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Dec 16, 2009

Greg rated it:

Stupid people read books because Oprah says so. Other stupid people won't read a book just because Oprah picked it to be part of her club. The second group of stupid people think they are very smart though, and they are usually pretentious windbags who say very stupid shit but with big words that people are supposed to be impressed with. The people in the second group will never read this awesome book, and I don't feel sorry for them because they don't deserve it.
(A note: Of the seco More...

53 comments like (76 people liked it)

Nov 21, 2011

K.D. rated it:

For 15 years (1996-2010), Oprah Winfrey picked books for her book club. Out of the 69 titles that she chose only 13 (19%) have appeared in at least any of the three (2006, 2008, 2010) editions of Boxall’s 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die:

4 by TONI MORRISON (Beloved, The Bluest Eye, Sula and Song of Solomon)

2 by CHARLES DICKENS (A Tale of the Two Cities and Great Expectations)

2 by GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ (One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Chol

More...

4 comments like (17 people liked it)

Oct 05, 2011

Liberty rated it:

OMG, I hated this book. It was painful to read. I spent a good 3 hours trying to read this book and ended up skimming the rest of it so I could be done with it.
MacDonald covers just about every topic in her book: racial tension, isolation, domestic abuse, and forbidden love, which leads to incest, death, and even murder, but does it in a very complicated way that will turn many readers away.
I consider myself a strong reader-one who has fantastic reading comprehension but this book te More...

4 comments like (7 people liked it)

Jul 01, 2008

Aerin rated it:

It surprised me how much I ended up liking this book by the time I finished it. It was another book that a friend lent me with high recommendation but which I had no real interest in reading. This happens to me a lot. I need to get better at saying, "Thanks for the offer, my dear friend, but that book you love and adore so much looks terrible and I'd rather die than read it." But in this case, at least, I'm glad I kept an open mind.

For the first four hundred or so pages More...

3 comments like (11 people liked it)

Oct 14, 2008

Louise rated it:

This book reminded me of a grown-up VC Andrews, except you can read it on the subway without feeling like a pervy 12 year-old. Very Gothic at times and the crazy family drama had me reading non-stop, despite all the main characters being unlikeable assholes in one way or another. One thing that bugged me was that some of the writing didn't seem historically accurate. Did people in the 1920s really say "barf?" Maybe they did, I don't know. Regardless, I couldn't put this down and I More...

0 comments like (11 people liked it)

Jan 11, 2009

Bonnie rated it:

A novel I remember reading, and having a difficult time to put down. And didn't, very often, despite the 500-plus pages...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Eileen rated it:

MacDonald( the Canadian actress and playwrite)has truely shown the depth and beauty of her talent in her debut novel, Fall on Your Knees. Her words flow with ease, allowing the story to unfold as though real and not on a page. The historical detail, layers of generations and depth of the characters draw you in as you live their lives with them.

Fall on Your Knees is a story of a family from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. It is centered around four sisters and their relationships with each More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Oct 17, 2008

Debbie rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

10 comments like (11 people liked it)

Mar 30, 2008

Melissa rated it:

I discovered Ann-Marie MacDonald by accident, when I bought The Way the Crow Flies in a used bookstore during a biblioemergency. She hooked me instantly with her ability to get inside childhood, and her searingly real portraits of life in the 1960s, with the bonus of superb storytelling acumen and writing that is a pleasure to read. I read Fall on Your Knee second and had that wonderful enjoyment of a second shot of a writer who you liked so much the first time you didn't think you could have th More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Mar 26, 2011

Christine rated it:

An amazingly harsh view of the hardships of life.

This book is most definitely my favorite of all time. It is absolutely amazing. It's scandelous, it's real, it's intriguing, it's just plain -good-! MacDonald's writing style creates an interactive world that pulls you in to first person view of the characters' lives.

