After a string of disappointing 'page turners' I've decided to put myself in the safe hands of my favourite authors and catch up with any left on my to read pile. I've completed all McEwan's and now finishing those by Faulks. This was stunning. Despite the slightly soggy centre, the ending lifted it to 5 stars. Possibly the most poignant, sad ending I've ever read. Beautiful. Charlotte Gray next xx

From the author of Birdsong, one of my all-time favorites, and of other books which were also good if not great. So I tried it, although I had been warned that it's a romance. So it is, and beautifully done at that. Set during the cold war era and presidential campaign of 1960, a happily married woman meets her soul mate and enters into an agonizing affair. The refreshing thing about this book is the depth of the characters, although I do think that, of the two main characters, Faulks does the woman better.
The lovers love, but they also worry about what they are doing and where they are heading -- just like real people would have. Maybe it was the times; would people still worry today? As I neared the end of the book, I kept hoping Faulks wouldn't take the easy way out-- and he didn't. The book reads quickly, but takes the time to explore the characters' dilemmas, and also to comment on some of the geopolitical issues of the period.
Highly recommended, if you like this sort of thing.

This has all the ingredients for a good novel. The author is very good at creating interesting characters whose emotional life we become caught up in. The story is set in an important era of change, both politically in America (Kennedy V Nixon 1960) and globally (Cold War issues) and so we have all the boxes ticked. And yet, there's something missing. We care for Mary and her predicament. We kinda understand that Charlie is a drunk and emotionally distant. But what does she see in Frank? Is he a symbol of the new decade? Is Charlie the old world of the 50s? She stands on the balance between these 2 decades seemingly unable to make a choice. Is that what this is all about? The comfort of old familial relationships though conservative, offer real emotional support. But the promise of exciting and daring passions elevate us and transform us. Yeh I get that. Its a pity the last 40 pages read like a cheap romance novel and undermine the credibility of the story. Dunno how else he could have ended it, but I do know that Kennedy's assassination ended Camelot and the Vietnam war tore at the heart of this new decade. Maybe going back to a drunk Charlie not a bad idea.

Another wonderful book by one of my favorite authors. The ending will make you stop and think.. This is a "beautiful and moving love story". Takes place in New York and Washington DC suburb in the 60's

I think this is one of those books that would have been a very different experience if I’d read it at a different time in my life. Right now, though I love his writing, it just kind of felt… meh. I think I missed some of the subtext or something, or maybe I just have to sit with it longer.
One thing I know is that I felt it changed tone partway through; it felt focused more on Mary first, then switched to Charlie and Frank. I guess that was in purpose, but I think I was enjoying it more before that happened.

One of the most heartbreaking novels I have read - and I mean that in a good way. His character development was masterful, and I was drawn totally into their separate lives. To call this a romance or a love story is almost an insult to the deeper themes of the novel: familial unity; the role that morality, integrity, and responsibility plays in our lives; the occurrences in our lives that tear us apart mentally and emotionally. Faulks expressed the conflicting emotions of the lovers beautifully - wrenching though they were. And the depiction of the death of Mary's mother and Mary's reaction to it is one of the strongest pieces of writing that I have read. I cannot praise this book highly enough - all I can say is that I think it should be on everyone's reading list.

I like his writing. Compelling in some places, dragging in others (this aspect I don’t like much).

On reflection, it was about love and loss. A real love story and a coming of age story on many levels.

His skill of crafting layers of meaning and richness into mundane life compels me to want more.

The thing is, I don’t expect to find this book on the romance shelves despite it being a great love story. I’m not sure that it fits on any themed shelves.

Perhaps a Sebastian Faulks will simply have to do.

Enjoyable book but not really one of Faulk's best. Good things about the book were how well written it was and the style of the language that I have come to expect and truly adore from a Faulks novel. As usual his way of invoking the sense of place is outstanding, got a real feel for Washington D.C and particularly 1950's New York. The development of character and story was also decent although both the characters and the storyline was not as memorable, thought provoking or in some ways as beautiful as those in the French Trilogy, Human Traces or Even A Week in December. However my main problem with On Green Dolphin Street was I found that the language often seemed gratuitous and fluffy which took away from the characters and story in parts. It made the romance and characters sometimes seem unbelievable. I usually love the way Faulks uses language but it seems as in this novel it was a step too far.

That said I would recommend the book as even Faulk's poorer novels are better than a lot of stuff out there at the minute.

It’s easy to recognize the precious prose of Sebastian Faulks in On Green Dolphin Street.
“…the natural affability of her temperament would not change…As a girl she had viewed her future as infinite and her expectations as limitless; but over them now she felt something slide and close.” (p. 22)
There is a recurring exaltation of language in Faulks’ novels.
I confess that I prefer his literate imagination of the mossy, Gallic warmth of men and women who could not escape the world wars in France in the previous century.
On Green Dolphin Street is an American love triangle.
I’ll save it for another time.

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I was going to give this 3.5 stars, but the last chapter really picked up the pace and I was in tears for the last few pages. This is a slow paced novel about relationships post WW2 during the Cold War, with all the characters (with the exception of Mary) flawed. Whilst there are slants to it wanting to be a thriller, that it is not. The author portrays diplomatic life in DC & London during the cold war, in an era of hope (Kennedy running for presidency), fear of communism and all set on a back drop of Miles Davis's jazz.

My first Sebastian Faulks, and I'm looking forward to more. Another Goodreads reader described it as "a complex and genuine love story...like watching real life unfold"--which seems pretty accurate to me. I don't usually read straight romance stories, and I guess this one is a bit more than that--but in any case it caught me from the first page. I thought it sagged a bit in the middle, when none of the relationships seemed to be moving anywhere, but the described world was shifting in ways that would eventually affect the characters and subsequently the story. All three characters in the love triangle are, to differing degrees, likeable, sympathetic, and admirable--a very difficult trick to pull off for any writer, I'd think. Every aspect of love and betrayal is considered, and Faulks does it all with apparent ease. He refuses to let you take sides in the adulterous affair. He also accurately captures D.C., New York, Chicago, London, Moscow, Vietnam when it was controlled by the French, bits of World War II, Kennedy, Nixon, and mutual affection and distrust between the Brits and the Americans. All with characters who feel like real people and with whom you enjoy spending time.

Amazing, narrative voices are sooo engaging, Faulks at his best...AGAIN!!