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Without a Backward Glance
Without a Backward Glance
Author: Kate Veitch
A new voice in the tradition of Anne Tyler and Anita Shreve — Christmas Eve 1967: the night the lives of the McDonald children, Deborah, Robert, James, and Meredith, changed forever. Th eir mother, Rosemarie, told them she was running out to buy more lights for the tree. Instead, she boarded a plane bound for London, leaving the children w...  more »
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ISBN-13: 9780452289475
ISBN-10: 0452289475
Publication Date: 6/24/2008
Pages: 384
Rating:
  • Currently 3.4/5 Stars.
 52

3.4 stars, based on 52 ratings
Publisher: Plume
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Audio CD
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

reviewed Without a Backward Glance on + 4 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
I liked this book well enough. It was an interesting read, but not necessarily something I would recommend to everyone. It depends on your reading taste, if you're interested in a family story that weaves back and forth between characters and gives you various perspectives, it's worth it. If you're more into a 1-sided story and prefer less flipping around, skip this one!
TarynC avatar reviewed Without a Backward Glance on + 213 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
This book was a very insightful exploration of what happens when a young mom picks up and leaves her children "without a backward glance". It describes how it impacts their lives forever. Society is not shocked when men do this but it's not at all "acceptable" for mothers. As a mother, I cant imagine doing this to my children and so the book brought out emotions in me ranging from sad to anger and many in between.
reviewed Without a Backward Glance on + 3 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
This book was a very complicated story about family relationships. I found myself truly getting to know all the characters! She writes from the point of view of each one of them... I am a character oriented reader- not a plot oriented one, so I loved it. It is about love, hard choices, self-less-ness and being selfish too. I would call it a must read!
reviewed Without a Backward Glance on + 117 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Wow! I must say this was a great book on a delicate subject matter. Regardless of how crazy you feel your :stay at home: housewife life may feel at some points and no matter what you feel you are missing out on, leaving just isn't an option. I don't feel men have the right to abandon their families either but a mother has more responsibility to her children. That said I think this was a very well written book. Especially for a first.
Well developed characters with chapters focusing on one member at a time and their current or past situation. A lot of storytelling from everyones point of view and some history that was just filler. You really get to know each character and their flaws and strengths.
The only thing I didn't realize about this book was that it took place in Australia and England so there is a lot of cultural reference some of which is hard to get used to. (this was my first "Australian book") She includes a glossary in the back for some of the slang terms.
Overall I really liked the book and look forward to reading her next one.
Read All 5 Book Reviews of "Without a Backward Glance"


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