Rating: 
Summary: Fast Food Becomes Haute Cuisine
Review: This novel is a real mind-blower. Not in terms of being a book, in that regard it's little more than a fast-food hamburger. But in terms of its cultural signifigance, its staggering. The writing is simplistic and the plot is threadbare. And yet...its an American phenomenon. Oprah based a whole hour on the book and movie. By the way, the movie is better than the book, catching the flavor of the story real well. What does it say about us as a country that we devour something like this and elevate it to classic status? Maybe it doesn't say so much about us as people (most of us are a sucker for a good romance, myself included), as it says something about what the literary world is offering up these days.I guess everyone knows the story by now, I won't elaborate on the plot. But one thing I will say is that Waller's character's did behave in a rather realistic way I thought. People are out there falling in love every day for all the wrong reasons, Robert and Francesca are just another version. The romance came about slowly and innocently enough. The ending rang true, with many of these type novels that doesn't happen. It also gives us a story about common, everyday people, which in the romantic genre is VERY difficult to come by. I personally can't relate to romance in the high fashion world, among royalty or the rich and famous. It had a good atmosphere, one all its own. And that might have been the intangible that really made it work. Its easier to find faults with this book than to praise it. It lacks style, prose and plot, yet its a monster of a bestseller. Give credit where its due. Waller scored big time. Pulling at the heartstrings can often be the most powerful tool available.
Rating: 
Summary: Romantic LOVE Story
Review: I think this book is a story of true love and spiritual connection and I was thus surprised at the 'extremely negative' reviews I've been reading. There is a renowned quotation which I would like to send out to all those jaded naysayers who believe this is a story of lust not love; "It is wrong to think that love comes from companionship and persevering courtship. Love is the offspring of spiritual affinity and unless that affinity is created in a moment, it will not be created for years or generations."
Rating: 
Summary: drivel
Review: This is one of the worst written books of all time. I still cant believe it was such a big seller, but who am I to speak for the American public. I guess there are a lot of desperate and unhappy people out there who wanted to be that woman when Mr. Perfect walked through the door. This book was so bad that I resented the hour or so it took me to fly through it -- I could have cleaned the bathroom or something. At least the movie had an excuse (it is much more enjoyable than the book with its cheesy Hollywood plot), but this kind of horrible writing is embarrassing. See the movie instead.
Rating:
Summary: ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Review: This book was as boring as the film was,but yet i HAD to read it,no thanks! I really dont know what all tho commotion was all about when this came on the market. alterego from Tulsa OK
Rating:
Summary: Bridges
Review: beautifully written, interesting idea but not as fascinating as Slow Waltz
Rating:
Summary: Exemplar of bad prose
Review: This exemplar of bad prose is about a Marlboro Man photographer and the woman he beautifies through his great art. He's sensitive, she's needy, and he is a demon in her cold bed. As for the prose, how's this for awful: "If you took me in your arms and carried me to your truck and forced me to go with you, I wouldn't murmur a complaint. You could do the same thing just by talking to me. But I don't think you will. You're too sensitive, too aware of my feelings, for that. . . . My life . . . lacks romance, eroticism, dancing in the kitchen to candlelight, and the wonderful feel of a man who knows how to love a woman. . . ." The wonderful feel of a man who knows how to love a woman? Is it not already obvious why this is bad? The entire phenomena of this book and its enormous popularity tells us that we, as a reading populace, are in love with what's bad. Apparently, what we love is talk that doesn't sound like people but that does sound like speeches made by persons on the page, written by someone who doesn't listen to the rest of the world or know how to make a plausible imitation of it. The appeal of this book is to the language of television, of bodice-rippers, of the Harlequin Romance. It is incapable and irresponsible writing, unmediated by thought or the gift of artifice, or by the author's belief in a character sufficient enough to move him.
Rating: 
Summary: Simple Pleasures
Review: I have read this book at least a dozen times & have learned something about love and sacrifice each time. It is to me, the most profound love story ever written. In it's simplicity lies it's lyrical treasures. Try reading it aloud. Each word will roll off your tongue as hushed whispers in a candlelit Iowan kitchen. And, yes, as the author suggests in his foreward...you too may even learn to "dance" again~~
Rating: 
Summary: Rarely do I say this but....
Review: Watch The Movie instead. I must say though that I really appreciated this book when I was younger and more starry-eyed. I love the premise, though I feel the writing could have been more lush and poetic. The movie is more heartbreaking.
Rating:
Summary: Ok, but the romance wasn't love, it was LUST!
Review: I read this couple of years ago, and it was easy to read, held my interest even though it was a little cheesy. Frances was "not in love". The photographer Kincaid was just plain "needing". You can't simply fall in love in three days, the newness of sexual energy and excitement gets in the way. It wasn't love, thank God she didn't leave her husband to chase this lustful dream.
Rating:
Summary: What's Love Got To Do With It?
Review: This isn't a sugary sweet little love story and don't let anyone tell you it is. This is a book about sex, pure and simple. I mean, come on, folks, what the heck else could he want with her? Ya know? The mistake the author makes is trying to tie the whole little lusty affair up into a saccharin sweet doughnut of love and roses. If you believe this is love then put your tooth under your pillow and dream of the tooth fairy. I could have stomached this book had the author just given us the explicit details of the sex relationship rather than waxing long and laboriously about every stupid thing under the sun. I mean, if I want descriptions of covered bridges and all, I'll just buy a picture book. Oh well, back to Crush. At least there I'll find some much needed details.
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