The story follows the Piper family, a unique little set up of father and four daughters. Mr. Piper's wife has passed, leaving him to fend for himself in a home bursting to More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Nov 12, 2007

tamarack rated it:

ignore that glowering “oprah's book club” logo on the front of this and just walk up to the counter and check it out of your local library. it's a hefty little paperback, but you'll read it in no time - so long as you're into multi-generational novels with a dark streak reminiscent of something like annie proulx. it's beautifully written and only a shame that the aforementioned mascot of satan has put her name to it. Fall On Your Knees is macdonald's first published work, which makes it ten time More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 12, 2009

Betsy rated it:

This had a lot of wonderful thoughts, but I got bogged down and don't think I'll finish it. I liked the characters and the "mystery" but honestly, it was too long. I may scan the rest. I need to move on. If it takes me 2 weeks to finish something, something is wrong.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 25, 2007

salt rated it:

I kept picking it up and putting it down in frustration. I know so many people loved it, but when I saw it come up on Oprah's book list I just wanted to die. So much was happening, but being written about in the most boring way possible. It didn't hold my interest, which is rare since as a Canadian I was brought up on the typical Canadian novel diet. It amazes me how so many Canadian writers can write books where lots of big important things happen, yet do it in a way that just makes them so More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Jan 04, 2010

Karen added it

MacDonald's novel is intense, gothic, and at times overwhelming in the telling of the lives of the Piper family in the early twentieth century, whose secrets shape the lives of the children in various ways. James sets trouble in motion when he eloped with 13-year-old Materia to the disgust of her family, but soon becomes disgusted with her himself for her childishness and Lebanese heritage. His only consolation is their stunning firstborn Kathleen, with the beauty and operatic voice of an angel. More...

0 comments like

Jan 08, 2012

Kimberly rated it:

This book is one of those books that you either love it or hate it. I loved it. In fact its one of my favorite books of all time. Its dark and deep but beautiful. The book is actually based in the town I grew up in so it was interesting to read about the town I grew up in only during the setting of the book. It was wonderful to read about the church I grew up in, my grandmothers church and later, the church I married my husband in. The book being set in Cape Breton was what grabbed my attention More...

0 comments like

Nov 04, 2011

Debra rated it:

I just finished this book, and while I really liked reading it, it's overall "darkness" was enough to leave me feeling somewhat down...and even that isn't the right word. I feel a little numb, a little dull, a little tired, a little contemplative. The story revolves around the Piper family, and what a family they are.
It's a mostly sad book, and I'm left mentally reviewing sections of the book in my mind, trying to figure out how things could have worked out differently. That bei More...

0 comments like

Oct 22, 2011

Kat rated it:

I almost gave it 5 stars, it is an amazing tour de force type of book. I do not even know where to begin. I guess I will start with this: I took it with me to jury duty on Tue and I didn't even notice the passing of the first three hours of my service (9-12 am) when I was not called to serve on a jury. This book draws you right in and you cannot leave its hypnotic grasp. In many ways it is reminiscent of A Thousand Acres and thus indirecly of King Lear, but it is so much more. It covers adult me More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 04, 2011

Emily rated it:

I am a bit torn on this one. I would like to give it 3.5 stars rather than just 3.

As many reviewers have mentioned it was intriuging and disturbing at the same time. It is a little surprising to me that this was a pick for the Oprah book club.

The characters are so well developed and I definately felt for their plights by the end of the story. The story itself is complicated, layered and fairly distrubing. There are twists and turns, emotional ups and downs, good and More...

0 comments like

Jun 21, 2011

Becky rated it:

This book left me wanting to slash my wrists-- especially when I think about the time I spent reading it that I can never get back.

Many people loved this book. I am not one of them. The characters are shallow,self-involved and just plain crazy and while I realize that this is just like the people you meet in your everyday I life, it doesn't necessarily mean I want to read about them unless they are delivered in a well-written story that makes them shine a little. This is not that ki More...

0 comments like

Apr 08, 2011

Carrie rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like

Feb 04, 2011

Elsje rated it:

Op de valreep van het nieuwe jaar nog 'Laten wij aanbidden' van Ann-Marie MacDonald uitgelezen. Lag ook al jaren op mijn MTBR. Altijd tegenop gezien, door het hoge hypegehalte toen het uitkwam. Maar ja, toen een vriendin bijna jaloersig opmerkte, toen ze in mijn MTBR rommelde: 'Heb jij dat nog tegoed? O!!!', tja, toen kon ik niet anders dan er acuut aan beginnen.

