From the last time Linda and Thomas meet, at a charmless hotel in a distant city, to the moment, thirty-five years earlier, when a chance encounter...
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Dec 17, 2009
Jenny
rated it: 
Fuck this book.
First of all, it's broken into three sections- the characters at 52, 28 and 17. It goes backwards, which might work in some stories, but it's utterly annoying here. You end up not knowing the characters at all. Plus, it was like a wanna be Out of Africa. I'm so annoyed with this book. Anita Shrew I mean Shreve is all about the depressing love stories, but this was ridiculous. I liked the other one about this character much better and THAT one wasn't even that goo More...
First of all, it's broken into three sections- the characters at 52, 28 and 17. It goes backwards, which might work in some stories, but it's utterly annoying here. You end up not knowing the characters at all. Plus, it was like a wanna be Out of Africa. I'm so annoyed with this book. Anita Shrew I mean Shreve is all about the depressing love stories, but this was ridiculous. I liked the other one about this character much better and THAT one wasn't even that goo More...
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Jan 19, 2011
Pauline
rated it: 
"Such extraordinary emotions in the space of paragraphs." - Thoughts on The Last Time They Met by Anita Shreve
I hate you, Anita Shreve.
I hate you for writing The Last Time They Met. For making me fall in love and breaking my heart, all at once, on the same (last) page. I hate how you pretty much destroyed my hope in finding love as perfect and enduring and dangerous as that of Linda and Thomas. I will now probably end up an old maid with delusions of love so gra More...
I hate you, Anita Shreve.
I hate you for writing The Last Time They Met. For making me fall in love and breaking my heart, all at once, on the same (last) page. I hate how you pretty much destroyed my hope in finding love as perfect and enduring and dangerous as that of Linda and Thomas. I will now probably end up an old maid with delusions of love so gra More...
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Jul 15, 2008
Debbie
rated it: 
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Sep 27, 2008
Robyn
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Jul 14, 2008
Meaghan
rated it: 
Anything Anita Shreve [Anita Shreve] has ever written has moved me. I am thrown into the storyline because of her writing skills. No other writer has ever been able to make me see what is being written. I can picture each character, house, town, etc as though there are photos on the side. There's just something about her writing. I get involved in the story and the characters. When there's a new Anita Shreve book, I get ready for a sleepless night because I can't put the book down.
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Apr 01, 2008
daysgoby
rated it:
You know, I've read other stuff by this author, and liked it. Liked it a lot. This is actually the fifth book if hers I've read.
Absolute dreck.
The characters are wooden and unbelievable, like something out of a Russian novel of the last century. They give undue weight to their actions (should I or shouldn't I have this glass of wine?) and are clunky.
Not one of them is memorable.
Really, really disappointed.
Absolute dreck.
The characters are wooden and unbelievable, like something out of a Russian novel of the last century. They give undue weight to their actions (should I or shouldn't I have this glass of wine?) and are clunky.
Not one of them is memorable.
Really, really disappointed.
Jun 23, 2010
Ns
rated it:
The Last Time They Met is a haunting, compelling and beautiful story about a love that is timeless. A love found, lost and then found again through the reliving of memories. A love that is renewed and where future possibilities are inevitably created and visited through the imagination. An imagination that is impossible or improbable without a certain bias and influence of the past, of memories, both weighted with actions and consequences leading us to question the whys, what ifs and the could h
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May 19, 2009
Thomma
rated it:
I really enjoyed this book. Lovely writing style, compelling story. I like Linda, and Thomas is just plain yummy. But the ending... oh, I have such mixed feelings about the ending! *sigh*
I thought the story started out a bit slow, but I gave it a chance, and it grew on me. By the time I got to the last third or so of the novel, I was gobbling it up. And as a reader, I was touched by the ending -- it gave me shivers and made me misty-eyed.
But as a writer, I was left More...
I thought the story started out a bit slow, but I gave it a chance, and it grew on me. By the time I got to the last third or so of the novel, I was gobbling it up. And as a reader, I was touched by the ending -- it gave me shivers and made me misty-eyed.
But as a writer, I was left More...
