Anna Quindlen and Kimberly Schraf - Black and Blue

Pros: Well written, realistic portrayal of spousal abuse and responses to the problem
Cons: None

This is the third Anna Quindlen novel that I've read and reviewed. This one really hit home with me due to my profession. I am an attorney and about half of my practice is divorce law. In that practice, I've seen varying degrees of spousal abuse. I ...

Pros: Fresh writing, terrific subtlety, guaranteed page-turner
Cons: Similar character names, those gosh-darned tie-pos

Anna Quindlen has a difficult task: how to write a fresh, convincing novel about spouse abuse? Sadly, the American public has grown numb to the subject. With all the ugly headlines, the television movies, the spill-your-guts arena of talk shows, how...

Pros: deals with domestic abuse, well developed characters
Cons: none

The topic of domestic violence is nothing new in the world of fiction. Books, movies, and soap operas have all focused on the epidemic over and over again. Unfortunately, it happens more than we may realize. Anna Quindlen's Black and Blue is a...

Pros: Insight into domestic abuse issues
Cons: none

The reality of "Black and Blue" was the thing that caught my attention. The writer has touched on feelings, truths, betrayals and intuitions that are reality. Anna Quindlen shows us how a phenomenal passion can turn to infuriated brutality, tenderness to ...

Pros: Haunting, yet alternative account of domestic violence. Oprah's Book Club.
Cons: May be too mature for younger readers. Oprah's Book Club.

I have seen the stories on the news. Wife killed by husband/boyfriend/ex-lover as children "sleep." I have encouraged friends in bad relationships to get out NOW. I have told my student residents at university about programs available to help them if...

Pros: Shows the Reality of Abuse
Cons: the Subject is definitely horrifying

I am survivor of spousal abuse. I wish I had the guts to run early in this relationship. After a while, of being told over and over that it is your fault, you are convinced that it is your fault It took having a threat made to my life to walk away. I...

Pros: Beautifully written, well-characterized, and compelling
Cons: Is going underground always the best solution? Will this book make women think it's the only one?

Pros: a real picture of what it is like in a abusive marriage
Cons: Running and hiding, is that the only answer?

With no thought for herself, Fran Benedetto stayed. Stayed in an abusive marriage. Why did she do this? She did it because she wanted her son, whom she loved with all her heart, to have a father. So she hid all the bruises until the night she got a...

Pros: deals with an important issue - domestic abuse.
Cons: terrible ending, lots of flashbacks and boring detail that are unimportant.

Being in the social work field domestic abuse is something that really interests me and I thought that this book would really be good. Boy was I wrong!! Black and Blue was one of the worst books I have ever read. Very rarely do I read a book that I...

Pros: A Enlightening Insight into a Abused Woman
Cons: none

After cruising around Half.com I found Black and Blue at a decent price and decided to read it on a plane trip last March. I figured that while I may not like it, it was an Oprah pick which should make it at least interesting. Needless to say, I...

Pros: Serious attempt to deal with domestic violence
Cons: Not originally done, portrayals bordered on stereotype

Perhaps part of my problem with this novel was what 'Grouch' mentioned: I read the Dell paperback, with many typos, which occasionally brought me to a grinding halt, saying, "Huh?"

So, we have another Oprah book. Oprah has done an...

Pros: Helps understand abusive relationships
Cons: frightening...so true

Black and Blue by Anna Quindlen is a hauntingly true tale of a battered woman. I've never really understood the " whys" or the " how could they stays" about women in abusive relationship.
Ms Quindlen's heartbreaking story put...

Pros: extremely true to life
Cons: disturbing at times

Anna Quindlen's characters in "Black and Blue" seemed very real to me. Having experienced some of what the main characters endured, I could sympathize, and at times my skin crawled with the understanding of living with a manipulative...

Pros: Feelings described ring true
Cons: Too many flashbacks and too much analysis weigh it down

From the subject matter of this book (domestic abuse, husband is a big city cop and the wife goes into hiding with her son), I expected this book to have lots of intense action and roller-coaster emotion. Nothing could have been further from the...

Pros: Skillfully written, incredible insight
Cons: Disturbing subject matter

This was assigned reading for a graduate class in a clinical psychology program. I never would have read this book on my own. It’s a novel about spouse abuse . . . a battered wife . . . domestic violence. That’s not the kind of novel I would read on...