I thought this would be an interesting book to read....I made a mistake. While I still think the idea of the whole concept was a good one (a group of women coming together and making their lives and other lives better) I found that my background as a middle class wife and mom/grandma from the midwest,now living in the south,I could not relate to the members of the group, all of which were upper middle class to upper class CA women. While all the women of the group were excited they could share ownership of a $35,000 diamond necklace for $1200, I was stuck on the idea of even being able to afford the $1200! The references to the country clubs some belonged to left me feeling even more distant. I think this is a great magazine article, but I am not sure it made a good book.

I am so glad I borrowed this book from my library instead of buying it or using a credit on it. I skipped the last 2 chapters and felt like I didn't miss a thing. This is certainly not a book you would want to keep and read again.

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"The Necklace" is the true story of 13 women who go in together to buy a diamond necklace. They know that they will have to learn how to share the necklace, but they don't expect what else they'll learn. Such as, it was fun to share the necklace amongst themselves, but much more fun to share it with others.

The necklace teaches each participant something... something either about their past, or their present, or their future, or all three. The women learn that they have the power to change not only themselves, but their community.

I loved reading "The Necklace". It made me wish for such a group to exist in my area.

The only challenge I had with the book, was that it had 13 chapters, one for each woman. However, towards the end, the chapters had less and less to do with the person they were supposed to be about, and more and more with some of the women already mentioned. I would like to hear more about the other women.

I'm also curious to hear what's going on with the necklace now. How many of the original members are still members? What new ideas has this inspired?

Definitely check out "The Necklace". It's a great and inspiring story. Let it inspire you today.

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I would give this one 0 stars if I was able to. Seriously the worst book I have ever read! Most of the women are either shallow, immature or selfish. The womens DD's seem to be as well. I would not share a necklace with 13 women that have sex while wearing it. I would not invite my OB/GYN to join the group during my pap. I would be appalled if my DD whined about other girls wearing it during their wedding because it should only be worn by DD's of the groups members. One character claims she has no REAL jewelry althoug...moreI give this one 0 stars. Seriously the worst book I have ever read! Most of the women are either shallow, immature or selfish. The womens DD's seem to be as well. I would not share a necklace with 13 women that have sex while wearing it. I would not invite my OB/GYN to join the group during my pap. I would be appalled if my DD whined about other girls wearing it during their wedding because it should only be worn by DD's of the groups members. One character claims she has no REAL jewelry although she owns several thousand dollars worth! One character who is the originator of the group complains because she doesn't get to make ALL the rules-after all, shouldn't she since she started it! This is book that made me want to vomit after I read it-so full of catty, selfish, ridiculous women. BLECH!

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This book was really well written. It was easy to keep the women's stories straight. It didnt get preachy or up on a soap box. You wont cry your eyes out, but you will be inspired. I did tear up a few times. There are 13 women, 14 chapters and it was not written by one of the women in the group. There stories intertwine in the chapters. It was great to see what they learned about themselves and friendship because of the necklace and their meetings. It is a true story not a work of fiction.

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I was really excited about reading this book. However, I made it half way through and wasn't wild about it. I didn't feel that it was written that well and the first half of the stories felt like it was really having to STRETCH the theme. Good idea, but best suited for an article rather then a whole book.

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While this was not the best book I have ever read, it was also definitely not the worst either.

As many reviewers have said, it was tough to relate to these women from a financial standpoint. While I grew up "middle class" at best, I currently struggle to make ends meet and can only dream of having $1200 to spend on a single item at one time.

I can, however, relate to the lonely side that many of the women portrayed in the book showed. I don't have a lot of "real life" friends that I can get together with on a regular basis. This book may very well have sparked my desire to actually set aside time to get together with the few friends that I do have in town.

The stories that Jewelia inspired flowed nicely and the book itself was a fairly quick read.

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I really liked this book. I loved reading about all of the different womens' stories and how they came together as a group. It may inspire others to do something similar!

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