It was disappointing to start getting into each short story then to be left hanging... I couldn't put the book down.

I can't wait to download the short series tv adaptation.

I picked this book up while browsing at a thrift store. It was a welcome change after reading the terribly depressing and self absorbed Eat, Pray, Love. I loved the idea of leaving your life behind and starting somewhere new.

Karen focused too much in the book on her socialization with her rowdy drunk friends, or the odd, awkward and sometimes rude people that she tends to encounter all the time. I wish there had been more on the progress of her house as she rebuilt it from the ground up. I have a picture in my mind of what it looked like pre-renovation and had very little to work with to visualize it's progress near the end of the book. I hoped for a love story as I neared the end, but since it's an autobiographical book, it's real life, so love doesn't always happen.

Despite my criticism's I would recommend the book to others, as I really enjoyed it and had trouble putting the book down.

I was disappointed to find that this book, although 200 pages was way too easy of a read. You can tell it was written by a 13 year old. I read it from cover to cover in about 3 hours.

I loved this book from start to almost finish. I found it a lot better than the movie. Having seen the movie before reading the book, I enjoyed that it gave me something extra to visualize whenever the island was described in the book. The book went downhill after page 424 when the drug lords make their threats and the group subsequently turns on the main character in some sort of drugged frenzy. I thought that was a little overdone... I would have liked too if the epilogue hadn't been so rushed. Otherwise, the book was great. A very smooth read that kept me consistantly entertained.

I found the first 3/4 of the book to be a rather difficult read. Part 1 was a collection of the love letters written from Johnny to Vivian while living in Germany during his time in the army. The letters I found were often repetative, lacked substance and I hated that it was all one sided with little commentary from Vivian. I would have enjoyed part 1 more if Vivian has added commentary on her person reflections on some of the letters exchanged or what was going through her mind after recieving some of Johnny's letters as a teen. It would have also given great insight into their love if we had been able to read some of the letters Vivian had written to Johnny. I'm assuming some of those love letters still exist?

Part 2 I really enjoyed reading as Vivian documented what life was like right after her marriage to Johnny, his subsiquent success, the birth of their daughters and the collapse of the marriage. However, I felt that this portion of the book was over too fast and it would have been great if Vivian had gone into more detail instead of just skimming the surface. If asked to read the book again having read it once already, I wouldn't do it again. It was a boring struggle to read through the 100's of love letters in part 1

I love how this book had 2 tones and it felt like you were reading two stories contained all within one book. I couldn't put the book down.