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Book Reviews of The Big Love

The Big Love
The Big Love
Author: Sarah Dunn
ISBN-13: 9780316010788
ISBN-10: 0316010782
Publication Date: 6/2/2005
Pages: 256
Rating:
  • Currently 3.4/5 Stars.
 93

3.4 stars, based on 93 ratings
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Book Type: Paperback
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

32 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

Ladyslott avatar reviewed The Big Love on + 113 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 6
Alison's live in boyfriend goes out during a diner party, and while out calls up and tells Alison it's over and he is in love with someone else. So begins Alison's examination of her life and the meaning or existence of Big Love.

A cut above many chick lit books I have read. The dialogue is witty, the characters very real and believable. Snappy dialogue reminiscent of a scene from Sex and the City, you will be rooting for Alison the whole way.
goddessani avatar reviewed The Big Love on + 268 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 5
This book was a disappointment. I did not find it funny. The character, who makes a big deal out of being an ex-Evangelical Christian, is politically incorrect for chunks of this book.

It was amusing at best at times.
reviewed The Big Love on + 11 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4
after reading the summary to this book i thought it'd be fantastic. well, it was far from that. i always finish a book even if it's just pretty unbearable to read. it started out slow and didn't grab my attention. once i got to the middle there were 2-3 chapters that were quite page turners, but then it turned sour again, kind of like that bad taste in your mouth. the story jumped too much around and she always exaggerated on things that i don't think really should be exaggerated on in this story, so that was another turn off to this book. although i was glad for the book to end, the ending seemed rather abrupt rather than a slow ease into the main characters farewell.
reviewed The Big Love on + 75 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4
Haven't quite finished yet, but unless something strange happens, I am REALLY digging this book! I have some things in common with the main character, though she's WAY more neurotic.
sweetnessandsass avatar reviewed The Big Love on
Helpful Score: 3
I really liked this book. It is written like the author is speaking to you personally. She describes conflict between her spiritual upbringing, her choice to have a live-in boyfriend and what she has done vs. what she could have done.
reviewed The Big Love on + 391 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
Excellent- what a great first novel-- very down to earth and true about her relationships and pre mid life crises
reviewed The Big Love on
Helpful Score: 2
Told in the first person, The Big Love is a fun and fast chick lit read.
reviewed The Big Love on + 711 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
Perfect! It's like a highlights reel from "Sex and the City". It's that funny! Sexually explicit! Funnier than any "chick lit", as poised and accomplished as any literary debut this year, The Big Love is a bighearte, hilariously entertaining novel that readers all across America are falling for. Sarah Dunn moves between froth and depth, making her debut light enough for the beach but heavy enough to keep you thinking on ht eplane ride home.
reviewed The Big Love on + 112 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
Loved it! Very talented, gifted writer. Funny!
kathyk519 avatar reviewed The Big Love on + 111 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
Alison's live in boyfriend goes out for mustard before a dinner party that they are throwing and does not come back. He is "in love" with someone else. So we see Alison as she as she first waits for him to come back, then as she tries to figure out how she can put her life back together.

I found her to be very whiny about everything - her break up; her religion; her friends; everything. She grew up as a Christian - and she blames her life on that, even though she no longer abides by it - and in the next breath, she wonders if because she no longer is a die hard Christian, if some how God is getting back at her. She tries to figure out what love really is...

I don't know - the book and the character just rubbed me the wrong way - and not because she was or wasn't Christian - just that she whined about everything constantly - I just wanted to shake her and say, okay, we know this, now move on... I also thought that the book ended in a way, that I don't feel like I got closure after putting up with reading about her.

