A rookie paramedic pulls a young woman alive from her totaled car, a first rescue that begins a lifelong tangle of love and wreckage. Sheila Arsena...
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Nov 30, 2011
Nancy
rated it: 
My Take: This book is a tricky one to review. Tricky because Anita Shreve is an incredibly gifted writer. Her style is unique and her voice clear. But this book was not interesting to me.
Summary: Small town young man saves trashy but sexy drunk stranger. Before developing any kind of meaningful relationship with her, they have a quick wham, bam, and thank you ma'am. And then some more. And then she announces she's pregnant. She's still trashy and he (Webster, the protagonist) More...
Summary: Small town young man saves trashy but sexy drunk stranger. Before developing any kind of meaningful relationship with her, they have a quick wham, bam, and thank you ma'am. And then some more. And then she announces she's pregnant. She's still trashy and he (Webster, the protagonist) More...
Nov 26, 2011
Georgina
rated it:
My least favourite Anita Shreve. I am happy to read books about small lives,with small stories, ( I loved, and understood the thinking behind, 'Something Happened', for example)but this was too small. Whilst I appreciate any avoidance of a narrative driven by unlikelihoods and exaggeration, I just couldn't 'get' why this particular story had been written. The blurb in my edition used the word 'seismic' to describe events. My seismograph must be unplugged as I detected nothing other than the c
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Feb 05, 2012
Jill
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I liked this book. Anita Shreve writes thoughtful and thought-provoking books, and Rescue is no exception. The premise: Peter Webster is a rookie paramedic in a small town in Vermont where he is called to the scene of an accident. A woman, escaping from an abusive relationship in another state has totaled her car and is injured, although not seriously. After the rescue, Webster is drawn to the woman, Sheila, although she is quirky, aloof, and an alcoholic. A relationship develops and Sheil
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Jan 29, 2012
Darci
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This book would have been more accurately titled if they'd gone with "Don't Bother". Sometimes I like to read brain-candy books, which is where Anita Shreve comes in. I came expecting no literary work, but this book??!! Truly, it is a stupid book. Unfortunately, it's an easy enough read that I didn't stop reading it altogether, but this is one of those books that I finished and thought, "Someone actually PUBLISHED that?!" Not because it is smut. Not because the main cha
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Jan 05, 2012
Nicola
rated it:
This book looked very promising when I began it. The idea of an EMT as the main character appealed to me, a job I respect but have little knowledge of. I thought that this rolecwoukd add drama and excitement as a side to te storyline, and was surprised to discover how significant this job was. Shreve did a great job of creating a reakistic, compassionate character inWebster -- someone who put everything into his job, but work hard to keep the stress and tragedy of that job seperate from his f
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Oct 05, 2011
Rebecca
rated it:
I can't believe I hadn't discovered this author until this point. It was a simple story with a small amount of characters, but a good story. Which is my idea of a great book! Young man who is a new EMT in the small town he grew up in arrives at a scene of a car crash to a sort of "mysterious" women who is caught in a drunk driving car accident. He pulls some favors for her, because he likes her and because of it, they end up together. She becomes pregnant and they get married. They liv
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Aug 21, 2011
Ms.pegasus
rated it:
There are brief moments of perfect balance in life. Looking at your sleeping children, nestled with your spouse, having a beer with your friends.... You wish you could freeze that perfectly ordinary, perfect safe moment of contentment forever. But life moves on. We make choices, relationships change, and mortality moves from the abstract to the concrete.
RESCUE moves in and out of such moments. It opens with a rural Vermont EMT and his daughter, a high school senior, at breakfast More...
RESCUE moves in and out of such moments. It opens with a rural Vermont EMT and his daughter, a high school senior, at breakfast More...
Aug 13, 2011
Kathleen
rated it:
Anita Shreve’s characters seldom disappoint me because I always find them and/or their personalities and behaviors familiar. The principal character in this book chooses to become an EMT only to escape taking over the family business in a small Vermont town. How many people make college/career/life choices in similar ways…putting your finger aimlessly on a map…striking up a conversation with the next man that enters a room? In “Rescue” Peter Webster discovers he loves his new career and that
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Jul 26, 2011
Daniel
rated it: 
My first Anita Shreve book, which I picked up in a Wal Mart in the middle of nowhere and only because there was nothing else that caught my attention, and it wont be my last. The adage of never trusting a book by its cover rings true here; the pastel colours and pseudo-enigmatic photo badly representing the taught, addictive and emotive story held within. The characters of Paul Webster, his doomed romance with the almost (crucial, that) unlikeable Sheila and their daughter Rowan are recognisable
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Jul 12, 2011
Marcy
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I was drawn to this book by the promise of a well written EMT based novel. It was as fair an interpretation as a writer with no personal EMS history could write. Even in a small town, the coincidence of our protagonist being on the scene for both accidents involving his daughter seemed repetitive and almost beyond belief.
I wanted to like this book more. I wasn't expecting the dark cloud to be constantly present. Some burst of a sunlit uplifting scene could have made all the diff More...
