Rise and Shine

I generally like this author, but this book could not keep my interest. I listened all the way through, but my mind kept wandering and I kept rewinding. I could have saved the effort. I never missed anything, because nothing ever happened.

I have enjoyed all of Anna Quinlens previous books, so downloaded this one without hesitation. It does have good prose, but no good story. Until the last hour nothing of particular interest happens. I had no interest in the events that befell the two main participants.

Perfect symmetry: two sisters, one living the life of service to those who cannot serve themselves, a social worker. The other, living the self-centered, shallow life of a media personality. The third character is the city of New York, presented in all its consumerist, elitist glory. In spite of this obvious formula I thought the novel was elegant, sensitive, and beautifully written. Great characters, great dialogue, and great learning experiences for both protagonists.

I'm only giving it a 4, though 1) because there were some elements at the end that I found inconsistent with the alleged epiphany experienced by the shallow media guru, and 2) because the narrator's quirky pronunciation of the name "Meghan" was annoying, drawing out the first syllable a bit too long.

Other than that, this book, just like New York, is a perfect jewel. How could one look anywhere else?

The book is well written and the story has its moments, but generally, nothing really happens. I think my credit would've been better spent on another book.

Anna Quindlen's "One True Thing" is one of my favorite books. I also loved "Black and Blue". But I am really struggling with this one. I am halfway through. I keep taking breaks to move on to other, more interesting books. My biggest problem is that I find all of the characters to be unrealistic. I don't feel any kind of a bond or empathy for any of them. I feel a sarcastic undertone throughout the whole thing.

My first Anna Quindlen novel and probably my last. The characters were not particularly believable or even interesting. The narration didn’t help either.

It appears I disagree with the other reviewers here--I love this book, particularly in the audio form. I find the characters fascinating and well-described, and their interactions, motivations, and lives are the real plot-- the "action" at the end seems a bit tacked-on. The narration is excellent. This audiobook is a true "comfort-listen" for me.

I thought this was a great story and written with so much detail. I felt like I was a part of the story and knew the characters inside and out. The ending was very unexpected and had lots of twists and turns. I was sad when the story ended as it was all encompassing. I absolutely recommend this book

This book started out o.k. and went downhill from there. VERY boring - very predictable - didn't finish it. Not worth purchasing.

The concept of the story seemed right up my alley and at first it moves fairly quickly to get you intrigued. But then the story goes no where and everything is drawn out, going over every little excruciating detail on things that bring nothing to the story line. Frankly, by the middle of the book, it became blah, blah, blah and I had no interest in what happened to either one of the sisters by that point.