How to Make an American Quilt

This is a really nice book. It seems to be somewhere between a collection of short stories and a novel. Separate stories with shared characters and places. The author's tone is very comforting and comfortable to read and can very gently sneak emotions up on you.

Based around a diverse group of women in a California town we see each of them growing up and living with changing attitudes to gender and race and the expectations and judgement of society. This is the kind of really thoughtful book that subtly highlights how easy I can have it as a white male without pushing anything. It's great to see those different viewpoints in a way that is quite easy to connect with.

I didn't finish it thinking "wow, I need to read that again" but I'm show more glad that I have read it. show less

Follows the lives of six members of a quilting circle. Interspersed with quilting directions that are more a commentary on life than quilting. Couldn't help wanting more about each of the women--each could have justified her own book.

This story is an extended analogy of the quilt as a life. Based on the lives of the women of a quilting circle, it is told in a manner I found disjointed and characters I had trouble understanding. Nonetheless it is an interesting and original work.

a celebration of wonderful things about ordinary women. otto writes like the women in her book quilt--patches of stories, told one at a time, and sewn/embroidered together to make one complete, enjoyable and touching read.

This is one of my favorite books! Many of the women in my family quilt, but I was never interested. This book's depictions of friendship between women, the power of working together on something, and the way a quilt can tell your story are so powerful. I immediately understood the allure of quilting, and have become a quilter, myself. I love the way quilting connects me to the other women in my family and in my life, and I have reread this book over and over so that I can recapture the passion I feel for quilting.

Finished this one a couple of days ago. It is a decent read but didn't enthrall me. I liked the tie-in to quilting and the individual stories but didn't think it was cohesive as a single story.

I like the book, just not as much as the movie. In this case I feel like the movie actually had more detail and story line. Finn is barely mentioned in the book. The histories of the quilters are pretty much the same in the book and the movie from what I can remember anyway, which I liked. I haven't seen the movie in a long time though so I will definitely be watching it again soon to compare more.