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Summary: Amber in America!!!
Review: This novel was an extraordinary example of life in England in the 1600's; and its unforgettable heroine, Amber St. Clare, made the book. It was adventurous, suspenseful, witty and the storyline was magnificent. The descriptive language also used in the book was wonderful. There was also a movie made based on the book; I havent yet seen it but will endeavour to. I only wish Kathleen Winsor would have made the sequal "Amber in America!!!"
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Summary: A beautiful revelation
Review: I thought I'd read beautiful and memorable historical fiction in The Tea Rose, The Crimson Petal and the White, and Slammerkin. However, Forever Amber took my breath away. This beautiful novel centers on a rather courageous woman's struggles to get through one of the most difficult times a young woman could face... Pregnant and poor in the mean streets of London, sixteen-year-old Amber St. Clare does whatever is possible to improve her situation. The era -- Restoration England -- doesn't facilitate things for Amber. But with her charm, wit and, more important, beauty, Amber becomes the mistress of Merry Monarch, Charles II -- i.e., one of the most powerful men of that time period. From then on, Amber has the most luxurious and erotic experiences of her life. Little had she known that this new life would lead to greater surprises... The novel has the sort of beautiful language that is rare in historical fiction. Hers is a lyrical voice that drips with sensual prose. The historical references are as exquisite as they are insightful. I couldn't put this book down. And, as mentioned earlier, it exceeds the other historical novels released as of late. Forever Amber is one of the best literary revelations I've had all year!
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Summary: A NEW DEAL FOR WOMEN
Review: I'm a male reader of "Forever Amber" who is interested in popular culture and the best sellers of other decades. I had often seen the rather poor but colorful 1947 movie version of this book, and I knew the novel was a huge and scandalous seller in its day. I had always been curious about it. Now I have read it and feel I know what all the fuss was about, particularly throughout the '40s when it was phenomenally popular. Kathleen Winsor was clearly an intelligent woman who was nevertheless a poor writer. She did an enormous amount of research on the Restoration period and there are many wonderful details of life in the England of Charles II. What she excels at is the accretion of period detail, as well as an endlessly inventive (and sometimes just seemingly endless) number of interesting plot twists. She was clearly a supreme editor and synthesizer. And where I think she was a kind of pop genius was in her timing -- she realized that the WWII years were the right time to create a heroine of spirit, resourcefulness and sexual forthrightness. If Margaret Mitchell showed the way with Scarlett, Winsor does her several better by having Amber actually enjoy sex, completely unencumbered by Catholic (or any religious) scruples about what she has to do (and often WANTS to do) to rise in society. Winsor realized that young women were much less prudish than they were assumed to be, that they would welcome a fantasy about a women living for her senses and by her wits. This was extremely shrewd of her. So is the fact that she rifled many other books for her novel, cynically understanding that few women of her generation would be familiar with the original sources she studied and copied. And where Mitchell's book was elaborately written and detailed in the way of 19th century fiction, "Forever Amber" has minimal description but lots of headlong action just like the pot boilers that were to follow, right up until today. At its best, Winsor's writing is straightforward, but it is more often plodding, and her dialogue is mostly dreadful. The single best passage (as was noted even at the time) is the long, tense, claustrophic plague sequence where her lover Bruce and then Amber herself succumb to ghastly illness. Tremendously atmospheric, it is the best written part of the novel, and is worth a whole extra star for the book's overall rating. But as vivid as Amber seems, she is just as two-dimensional a character as most of the others in this book. Amber never grows, never changes, just ACTS, and the fact that she is a creature of action rather than thought or reflection makes her modern, but never memorable, except as a symbol of the feminism and sexual revolution that was to come in later decades. In fact, for long stretches, she is a supporting character in her own novel, taking a back seat to the machinations of Charles II and other historical figures in his orbit, all of whom seem more lifelike than Amber ever does. Winsor would have made a better screenwriter than she ever did a novelist. She excels at plot and action, period. In this too she was prescient. "Forever Amber" remains an interesting and entertaining read, if not a nourishing one. It was definitely a signpost on the pop culture road, and I'm glad I read it. I'm sorry that Winsor died just this week. I would have loved to talk to her about her infamous book.
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Summary: Gone With the Wind of the 40's!
Review: Just read the news today that Kathleen Winsor passed away at age 83. Her book, "Forever Amber" is a true classic. Racy in it's day but tame today, it is brilliantly written and every bit as readable as "Gone With the Wind." The amazing thing about the story is that no one is particularly likeable but you want to read what happens. I read that Winsor had always wanted to write a sequel called "Amber In America" but never did. A great read.
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Summary: Read this book!
Review: This is by far one of the best books I have ever read. I truely did not want it to end and wish there was a sequel. You will be transported back in time and feel the suffering of the protagonist, Amber. You will at the same time hate her for her selfish, arrogant, decadent ways and cheer for her as she survives the horrors of London under Charles II.
