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Summary: I haven't read anything this good since THE HOURS....
Review: I just finished FIONA RANGE, and can't think of a book since Michael Cunningham's THE HOURS that was so engaging and well-developed. There are no clear cut heroes in FIONA RANGE. There is no obvious line of demarcation between good and bad in this book. It's just not that simple. Morris has created a family with such complex and compelling characters that -- gosh -- they could be real. I'll be recommending this story to my reading buddies. It's that good. Enjoy.
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Summary: Letdown after Songs in Ordinary Time
Review: I was excited to read another book by M.M.Morris after enjoying her masterful, fascinating book, Songs in Ordinary Time. I could predict the ending and who her "real father" is about a quarter way through the book. I was hoping I was wrong and the plot would be interesting, but it isn't. If you want some silly beach reading, get the paperback. It is a bit entertaining. Don't spend the money for the hardback though. It is full of typos. It seems no one proof read it. I find that very irritating.
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Summary: Disappointing
Review: I liked Fiona Range, the character, from the very beginning. She's having a melt-down; she's on the brink of discovering who she really is, who she wants to be, and where she came from; she's unapologetic, funny, brash; she's a genuinely good person who doesn't always do the "good" thing. Fiona--the promise of the character--is very human, very accessible. But the execution of her self-discovery is not only disappointing, but lame. Instead of working on her from the inside, sorting her out piece by piece, the author makes Fiona's self-discovery seem like a tv-movie-of-the-week plot: Bad girl (who is really a good girl deep down) wants to change, can't seem to make it happen, blames all her bad luck on everyone else until Good boy (who can be bad because, after all, he cheats on his fiance) tells her he loves her (I actually missed the part where she felt anything for him but pity) and eventually "saves" her from herself (at least that's what we assume). Frankly, Fiona only ends up with him because he ends up with her. Not very interesting. There are some interesting characters in the book that also had potential--Elizabeth, Fiona's cousin, whose physical and emotional deterioration because she can't make decisions was purposely frustrating to read; Patrick, a Vietnam vet Fiona befriends and steadfastly defends; and the diner characters--but in the end, they're just as hollow as Fiona. Overall, not her best work.
Rating: 
Summary: Tedious and predictible.
Review: I'm confounded by the rave reviews this book has received. Has no one else noticed how similar the plot is to a cheap V.C. Andrews story? Perhaps I shouldn't reveal the secrets here, but I think readers will find they can easily guess early in the novel who Fiona's father is, what happened to her mother, where her newly engaged cousin, Elizabeth, is spending her time, and how that coincides with the abrupt change of heart of Fiona's boyfriend who -surprise, surprise- is Elizabeth's high school sweetheart. I perceived no character development in Fiona. She has some baggage, sure. She realizes she has baggage, wonders what she can do to heal, but never does anything! Her problems are never solved within herself-- A man comes along and "rescues" her, magically transforming her into someone her family can be proud of. I would have preferred a story about a woman living in excess, who learns to be strong and pull herself out of the mire by looking within. The story had so much potential... Too bad the answer turned out to be a man instead of a spiritual journey.
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Summary: Fiona Range
Review: Fiona Range is a revealing book about a young woman who learns to take her place in the world, in spite of her step-family's well-meaning attempts to keep her an outsider. Fiona is raised by her maternal aunt and uncle and grows up with three cousins, one of whom is also her best friend. While Fiona is attractive and witty, she's also a hellion facing a turning point in her life. She is searching for the reasons why she is such a difficult person, and why she is so unappreciative of her step-family's 'good deeds'. Fiona's life changes when she digs up the family secrets and asks to have the record set straight. Fiona Range is a great study of the kinds of people who take in 'abandoned' children and undermine those children's fragile sense of security by 'unintentionally' reminding them of their second-class status. It is also a great study of the development of the classic 'guarded personality'. Thoroughly enjoyed the book. Whisked through 418 pages in two-days. I couldn't put it down.
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Summary: I can't wait to read this new book...
Review: I really only checked in at this site to comment on Mary's Absolut short story on the inside cover of the 5/22 New Yorker. What a blast to see my favorite writer presented in such a clever way. Now, when the book comes out - I expect that our creative old junk dealer, Mr. Purvis, will have been hit on by a floozy-hooker who wants to murder him for the money hidden under the junk-pile sculpture. I grew up in a "junkyard" (my grandfather was a scrap metal dealer and we lived in a mansion overlooking his "empire") so the story had resonance for me. I'll weigh in on Fiona Range when I've finished it - I'll go get it right away at the library or the bookstore - wherever - can't wait!