I wanted to like this book more. I wasn't expecting the dark cloud to be constantly present. Some burst of a sunlit uplifting scene could have made all the diff More...
Jul 04, 2011
I went to the library looking for a different book that they didn't have, so I picked up this one instead. When this first came out earlier this year it was everywhere. It seemed like I couldn't walk into a book store without seeing a thousand copied of this book in some kind of pyramid-shaped display. So the book stuck in my head and when I saw it on the shelf, I decided to give it a try. I don't really know how to review it other than to say it was okay. It kept me entertained, I didn't begrud
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Jun 19, 2011
Anna
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21 year old Webster is a rookie paramedic who helps save the life of a young woman, Sheila, who crashed her car while driving under the influence. He feels drawn to her and they start a love affair which results in the birth of a daughter, Rowan. However Sheila finds it hard to be a conventional mother and events lead to her leaving. Webster raises Rowan but he feels she is a troubled 17 year old and goes in search of Sheila to see if she can help, not knowing how this will affect Rowan....An
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Apr 28, 2011
Diane
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Webster, an EMT, meets Sheila at the scene of an accident due to her drinking and driving. For some inexplicable reason, he tracks her down and gets to know her better. Shortly after this, she gets pregnant with their daughter, Rowan. While he tries to make a good life for them, Sheila begins drinking again and leads them all on a downward spiral. Webster makes the decision to ban Sheila from their lives and raises Rowan on his own. When his daughter starts to act differently, get bad grades and
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Feb 24, 2011
Cheryl
rated it:
I would have rated it just a single star, but I feel the need to reserve that for books that I truly can not stand, not books that I just found dumb and boring.
Rescue is the story of a young paramedic who responds to a car crash. He finds a woman who has managed to run her car off the road and into a tree. A drunk driving incident. Sounds like a catch doesn't she. Webster, the paramedic, peruses her, she ends up getting pregnant and they marry. The marriage unravels and Webster is left More...
Rescue is the story of a young paramedic who responds to a car crash. He finds a woman who has managed to run her car off the road and into a tree. A drunk driving incident. Sounds like a catch doesn't she. Webster, the paramedic, peruses her, she ends up getting pregnant and they marry. The marriage unravels and Webster is left More...
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Feb 13, 2011
marg
rated it:
Shreve is a mixed bag. I really liked a book of hers (Pilot's Wife), then picked up an awful one (Wedding in December), and would've sworn off her altogether except I then ended up really loving another one of hers (Testimony), then couldn't even get through her recent one (The One Where They Are on a Mountain) - anyway that all being said I was in a rush to find SOMETHING to read (step it up, goodreaders, I am short on recommendations!) and so I just went for it.
Well, it's pretty bad. The More...
Well, it's pretty bad. The More...
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Feb 02, 2011
Linda
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Peter Webster is a young, single man still living with his parents and in training to become a paramedic when he responds to a call for an automobile accident on a lonely stretch of highway. The minute Peter sees the young woman injured in the accident, he is drawn to her. Sheila is also a young woman with a mysterious past with no money and no job. Peter and Sheila begin to see each other and Peter falls hopelessly in love with her. Sheila appears to love Peter as well and after a night of p
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Jan 19, 2011
RNOCEAN
rated it:
Webster, a paramedic living with his parents in rural Vermont, meets Sheila Arsenault when he pulls her, bloodied and unconscious, out of a car wreck caused by her driving under the influence of alcohol. Her glossy brown hair draws him compulsively back, and he steadfastly ignores all warning signs as their relationship develops. Restlessness, a decidedly rocky past, and hints of alcoholism surround Sheila as their affair barrels into marriage and an unexpected pregnancy. An act of Sheila's fina
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Dec 07, 2010
Alins
rated it: 
Peter Webster was 21 when he literally saved Sheila Arsenault's life. His EMT team was responding to the call for medical assistance and they met. While these were less than ideal circumstances a relationship was formed and Sheila grabbed on with both hands to Webster's lifeline. Webster had the one and only thing Sheila craved - normalcy.
Sheila comes with excessive baggage to the relationship but Webster ignores it all and falls in love despite the huge problems. They have a daughter, More...
Sheila comes with excessive baggage to the relationship but Webster ignores it all and falls in love despite the huge problems. They have a daughter, More...
Nov 25, 2010
Mary
rated it:
RESCUE by Anita Shreve
November 30, 2010 - Little, Brown & Company - Hardcover, 288 pages
ISBN-13: 9780316020725
Can you save someone else from their demons?
Peter Webster was 21 when he literally saved Sheila Arsenault’s life. His EMT team was responding to the call for medical assistance and they met. While these were less than ideal circumstances a relationship was formed and Sheila grabbed on with both hands to Webster’s lifeline. Webster had the one and only thi More...
November 30, 2010 - Little, Brown & Company - Hardcover, 288 pages
ISBN-13: 9780316020725
Can you save someone else from their demons?
