Comments on: REVIEW: Honor Thyself by Danielle Steel

By: colleen Henderson

colleen Henderson — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 05:54:22 +0000

I just finished Danielle Steel’s “Amazing Grace”, only finishing because I felt I needed to comment to the person who recommended it to me. It was painfully boring to slog through her assurances that a character looked fantastic and that someone was incredibly thoughtful. We, the readers, were never shown anything, only assured that this person was perfect and that one mature and this other one lovely. This writer violated every standard of interesting writing. I hoped none of the drivel rubbed off on me. Next I will pick up an old paperback by Dean Koontz and try to recover.

By: Robin

Robin — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 18:38:29 +0000

@kelly tea lover: The actual blend was not named, and I doubt it's Marco Polo, since that has a very fruity flavor. My guess is that it is either Mariage Freres Bourbon Vanille (a red tea) or Mariage Freres Vanille Imperiale (a black tea). I have the black tea and it is wonderful.

By: kelly tea lover

kelly tea lover — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 01:44:42 +0000

Can you please tell me the exact name of the vanilla tea from her book Is it the Mariage Frères Marco Polo green tea? I tried to find it but theres so many and I cant really understand the website myself please get back to me I really want to order it

By: Cindy

Cindy — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 13:44:02 +0000

I read one Danielle Steel book…took me nearly a month because it dragged so. I only read it because mom did, and she was a fan of Gothics and Coulter, so I thought I would enjoy it. Ha.

I work at a UBS and we have those who buy Danielle Steel because “they don’t like trashy books”, those who also agree that “You’ve read one, you’ve read them all, they’re all alike” and “I wouldn’t touch a Danielle Steel book with a 39 1/2 foot pole.”

By: Jill

Jill — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 20:17:47 +0000

I read several Danielle Steel novels when I was a teen, and enjoyed them very much — probably because I was a teen. ;-) The two I remember best are The Ring and The Promise.
Steel was good for a certain time and place in my life, and I haven’t read anything by her in years.

By: jewell

jewell — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 08:13:47 +0000

My take is simply that Steel has got very lazy – recycling old characters and their physical attributes, lack of research, all telling, no showing – really, her first books had depth, and her later ones have none at all – I’ve stopped reading now as I don’t even get a happy ending quick fix – the plots are utterly ridiculous now, rather than far-fetched – my impression is that they are written without the care that was evident in the earlier ones. Just my opinion, of course. :)

By: Robin

Robin — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 06:06:15 +0000

Thank you so much for the Steel and Sheldon recommendations, everyone! (I’m not inclined to try Grisham at this point in time, so no loss there)

Masha: While I was reading the book, I actually tried to talk myself into an explanation like the one you gave, but having also taught English learners, I don’t find repetitive sentence structures particularly good for students (especially when the writing itself isn’t startlingly good or even always grammatically correct, despite the dearth of words), because they don’t replicate real speech and language past a very elementary point. It’s actually not the short sentences, per se, that bugged me, but the persistent monotony of those sentences and the absolute lack of variation in syntactical rhythm that got to me.

As for students of English, be they native speakers or not, I wish more professionally published prose could serve as good models of exemplary language use. Whenever the argument comes up that people in general aren’t grammar masters, my response is always that the lack of mastery actually necessitates more outstanding models, because reading is one of the ways we learn to use and expand our language skills, IMO.

Also, am I the only one who’s not convinced that Steel is consciously trying to appeal to the educationally underserved and those new to English? ;)

By: Ann Bruce

Ann Bruce — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 23:21:14 +0000

When I taught ESL, I was told to recommend that my (female) students try reading romance novels.

Whenever I want to brush up on my French, I look for French Harlequin romances because if I come across a word I don’t know, I’ll usually be able to figure it out in the context of the sentence or scene. Thank God for formulaic books!

By: Masha

Masha — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 23:02:06 +0000

I think part of why Steele’s books sell so well is because of the short, declarative sentences. I’ve never read her, but it’s probably easy reading on the bus or train as you’re getting jolted around. Not like Faulkner where you could be in the middle of some horrendously long sentence and have to struggle to find your place again.

Also, I used to work in adult education and there are an amazing number of people out there who are not good readers. They may be literate enough to have graduated high school, but they really struggle with sentences with more than one clause. Steele’s books are probably also popular with people who aren’t fully fluent in English. When I taught ESL, I was told to recommend that my (female) students try reading romance novels. That probably means something like Steele (short sentences, repetitive narrative hand-holding) and not something more like Jo Beverley.

