Looking Back: A Novel

by Belva Plain

New York Times bestselling author Belva Plain goes to the heart of what it means to be a woman, a wife, and a friend, in her powerful new novel—a story of love and betrayal that measures the limits of loyalty, friendship, and forgiveness.

They met at school and have been inseparable ever Cecile, confident, elegant daughter of privilege; Norma, extraordinarily gifted and sadly troubled; and beautiful, ambitious Amanda, determined to rise above her humble southern beginnings. Two are married. One despairs of ever finding love. Three women. Leading their busy adult lives. Yet first and friends.

Then something unexpected happens that forever alters their long, complicated friendship. A pivotal event, a shattering act of betrayal shifts the balance of power between husbands and wives, parents and children, sisters and brothers. And in the months that follow, each of them will look at their families, their lives--and one another--differently.

And none of them will ever be the same.

Genres: Fiction, Romance, Chick Lit, Audiobook, Womens Fiction, Friendship, Drama

400 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Belva Plain was a best-selling American author of mainstream women's fiction. Her first novel, Evergreen (1978) topped the New York Times bestseller list for 41 weeks and was made into a TV miniseries. At her death, there were over 30 million copies of her twenty-plus novels in print in 22 languages.

Reviews

[Chris St Laurent · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
Cecile, Norma and Amanda meet at college and become close friends. After graduation they stay close friends, one of them marrying the other’s brother. This story is about friends, family, betrayal and the painful fallout. Belva Plain writes naughty family drama cleanly, no swearing and no smut. Even a few surprises I was not expecting, easy and entertaining read.

[Jayme · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hated it. The antiquated language and 1940s attitudes of the characters was incongruous, given that they were using cellphones and listening to CDs. It felt like someone had put the cast of an old 40s movie into a time machine and dumped them into 21st century New England. I hated all the main characters, felt sorry for their husbands and the plot was so transparent that it was completely obvious what was going to happen. *cringe*

[Elaine · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is set in modern times however all the characters talk and act like they should be part of their parent's generation which gives the story the feeling of being stuck in a kind of time-warp. On top of that complaint, the stories of these 3 old college buddies didn't really generate much interest with me. I ended up just skimming most of this book.

[RainLady777 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Totally every bit as good as Jessica said. OMG. This book is one of the best I have ever read in my life. Seriously!

[Meryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is about 3 girls that went to college together, Cecile, who is the confident and rich one. Norma, the smart and gifted one.And Amanda who comes from a poor family in the south and is beautiful and ambitious. After college Amanda goes to stay with Norma for Cecile's wedding.Norma's brother,Larry is in love with and marries Amanda, but she is never satisfied, especially after she sees how rich Cecile and her husband Peter is. Amanda gets a job in a high end store where the owner lets her buy things at a discount, but that annoys Larry who wants her to stay home and have babies. Amanda starts an affair with her father-in-law who at first she didn't get along with at all. Then he becomes pregnant by him, and has to pass the baby off as her husbands. Norma finally gets married too, and both her and Cecile think they saw Amanda arm in arm with her father-in-law but they never discuss it. When Larry's father decides to leave without Amanda she comes unglued and at a fourth of July party blurts it all out for everyone to here. Larry freaks out, his father has a stoke and what ensues is a terrible tragedy that will tear the friends apart.

[Michelle Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this book is well written the charachters are well drawn and are quite believable. The is no neat closure at the end of the book. I like that it felt more real.

I personally could not like this book due to the way it ends. I understand that the ending is probably really realistic and what could actually happen. However, I was so disgusted by Norma and her total lack of conscience that I never quite got over it.

In that this book left a lasting impression on me, I would recommend it. However, I disliked Norma to such a degree that I never read another Belva Plain book.
I know that is an extreme but it was my true feeling. Years later I could still remember almost this whole book, just not the title. I searched for it for quite a while to include it here in my booklist.

Belva Plain is a good writer, or at least, the writing for this book was.

[Vicki · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is about three friends who begin with a very loving and supportive relationship. It tells of how the relationships change, grow, dye or just fading away. One friend is elegant, nice looking,rich and good. She marries a good man and they face their difficulties together in a loving and mature way. They find happiness in their lives together.
The 2nd is beautiful and many are attracted to her as well as her personality. She marries for money and spends many years trying to convince herself that she is happy and in love. She ends up leaving her husband and her son when her father-in-law dies. She makes a good life for herself helping others.
The third seems to be the sweetest, kindest but the least desirable. She ends up marring later in life to a wonderful loving man. She ends up hurting her two friends.

