Where Rainbows End

Written solely in the form of correspondences (letters, emails, online chats) Love, Rosie tells the story of Rosie and Alex over the span of 45 years. At first, I was unsure if I'd like this format, but I ended up thinking it worked really well. It allows you to get a glimpse of not only Rosie's and Alex's life/thoughts, but also those of their family and friends.

Alex and Rosie meet as young children and quickly become best friends. Their feelings for each other grow over the years, yet they never seem to leave the platonic stage of their relationship. At times I found this frustrating and wanted to yell at the characters "Just tell each other how you feel already!" So much heartache and insecurities could have been avoided if they show more had. The struggles they endured, the loss and the happy times, all felt very real and made the characters feel real too.

Perhaps the only complaint I have is that I felt the story dragged on. There were some conversations I found pointless or long winded. The journey could have been just as authentic and more impactful with less. show less

Life for Rosie Dunne and Alex Stewart, best friends since early childhood, begins and ends with one thing: their loyalty to each other. And over decades filled with career changes and derailments, marriages and divorces, infidelity and trust, parenthood and grieving, they’ve braved barriers across an ocean to remain close and share life’s dalliances, dramas and joys.

Cecelia Ahern’s Where Rainbows End (or, for those of us in the U.S., Love, Rosie) is the story of Alex and Rosie’s lives, told exclusively through letters, emails, instant messages and texts sent between them and their wide assortment of family and friends. Part novel and part confessional, Ahern’s story works effectively to bring to life two people who never show more stopped loving each other — though destiny seemed to conspire to keep them apart.

It was easy to love Rosie, a young Irish woman who tried so hard to make her parents proud — but struggled mightily to find her footing in life. At the age of 18, she becomes pregnant with Katie, and the two work hard to establish a life for themselves as Rosie bounces from job to job in search of her “calling” — which turns out to involve the managing of hotels, the object of her devotion since childhood. Alex, likewise, comes across as the steadfastly devoted friend and father as he moves from Dublin to Boston, where he begins his career as a cardiologist. Though miles apart, Rosie and Alex keep up with one another by maintaining a steady stream of contact — except when things get too sticky.

Though I knew in my heart of hearts how this story just had to end, it didn’t make getting there any less enjoyable. Spanning more than forty years, Where Rainbows End was a really fun, entertaining read that had me alternately pulling my hair out in frustration and tearing up with joy when things finally began to turn around. Because seriously? Poor Rosie. How much bad luck can one person have?

My only complaint with the novel is, weirdly, also one of the things I liked best about it (can that really be true?): it was long. Any story covering four decades is going to be lengthy, I suppose, but I did start to lose interest somewhere in the thick middle because things just couldn’t seem to get any worse for these folks. So many missed opportunities; so much misfortune. I wanted to play God, wave a magic wand and untangle all the messes before things got worse.

Favorite characters included Ruby, Rosie’s well-meaning but straight-shooting best friend, who seemed to be the only one talking sense at some points; Stephanie, Rosie’s sister who marries a Frenchmen and lives a fascinating life in Paris; and Katie, Rosie’s ambitious and free-spirited daughter, one who loves her mother fiercely but also possesses a sense of adventure not unlike her own mother’s. I also loved seeing a loyal, loving and functional family — Dennis and Alice Dunne, Rosie’s parents, would do anything to help her in her quest to expand beyond Dublin and make hers a life really worth living. Stephanie and Kevin, Rosie’s siblings, were realistically drawn and compassionate, though I wanted to give Kev a good shake a few times!

Fans of women’s fiction and those who love epistolary novels will enjoy the drama and romance of it all — and if you’re a fan of Irish fiction, so much the better! show less

I loved this book. Reading reviews, I got the impression that a large proportion of people who enjoyed PS, I Love You didn't like this one as much. I had the opposite reaction. This was very much like the play Love Letters by A.R. Gurney, which I adore. It was fun to see the two main characters grow up and fall in love with each other without realizing that the other felt the same way, as well as having the worst timing ever. Thankfully, Ahern's book ended on a much happier note than Gurney's play. Highly Recommended.

I think I would have liked this more if it were shorter. I enjoyed most of the correspondence, but agonized over the missed connections, signals, and opportunities. Rosie and Alex became friends in grade school and corresponded through notes. They shared letters over the years, then DMs and texts as they grew older. Alex moves from Dublin to Boston to finish his final year of high school and then goes to Harvard, but Rosie's plans to come to Boston are upended after an event changes her life. The missed opportunities continue for years, and I just wanted them to speak to each other, vs. asking others for their opinions. Everyone around them knew they were meant for each other, they just couldn't see it.

Very interestingly written. This book is written through notes, letters, emails and IMs and its about a best friendship between Rosie and her best friend growing up. Slightly predictable but a nice beach read

This book, called Where Rainbows End abroad, is one of those stories in the vein of Jojo Moyes, that will have you laughing and crying all at once, and continuously throughout the story. The main character, Rosie, is a good-hearted girl we first meet at the age of five, who is writing notes back and forth with her new best friend Alex. We continue to follow the lives of Rosie and Alex and their families and friends as they grow up, with the two of them remaining best friends throughout the ups and downs of their lives, separated by both place and circumstance.

We grow to love them both and hope for the best for them, especially Rosie, who, it seems, just when she is going to get what she wants, gets kicked down again. But brave and show more admirable Rosie just keeps getting back up on her feet and trying again.

Evaluation: This is a wonderful story, quite well done, told almost entirely in the form of correspondence (emails, letters, and instant messages) over a span of 45 years. While there is much humor in the book, and the characters are dear, I cried for the entire last third of the book, wanting so much for Rosie finally to catch a break.

Although the ending was satisfactory, I would love to see a sequel!

Note: Although the book isn’t new (it was originally published in 2004), it was no doubt recently reissued because of the release of a movie version in the U.K. (which I have not yet seen). show less

I loved LOVED this book. Its protaganist is funny, irreverent, smart, and interesting. It has that 'feel' that many books by Irish authors have -- what I mean by that? I can't verbalize precisely, but it makes sense to me. Love, mixed with pathos, mixed with humor, and a certain lyricism throughout. This book IS sentimental, but I still loved it.

The book is told through written correspondences - notes, letters, emails, im's. So, it's a little disjointed at times. But it works. It covers Rosie & Alex's friendship from age 7 through mid-life. They're funny, and friends, and remain so mostly throughout. II grew to genuinely like both Rosie & Alex and their friends and family. It's a good journey.