This book gets kudos on several fronts - - its realistic portrayal of relationships, its incredible depiction of the male point of view of love and loss, and its subtle reflections on death. A lot happens in "Learning to Lose", but none of it is over dramatized or maudlin . . .and that's in part that the author took his time weaving his tale of three unique, but connected, relationships. Unfortunately, the pacing of the book wasn't quite right for me - - it's very long and parts of it were slow. However, in this case, I think the slower pacing was merited as it really let you feel the evolution of the characters in such a realistic way.

When I first started this book, I thought it was going to be ho-hum. The plot line just didn't seem very original. But I must confess that as the book progressed, it grabbed me with it's absolutely beautiful and evocative writing style. LeCraw's descriptive writing makes you feel every nuanced feeling that her characters are experiencing - - and her style is very fresh. I was just astounded with how she found new ways to describe things that have been described a million times over, in ways I had not read before. Her characters are very well drawn with interesting imperfections. If this book fell down anywhere, it was in the plot - - which didn't hold up to the beautiful language in terms of its originality. But by the end, I really didn't care because LeCrew's words drew me into the world she created, and I wanted to stay there.

What would happen if a deadly disease spread so quickly that is wreaked havoc on society as we know it?

That is the premise of this engaging novel. The protagonist, Ann, faces a myriad of moral dilemmas in this book that will have you asking yourself "what would I do?" It provides enough fodder for book club discussions that could last well into the night.

This book reads like a thriller at times, but with much better character development. If you enjoy Jodi Picoult (and I do!), the writing style is reminiscent of hers ... fast paced, engaging, with imperfect characters that you quickly grow to care about.

In my mind, the writing of this story is akin to a beautiful woman dressed in an overcoat. You can see she is beautiful, and you are basically dying for her to remove her coat so you can see if she's really as gorgeous as you think. And she won't take off the darned coat! The writing just aches with suspense despite the simplicity of the story, a fictionalized autobiography of Alice Pleasance Liddell, the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland.

The story covers three distinct time periods: Alice's childhood, her young adulthood, and her elderly years. The first section raises the question of whether the author of Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll, is in fact a pedophile, and it does it with tremendous subtlety and without one ounce of unnecessary graphic description....

My only issue was that the first two segments were so well done and engaging that the third segment paled a bit in comparison. It felt a bit rushed as we fast forward to Alice in her eighties and that detaches the reader a bit from the character we've really grown to care about.

The bottom line is Alice's life is a far cry from Wonderland, and I found it just as fascinating as the story she inspired.

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