Heart of the Matter - Emily Giffin

Heart of the Matter

By Emily Giffin

  • Release Date: 2010-05-11
  • Genre: Fiction & Literature
Score: 4
4
From 1,549 Ratings

Description

"Giffin excels at creating complex characters and stories that ask us to explore what we really want from our lives."--Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Tessa Russo is the mother of two young children and the wife of a renowned pediatric surgeon. Despite her own mother's warnings, Tessa has recently given up her career to focus on her family and the pursuit of domestic happiness. From the outside, she seems destined to live a charmed life.

Valerie Anderson is an attorney and single mother to six-year-old Charlie--a boy who has never known his father. After too many disappointments, she has given up on romance--and even to some degree, friendships--believing that it is always safer not to expect too much.

Although both women live in the same Boston suburb, the two have relatively little in common aside from a fierce love for their children. But one night, a tragic accident causes their lives to converge in ways no one could have imagined.

In alternating, pitch-perfect points of view, Emily Giffin's Heart of the Matter creates a moving, luminous story of good people caught in untenable circumstances. Each being tested in ways they never thought possible. Each questioning everything they once believed. And each ultimately discovering what truly matters most.

Reviews

  • Heart of the matter

    2
    By Beetle Bug Reader
    This book started out interesting but quickly was overly detailed about what each character was thinking and feeling. It certainly is true to life but day to day detail isn’t all that interesting. Very slow read and I skipped or skimmed over the middle part of the book.
  • Heart of the Matter

    5
    By RickandTracy1
    I love the way you write about situations that are personal and is understood by all. Your books make you think about all the different ways of looking at situations and the choices people need to think about. Your writing also, describes all of the emotions that come with the problems faced. I love reading your books and you have a new fan here. Thank you!
  • Not your regular "happy ending"

    4
    By Lalalu@@@
    This book makes you think a lot, I was constantly wanting to finish it to find what happens. It was extremely realistic, and it made me wonder as well what would I do if it was me? It actually made me sad most of the times because it makes you realize that people are just full of flaws and you need to choose if they are worth the trouble. Anyways, it was very well written but it made me anxious and sad most of the time!
  • Great choice!

    4
    By MrsFicken
    I loved this book! I actually stayed up all night just to finish. I literally could not put it down.
  • Not what I expected from Emily Giffin

    1
    By pandmkohlhaas
    I read this book after her first three popular books and even after Where We Belong. I have to say that this is her worst. I understand that she is trying to show that marriage and life can be difficult and full of uneasy decisions but she makes that point in a much more upbeat manner in her other books. This book is downright depressing and within the first few chapters I could tell what was going to happen - I ended up skimming the rest of the book and even that felt like a stretch. Hopefully her next book (one and only) will be more like her original series.
  • Not her best...

    3
    By Reanna84
    It took me a few times to read this book. It just start out so slow, and I wasn't interested. I am glad I finished it though, but it wasn't her best work. (To me) my favorite is Something Borrowed!
  • Great book but slow

    5
    By italian_babez97
    I enjoyed it but it was slow in the begining i didnt put it down towards the end.
  • Not my favorite.

    2
    By Il123
    I have read a couple of her other books and I have to say this one is not my favorite. The story was very depressing. I skipped through pages because it was very slow. I ended up reading the book until the end in a few hours just because I expected a happy ending.
  • Slow to start

    4
    By Bkmms101
    Not a bad book- just not a great one. Defiantly a slow start and I almost put it down. Towards the end things picked up- some characters were developed very well while others were not. I had a difficult time understanding how some of the events came to be. If your looking for something ok, this may not be a bad book for you. This is the second book I read from this author, liked the other better.
  • Usually love her work. Not this time.

    1
    By User665324568
    I like to read to escape everyday life. This was very real, but it's a huge downer of a book. Instead of taking me somewhere fun, she took me to problems and issues. Very little happiness here. If you want to read to feel sad, read this book.