Our group enjoyed this book. Most members felt the writing was excellent and could easily relate to the story line. We found Alice's character to be interesting and relate-able. She clearly changed a lot over 10 years but was, perhaps, too willing to let her marriage disintegrate over that period of time, while nurturing her friendship with the neighbor and indulging in the creature comforts that her husband's career-advancement and financial status provided. The additional sub-plots were interesting once we understood who was speaking, to whom and why. A couple of people had a "hard time getting into the story" and felt the author "took too long to tell it" and didn't like "having to figure out the characters." Overall, our collective review was favorable. We could see the story translated into a movie using an African-American cast featuring Kerry Washington as the lead character, Alice.

Impressions of this book differed within our book club. Some members liked it a lot while others were not so impressed. I was not a huge fan. I thought the author spent too much time describing the characters' clothing and what was being served at meals. Of course, this information is essential to set the scene and is important to the story line; however, it was repeated far too often for my taste. Then after building the story around a central couple's love affair, she short circuited their story by not providing any details on their subsequent wedding and pregnancy. This bothered some members more than others. I, personally, felt that the story was unbalanced and would have been more worthwhile had the editing been better. I suppose, overall, it would make for an interesting discussion. It did for our group.

This book was very well received by our book club. Erik Larson successfully told the story of the 1893 World\'s Fair and the havoc that H. H. Holmes\' wrought on the unsuspecting public. His vivid story-telling placed us there with Burnham, Root, Olmstead, Ferris and many others. And although we know that the Chicago\'s World Fair actually took place, Larson was able to establish a sense of suspense and worry that indeed it may not happen. Overall, this book was a very worthwhile read. It provided those of us who were born and bred in Chicago a cartload of facts and details that are threatened to be lost in time. Our thanks to Mr. Larson for reminding us of our city\'s history, our contributions to the country and the world and, more importantly, how far we\'ve come.

I enjoyed this book immensely. There was a good deal of drama and suspense, which is my favorite combination in a story. I would have given it a 5-star rating but my reading group and I agree that it's a bit difficult to follow the story. The ending reveals the author's intention. She tells the story using 3 different characters, which isn't clear for most of the book. I chose to read it a second time and enjoyed it much more because I already knew the outcome.

Good romance mixed with a big dose of suspense. Our book club read this book and spent a good amount of time debating whether or not therinciple characters actually went all the way. In the main part of the book it appears that they did the deed for certain. However, the author tacked on an epilogue that stated otherwise. We\\\'d be interested in hearing from other clubs and readers on which side they fall on.

This story was a favorite in our book club. it was a good mix of empathy, humor and mischief. I look forward to reading more works by Ms Hoffman.

Our book club enjoyed this book despite a few flaws. The story was inspiring but there were some passages that required the reader to completely set aside realistic expectations. Nonetheless, it was an entertaining and interesting read.

Slow start, a few too many characters but strong ending redeemed this story.