a great book but long
929264
A great read. Great cottage way of life in the 1700' s. The first chapter of the next book should have been the last chapter for this book.
4836628
Good but too long to get to the plot. Like the first one the exciting portion is packed into the last half of the book. The set up or background is too long. Needed to be edited to about two thirds of the size. Still a great read and great characters!
763430
Good book but just too long.  Stories need to be tightened up.
410058
A little long winded ...but all in all a good book
2152563
Great book that would be 5 stars if I hadn't aged so much by the end. It was longer than the last 3 books that I read, combined.
1954810
This is a good book, but it is very long. Hard to hild my son's intetest that long.
1066400
I have not finished the book yet. I am halfway through. The book is very good, the problem is what most reviewers mention, the editing. Books that are long but are not repetitive, can be read fast. This one Have a lot of great moments, but at the same time there are points when it just completely slows down.
2093117
A very good Book.  I learned a lot of history of that period.  But, it was very long.  I think it could have been just as good, using
fewer pages.
2702334
This book is interesting but it's oh-so-long!  Tartt writes in a very beautiful but very descriptive voice, so it's not too tedious.  I read this for a book club and had to dedicate a lot of time to get through it by our meeting. The actual story probably could have been told in half the pages.
2313998
I loved this book. It's beautifully written, great images and descriptions of India, and so much happens that you really feel like you get to know all facets of the main character's personality. It's very long, but again, the continued action keeps you interested. The characters all have good and bad to them, but you become very invested in them and it makes you just want to keep reading. When you're working with 1000 pages, you actually do get to keep reading for quite awhile.
4158977
I love the book however it is very long and difficult to complete in a timely manner. I understand it is quite comprehensive and required much research to write that being said I believe some  of the information was repetitive.
3188844
The story was fabulous and the characters really memorable, but the story often got lost in longer-than-needed descriptions that require one to go back and re-read the section. It could have been 70-80 pages shorter.
3075662
This is a wonderful story but very lengthy, which would not have been so bad but I hate the way it ends. It ends as if she needs to write another book to finish the story! It is one of those stories that keeps you so involved and wanting to see how it ends and then I was so disappointed.
1861636
I just finished reading Cutting for Stone - and I'm glad I read it. I had hesitated reading it years ago because of some mixed reviews. But the author is a good writer and storyteller which I always appreciate. However the book was way too long - at least 200 pages too long.

It would have been so much better, clearer, stronger if an editor had taken a knife to it (pun intended). And that was my other criticism - way too much gory detail about multiple surgeries. Talk about "too much information." I had to skim a lot of it - I guess I'm more squeamish than I thought. But overall a good book. I'm glad I read it - and I liked it the more I read it. Amazing that he can be a professor, surgeon - and have time to write several books!
2633950
This is a very interesting fantasy.  The characters eventually come alive, but this book is entirely too long.  This story could well have been told, and told well, in 200 to 300 pages, rather than the 606 the author used.  There is enough here, however, to lead me to read Sea without a Shore, vol. 2 of the saga.
2610191
This was a great book but the cost was too high for the length of the book. I saw the author talking to stop at a book store and read it. He really meant it. As an avid reader it was done in less a half hour.
3894536
great book.  the title is really deceiving.  at times it seems a bit long but the end is great