Peter Webster was 21 when he literally saved Sheila Arsenault’s life. His EMT team was responding to the call for medical assistance and they met. While these were less than ideal circumstances a relationship was formed and Sheila grabbed on with both hands to Webster’s lifeline. Webster had the one and only thi More...
May 18, 2011
Sarah
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Jan 10, 2011
Anita Shreve specializes in novels about families under pressure. Themes of love and loss, momentary incidents that change lives forever, and broken promises thread through all her novels, and Rescue is no exception. Peter Webster is a helper, a man who is driven to rescue others, and what better occupation for that than EMT? As a young man, he falls in love with the victim of a car accident, and while he and Sheila could not be more different, they marry and have a child, a daughter named Rowa
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Sep 09, 2010
Kelly
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Webster is a paramedic. He becomes involved with a woman who he met on one of his calls. I say “met,” but really, he pulled her out of a car wreck. It was her fault; she was drinking. They end up married and parents. Except Sheila has a drinking problem and eventually leaves Webster and their daughter, Rowan. Fast forward until Rowan’s a teenager. She’s going off the rails and Webster has to find Sheila to enlist her help in saving their daughter. (This is all information that’s on the b
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Sep 08, 2011
Ally
rated it:
Having never read a novel by Anita Shreve, I picked up "Rescue" if only because its title compelled me-- rescue who, exactly, and what and why and where?--and that is precisely what Shreve gives us. Set in a small rural town in Vermont, "Rescue" is narrated by Webster, a brave EMT who falls in love with one of his "rescues" and gets more than he ever bargained for. At its heart, "Rescue" is the all-too familiar story of the alcoholic and the codependent: t
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Dec 06, 2010
Eileen
rated it:
This arrived today, so Jane's adventures with Lord Byron will have to wait a couple days. I hope this is one of Shreve's good ones. A few have disappointed, but I'm still an ardent fan.
I liked "Rescue." Thinking about the books by Shreve that have ranked highly on my reader's list, one common denominator is that the book has fewer characters and more depth. So, like "Where or When" (my absolute Shreve favorite), "Rescue" focuses tightly on one family: More...
I liked "Rescue." Thinking about the books by Shreve that have ranked highly on my reader's list, one common denominator is that the book has fewer characters and more depth. So, like "Where or When" (my absolute Shreve favorite), "Rescue" focuses tightly on one family: More...
May 28, 2011
Lucy
rated it:
Synopsis: The car crash should have killed her.
But rookie paramedic Peter Webster takes the emergency call, and helps the young woman, Sheila Arsenault, to survive. After the accident, she haunts his thoughts, despite his misgivings about getting involved with a patient. Soon he is embroiled in an intense love affair and in Sheila’s troubled life.
Eighteen years later, Sheila is long gone and Peter is raising their daughter, Rowan, alone. But Rowan is veering dangerously o More...
But rookie paramedic Peter Webster takes the emergency call, and helps the young woman, Sheila Arsenault, to survive. After the accident, she haunts his thoughts, despite his misgivings about getting involved with a patient. Soon he is embroiled in an intense love affair and in Sheila’s troubled life.
Eighteen years later, Sheila is long gone and Peter is raising their daughter, Rowan, alone. But Rowan is veering dangerously o More...
Jan 09, 2011
Katie
rated it:
Rescue centers around the life of EMT to EMT-P, Webster. Webster literally rescues people in his small hometown. He meets his future upon saving the love of his life, Sheila, whereupon she saves him from the mundaness of a smalltown life without a partner.
Sheila, however, is an alcoholic, and reeks havoc amid their home with their daughter. After a near-fatal accident under the influence, Webster sends his wife away to avoid prosecution. Webster spends the next sixteen years ra More...
Sheila, however, is an alcoholic, and reeks havoc amid their home with their daughter. After a near-fatal accident under the influence, Webster sends his wife away to avoid prosecution. Webster spends the next sixteen years ra More...
Sep 16, 2011
Katie
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Jul 25, 2011
Shirley
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Another great book by Anita Shreve! As always, you really get into the characters lives and feel like something will happen just around the corner. Webster, an EMT, falls in love with Sheila, who he rescues from the scene of an accident, which she caused while drunk driving. Their relationship grows quickly and they find themselves married with a baby daughter, and living in a small apartment. Webster finds himself at his happiest when he sees Sheila content with their baby. But Sheila begins to
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Jul 01, 2011
Jen
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Dec 30, 2010
Laurel-Rain
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Are some people destined to rescue others? Is it in their makeup, or do they develop these tendencies due to their life circumstances?
Peter Webster begins his career as a medic in the small Vermont town where he lives, and during his early phase in the job, he helps to rescue a beautiful young woman named Sheila who had a car accident while driving drunk. For some reason, he feels compelled to check up on her, and then continue to watch over her. Soon the two are involved in a love a More...
Peter Webster begins his career as a medic in the small Vermont town where he lives, and during his early phase in the job, he helps to rescue a beautiful young woman named Sheila who had a car accident while driving drunk. For some reason, he feels compelled to check up on her, and then continue to watch over her. Soon the two are involved in a love a More...