[Mary Therese Mack · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the second novel I've read by Belva Plain... the story had a lot of potential but the confusion in what time period the book was supposed to be set in caused a lot of confusion. The dialogue and thoughts of the characters was reminiscent of the mid 1900s with virginity before marriage and staying at home afterwards and raising children while the characters used technology like cellphones. I have read that this author is well liked and people enjoy her novels but this one didn't do it for me.

[Joanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started out with an interesting description of three girls who went to college together. As the story unfolds, some of their experiences are interesting and somewhat predictable. The situation one of the women gets into to is so horrific, that perhaps I began to disengage from the story. The ending just lost me. However, perhaps, real life is at times, this complex and heartbreaking.

[Rosemary Terryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spellbinding

Such an interesting plot. It was impossible to put the book down. The characters were so life like. It was a very interesting book and one I would highly recommend. I have never been disappointed by this author's books.

[Francine · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't finish this book. Didn't like what was happening

[Heidi]

Belva Plain is a "formula writer"... but her stories are fairly entertaining... good beach-read stuff...

[Lisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hate to leave a book unread once I start but, I wish I had never picked up this book. It was one of Belva's worst stories in my opinion. And she is one of my favorite authors.

[Marcia DeCruz · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not worth the time. The characters had no substance, the plot was silly. I find myself rushing through this book and couldn't way for it to end.

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

To love this book, one has to remember it is fictional, and to let go of today's standards of what it means to live in "modern times." There were so many negative reviews about Belva Plain's "Looking Back," that I opened it with hesitation. It has been on one of my bookshelves, unread, for more than 20 years, unread, but I had gone through my stack of library books, and was home sick, and cannot ever go a day without reading, so I pulled it out, and started to read. I sense that many who mocked the dialogue as dated and unrealistic for the era in which it was written may not have read all the way through. The second half of the book took off at record speed and had me unable to stop reading, other than to blow my nose or pop some DayQuil. The more I read, the more I had visions of Anna Karenina, minus the railroad tracks. I knew there would be no truly happy ending for anyone, but could not avert my eyes to the train wreck (pun intended) playing out before me on the pages of the novel.
Live long enough, and you know that people are not all that they seems. Three young women, all graduating from the same college, best friends, head back home to begin their adult lives. Cecille is engaged, and comes from a lovely, well off family, without being ostentatious. Norma, also from a family with wealth, despises her legs because they are huge in comparison to the rest of her body. She adores her older brother, Larry, and thinks her friend Amanda, the beauty raised in a small, impoverished town in Mississippi, would be perfect for him, especially since Larry has had a crush on Amanda since meeting her during a visit over one of their college breaks. How sweet and parochial, right? Amanda visits Norma and allows Larry to court her (my word, not that of the author) even though she knows she is not in love with him. They marry, and Amanda thinks she can live without the adoration and spark a young couple should feel for one another especially in the early days. She is willing to trade all that for a beautiful home and to never have to worry about money. Her father in law, Lawrence, does not seem to approve of Amanda and she is not fond of him, either....or so we are led to believe.
Everything changes one cold stormy afternoon when Amanda is walking alone in an area being surveyed for renewal, but one which is not very safe at that point. Lawrence happens to be in the same area, as he and Larry run a profitable real estate conglomeration, and he is thinking about buying properties and changing their usage in order to make the oppressed area one that people will want to visit. He tells Amanda she should get in the car since the weather is so bad, and that he has to make a stop at one property. Things take off like crazy from there and I found myself unable to stop reading. I read the book in one day, and was so glad I did not let the bad reviews influence me. Did the 3 girls speak as if it were the 1950's, not the early 2000's early on in the book? Yes, but I allowed myself to take that as a feature of poetic license and kept going. They were definitely not the angels we were led to believe at first. There were multiple betrayals that ensued, by familial and between the friends. One caught me totally off guard, while the other became obvious, but that did not take away from the fun I had reading about it. There was no Camelot for the characters or their town.
Despite a love affair being wrong, Plain made the characters desire for one another so read, that it was hard to hate them for what they were doing. I hoped for a different ending, but I am not the writer of the tale, so I had to absorb the ending as written. I was stunned, saddened, and went to sleep thinking of the train tracks Tolstoy created which were not a part of "Looking Back" but may as well have been. I really enjoyed this one!

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I felt like this book never quite figured out what it was. The time period and the setting were a bit unclear - definitely not present day, but not entirely sure when in the past while still trying to be relevant. It tried to be a portrait of all three women who went to college together, and you do get all their stories, but it's definitely weighted towards Amanda. Norma gets a bit more text than Cecile but never feels as fleshed out and realistic as the others - and both Norma and Cecile get caricatured more than Amanda. The book (or at least its summaries and jacket) portend this huge momentous act of betrayal, and while that is there, it doesn't end up feel quite as momentous or quite as much of a betrayal once you are that far into the story, plus it moves awfully fast after that climax in relation to how long the story arc built up. I wonder if this could have been a better read with more or different editing - it certainly wasn't terrible, but the underlying concept and themes have way more potential than comes through the way it is currently written.