By: jewell

jewell — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:24:56 +0000

Lizzy: I forgot Wanderlust. I mean they’re still annoying in lots of ways, but they are actually, you know, books.

By: Jeanette

Jeanette — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 16:59:34 +0000

The last Steele I read was “Accident” must of been back in the 90’s. It was the most depressing read….. Teenager sneaks out and gets into critical car accident while her wonderful husband is cheating on her and just totally abandons her when she needs him most, meets widower/or divorced man( I think his wife might have left cause she couldn’t handle their mentally challenged kid) he also has a teenager who is critically injured in the accident. A pregnancy OMG just Shoot her and put her out of her misery. Who could have a HEA after all that???? The absolute last time I attempted a Steele

By: Lizzy

Lizzy — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:50:55 +0000

@jewell: Gah, I confess, I’m with you. Some of those early ones are pretty juicy. I’m going to throw ‘Wanderlust’ on that pile, too. But the later stuff is true, unmitigated tripe. I can’t even read past the dust jackets.

Also, S. Sheldon has been mentioned a few times here and I just have to confess (again), I’ve gobbled up ‘The Other Side of Midnight’ more times than I care to admit. But not recently, I swear! I’m working the steps here, people!

By: Avid Book Reader

Avid Book Reader — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:10:38 +0000

I’ve never had the desire to read any of Danielle Steel’s books, not at least since I was in junior high… If you are trapped in an airplane for 4 hours, they are tolerable, otherwise, read something else.

By: Cauterize

Cauterize — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 07:56:49 +0000

I also read a couple Danielle Steel in the 90’s… mostly because Mom bought them, never read them, and had them lying around. The only one I can recommend is Jewels. It has an american divorcee and a sexy Duke of Whitfield set before and after WWII. They have real chemistry and it follows the long progression of their love (believeable to boot!) Plus, the descriptions of the amazing jewelry they buy and sell are to die for.

I will give Ms. Steel props for never writing a sequel (I’m not the biggest fan of romance sequels). Unfortunately my love for that book led me to watch some of those made-for-tv movies. They are all shades of craptastic.

By: jewell

jewell — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 07:23:52 +0000

“Honestly, it is impossible for me to imagine that such writing created the author who can command $27.00 for a hardcover novel.”

I find her later books unreadable – but her early ones are much, much better. I think it’s these that created the brand.

If anyone wants to try an early one, I recommend Family Album, Changes, Palomino, Full Circle and Now and Forever.

By: Ann Bruce

Ann Bruce — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 03:41:17 +0000

I guess some people may find some comfort in that!

Apparently, about 500 million. Okay, that’s not people who’ve read her books. That’s how many books she’s sold.

By: Kaetrin

Kaetrin — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 02:55:55 +0000

I read a lot of Danielle Steele when I was a teenager. Some of her earlier work was pretty good I think – at least at the time I read them. But, after a while, it was all pretty much the same – there was always the hero, heroine and a “best friend” character – sometimes male, sometimes female. Then she started writing more “epic” type stories across generations and it all felt very repetitious and pretentious.

I recently re-read a book that I recalled as being really good but it just didn’t gel for me. The characters seemed to fall in love on cue but for no real reason and on the basis of no real chemistry – only to move the plot along.

I think I grew up and moved on but she’s stayed the same. I guess some people may find some comfort in that!

By: Tae

Tae — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 01:08:42 +0000

never had a desire to read Steele, even while I worked at the library, and I wondered why we always purchased a bazillion of her books. No one I know actually reads her.

By: Ann Bruce

Ann Bruce — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:06:24 +0000

Tried her once as a pre-teen. I was nearly scarred for life. Had to pick up a Judy Blume to recover.

By: Anion

Anion — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:50:37 +0000

I’m normally a fan of bad prose, I admit it. I get my kicks that way, giggling, rolling my eyes, and snorting my way through the works of Jackie Collins and that Bridges of Madison County guy (oh, and yes! Sidney Sheldon! I was scandalized by Master of the Game when I was about thirteen). But I cannot countenance Danielle Steel. I read one of her books several years ago–Ghost Story? I know there’s an excellent book of the same title by Straub, but I think she had one too. Anyway, I could not get over not just the bad writing and cardboardy characters, but the numerous factual inconsistencies. Like she’d forgotten stuff she said two chapters before, and nobody ever proofread it.

That’s one of my biggest issues; I read a big TV book pick that had serious consistency problems, from one page to the next, even. Sad.