Slow Waltz in Cedar Bend

Just finished reading Slow Waltz in Cedar Bend...and did not want it to end. It is a look back at falling in love...which Mr. Waller has a great gift of expressing. I loved the short chapters...and honesty in telling a very believable story. The adventure in India made me want to travel and be a free-spirit like Michael's Jellie.

Quite literally yes! I do have a copy in every room. There are certain passges that I love to re-read again. The moment in Beanos and the respectful waitress turning the volume up so an intimate conversation between Michael Tillman and Jahlay can ensue. The Thanksgiving Dinner at The Bradens where you feel you are in the room with the characters witnessing a potential affair develop between them both but, somehow, you feel you are the only one who sees it. There are so many passages that I love about this book that, by their very power, they could be miniature essays in their own right. The fact that they all come together to make an all-round belter of a romantic novel makes the book a classic in my opinion. If Zen and the Art.... Catch 22...The Catcher in the Rye...are books you feel you should have due to popular opinion, then listen to me and buy this as it is in a class of its own in this genre.

I saw Robert Walker interviewed on a Sunday news program immediately following the publication of the now famous THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY. His narrative describing the emergence of the novel fascinated me. He spoke as if the characters were somehow inside him crying for their story to be told. I had to read this book. Next thing I knew, BRIDGES made the best sellers list. This was in the early 90's. The book became a common topic of conversation among my friends. In fact, one friend and I spoke of the book a great deal. It is a book to make one think and discuss.A year or so later, I came across SLOW WALTZ IN CEDAR BEND - quite by accident. When I made the connection with THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY, I immediately purchased the book, read it, then shared it with my friend with whom I had long discussions about Walker's first novel. Frankly, I liked SLOW WALTZ IN CEDAR BEND much better than THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY. I remember seeing myself in the main character. This character, Michael Tillman, mesmerized me. Twelve years later, I was looking for a book on tape to keep me company on a long lonely drive, I bought SLOW WALTZ IN CEDAR BEND forgetting that I read the novel 12 years earlier. During the second reading (or listening), I found that I enjoyed the author's writing and his imagery, but didn't find any connection between the main character and me. In fact, I didn't realize that I had read this novel before until I got to the part where Michael Tillman finds Jellie Braden on an Island in India. Reading this book for a second time was a fascinating experience. I continued to enjoy Walker's writing style, but the novel had a much different emotional impact on me. I suspect that my two experiences were the result of the author's crafty skill with the written word.For those, who read SLOW WALTZ IN CEDAR BEND when it first some out, I recommend to read it again. In fact, I think I'll listen to it on my next trip.

Irregardless of what the OTHER reviewers may have said to discredit the author, I believe that this book is wonderfulllllllll. I like to read stories that I know could really happen and this is one of them. Robert James Waller is a great author and I would like to read more of his works.

I liked the book from the very beginning, reading it in one "shot". It is an excellent love story, very sensitive, with beautiful descriptions of the characters and events. The campus-life descriptions bring many memories, and the love scenarios are touching. The two parallel lives of Jellie Braden are beautifuly described, and Mikel is a real "character" (maybe like the author...?, definitely like his "budy"/"prototype" Robert Kincaid). I liked the flow of events, the jump between present and past, the description of life in a small campus-town, the life in India, and especially the love-related events. I liked the description of the "ever increasing" relationships between the two main souls - Jellie and Mikel, especially the "swans in the pool" scenario and the follow-up....where the "slow waltz" is becoming a real love.But, I felt that the author went "one bridge too far", with the end of the book. It could have as well been finished one chapter "earlier", after Jellie and Mikel were re-united in India.I enjoyed reading the book, and definitely rate it as one of the good ones I ever read.