No Greater Love

Rating:
Summary: great story of surviving family after titanic disaster
Review: I enjoyed reading the book No Greater Love, by Danielle Steel. It was about a girl who lost her parents and fiance in the titanic disaster and then had to raise her five younger brothers and sisters. Many people are interested in the Titanic's first voyage. However, some people think only of that one night and not of the nights that followed for those who survived. This book showed how Edwina Winfield and her younger siblings had to cope, not only with that fateful night, but also with the effects that the sinking of the Titanic brought them. One problem I did have with the book was the relationship between the members of the Winfield family. When Edwina's parents and her fiance, Charles, were alive, it seemed that every other word in the book was "happy" or "content". She constantly wrote of the love they had for each other. They never fought or argued and they had only love for their family. That's hard to believe. I have yet to see only family that is perfect-without bickering, fighting, or yelling. I know I love my family very much and we have a great relationship but we still argue. Every family has their problems. I believe Danielle Steel wrote of the Winfields like this to express the drastic change they met after the sinking of the Titanic. However, it was almost impossible to relate to the Winfields because of their unreal relationship with each other. My favorite character was Alexis. Steel described her as special and different from the rest of her family. She was six years old when her parents died and ,of all the Winfield children, she effected the most. She had a very special bond with her mother. She rarely left her side and she hated strangers. When she returned home after her parents' deaths, she was always looking for them, expecting them to just show up. She would often go into her parents' room and sit in her mother's dressing room. The actions of Alexis helped me to understand how the Winfield children felt after their parents had died. One of the most touching scenes in the book was when the Titanic was sinking. Alexis had ran away from her parents and had gone back to their stateroom. Her parents had no idea where she was. They finally decided to put the other children on a lifeboat and then they would come later with Alexis. When the lifeboat was being lowered, Edwina saw the golden curl of a girl she thought to be Alexis in her boat. She motioned to her mother on deck and pointed to the little girl. Assuming this was Alexis, she stopped looking for her. However, Alexis was playing with a doll in her room while the agony was going on above her. The reader does not know if she will survive and is kept in suspense until a man finds her and takes her to a lifeboat. Another very touching scene was when Edwina received her wedding veil from Charles's mother. She received it a day before her and Charles's wedding was supposed to be. All the emotions come back to Edwina and the description of the scene helped me to feel for Edwina. I think this is a wonderful story that shows how family should stick together above all else. Edwina was there for her younger siblings because she loved them and knew that's what she needed to do. Accept for Steel's depiction of the Winfield family before the disaster, I think she did a great job of making the reader relate to Edwina and feel for her siblings. There was not one day that went by that Edwina did not think of how her life would have been different if there had been enough lifeboats or if the Californian had heard their distress calls. I think Steel wanted to show people that there was more to the Titanic disaster than one night. The effects of that night lasted forever-not for the fictional Winfield family, but for the real survivors of the Titanic.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable Read - Possible Spoilers
Review: Just finished reading this and must say that I really liked the character of Edwina. I admired the fact that she single handedly raised her younger siblings and tried to keep the family business intact. I found it unfair and selfish that the mother decided to stay and die with the father, leaving VERY young children behind for a women barely out of childhood herself, to raise.
In any case, I hightly recommend it for any Danielle Steele fans.

Rating:
Summary: Not what I expected, but good
Review: This is the first Danielle Steel book I read. I can't say that it was the best, but it was good. I've always found the Titanic story rather interesting, which is probably why I checked it out of the library. One thing I really enjoyed about this book more than the movie (the one with Leo and Kate) was that it emphasized what happened after the disaster, and how the people who survived had to cope. Imagine seeing the ship go down, losing loved ones, and then having to face news reporters when you returned to New York. It was just a side of the story I never thought about until I read this book. I do agree with some of the other readers that Edwina's mother should not have been portrayed as a heroine for going down with her husband. When you bring children into this world, it is your responsibility to do whatever it takes to be there for them, and to raise them. I saw her act as child abandonment, not heroism. That's probably why I couldn't give the book five stars. Being a mother myself, I had a little trouble getting past it. Other than that though, it was an enjoyable read.