Reviews for Stranger in Paradise/1950s

The average rating for Stranger in Paradise/1950s based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-11-05 00:00:00 RICH SPARKS Favorite Quotes: �It was all there, all the beauty and wonder and sorrow of life, there in the papers and scrapbooks and photographs packed away with wedding dresses and pressed corsages. Somehow the Wilson attic had become the repository of memories for two families and, in a fashion, of a way of life long gone.� �Open your eyes, Liz thought. Can�t you see the people who used to be? Love wasn�t a modern invention. Before computer chips and microwave ovens and VCRs, men and women had fallen in love and married and somehow managed to make happily-ever-after come true�� �The fact that he found her beautiful thrilled Jane. She�d never realized what power there was in being a woman. What pleasure there was to be found in the simplest gesture when there was a man close at hand to appreciate it.� �He wasn�t much good at dealing with sorrow. His wife had seen too much of it for one lifetime. The obvious solution was to make sure sorrow never found either one of them again. Their meeting had been touched by magic. Their marriage would be, as well.� My Review: To complete this review I read both books, A Sentimental Journey and Stranger in Paradise, 512 pages, and it wasn�t enough, I want more. The world fell to the wayside as I immersed myself in their world of the 1940s through 1990. The tale starts well before my time, but I felt like I was living it with them. I heard what my mother called �the Old Standards� playing on their radios. Her characters were fully fleshed out and inhabited. I was so captivated by Ms. Bretton�s writing that I seemed to be smelling, seeing, feeling, hearing, and living whatever they did. I grieved their losses, breathed a sigh of relief when they came to their senses, fretted for their concerns, despaired over the injustices of the time, and cheered for their accomplishments. I am exhausted to say the least, but would gladly continue if Ms. Bretton could be coerced into writing more of this exceptional story.

Review # 2 was written on 2015-05-22 00:00:00 Brian Arbaugh I read this years ago, and I didn't enjoy it that much back then. I found it quite boring then, and it really hasn't improved that much now. The relationship between Mac and Jane was very hastily entered into, and much of the drama they dealt with stemmed from that, though some of it was also the world climate at the time, which was one of the few redeeming qualities of the book. It gave us that glimpse into a time period that isn't well understood and often swept under the rug. I also enjoyed seeing the glimpses into the lives of the characters from Sentimental Journey. I had a hard time connecting with Jane due to her aloof nature, and Mac seemed too smarmy at times for me to appreciate him as a hero as well. All in all, not a book I would recommend much to others.