From Library Journal
Readers who thought The Bridges of Madison County was a romantic book should try this story of honest and enduring love from the author of Talk Before Sleep (LJ 3/15/94). The first-person narrative describes an ordinary woman caught up in unusual circumstances. Lainey is a wife/mother/office worker whose life is suddenly changed when her husband is sent into a coma by a freak accident. The only one who believes that he will one day wake up, she visits him daily, bringing him stimulus from everyday life in an attempt to reach him. "I line up the little spice bags all across his chest. All across his University of California T-shirt are requests from the kitchen. Come back, says the curry, the oregano. And me." Lainey is sustained through her ordeal by the support of two special women: Alice, who lives next door, and Evie, the ghost of the woman who lived in Lainey's house in the Forties. A touching and enjoyable read, this novel is romantic without being a romance. Highly recommended for popular fiction collections.?Debbie Bogenschutz, Cincinnati Technical Coll.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
In this bittersweet audiobook Beth Fowler narrates a woman's struggle as her husband lies in a coma after a freak accident. Fowler is truly convincing in her portrayal of Lainey; listeners can hear the weariness in her voice, as well as her determination to carry on for her two young children. Fowler gives genuine life to supporting characters. Most notable is Lainey's next-door neighbor and friend, who helps Lainey to cope by giving her a renewed sense of self. More than a story of women helping women, though, this is an audiobook of love and what we do to create, nurture and preserve it. R.A.P. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine