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Nov 23, 2008
Lauren
rated it: 
Yet another Anita Shreve book where I absolutely love her writing, her incredible skill with words... but am not necessarily a fan of the all the actions of the characters. I hate the second to last sentence of this book. She is incredible but I hate that sentence and when you average out those two things out the best compromise is 3 stars. She is such a 5 star writer though that I will continue to read her works until I find the one book that blows the rest away. The closest I've come so far is
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Jun 22, 2008
Angela
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Jul 13, 2011
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Nov 17, 2007
Amy
rated it:
I'm still not sure what I think of it. I guess it really depends on whose point of view Linda's life was seen from. If it was an omniscent third person, then the book is positivly the most romantic thing I've ever read, and my tears at the end were not in vain. *BUT*, if it was all conjecture on Thomas' part, then this is the most twisted, sick novel I've ever read. He's shaped her life according to his will and his desires. Too obsessive for me. So, until I find out the motives of the narrator,
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Jan 18, 2011
Denise
rated it:
I see a lot of people did not like this book. I understand why, but there are certainly parts or rather a sentence that I HATED but I loved this book. I read it a few years ago and it still haunts me. I would recommend reading it with a friend or group, because you WILL want to discuss this with someone in the know when you finish. This is a book that I will re-read. I think what I like so much about it, besides the wonderful writing, is that it is very different from anything I have ever read.
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Nov 29, 2011
Laura
rated it:
I love the writing in this book. I was drawn in to the longing the main characters had for each other as fate, bad timing and bad luck kept them apart. It's in no way a gushy romance, more a tragic tale of love and time lost or at least wasted.
The story is told in reverse chronological order beginning when the couple is 52, jumping back to the last time the met at 26 and ending when they are 17. I think I would have liked it more if it was told in chronological order. Perhaps Ms Shre More...
The story is told in reverse chronological order beginning when the couple is 52, jumping back to the last time the met at 26 and ending when they are 17. I think I would have liked it more if it was told in chronological order. Perhaps Ms Shre More...
Apr 23, 2010
Allie
rated it:
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Apr 18, 2010
Lee
rated it:
I'm a big Anita Shreve fan...and eagerly await each new book she writes. That said, however, this one is truly terrible. Was this really written by the author of the incredible "The Weight of Water"??? She forces the comparison, since this book is a vastly inferior sequel. Both books had a gimmick at their core, but the gimmick is all this sequel is about. This isn't the first book of hers that's poorly plotted, but usually her moving prose and intricately-drawn characters more than co
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Jan 02, 2012
Michele
rated it:
-What do you think of this book?
She thought for a moment, tried to remember the last time she had been so annoyed by a style of writing.
-I think it sucks.
-Well, maybe if you had tried harder when you were younger, or lived your life in a different way, or managed to lower your standards.... He thought he had never seen someone so beautiful, would never again see someone so beautiful. Why was that couple in the corner feeding fried anchovies to their cat?
She knew he must More...
She thought for a moment, tried to remember the last time she had been so annoyed by a style of writing.
-I think it sucks.
-Well, maybe if you had tried harder when you were younger, or lived your life in a different way, or managed to lower your standards.... He thought he had never seen someone so beautiful, would never again see someone so beautiful. Why was that couple in the corner feeding fried anchovies to their cat?
She knew he must More...
May 25, 2010
Lucy
rated it:
This had a solid spot on my mediocre-books-I'll-never-remember shelf until I read the last two pages where an appallingly bad ending forced me to violently throw it into the books-so-bad-they-make-me-angry trash.**
While still fuming about one of the lamest and most manipulative endings ever written, I had to remind myself that I believe there is a purpose to occasionally reading a bad book. As a reading hobbyist, my main motivation to read is for joy. For the euphoria that come More...
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Feb 11, 2011
L
rated it:
Never before has a book went from so low a rating that I considered putting the book away unread to giving it five stars once I have finished it. I didn't enjoy the way the author wrote in the beginning, or the way that the story seemed to start at the end and proceed backwards until the beginning of the two main characters first meeting. In this way it was hard to get to know the characters, and toward the end I wanted to read the beginning again in order to know what parts of the beginning mea
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May 17, 2011
Lavonne
rated it:
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Dec 21, 2011
Rebecca
rated it:
This book had an interesting concept that you don't realize until the end. I sort of called it on some level, but thankfully it was still a big surprise for me, of which I won't spoil here because I liked it a lot. The story moves backwards through two peoples lives who kept overlapping. They were each others first loves but for some reason or another, they never stayed together but continue to meet throughout their lives at certain points. My favorite part was how the story was told, only using
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Oct 11, 2011
Caitlin
rated it:
This was the third book in a row that threw me for a loop in the final pages (or in this case, the final paragraph). Therefore, I was again left at the end of the book contemplating whether I liked it or not.
