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AAR
Posted June 4, 2011
TO BE SUNG UNDERWATER by TOm McNeal is a wonderful epic love story set in Nebraska and Los Angles. What a sad,intense,heartbreaking and compelling story of love,secrets,life,second chances,fixing broken pieces of your heart,told with tenderness,that is truly unforgettable. The characters are engaging,sometimes witty,vivid and will trul capture your heart with their flawed,sometimes funny personalities.You will get sweep away with this truly epic love story. "To Be Sung Underwater" will leave you with an intense feeling of sadness and happiness as Willy and Judith comes to grip with their past and their future.This story will have your turning pages and have you desperately hoping for the best.A great story that is well written whose characters could be the family next door. This book was received for the purpose of review from Reading Romance Blog and the publisher and details can be found at Little,Brown and Company,a division of Hachette Book Group and My Book Addiction Reviews.
4 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.BookHounds
Posted July 7, 2011
Judith has been married to Malcolm and begins to wonder if she married the right man. Her thoughts turn to Willy, the boy she left behind years ago. The story flips back and forth between the present and the years before when she first met Willy. The story flows easily between the two time periods and you can easily get a feel for how Judith has matured. She has a dream job editing films, a lovely home and a man she thinks might be cheating on her. The drama builds effortlessly and the words are so lovingly chosen that you won't want to skip a one. I had to go back and read several paragraphs over since the writing is just so exquisite.
The characters stuck with me long after I finished this book. This book would make an excellent movie since it feels like everything is in perfect order and you can see each scene unfold into the next. I am so glad that more authors are turning up from Orange County and especially the University of California, Irvine. This book would be a winning choice for a book club since there are so many interesting angles that can be discussed.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Posted July 1, 2011
I'm not much of a fiction reader but this was an amazingly well told story with characters I feel like I really know and care about. Be forewarned - you won't want to put it down!
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Posted July 14, 2011
I enjoyed reading this novel but it really needed an epilog. There were too many questions unanwered. The writer made me really care for Judith so the ending was just not satisfactory. I actually looked for more pages when I knew there were none.
2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.As an avid reader, this is the first novel that I have felt completely compelled to review. From the first sentence to the final word, I found myself stealing seconds out of the day to read the next paragraph...or word. Even though I "knew' the ending, it still left me in shock and silently screaming "NO! This can't be the end!" This novel left me in silent tears mourning both the loss of the love of my life from my college days more than 40 years ago to the fragility of my current 8 year relationship and all the resultant "what ifs?".
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted July 11, 2012
Good story with interesting connection between present and past. It was not one of the more compelling books I've read.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted July 25, 2011
The author reaches out and wraps you within the pages of this book!
Beautifully written, hard to put down...you'll be thinking about what you have experienced within this story, long after you have finished the last page.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted March 3, 2013
This was one of those amazing reads that I never wanted to end! I totally adored this book and the depth of the characters, the poignancy of their flaws and the author's brilliant weave of suspense, love and sorrow. I wish I could read 10 more books that made me feel the way this book did when I finished. It was pure escape and pure joy.
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Posted January 2, 2013
Beautifully written! Caution - this novel may inspire you to a moment of self-reflection.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted December 1, 2012
I absolutely loved this stiry. It was so well written and surprised even me. Many thanks to the author.
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Posted October 8, 2012
I throughly enjoyed this book. The story and the sentence structure used to weave this enchanting and thought provoking tale are magical. After I finished reading the story, I felt as if I had to go back and reread it immediately in order to fully appreciate the author's incredible talent......the second reading was even more beautiful.
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Posted August 2, 2012
The romance, the humor, the sadness and regret, it was all there in this book and I loved it! The ending surprised me! I loved Willy's Character!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.SarahtheShopper
Posted June 21, 2012
I purchased this book on the recommendation of a friend and because of all the great reviews. I simply could not get through this book. I stuck with it till about half way through thinking it would pick up but I finally gave up (something I rarely do). The writing was boring, the characters too muddled and I just didn't enjoy the plot. Wouldn't recommend.
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Posted December 31, 2011
Couldn't put it down! The writing was spectacular. Well worth every minute I spent reading
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.SAB48
Posted October 12, 2011
It took me a bit to get into this book but once I did I couldn't put it down. The story is real characters with a story line that holds you right to the end. A good quick read for a fall night!