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Summary: Elegant Writing, yet not Satisfying
Review: Forever Amber may be historically accurate, yet it is not a satisfying novel. Winsor has an elegant writing technique and conveys her words well, but, at times, I have asked myself "Why didn't she end here?"
The entire novel would have been classical if a few of Amber's husband's were deleted and her escapades overlooked. But, instead, reality fades away into an absurd amount of "fluff" and unreal situations.
Overall, I enjoyed the novel for I wanted something just to read. Yet, the familiar sense of satisfaction that envelopes me after reading a wonderful novel had slipped from my grasp after reading this selection.
I shall recomend this book only if one has time on their hands and desires a book that will merely be for idle reading.
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Summary: Good historical references but Insipid and vapid characters
Review: Kathleen Winsor's Forever Amber was surprisingly repetitive and disappointing. I had to force myself to finish reading simply to finish. The ending left much to be desired, not because I want a sequel, but because the it was abrupt and pointless. The historical aspect of the book was acceptable, although it dwelled mainly on the decandence and corruption of the court. The only amusing parts I found were the spaniel puppies following Charles around in various scenes. The book made no mention of the rise of the political parties (Whigs and Tories). It did make reference to the restoration of the theater, abandoned from Cromwell's time. Yet the focuse was on the actresses and not on the types or depth of the plays. It would have been acceptable if the novel was purely from the viewpoint of Amber, but the storyline swapped back and forth from Amber to Charles or other memebers of the court. Inspite of that, the level of wit and intelligence did not change from the low-class girl to the king of England. The storyline was predictable and uninspiring and the characters were all two-dimensional, flat, and lackluster. Everyone in the story, except for a few obviously negative characters, were all beautiful and handsome. Calling Amber a heroine would be a far stretch. Her "faithfulness" to her perceived love was annoying and downright humiliating. In modern day, she would be characterized as a stalker. The speed at which a complete illiterate like her learned to read and understand the likes of John Milton was unbelievable. I completely agree with Lady Carlton's assessment of Amber based on her crude and low-class background. I'd much rather read a history textbook to get the historical information than read Forever Amber again.
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Summary: Granddaddy of Historical Romance?
Review: Just having read Kathleen Winsor's magnum opus Forever Amber i must say that I was astonished at the sheer magnitude of the volume. Some small municipal phonebooks pale in comparison. I wish that I could say that I was equally amazed by the story even though I am glad that the Chicago Review Press published an affordable version of this now classic romance novel. The story is predictable enough, country girl rises from prisoner at the infamous Newgate Prison to mistress of CharlesII, King of England by whatever means necessary. Through a succession of lovers and husbands she remains "faithful" to the one personthat she can never have. The book is very well researched and the reader gets a picture of the many strata of Restoration society. Winsor has a habit of dropping the right names at the right times but after 56 years the novel seems a little dated and the characters a little flat. A key problem is that there are no real characters that I could identify with. I found myself hating everyone equally. Amber comes off bad as does her principal love, Bruce Carlton. The feeling one gets is not of the decadence of Restoration London but of the despair engendered by the Court as a whole. I'm somewhat sad to say that I did not enjoy this novel so much as read it to get to the end. The end itself is somewhat disappointing also. It is as if Ms. Winsor simply ran out of things to say and just ended it. That being said the novel is overly repetitious to start with and even though it may have started scandals and been banned in Boston in 1944 it is rather tame and mild now.
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Summary: A hard book to put down!
Review: I am in the process of reading this book and am almost finished. I started it when I was snowed in and have since neglected my laundry and most everything else to get more time to read this captivating novel. It is well researched and well written. Yes, the characters are selfish, immature and cruel to their spouses and most everyone around them, but I love to hate them! Amber is instrumental in destroying everything she has of value in the world and then she sits and whines about her great misfortunes. She complains about situations she creates by her selfish actions, but I can't help but cheer her on and can't wait to find out what happens next. It takes a great author to make you feel such a range of emotions about a particular character. It's well done and I highly recommend.
Rating: 
Summary: good book. very good book
Review: TWO DAYS! it took me two days of being ill at home to read this book and even for me that's quite something. i only picked it up cos my mum had it on her pile of books to read and i thought it looked ok. i was a bit dubious about it being a soppy romance but i was literally addicted to reading it and enjoyed every single page. winsor has an enviable talent of holding the reader's attention through thick and thin and her attention to detail of both the period and the chacracters was astounding. i felt so sorry for amber at some points, thought she was horrendous at others. i couldn't understand how she let bruce carlton use her like that but then i'm only 18-what do i know!! neway, its a good book and worth a read, it's actually one of the few books out there that you'll learn something you didnt expect to learn and itll certainly make you wan to read more of the same. i bet there's nothing as good out there though dammit!
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