Don't waste your time reading this book...
zreader avatar reviewed The Big Love on + 51 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
loved this book, based in Philly about a writer working at one of the free weekly papers. very very funny
dragonflies avatar reviewed The Big Love on + 66 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
What a funny book and quite a reminder of what it was like to "find love" in a crazy world.
reviewed The Big Love on + 115 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Interesting and thought provoking...not typical chic-lit. I didn't enjoy it at first, too much self-searching, but it grew on me and I ended up really liking it!
reviewed The Big Love on + 24 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
A cute funny book that was a fast and easy read. I really liked the main character and the entire story of this book. Very enjoyable!
reviewed The Big Love on + 8 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Fun read about being in your early 30s and single.
reviewed The Big Love on + 9 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
An easy read; perfect for those 30-something girls looking for a story that mirrors what they or their friends are going through...
reviewed The Big Love on + 3 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
A fun quick read, perfect for summer
reviewed The Big Love on
A real disappointment. I couldn't get into this book until the very end. It just dragged on and on. I didn't find any parts funny and I can't believe it good four stars. Totally a waste of time.
reviewed The Big Love on + 121 more book reviews
She was a new author for me. The story is both sweet and funny, very fast read!
reviewed The Big Love on + 161 more book reviews
I LOVED THIS BOOK. IT IS LAUGH OUT LOUD FUNNY. VERY SEX AND THE CITY. A PERFECT FUN READ FOR WOMEN BUT I READ LOTS OF IT OUT LOUD TO MY BOYFRIEND BECAUSE I WANTED SOMEONE TO LAUGH WITH ME AND HE THOUGHT IT WAS WELL WRITTEN AS WELL. LIGHT PATTER TYPE DIALOGUE. SOME HEAVY SUBJECTS BUT NO HEAVY DIALOGUE. I HAVE ALREADY RECOMMENDED IT TO FRIENDS. WOULD BE A FUN BOOK CLUB BOOK
reviewed The Big Love on + 21 more book reviews
Witty and true without being sappy. Better than the average chick lit. 8/10.
reviewed The Big Love on + 36 more book reviews
Quick, light, easy read. Some what entertaining, however I found the main character of Alison to be a bit neurotic for my taste and her friends (Bonnie & Nina) to be too judgemental. Also, not being raised as an evangelical Christian, it was hard for me to related to some of Alison's conflicts. I've read reviews where this book is compared to Sex & The City. I didn't see it.
Bookfanatic avatar reviewed The Big Love on
I didn't expect this book to be as funny as it was. The dialogue and the innner dialogue were hilarious. There were some really good lines said such that I wanted to memorize them to use later.

This is quick, easy read. As a previous reviewer mentioned, this is a cut above your average chick lit book. Often the heroines of chick lit books are very ditzy and annoying, but the heroine here was likable.

I would definitley read more from this author.
reviewed The Big Love on + 16 more book reviews
Loved the love story. easy read.
reviewed The Big Love on + 636 more book reviews
This book was a different sort of romantic comedy/chick lit book. Usually if religion enters into this genre at all, it is in the form of characters that are either Jewish or lapsed Catholic. In Dunn's novel, the main character is a lapsed evangelical Christian - definitely a unique spin (and one that I can imagine did not play well to members of that faith). There were a couple of funny parts, but they did not live up to the reviews raving about the book's hilarity. It was definitely a different sort of book, and a fast and rather entertaining read.
colie1718 avatar reviewed The Big Love on + 70 more book reviews
A great quick read. Very Funny, This girl was more than a little crazy at times!
reviewed The Big Love on + 57 more book reviews
Good book - I enjoyed it.
mwelday avatar reviewed The Big Love on + 148 more book reviews
I really enjoyed this chick lit...the author was very witty and made me laugh out loud about things in ordinary life...explores what someone goes through when looking for that real love...the big love.
reviewed The Big Love on + 28 more book reviews
Very entertaining.
reviewed The Big Love on + 12 more book reviews
I really like the main character - Alison.
caffeinegirl avatar reviewed The Big Love on + 114 more book reviews
This was a lovely bit of chick lit. Although I did not grow up in a Fundamentalist Christian culture, Dunn does a terrific job of describing her character's slow realization that mainstream dating is tricky, and doing everything right does not guarantee the outcome. As you would expect, it is a light (and sometimes funny read), and while it was a little breezy for my tastes, I can't say I didn't enjoy it.
reviewed The Big Love on
This book was so awful that I didn't even finish it, which I rarely do.