- Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: Arrow; New edition edition (4 Jan 1996)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0099527219
- ISBN-13: 978-0099527213
- Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.8 x 2.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 364,770 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
One True Thing
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Quindlen hits a nerve with One True Thing, which captures an experience seldom dealt with in popular culture. Though the heroine, Ellen Gulden, is a golden girl with two brothers who'll lose her career the instant she steps off the fast track, society concurs with her dad, who says, "It seems to me another woman is what's wanted here."
The book is a mother-daughter tale that should please fans of, say, The Joy Luck Club. It's not flashy, but it has a deep feel for the way children often discover, just before it's too late, who their parents really are. "Our parents are never people to us," Ellen writes, "they're always character traits.... There is only room in the lifeboat of your life for one, and you always choose yourself, and turn your parents into whatever it takes to keep you afloat." The mercy-killing subplot isn't gripping, but the palpable sense of deepening family intimacy certainly is. --Tim Appelo
Review
"Fiercely compassionate and frank...conveys a world so out of kilter and so like ours that its readers are likely to feel both exhilarated and unnerved by its accuracy."
"--Elle"
"A masterpiece."
"--Tulsa World"
"Provocative...We leave "One True Thing" stimulated and challenged, more thoughtful than when we began."
"--Los Angeles Times"
"It is simply impossible to forget."
--Alice Hoffman
"From the Paperback edition." --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
"--Elle"
"A masterpiece."
"--Tulsa World"
"Provocative...We leave "One True Thing" stimulated and challenged, more thoughtful than when we began."
"--Los Angeles Times"
"It is simply impossible to forget."
--Alice Hoffman
"From the Paperback edition." --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Inside This Book
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A well written novel about a successful young woman who somewhat reluctantly puts her career on hold to become carer for her mother who is dying of cancer. This book very thought-provoking and extremely moving. The honesty of the characters sets it apart from the rest and although it is sad it is not depressing at all. I thoroughly recommend that you experience this book.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Ellen, the protagonist in this story, begins as a hard-nosed, ambitious, selfish young woman who has grown up in the shadow of her academic father. By the end of the story she has developed into a caring, moving character with whom the reader empathises. Forced by her father to give up her job in order to care for her dying mother, Ellen goes through emotions ranging from bitterness and resentment to love and admiration for her suffering mother. Quindlen deals with the subject matter in a sensitive but upfront manner, confronting the fears harboured by many of us that faced with such a tragic situation we would not have the patience, courage or selflessness to care for our parents in their decline. Ellen learns a lot during this period, and not only about herself. When the inevitable happens, she realises that had she not accepted the task of caring for her mother, she would never had known her properly. She had always dismissed her mother's role as homemaker and wife, but she soon realises that there is so much more to her mother, a dimension and a strength which Ellen had never appreciated as a child. This is a sad but very powerful, thought-provoking book which is definitely worth reading. One piece of advice: READ THE BOOK BEFORE YOU SEE THE FILM - AND THEN DECIDE IF YOU WANT TO HAVE YOUR MEMORIES RUINED!!
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book paints a true and sad picture of nursing a dying mother through her battle with cancer. Having always felt that she was the model of her academic aloof father, Ellen returns home, initially against her will, to care for her critically ill mother. As the two of them bond, Ellen realises the strength that she has gained from her mother and the pivotal role the older woman played in the shaping of her life, appreciating the qualities she had and the ones passed on. It is a tale of strength, courage and family love in situations that bring people together and tear them apart.
All I can say is I found tears streaming down my cheeks whilst reading this book and could not put it down. I read it all through the night - it was gruelling but well worth it. Thank you Anna for bringing me back down to earth.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Hard Hitting and Emotional
It's taken a long time to read this relatively short book (just over 300 pages). It's a very difficult story to read emotionally, but it's also beautifully written and the words... Read more
Published 27 days ago by Lincs Reader
thought provoking read
I really enjoyed this book and couldn't put it down,in fact I read it in 3 days. You really felt for the characters in this book, and it was written with warmth but not too... Read more
Published 1 month ago by M. A. Coyle
gripping
I wasn't expecting too much from this book. I thought it would be a "light" throwaway read but I found myself surprisingly gripped by the story of the protaganist having to give up... Read more
Published 2 months ago by light
Not with the head but with the heart
This was the first novel I'd read by Anna Quindlen, and I found the blurb on the back cover to be very misleading. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Laura T
Thought provoking reading
This thought provoking emotive novel tells the story of Ellen Gulden a successful journalist, who started her writing career in high school by winning an essay contest in which she... Read more
Published 4 months ago by BusyReader
But is it true
Anna Quindlen novel One True Thing is about a daughter returning home, reluctantly, to care for her dying mother. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Donald Thompson
One True Thing by Anna Quindlen
This novel tells the story of Ellen, an ambitious, highly-educated young woman who leaves her work as a journalist in New York to return home to care for her mother who has... Read more
Published 6 months ago by June Doll
Very Emotional Read
Ellen has been accused of the mercy killing of her mother who was terminally ill with cancer. She does not accept the charge of murder, and yet does not seem interested in backing... Read more
Published 6 months ago by H. Pierce
One True Thing
Ellen Gulden is in jail accused of murdering her terminally ill Mother by giving her an overdose of medication - a charge she firmly denies. Read more
Published 6 months ago by G. Archer
a good study of relationships
This book gives an excellent account of how Ellen and her family interact after Ellen gives up a good job and life in the city to care for her mother Kate, who is dying of cancer. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Mrs. A. Wright
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