Rating: 
Summary: Simple & beautiful
Review: This may be a simple story about simple people, but they are REAL people. If you don't like "romantic" feelings in the true, raw sense then this book may appeal less, but if you believe in the power of simple love; there is nothing better. I was crying when I read the "afterword" by the photographer's friend musician.
Rating:
Summary: Love in the countryside
Review: Tremendous love story told with a philosophy seldom found in a novel. It is not just the telling of two people meeting in the summer in Iowa, but it is the summation of two unfilled dreams. They were not to be, but they were good dreams.
Rating: 
Summary: YUK!!!
Review: I too read it because of the hype. I was told that I wouldn't be able to stop the tears from falling. The only tears I experience were tears of boredom and frustration. I just couldn't seem to like any of the characters at all and in the end I gave up trying.
Unless you like reading sentimental pap....don't bother with it.
Rating:
Summary: A very moving story
Review: The story involves a woman who is married and comfortable - her husband is a very good provider and truly loves his wife as much as he is capable. Their is no romance between the couple, but they do care deeply for each other and do a fine job of raising their children and provide a loving home for them. A stranger rolls into town one day and stops to ask directions. A mutual attraction quickly develops between the wife and this interesting stranger. They are unable to stop the powerful romance that comes upon them like a strong force. Ultimately, she is left with the decision of leaving her life as she knows it and running away with a man that has evoking feelings inside her that made her feel so alive, or doing the right thing for her family - faced with the decision, she is with her husband in their old farm truck on main street, she sees Robert leaving town in his pick up and she knows it's now or never.This book left me in tears. I saw the movie, and it doesn't do the story justice. This is one of the best books I have ever read. If you want to read about real undying love, this book is a must read.
Rating:
Summary: Let's get real, this book is awful.....
Review: I have to say honestly, I saw the movie before I read the book, and I liked the movie a lot! I love Meryl Streep, but Clint Eastwood gives me the heebie jeebies....so needless to say, as I'm reading the book (after I saw the movie) and the author is writing about how Robert Kincaid is supposed to be this sexy older man, I'm trying to keep my lunch down! Yuck. I'm sorry but the image of Clint Eastwood ruined it for me...it was horrible enough watching him kiss and make love to Francesca in the movie...they totally should have has someone like...I don't know...Robert Redford play the part of Robert Kincaid....Clint Eastwood needs to stick to the Dirty Harry movies....not love stories....this book might have had potential, but I just can't get that old man out of my mind.
Rating:
Summary: Unfortunate waste of potential (and paper....and your time)
Review: This book is essentially worthless drivel. "He moves like a gazelle.." ?!? Is the author serious? To say the book is cliche ridden is an understatement. The writing is sophomoric and the characters are developed not in action, but in ridiculous cliched descriptions like the gazelle simile. The saddest thing is that this could have been a great story. The plot has potential. A long lost forbidden and passionate love affair, discovered after the two main players are deceased. The woman's children having to figure out what happened years ago based on their dead mother's diary. This book could have been brilliant and instead its like a bad passage from the Song of Soloman. Don't waste your time reading this rubbish.
Rating: 
Summary: You either love it or you hate it.
Review: Frankly, I can't blame anyone for either. I picked it up off the 80% off shelf at my local [bookstore]. I had heard of it -- and it had an astoundingly long run on the NY Times bestseller list -- and figured that for [the money], I may as well read it. Well, I read it, and I liked it. I can see why people *don't* like it -- its commercial properties are extremely blatant, its calls for suspensions of disbelief are incredible, and it has too much prologue and not enough actual action. (Okay, we know every detail of what happens until they sleep together -- some seventy pages' worth of detail -- and then the rest is wrapped up, another thirty years' worth, in less than forty pages? Hello?) I did like it because it's a very sweet book that has an interesting moral quandary in it -- what is our duty to others? Ourselves? Who takes priority? Are decisions about our lives supposed to be practical or full of passion? Which decision would we regret more? Yet it doesn't hang up on those things -- it just tells a story. I like stories, therefore I liked the book. Anyone looking for anything that takes more than an hour to read and has you thinking about it for more than two hours would be disappointed, though.
Rating:
Summary: what we all need, what none of us need.
Review: This book, in my mind, showed a love dreamed of by most, but attianed by few. Is it not fitting that this book became such a hit in a time such as this. We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We've learned how to make a living, but not a life; we've added years to life, not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor. In a time such as this, a book comes along with a dishonest house wife, and people still marvel in this wonderful story of hideous morals. One can only ask why did this book stay on or near the top of the best sellers list for 3 years like it did? I'm curious what you think, please respond and write a review of your own. I think this has to do with it now being socially accepted for wives and husband to not respect the vows of marriage, if. if. if it is true love they have found.
Rating:
Summary: Pure drivel.
Review: Forced myself to get through it, only because I hate to leave a book unfinished. The dialogue was stilted, the characters unbelievable, and I didn't sense the passion. I was greatly disappointed. Read like the typical Harlequin Romances I read as a teenager.
Rating:
Summary: Not a Great Book, but I Like Waller's Sense, and Sensibility
Review: This is a story about a woman named Francesca and a man named Robert. In one scene, Francesca is preparing a meatless stew and Robert is talking to her. Here's a snippet of their conversation: "'It already smells good,' he said, pointing toward the stove. 'It smells . . . quiet.' He looked at her. "'Quiet? Could something smell quiet?' She was thinking about the phrase, asking herself. He was right. After the pork chops and steaks and roasts she cooked for the family, this was quiet cooking. No violence involved anywhere down the food chain, except maybe for pulling up the vegetables. The stew cooked quietly and smelled quiet. It was quiet here in the kitchen." I honor and admire the sensitivity of the man who wrote those words, which is why I have read most of Waller's work. His "Slow Waltz in Cedar Bend" was particularly enjoyable (maybe even better than "Bridges") but I LOATHED "Border Music." But even though Waller is certainly not a great writer, I'll always keep an eye out for his work, because, as I said in my title, I like his SENSE, and I like his SENSIBILITY.
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