Het is een zeer meeslepend geschreven familiegeschiedenis. De jonge James die verliefd wordt op de zeer jonge Materia (13 jaa More...

0 comments like

Jun 03, 2010

Rachel rated it:

I stayed up until 3:30am last night to finish the last 60+ pages of Ann-Marie MacDonald's Fall on Your Knees. I'll admit that I am always a bit of a night owl but even I don't stay up that late often. However I just couldn't put this book down. As the book wraps up it just pulls you in like passing a bad car accident. You know it's going to be disturbing and hard to watch but you can't look away.

Fall On Your Knees (Oprah #45)The book follows the Piper family from the late 1890's thro More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

May 28, 2010

Mia rated it:

I would have given this book five stars except Ann-Marie MacDonald ruined the ending. She choked and couldn't close the story - it felt a little rushed, too neatly wrapped up. But for a debut book, it's pretty awesome. Here's a summary I lifted off Wikipedia:

At the start of the 20th century, James Piper sets fire to his dead mother’s piano and heads out across Cape Breton Island to find a new place to live, eventually eloping with 13-year-old Materia Mahmoud, the daughter of wealthy, More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 18, 2010

Shawna rated it:

Actually, I give this sort of a three b/c the author's style was oddly skillful, as a story though, it left a bitter taste in my mouth. Parts of the books were intriguing, other parts disturbing -- but given the subject matter I see no way around that; and yet, I can't quite get past it either.

Frankly I'm just really conflicted. The writing style was definitely interesting. Choppy, metaphoric, sensational; the author was very effective in putting me inside the characters' heads. I a More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Mar 05, 2010

Mimi rated it:

Okay - this is the second "Oprah's Book Club" book that I've read and, like DROWNING RUTH(Christina Schwartz), I disliked the story due to the disturbingly depressing plot. In DROWNING RUTH, the whole idea of a mentally-ill and controlling aunt (Amanda) ruining the life of her little niece (Ruth) after the girl's mother (Mathilda) mysteriously fell through the ice and drowned one cold winter eve was merely depressing; in FALL ON YOUR KNEES, however,the pervading theme of incest was mor More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 23, 2009

Staci rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 11, 2009

kingshearte rated it:

"Following the curves of history in the first half of the twentieth century, Fall On Your Knees takes us from haunted Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, through the battlefields of World War I, to the emerging jazz scene of New York City and into the lives of four unforgettable sisters.

The mythically charged family - James, a father of intelligence and immense ambition, Materia, his Lebanese child-bride, and their daughters: Kathleen, the eldest, a beautiful talent preparing for a More...

0 comments like

Aug 23, 2009

June rated it:

If you've driven with a clutch car in San Francisco, up and down the hills wondering if you can survive the fear of the car killing and falling backward with no safety in sight or rolling down the hills hoping, just hoping the brakes will not fail and then ended it with the crookest street in that city, carefully maneuvering the car slowly to an end, it would be like reading, "Fall on Your Knees." I've just finished the last page and truly am stunned by the emotional roller coaster rid More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 16, 2009

Ami rated it:

Good things happen to me unexpectedly. I stumbled upon this book accidently. I was waiting for the elevator in my building when I saw this book lying around on the front table. I was initially reluctant to pick it up. It could be some horrible book that needed getting rid of. Since the book was free I had nothing to lose. If I didn't like it I could just donate along.

I know a book is good when it follows my thoughts everywhere. I think about the characters, so complex, unfort More...

0 comments like

Apr 11, 2009

Surreysmum rated it:

In remote Cape Breton, James marries child-bride Materia, who gives birth to Kathleen (whom she does not love), and Frances (whom she does, but who turns out "bad") and Mercedes, who relies on her religion to help her keep herself and her family together, but eventually becomes an unreasonable tyrant. James goes off to war to avoid his incestuous feelings towards Kathleen; he sends her to New York for the same reason; there she falls in love with Rose - but who is the father, then, of More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

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