Reviews

The Lake Shore Limited by Sue Miller

leyashekanena's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

mschrock8's review against another edition

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3.0

A play within a book, and all the characters are linked.

Read by the author.

Listening length nine hr, 22 min

margaretmechinus's review against another edition

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4.0

There is a play, the playwright, the lead actor in the play, and an audience member. How they are affected. How they interact. Very interesting.

jbarr5's review against another edition

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3.0

g read

pisceankel's review against another edition

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1.0

Disappointed. Struggled so much to like this book as I'm a fan of Sue Miller....

schray32's review against another edition

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3.0

I wanted to like this book but it never really came together despite the fact that I get the idea it was trying to be about.

kategci's review against another edition

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3.0

Enjoyed this book with Sue miller's deeply flawed and very human characters.

callieisreading's review against another edition

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5.0

listening on audio!

Finished it a couple days ago, and I really loved it, especially the characters of Billy and Sam. I wished I could know what happened with them after the book ended, even though I know I'm supposed to fill in the blanks myself.

Highly recommend!! Especially on audio, as it was done beautifully by the author, Sue Miller.

dr_manuela_reads's review against another edition

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2.0

It took me forever to finish reading this book as it draggggggged! The revolves around 4 main characters that are connected thru the play. Most of the characters are easy to like but I absolutely hated Billy - what a selfish person! Fir a story that takes place over a few days, it sure seems to drag on.

hadu's review against another edition

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4.0

This book was abandoned in the kitchen at work. It looked like something a boring person would like (the cover art, font, and decorative swirls doesn't help), and 9/11 being a part of the story I felt was lame. But...it was free! I gave it a chance.

The Lake Shore Limited is NOT what I expected. I really enjoyed having detailed knowledge of each character and reading their personal perspectives in turns. There were a few times it felt painful (in a good way) reading because the characters' inner brutal honesty or situation was dark--exposing sad but true feelings regarding the death of a loved one, an ill spouse, not being true to yourself, feeling trapped, etc. Overall I was able to understand why the characters are the way they are and accept it rather than judge. It's not often characters feel like they could be actual people--there are probably more Leslies, Billys, etc. in the world than we think.

I had a couple of issues with this book: (1) I thought Billy saying, "God, I love the theatre!" was really cheesy and took me out of the story, (2) without spoiling anything something dramatic happens involving Sam towards the end of the book--this event came off not very believeable, and (3) the very last paragraph sounded too good to be true.

Discovering what the characters think and feel about another character you also know well or will get to know well and learning of their past which influences how they are today kept me committed to the end.