Rating: 
Summary: Someone once said that they weren't ordinary....
Review: Then we had a debate over whether the family was really "ordinary" or not. It can be interpreted in many different ways because Conrad's family is average- they live in the suburbs, some family problems, married parents, a couple of kids and so on that you would find in an American home in the 1970s. Then again, they may not be ordinary because they have circumstances that prevents them from being close as they were before Buck was killed in the boating accident. The mother is cold and unwelcoming. The father's trying to juggle the emotions of his family and his own, the son's recovering from a suicide attempt and his mind is focused on the negativity of life. Whether they were ordinary or not, they do represent the American Dream in the 1970s. However, I found the character dynamic between Dr. Berger and Conrad impressive. At first glance, this psychologist doesn't seem much. However, he isn't one of those psychologist who sits next to the patient and takes notes on his patient's thoughts. Dr. Berger acts as Conrad's friend. Just sitting there, anywhere in the room and listens to Conrad's rants. He couldn't care less if there's a coffee stain on the ceiling. His behavior puzzles Conrad who believes that the world is all black and white. You could see the character development in Conrad because he becomes more mature and emotional as the book progresses- he doesn't shut himself out to Dr. Berger anymore, he calls Dr. Berger in the middle of the night, he takes responisbility for his action and so on. One of the best character developments I've seen. This novel is ironic- it's heart wretching but at the same time, it's heart warming because it can serve as a therapy novel for someone who is going through a death of a family member....
Rating:
Summary: An Ordinary Reader
Review: The title Ordinary People fits the book perfectly. It is about an ordinary family, struggling with their own problems by themselves. Tthe people around them are unaware of their problems which makes the book so inriguing. Also, the way it is written, switching back from the son's perspective to the father's keeps you hooked. It is hard to comprehend with the switching though and it's the only thing I would change about the book. I could completely relate to the book, and the feelings of the characters, which made it a great read.
Rating: 
Summary: Family, interrupted
Review: "Ordinary People" ISBN: 0140065172
(4 Stars) 3/3/03 Judith Guest wrote a remarkable book about an ordinary family's response to an extraordinary tragedy; it was so popular in its time precisely because the Jarretts could be any American family and what happened in their family could happen in anyone's family. Well, maybe not in anyone's family; most Americans aren't wealthy enough to live in a McMansion in an upper-middle-class bedroom community nor do most families own a boat; but income aside, the Jarretts are like most people one knows: a hardworking father, a mother who wants the best for her family, and two teenage sons, one outgoing and confident, the other quiet and retiring, living in his older brother's shadow. A freak boating accident leaves the older brother dead by drowning, and the family devastated. The parents, Cal and Beth, and their younger son Conrad, are left to cope with the aftermath. "Ordinary People" is the story of how they cope - or fail to. When the story opens, Conrad has been referred to a psychotherapist following hospitalization for a suicide attempt, after his depression over his brother's death becomes more than he can deal with. Conrad is suspicious, withholding, resentful; he's out of the hospital and no longer deemed a threat to himself, so why should he talk to this guy? But the shrink seems okay, he doesn't push or pry; he'll let Conrad open up when he's ready. And gradually, Conrad opens up. But the more Conrad opens up, the more his mother, Beth, retreats into the wall of denial she has built up around herself. Beth is by far the most fascinating character in this book; fundamentally insecure emotionally, she has reacted by creating a world in which all is perfection: she's the perfect wife and mother, the perfect hostess, presiding over the perfect home in the perfect suburban community. There's no room for mess or disorder in her world. Her older son's death broke her perfect world apart. But her younger son's suicide attempt trashed it. This woman is so self-centered that she takes his action as a personal affront; he did it to hurt her. And so Conrad not only has to work through the anguish of his brother's death, but also the pain of his mother's rejection. Guest is a skilled writer and she makes her characters live and breathe; we see Conrad in all his anguish and adolescent awkwardness, working through pain and grief to realize that some things can't be explained or rationalized; they just are. Conrad's father, Cal, a self-made individual, is devastated by the family tragedy but strong enough to be there for Conrad when he needs him. It's Beth, whose uncompromising rigidity appears to hold her up through the immediate aftermath of the funeral, who will ultimately crack under her inability to let go and externalize her pain. "Ordinary People" shows us how ordinary individuals and families can come undone by events beyond their control. One reads this book and comes away realizing that strength and weakness are not always what they appear to be. Sometimes the weaker are the stronger after all.
