Customer Reviews
A let down - By: Booklady, 16 Dec 2008 
It's sad to give such a low rating to a book that started out with so masterly a description of the priest, Father Flynn. I'm afraid for me it was downhill all the way after that. Rather than a cohesive book this is a collection of roughly put together stories with a cast of thousands far too many of whom you couldn't care less about.The tales of some of them aren't even resolved by the end of the book. The feel good element was missing & it was notin any way credible that the character introduced as being mentally challenged was miraculously able to organise the solution to the magic well/new road problem
Lots of little stories rolled into one! - By: Charlie, 09 Jul 2008 
I first started reading this about a year ago & got over half way through but gave up because I couldn't get into it. Having nothing to read recently, I thought I would pick it up & have another go as I really do like to finish a book if I can. The story revolves around a sacred wellin the middle of the Whitethorn woodsin a place called Rossmore. What may appear on the outside to be a quaint & sleepy little Irish town, is revealed to be anything but through the stories of the people that livein & are connected to Rossmore.
I agree with other reviewers that have said is a more a collection of short stories then one long story, but the stories are connectedin subtle ways & not just through the involvement of the holy well. I was able to get stuck into each individual story which played out as each chapter, & within that chapter, you would see things from the perspective of two different charachters which I liked. In parts it was a bit disjointed, & maybe a bit confusing to remember who some of the charachters were when they were mentioned again laterin the book but I still really enjoyed reading it. The narrative voice for each charachter wasn't always spot on as some tended to sound the same, & one part, told from the view of a 10year old boy, sounded as if a middle aged person was telling it, however, I'm glad I chose to persist until the end this time as I found the book got much more enjoyable as the story went on.
Whitethorn Woods - By: Gaela Laarsk, 27 May 2008 
This is the first Maeve Binchy book I have read & perhaps it's not the best one to start with, as it is not a novel but a series of short stories based on various interconnecting characters.
The characters themselves were mainly interesting enough but I sometimes felt the whole thing was struggling to be complete. It wasn't the kind of writing that grabbed mein the first few pages, but I realize Maeve Binchy's style is more kinda 'feel good factor' rather than 'deep satisfying read'.
However, I did enjoy it for what it is, although I perhaps won't read any of her other writing.
Not a novel, rather... - By: Atheana, 15 Apr 2008 
a series of short stories. Each chapter is about a different character & not a continuation of the previous chapter. The characters are lightweight & without substance. Because of the fractured style of the book, there really is no storyline to speak of (short of the repeated mention of St Anne's well).
Allin all the book was a huge disappointment & not one I would recommend getting.
Mediocre Maeve - By: kimbofo, 06 Feb 2008 I won't be the first to admit that Binchy's novels aren't exactly intellectually stimulating -- they're warm & fluffy & make you feel all gooey inside, perfect fodder for reading on the beach or curled upin bed when you're unwell. But this one, I'm sorry to say, was a disappointing read.
The thing that bugged me most was not the storytelling, which is typically enjoyable, heart-warming Binchy fare, but the complete failure of the publisher to specify anywhere on the cover or blurb that this is actually a collection of interconnected short stories & not a novel. I am not a fan of the short story for no other reason than they generally leave me feeling dissatisfied, because I want to know more about the characters, their motivations & lives. On that basis I'm a novel-reading kind of gal, & that's probably how it will always be.
Whitethorn Woods comprises 13 short stories, each one divided into two parts so that the same story is told from two different points of view, an interesting "twist" which demonstrates Binchy's exemplary story-telling skills. The charactersin each story are all from the same place -- a once sleepy Irish town called Rossmore, which is now booming but is choked by traffic. These stories are connected by three "bridging" chapters -- at the start, middle & end -- which explain how the town's woods & a well dedicated to St Ann are threatened by a new bypass. It's a nifty idea, but I couldn't help but wonder if Binchy had simply chucked together all those unpublished short stories she's written over the years, perhaps the ones languishingin the bottom drawer, & inserted a few common themes -- the woods, the spiritual well, the town's traffic problem --in order to get the next book out & into the shops. That might sound harsh, but as a reader I have to admit feeling slightly cheated by this book.
Still, if you like short stories, this is a good little collection, provided you don't mind Binchy's rather simplistic, sometimes cloying, view of lifein which hard work is always rewarded, love can be foundin the most unexpected of places & good things happen to kind people. But personally, as much as I enjoyed reading about the quiet lives told within each story, I struggled to enjoy Whitethorn Woods as a whole.
If you've not read anything by Maeve Binchy before, I suggest this is not the place to start, because if you do it could well be the last Binchy you ever read -- & that would be a sad thing given her extraordinary back catalogue of feel-good fiction.