Rating: 
Summary: She's my favorite author
Review: Once again, I bow down to Mary McGarry Morris for enabling me to get so involved in these people's lives, I think they're real. I feel like a "fly on the wall" just watching all these people's relationships and interactions and decisions. With a house/husband/kids/p/t job, Ms. Morris is the only author that completely absorbs my thoughts and takes me away into another realistic world. I'm a die-hard Oprah book club fan, and Morris' books exemplifies all the relationship intricacies. Her characters are always 3-dimensional, never just "cliche" people. She's not a "happily ever after" author, which is also realistic. If anyone else out there also loves Mary McGarry Morris' books as much as I do (I read them all), please e-mail me to give me other books similar to hers, that are just as absorbing and realistic. I'm a avid reader and would love to share book info. Thanks. Enjoy Fiona!
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Summary: The free range's have salmonella
Review: Thirty-year-old Fiona Range, the hapless heroine of this book, is a self described "magnet for trouble". Fiona's life reads like a 90s version of a Greek tragedy. Abandoned by her mother at infancy, she is raised by her genteel and conventional uncle and aunt - the Hollises - in a small town near Boston. Desperate for attention and a sense of belonging, the volatile Fiona careens from one feckless man to another, barely holding down a waitressing job. In her saner moments, she wallows in guilt, wishing she "could get on with her life instead of feeling so hopelessly stalled all the time". The novel begins with Fiona waking up in bed with the husband of a close friend, after a drunken party. Things only get messier. After being virtually shunned by her foster family for her reckless behaviour, Fiona decides to seek out Patrick Grady, the troubled and violent town loner rumoured to be her father. Despite the warnings of the Hollises, she relentlessly badgers Grady to let her into his life and tell her more about her mother. Grady initially rejects her, then becomes possessive and threatening. Meanwhile, the Hollis family prepares for the much anticipated wedding of Fiona's dutiful but indecisive cousin Elizabeth. As Elizabeth vacillates between her old flame George Grimshaw and her new fiance Rudy Larkin, Fiona ends up drifting inexplicably into liaisons with both men. Eventually the story hurtles to a violent and sensational denouement, as the Hollis family secrets are exposed. Morris's three previous novels have won rave reviews. Her first novel, Vanished, was nominated for the National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner award. Her third, Songs In Ordinary Time, became a bestseller after being chosen by Oprah Winfrey for her book club. Morris certainly has a knack for realistic, crisp dialogue. Fiona's "wicked mouth" and endearing habit of talking first and thinking later will have many a reader rooting for her. "You are too true to be good," says Rudy to Fiona at one stage, and it is Fiona's blunt charm that propels the narrative forward. The book's best passages are those where Fiona ticks off the repressed Hollises. But as the novel meanders on, and Fiona flounders ever deeper in messes of her own making, readers may find themselves more exasperated than empathetic. Her perpetual regrets over wasted opportunities come close to whining, and the novel becomes bogged down by Fiona's dreary wrangles with a stream of deceitful, unsuitable or brutal men. Morris's farfetched soap-opera plot, with its untimely deaths and dark secrets, strains credibility, before a climax so predicable that only Fiona fails to see it coming. Fiona Range is as wayward and confused as Fiona.
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Summary: i love fiona
Review: what a book. i could not put it down. mary mcgarry morris has done it again. fiona is lovable, hateful, smart, stupid, sexy, all rolled into one and then some. fiona,s family friends, and enemies are all characters that make it impossible to forget.ms morris is an exceptional , gifted writer. she continues to create characters that have a lasting impression on the reader. i am once again amazed by her ability make her books seem so alive. great work.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic!
Review: A friend recommended this book to me and I was a little skeptical at first, because I don't read much fiction, except for Grisham, Clancy, etc. I work too much to be bogged down by "serious fiction", but I found this book to completely accessible, a fast read and utterly fascinating. From the first page, I was riveted by this book. The author's descriptions are poetic - the sounds of the words alone descibe the scene. The characters are phenomenal - I continually found myself loving a character and being disgusted by the same character at the same time or despising an evil character but feeling sympathy simultaneously. I continually was amazed that this kept happening. As I read further, I realized there is so much more than appears at the surface. And if you're a suspense lover like I am, you'll find that the surface alone will be enough. Beneath the surface there is a psychological drama being played out that peels back the layers of the novel's town - and I began to get the feeling that this story could be about anyone's town. This book is a must read - it's tension-filled, gritty, poetic, visceral and ultimately overpowering. I could not put it down and I found it to be a steady, tension-filled, march to a poignant creschendo. I have recommended this book to friends and I am receiving the same reports. Grade: A (Great summer book)
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