‘dream house’. Jack is flying the Boston-Heathrow route which seems to make him happy and although there are long times apart, Kathryn is content.
Her world is blown apart when she receives a visitor at 3am with the news that her husband’s plane More...
Her world is blown apart when she receives a visitor at 3am with the news that her husband’s plane More...
Jun 25, 2010
Em
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Jun 01, 2010
Annie
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The story started out really strong, tracing the grief stricken steps of a woman whose husband was the pilot of an airplane that crashed. As she veers from one emotion to the next, struggling to soothe the heartbreak of their daughter, Mattie, while dealing with investigators, reporters and nosy neighbors, it slowly becomes obvious that her husband deceived her. His secrets are shocking and horrible. As these revelations unwound, the story became less focused, less believable and less engross
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Oct 25, 2009
Lori
rated it:
This is a gripping story that caught my attention from the first paragraph. Anita Shreve is one of my favorite authors so I am prejudiced on that account. I have read a lot of her books and although this is certainly a good read it is not, in my opinion, her best novel.
Kathryn Lyon is awakened in the middle of the night by a knock on the door which she knows means one thing. Her husband Jack is dead. The story takes off from there as Kathryn learns of her husbands death when the plane he i More...
Kathryn Lyon is awakened in the middle of the night by a knock on the door which she knows means one thing. Her husband Jack is dead. The story takes off from there as Kathryn learns of her husbands death when the plane he i More...
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