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted August 29, 2011
This is a book about a young woman coming of age in Nebraska, going off to college, getting married, having it all and questioning what she left behind in Nebraska. The book kept me interested but was disappointed in the ending. I felt that there had been another ending and the author decided not to use it for some reason. It ended too quickly and made me think "Why did the author do this?". I guess I like endings that have closure. However I would still recommend this book because of the excellent writing and interesting characters.
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Posted August 24, 2011
Just finished the book, and literally kept looking to see if I'd missed some pages, or possibly the Nook hadn't fully downloaded the book. When infact after reading other reviews, it turns out it's just a lousy ending. I'm completely frustrated and sad that this is how the author choose to end the chapter. Judith never provides Willy with any closure, she was just this emotional void of a woman in the last pages. Brutal, to an overwhelmingly emotional Willy. This made her character, to me, very cold and callus from start to finish. Just seemed to me that her character never felt or understood the enormity of what had transpired between Willy and herself. As the reader, I felt very jilted, left with too many unasnswered questions.
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Posted August 19, 2011
Top read of the summer. Bar none.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Icecream18
Posted August 13, 2011
Judith always believed in marriage. She has her dream job and a husband she considered nice enough. Now, she wonders if her husband is cheating on her and her thoughts continually drift to Willy, a boy she loved long ago. The novels switches between the past and the present. The reader will get a sense of what went on long ago and how Judith came to make her present choices. Judith is an interesting character, she is nice, caring, and overall "smart" in her choices...
The reader will get to know Judith very well, to the point of guessing her decisions before they happen. Judith is a sympathetic character, her great life is not exactly what it seems. Judith wonders about her past life and how her friends are doing, specifically Deena-a very intriguing character-and Willy. Her current lifestyle is nothing like her hippie mothers' or her fathers'-who has multiple affairs. She now has to choose between Willy and her current lifestyle...or can she merge the two in some way? This novel is fast-paced and fun to read. This book would be great for adults who enjoy women's fiction.
OSUCandace
Posted August 11, 2011
To Be Sung Underwater, by Tom McNeal, is a moving story about a middle aged women and what has come of her life. Judith is a wife, mother, but most importantly a career women. Working in Hollywood as a television show editor, Judy puts in long hours at work and lives what others might call a perfect life. She has a handsome banker husband, a beautiful and smart daughter, and an impressive Hollywood career. Unbeknownst to those looking in, Judy has recently come to question her husband's fidelity as well as her detached relationship with her daughter, Camille. Judy finds herself at a crossroads while renting a storage unit for her childhood furniture. Instead of giving the storage company her true name Judy writes down an alias. She then spirals rather quickly into a life where she finds herself retreating to her storage space in order to dwell in the past and relive past regrets, namely regarding her first love, Willy. When Judy's mother finds out about her secret, she pointedly says, "I think you're trying to run away from home but don't know how to do it." As I started reading To Be Sung Underwater it quickly pulled me in and then refused to allow me to put it down. I really enjoyed how the novel switched back and forth between Judy's teenage life in Nebraska and her present life in L.A. Tom McNeal effortlessly exhibited how Judy developed and grew into an adult and how she lived as that adult. I felt that the character of Willy was very realistic and likeable. From the style that he dressed in, to the way he spoke, Willy was a great 3 dimensional character. Judy views Willy as the man she never really left behind. Judy thinks fondly of Willy and comes to realize that not only was he her first love, but quite possibly her one true love. McNeal shows what can unfold when second chances are presented and the past makes its way into the present. McNeal did an excellent job in creating a special relationship between Judy and her father. A summer trip to visit him in Nebraska turned into a permanent situation when Judy realized that his house and town felt more like home than her childhood home with her mother. Judy discovered a friend in her quiet father and enjoyed the time spent with him, be it driving around country roads, weeding the garden, reading aloud from novels, or doing homework at the same table that he graded papers. While they may not have spoken much, Judy found comfort and familiarity in their silence. I thought that McNeal did a terrific job painting the setting in To Be Sung Underwater. As the story unfolded I could perfectly visualize Nebraska, along with Judy and Willy's hangouts. McNeal gave life to the lakes, back roads, little towns, and storage unit. This helped To Be Sung Underwater feel profoundly realistic. Tom McNeal's, To Be Sung Underwater, is an excellent novel which I would without a doubt read again. I definitely recommend this novel to book lovers, both male and female. This complimentary book was received for the purpose of review from the publisher Little, Brown and Company and BookPleasures.
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