Love the One You're With
by Emily Giffin
|
List Price: Our Price: $4.20 You Save: $20.75 (83%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Love the One You're With
Book Review: to commit or not to commit?
Summary: 5 Stars
i don't think this is so much a love story as it is a story about what it takes to commit your life to someone else. since over half the marriages in this country end in divorce, it is obviously a lesson that is really hard to learn. that is what i thought this book was about, about whether ellen could learn what it means to commit to her husband and whether she thought she could actually do it once her feelings for leo resurfaced. i like how this book doesn't play out like some unrealistic fairy tale, where all of your troubles disappear once you say "i do." i mean, it is not realistic to think that you are not going to ever be tempted throughout the course of your marriage or that you won't possibly think or even have feelings for someone else. that's just how life works sometimes, whether we like it or not. yes, ellen makes some really stupid decisions throughout this book, but i couldn't blame her for doing the things she did. she thought she was following her heart. she was confused. she didn't want to live a lie if she was truly in love with someone else. or, more importantly, if she realized that maybe she didn't love her husband and had made a mistake. i thought her reasoning for making her final decision was pretty right on: that commitment means you have to make the choice every day, over and over again, to be with a person in order to make it work. but is she willing to do it? i guess it's not ideal or perfect or overly romantic, but it's honest. commitment is hard work, there is no doubt about it. and this book makes you understand that.
and im surprised at the reviewers who thought leo was such a jerk. okay, he was kind of a jerk when he was younger but i thought he was incredibly charming when ellen runs into him again. i could certainly see why ellen was so into him. i thought he and suzanne were the most interesting characters in the story, actually.
Book Review: What if...
Summary: 5 Stars
Ellen Graham is happy. She's newly married to Andy, a successful photographer and has the love and support of her family. She doesn't question her life or the choices she has made that led her to her current life. That is until, one brief moment, she sees Leo. Just like that her past becomes an unwelcoming invasion in the present.
Ellen quickly finds herself at a crossroad. The "what if" question quickly turns into an obsession as she finds herself constantly comparing her life with Andy to what she think life would be like with Leo. Despite the warnings her head tells her about starting a friendship with Leo, she accepts a photography assignment that he set up for her. Agreeing to the shoot, will force her to finally make a decision about her marriage and the woman she really is.
I really liked this book. I have to admit, I put off reading it because so many people told me how disappointed they were with it because it wasn't as good as Something Borrowed and Something Blue. I have to say, I disagree. The reason I liked Ms. Giffin's early novels was it seemed as though the characters were telling me their stories instead of me reading them. This is how I felt while reading this book. I pictured Ellen and I catching up, over a long lunch, after not seeing each other for awhile and she wanted to inform me about her life. Ms. Giffin is very descriptive in her writing, which I thought only added to the richness of this novel.
It is quite easy to judge Ellen and wonder why she makes the decisions she does. To her, it makes sense. She needed to confirm she made the right choice. She needed to move on. Love the One You're With is about walking down the path of "what if" when it unexpectedly comes your way, however, it's also about feeling secure that the decisions you made in the past were the best decisions for you.
Book Review: Another winner from Emily Giffin!
Summary: 4 Stars
Ellen, a 30-something NYC photographer, is married to Andy, an "all American," sensitive, handsome, and successful attorney. Ellen and Andy have a "perfect" marriage and to top it off, Andy's younger sister is Ellen's best-friend from college. Ellen couldn't be happier....that is.. until she runs into Leo, the former love of her life who broke her heart 8 years earlier. Leo is charming, funny, and has smoldering good looks that literally make Ellen weak in the knees.
So when Leo expresses a renewed interest in Ellen, she is forced to reconcile the strength of her love for Andy (and respect for her marriage) with the passion and yearning she has always felt for Leo....
This novel (like all of Ms. Giffin's) captivated me from the start. She does an incredible job with character development and, as usual, her characters are likeable in spite of their flaws.
My only criticisms of the novel are that I wish Ms. Giffin had given a better sense of who Ellen's mother was and what she was like and I also felt that the ending was too abrupt. I think it would have been more realistic if it had taken Ellen longer to make-up her mind when she came to the ultimate crossroads of the plot...though I think Ms. Giffin was trying to demonstrate that Ellen's epiphany about her relationship with Andy was abrupt.
Finally, I'd like to mention that I met Ms. Giffin at a book-signing in Wellesley and couldn't have been more impressed with her. Beside being drop-dead gorgeous, she is down-to-earth and has a wonderful, self-deprecating sense of humor which really shines through in her writing. I truly look forward to reading her next novel, as I think she is such an incredible talent!
Book Review: truly enjoyable
Summary: 5 Stars
i have now read all of emily giffin's books and i loved this one as much as the previous three. i always admire giffin's guts in using characters who are unsympathetic and often seriously flawed and i found ellen to be both of these things, but also a fascinating person to follow through the story. i like that she's complicated and not a plain jane goody goody, or some one-dimensional villainess from a jackie collins novel. she's human, she makes mistakes but she's honestly trying to do the best that she can. and in this book, i think she is truly confused that she still has feelings for leo even though she loves (or thinks she loves) her husband.
my main criticism with this book is that for at least the entire first half of the book, i really did not like andy that much. sure he was nice and all, but he was so simple, so passive. it really got annoying. it's like life came too easy for him. leo was a much, much more compelling character and i could feel why ellen was so drawn to him. however, this does change quite a bit as the book moves towards its conclusion, as andy really grows on you throughout the story. after reading the book again, i started thinking that giffin may have done this for effect. after all, we are reading this story through ellen's perspective and as she gets to a point where she needs to make a choice, i think she starts seeing both of these men in her life in a much clearer way. and maybe early in the story, she isn't giving her husband enough credit, which is why he comes off so lame.
overall this is a really rewarding read and one that reveals more layers of depth as you read through the story again.
Book Review: Not nearly as good as her other books
Summary: 2 Stars
I loved Giffin's first 3 books, and was really looking forward to this one. However, the main character is so unlikeable I could barely get through the book. She's selfish, spoiled and basically a huge brat.
I could ALMOST see where Ellen is coming from because her marriage with Andy seems happy, but bland (her sister describes it as "pleasant.") Nothing really wrong w/ the relationship, but nothing that is really passionate or exciting....you get the picture. Andy is a sweet and likable character, but boring.
However, you'd think he was a jerk the way Ellen acts in this book. Exactly what is wrong with her life? Her husband is loaded, his family is wonderful, she has everything she could want or need (great photography career, nice house, good friends) yet she feels the need to ruin it all by starting this obsessive flirtation with an ex who dumped her 8 years ago and was never good for her in the 1st place. You can see the attraction to Leo from his physical description. If you're into the whole brooding artist type, Leo's your guy. But he was such a jerk to her before, I don't understand why she'd even want to talk to him at all.
The writing in this book is not up to par with her former works, either.
I would like to also agree with another reviewer, who noted the "you guys" reference which is a PHILLY not Pittsburgh thing!! And what's with all the Pittsburgh bashing in this book? Not that I'm a huge fan of the city, but it seemed like Giffin hates PGH for some reason.
I'm glad I got this as a christmas present b/c I would have been mad if I paid for it.