This is the second Anita Shreve book I've read. I like how the author writes and describes the scenes and emotions. The flaskbacks of her early family life were partically good. Her tone impresses me, although Sea Glass seemed to flow a little better. I was hooked in the beginning and I felt Kathryn's pain. That half of the book I felt was written well but when Shreve attempts the different plot twists during the second half of the book, I lost interest. Which is sad, because those plot twists are primarily there to hold a reader's interest.

The revelation about Jack's double life- both romatically and polically came on almost too suddenly. In fact, the political twist was unnecessary and unreal, I would have preferred it if this was left out. As Kathryn said, she didn't understand Jack's motivation and since he's dead she'll never understand it. And I don't expect all the details of this progression of Jack's double life to fall into a neat little package, but I think more details should have been provided maybe through Muire or Robert (partically politically). And we wonder why Jack kept so many secrets, I find it crazy that after ~15 years of marriage he doesn't tell Kathryn the real story of his mom and he's been going to church.

Also,little of the book goes into real depth about how Kathryn feels about her husband's betrayal. I thought this book would have been better if the book spent as much time dealing with the emotional repercussions of Jack's betrayal combined with grief as the book did in the beginning of the book with just grief.

And lastly, why does Robert fall in love with Kathryn? She's crying, hysterial, emotional, hasn't showered, changed clothes, eaten for most of the book and is griefing another man. What guy in his right mind would fall in love with that. Sympathy and compassion yes but love--give me a break. Oh and what was up with the lottery ticket?

Ooooo I enjoyed this read. It was extremely well-written & I loved the changing tenses in Kathryn’s story. Even though it was written in third person, the story kept you basically in her shoes and really felt like you were experiencing all the tragedies as she was. I didn’t want to put this down, especially by the second half, as more details continued to come to light. I would have loved an epilogue where we found out if/what else Kathryn learned in years to follow the crash.

3.5
A well written novel that kept me interested until the last page. I really enjoyed the way it unfolded and the way things were revealed.
This is the second book by this author I have read and so far I have found them to be a pleasant experience, especially when I'm wanting a lighter read.

I don't remember when I first read this, but it was prior to 2013, although I guess I first shelved it in 2014. I remember liking it, but when I took it out yesterday, it wasn't to reread it, it was just to check something. The next thing I know, I am hooked and I read the entire book again last night. It's not as highly rated as I would have thought, but I think it partly depends on what you want out of a novel like this. What I liked best was the voice, which can go a long way for me when reading some novels. It's about a heart breaking situation that becomes more painful as you learn more--not usually my cup of tea at this point in my life.

If I were go back and try to analyze this I would probably rate it lower, but why should I? Both times I read it was a solid 4 star reading experience for me, and sometimes this is all I go on for rating books--I don't use a rubric (a marvelous invention for grading university essays that I wish had been around and/or used when I went to university) when writing reviews.

The Pilot's Wife in a nutshell: Jack Lyons, a commercial pilot, is flying a plane when it explodes. The book follows the grieving process of his widow, as she tries to figure out what happened in that plane. The overriding question in the book is "How well can we ever really know someone else?"

There wasn't anything really wrong with the book, it was just overly gray for my taste. I don't think the sun shines in the entire book. It was solidly written though, and it did keep me turning pages. I did have a vague idea where the whole thing was going from about a third of the way through. I wasn't exactly right, but I was close.

This really was not my kind of book. I have a feeling it would appeal to fans of Nicholas Sparks. In fact, my mom is a huge fan of his and I sent her this book to read today.

I really liked this book more than I thought I would. The reviews I had read (on Amazon, I think) all seemed disappointed and felt that Shreve ended the book prematurely. In this case, I think it was a perfectly fine place to end it. You can guess how the story would continue after all is said and done. You know there might end up being a friendship. You know there probably will be a relationship. Since you know what will probably happen, it's okay.

I actually found myself bored in the beginning of the book and felt it dragged on forever. Things really picked up about 3/4 of the way through the book. There is one part of the book where the imagery is so strong that you feel the betrayal, pain, and bitter resentment that Kathryn feels. You just feel livid reading it. It's an excellent passage of writing and SO realistic that you'll find yourself thinking about it (and stewing) for days. It's worth reading for the latter half of the book alone.

Maybe I liked this book so much because I'm a former flight attendant...and I saw a few of the topics this book touches on in reality. The fact that it's plausible is what's scary.

An easy read-a bit mysterious and a quick enjoyed plot

An airliner explodes over the Atlantic, and at home the wife of the pilot is left to pick up her own life, as well as deal with the implications that her husband may have caused the disaster. This book didn't grab me on many levels, and by the end, I felt a bit hostile towards it. The big revelations that are unearthed seem a bit preposterous and convenient, and the fact that her husband has personal secrets from his wife... well, you could have seen that coming. I didn't feel emotionally involved at all, and thought the pseudo love-interest addition of the union man was ripped from a grocery store romance. Ugh.

Wow. This kept me enthralled until the end. There were a few unbelievable bits but I appreciate the emotional bits of Shreve’s writing, her understanding of human nature. Her writing of the stages of grief was superb.

I love Anita Shreve's novels, I have read them all, but this was not one of my favorites. I know it was successful for her and made into a movie but it wasn't my cup of tea. However, I would and have recommended her newest novel, Stella Bain, to everyone.

This is for book club and it will probably be my favorite selection of the year. It was hard to put down and emotionally compelling in a way that the others weren't for me.

I also think it will make for a good, but probably not controversial, book club discussion, and that's always a plus.

U gradiću Nove Engleske na obali oceana, mirnim životom živi obitelj Lyons. Kathryn, njen suprug Jack i kćer Mattie, staložena su i obična obitelj. Jack Lyons je pilot putničkoga aviona; Kathryn i Mattie navikle su na njegova izbivanja, kratkotrajne boravke kod kuće i rutinu kada Jack nije prisutan. No sve se promijeni kada u gluho doba noći Kathryn sazna o padu putničkoga aviona u kojemu je, zajedno s mnoštvom putnika, poginuo i njen suprug Jack. S obzirom na to da je pad aviona u kaosu medijske pozornosti, neke činjenice pronaći će svoj put do svijetla dana, a mnoge sitnice navest će Kathryn da preispita svoj brak, odnos s Jackom i vlastite osjećaje. Nije sve onako kako nam se uvijek čini.

Prije nekoliko godina pročitala sam dvije knjige navedene autorice – Stijene sudbine i Težinu vode. Sa Stijenama sudbine najviše sam bila oduševljena, s Težinom vode nešto manje, a s Pilotovom ženom najmanje. Radnja se odvija previše sporo, ispresijecana je brojnim monolozima i (nepotrebnim) opisima, do gotovo polovice knjige nije se dogodio niti jedan važan događaj osim Jackove pogibije. Moram pohvaliti liričnost u Shrevenom opisu, dobre opise unutarnjega stanja nakon tragedije, izvrsnu retrospekciju uspomena i malih sitnica vezane uz odnos Jacka i Kathryn, no poneki dijelovi ove knjige nisu me zaokupili kako sam očekivala.