Overall, I thought it was relatively well-written though I never felt that I fully understood the characters, so additional depth in that regard would have helped.
It was unique that the story was laid out backwards in three different phases of their lives (52, 28, and 17). More...
Overall, I thought it was relatively well-written though I never felt that I fully understood the characters, so additional depth in that regard would have helped.
It was unique that the story was laid out backwards in three different phases of their lives (52, 28, and 17). More...
Jan 31, 2011
I didn't care for this book. In fact, I only got 1/2 way thru and decided to stop. It was too upsetting to me. I was disappointed to see the multiple affairs that Linda and Thomas had with each other while being married to other people. They just seemed so selfish and felt a sense of entitlement to do as they pleased, because things didn't work out like they felt they should've. If you feel that strongly about it, then be selfless enough to show some respect and get a divorce.
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Dec 26, 2011
Melissa
rated it:
The author can write, and there were some moments of brilliance (which is why I am giving it a 2 rather than just a 1). But there were too many parentheticals in Linda's sections, and the use of the italics rather than the quotations annoyed me. I personally thought the coincidence of meeting in Africa was too hard to believe, and the characters were way too effusive in their conversations and letters. I wondered why, until of course, I figured it all out at the very end, which was RIDICULOUS. I
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Jul 31, 2010
Morgan
rated it:
"{Linda Fallon encounters her former lover, Thomas Janes, at a literary festival where both have been invited to give readings from their work. It has been years since their paths crossed, and in that time Thomas has become a kind of literary legend. His renown is enhanced by his elusiveness; for most of the past decade he has remained in seclusion following a devastating loss.
This is no chance meeting. Thomas learned that Linda was reading at the festival and chose this mo More...
This is no chance meeting. Thomas learned that Linda was reading at the festival and chose this mo More...
Aug 15, 2010
Robin
rated it:
At first didn't like the way it back tracked through time. I felt like I needed to re-read parts, and sometimes I did flip back. At first I was bothered by the authors wordiness, and though I like 
, I sometimes found it not easy to relate to the characters. Perhpas because of their age? Though that changed throughout the novel. Experiences? I also felt this way when reading 
too. It was probably about halfway through the book when I realized this novel had a character connection to 
. I like when
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, I sometimes found it not easy to relate to the characters. Perhpas because of their age? Though that changed throughout the novel. Experiences? I also felt this way when reading too. It was probably about halfway through the book when I realized this novel had a character connection to . I like when
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Aug 11, 2010
Lois
rated it:
This is a love story primarily laid in a poverty stricken area of Africa. Stories about agonizing, obsessive love make me uncomfortable -- (I keep wanting to ship the characters off to a psychiatrist) -- and I don't reading about squalid and painful surroundings, so this well-written novel had two strikes against it before I even got into it. Which wasn't fair to the author.
It was interesting because of the way the plot was designed. It read backwards, starting with a current situat More...
It was interesting because of the way the plot was designed. It read backwards, starting with a current situat More...
Jun 27, 2011
Christine
rated it:
If you read my review of Anita Shreve's other book All He Ever Wanted, you know I was set on never reading her again. Well, my friend Jan couldn't take it because she too had been seduced by the look, the feel, the smell of her books (physically!) that she was more forgiving than I. So she read this and was so confused she forced me (kicking and screaming the whole way) to read this so we could talk about it. Eh. It was better than the other, but not enough to have me go for Round 3 with Ms. S
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Sep 29, 2010
Katie
rated it:
I should have taken it as a warning that I could think of no reason why I might have wanted to read this book, as I’m afraid there’s no nice way to say it, but I didn’t get along with the book at all for a whole host of reasons. Perhaps it’s partly that, not being a woman in my 50′s dreaming of reconnecting with my childhood sweetheart, I am not exactly the book’s target audience, but I’m erring on the side of it just being bad. It’s very difficult for me to discus it without some spoilers, bu
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Nov 13, 2011
Krystal
rated it:
I really liked a previous book I read by this author, but this book just did not live up to my expectations. I found it disjointed and difficult to follow. If the actual ending of the book is what really happened, I do not see the point for any of the rest of the book. I was very disappointed at the ending. I was hoping that it would tie everything together because the Ms. Shreve does have a gift of storytelling and a way of making me want to know what is going to happen next. I think that is wh
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