Rating:
Summary: A family on a collision course with disintigration
Review: It's little wonder that actor Robert Redford, when he forayed into the field of directing, selected author Judith Guest's novel about a family headed for oblivion as his freshman project. "Ordinary People," the film, starred, of course, Mary Tyler Moore and Donald Sutherland as the parents of two sons, the older of whom drowns in a boating accident and the younger who survives with the agonizing guilt for living, perhaps to the emotional rejection of his mother. But before the film won 1980's Best Picture Oscar and Redford a Best Director statue, there was the novel, and author Guest's treatment of a family headed for destruction is both excrutiating but magnificently honest in its feelings that she gives her characters. Unlike the film, though, the book closes with some glimmer of hope for at least one of the three members of a family whose self-implosion is feared but can't be avoided. But like the film, Guest doesn't cheat us in her novel by insulting us with a everyone-lives-happily-ever-after absolution. On the contrary, no one leaves a family structure that has collapsed and heads for a happily-ever-after destiny. That's not how it usually works in the real world, and Guest doesn't insult our intelligence by giving her fictional family a happy ending. "Ordinary People," the book, remains an accurate and honest look at a family falling apart at the seams, and it was the foundation of a film as equally powerful.
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Summary: Ordinary People... Extraordinary Writing
Review: Few novels dare to break the conventional idea of how life is portrayed in literature acurately. This is one of them. Normally, novels today create a melodramatic plot filled with characters and scenes that are not only not plausible, but are simply created for a tear jerk. Guest stays away from this idea. She simply creates the world of a boy and the trials his family and he goes through. It's not complicated. It's not farfetched. It's not ostentatious. It's simply life. Guest takes the reader on a journey of what an ordinary family experiences. The journey is arduous, depressing, and most importantly, real. Ordinary People stands as a novel of simple beauty with one goal: life is not always the simple realm one witnesses in It's a Wonderful Life, life is not as dramatic as a soap opera, life is just a series of events that are tragic and memorable in which one lives and struggles to get up the next day.
Rating: 
Summary: A poignant tale...
Review: I bought the book Ordinary People several years ago. I started it a couple times but this time I actually finished it. Ordinary People is a touching, psychological portrait of Conrad Jarrett, a teenager who is not only dealing with the typical stuggles of adolescence, but also dealing with his own depression and suicide attempt, the death of his brother, and his parents' conflicting attitudes towards these events. While this is not an action packed, page-turner, this book was touching, and somewhat heartbreaking. Since it is a relatively short book, I would say it is worthy of a couple days reading time.
Rating:
Summary: A broken family, a shattered world
Review: I read this book, believe it or not for a Religious Studies course at Long Beach State called Religion and modern literature.
The book centers on the younger brother Conrad, who tries to commit suicide. He apparently blames himself for the death of his oldre brother in a boating accident. His mother is distant and is unable to communicate to her son. This book addresses an important theme in that people tend to put on a false front to the world. We all like to have people think our world is perfect. We like to hide the inperfections of our lives around this shiny ball we show to the world. When that ball starts to crack we desperately try to cover up the rot that is inside. That is the basic story in this book (and the movie version as well). Conrad's mother whants everyone to think her world is perfect. Then her son dies in a tragic accident. This is a tragedy that can, unfortunatley happen to anyone. But to Conrad's mother this is a tragedy that brings negative attention to her perfect world. Intead of dealing with it she tries to cover it up and hide her feelings, especially toward her young son Conrad. He then tries to commit suicide. This further shows the world that things are not right. Her son is sent to a psychiatrist. Conrad has a person to listen to his hurt. His mother does not want to discuss or admit is pain even exists. To discuss the hurt and pain, is to admit that things are not perfect. To Conrad's mother her perfect world is begining to shatter as the perfect little ball she shows the world begins to crack.
Rating:
Summary: Slightly boring
Review: I borrowed "Ordinary People" from a friend quite interested in it. The title and concept of the book from the blurb sounded good. Although when i got into it, the story unfolded very slowly, not much action going on, and is really quite depressing. I'm a book lover and would recommend it because it wasn't a waste of time, just that i didn't feel like much was accomplished by the end. The movie about the book won Best Picture in the early 80's, so i suggest checking out the movie too.
Rating:
Summary: perfectly descibed
Review: i havent finished reading this book yet. it is a book for school i have to read. classes havent even started yet and i am already reading it anyway. i think it describes life and the feelings of it very perfectly. very simply pu. easy to understand. of course i write my own things and not even i can write in this style. i get ioff of work and want to read some more where ever i left off the last time. i never knew it was a movie. i want to watch the movie eventually but not to cheat on the class. i want to watch it after i finish reading the book so i can compare which one i liked more. i bet i liked the book better. i dont appreciate the cuss words as much at all. i think theere are a bit too many. buit as long as i listen to music not so loud iot lulls out all the words i bi pass as i read along. of course most of my positive opinion of this book comes from my own life experiences. i think it is sarcastically funny. and its a good sarcasm. as we know sarcasm can be mean instead. i never knew depression could be funny. it gives me a new way of looking at the way i used to feel as i relate to this book. of course i dont feel like that anymore. but i wish this book were around when i did and it would have helped a lot.
Rating:
Summary: A Classic
Review: Judith Guest has captured, in timeless fashion, the pain that is experienced by the untimely death of a child. She reaches into the heart of the characters and they are real. Conrad's struggle from the throes of depression is so rich and painfully real. Guest gets it right. This is a classic.
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