Dan Chabot

I would give this 10 stars if I could. This was one of the loveliest books I have read in awhile. Heartwarming and heart wrenching at the same time. Members of 4 families brought together for one last visit to their former 90 yr old home before it is demolished.They get to spend Christmas in the house and re-live memories of their time in this beloved home. Fantastic read at anytime but as a Christmas read it is especially touching. I cannot even think of opening another book right now, I need to linger with this one for awhile. (… (meer)

The structure of this novel is quite unusual: most of it is the unbelievably saccharine tale of Derry and Amedee's storybook romance, interspersed with the occasional chapter describing the funeral of some random person. The plot shows up about halfway through, adding quite a bit of interest to the characters' journeys. This reads a bit like the author took a bunch of anecdotes about real people, embellished them a little bit, and strung them together into a story. There's no villain or even much conflict to speak of, but the characters are reasonably memorable and the funeral bit is an interesting touch. If you're in the mood for a quiet, pleasant read that won't bring you down, give this a try. If you're looking for a piece of hard-boiled drama, look elsewhere.… (meer)