"look"

[Theresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Terrible story in that it portrays that darker side of human nature. Three girls, Amanda, Cecile and Norma, best friends. Norma introduces Amanda to her family, which leads to her marrying one relative and cheats on him with another. Cecile who is portrayed as having everything, suffers a great loss and is mistrusted even though she has only treated everyone with kindness. Norma is highly intelligent but has large legs due to a circulatory issue. She betrays one of her friends, but justifies it as helping another. The cheating harms many, but throughout the story, they repeatedly state how they aren't hurting anyone. I think it is often human nature to justify what we knowingly do wrong in order to assuage our guilt. My wishful side is hoping this is an exaggerated version because many deceits are intertwined. Hopefully so many would not occur together, but life is often a chain of events, one link affecting the next.

[Jeanne Beaudet · Rating 1 out of 5]

I would have liked this book better but it has several flaws. The plot would have worked better if it had been set in the 1950s. The book is the story of 3 college friends, Cecile, Norma and Amanda. The novel takes place the 1990s. Amanda, from a poor Southern, feels that she cannot get a job with her English degree, so she married a man she doesn't love (Norma's brother, Larry). Larry is a huge flaw. He is so awkward and speaks in cliches, it is impossible to believe any woman would marry him. There is a ridiculous love affair that makes no sense given the previous interaction between the characters. This affair leads to disaster and death. Finally, Norma has a special gift that she uses against Cecile's husband.

Although I enjoy most of Ms. Plain's books, I cannot recommend this one.

[Debra McCann · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was difficult to believe this book wasn’t set in the 1940’s. It takes place in Michigan, but doesn’t capture Michigan at all. It is unclear which years this story is set in. A cell phone is mentioned once, but there is a “ head master” at the school, and an “old-timey” examination of class. There are three female college friends: Cecile who is “old money”, Norma who is “new money”, and Amanda who is poor (but very beautiful). After college they marry and begin “setting up house”. Amanda marries Norma’s brother and then messes with Norma’s father. It’s a soap opera and I did laugh at the most melodramatic parts 😄 which was fun. Maybe Katherine Hepburn could play Norma (wearing leg prosthetics because Norma has fat legs).

[Marlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three women met at school from very different economic backgrounds and became inseparable during that time and continued that friendship into their adult lives. Then something unexpected happens that forever alters their long, complicated friendship. A shattering act of betrayal shifts the balance of power between husbands and wives, parents and children, sisters and brothers. They begin to look at their families, lives and one another differently. A story of profound imtimacy and drama in the lives of men and women.

[Deirdre · Rating 4 out of 5]

I havent read a Belva Plain book in years. Now I remember what a great storyteller she was. This story had a slow start, but once the plot got going- it was great. The epilogue with Amos and Alfred talking in Maine, matching the prolonged was a bit confusing, as they had a huge fight in the book, why were they together in the end.
I just read others' reviews on this book, those who hated it crack me up- they have legitimate reasons, 1940s vs 1990s, but that is not enough for me not to have liked it. I really did like this book.

[Camilla Spagnolo]

Questo libro non si merita neanche una stella, è così pessimo che penso valga di più come carta per accendere il camino. Scritto e tradotto malissimo, con perle tipo "vieni a mangiare con me?" "non ho l'orologio", in più finisce pure male nel cinismo più assoluto...assolutamente non consigliato, nemmeno in momenti di assoluta disperazione da "ho finito tutti i libri che ho in casa e non so più cosa leggere"

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three college friends are inseparable; after college they each go their own ways. Cecile is a daughter of privilege and marries well. Norma is not a confident person but she is ambitious. Amanda comes from a struggling family life and she is determined to be successful. Years after they graduate these women come together in a complicated trio -- full of betrayals and and drama which shatter their lives. The author is an amazing story teller and weaves a fascinating and sad tale.

[Lois · Rating 5 out of 5]

Belva Plain does it again. She masterfully takes ordinary friendships, injects human behavior and out comes a wonderful and tragic story of lies, deception and divided loyalties. Norma, Cecile and Amanda, three friends from college, forge their lifelong bonds, despite different backgrounds. Each marries, and the way their lives intertwine is what makes her storytelling real and relatable. I've never been disappointed by this author.

[Cortney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plain gets to the heart's struggle to love, live, and be something other than what others see a person as. The behind the scences reality of the heart's tug-of-war with what it thinks it should want, and what it can't beat without, is within all of us. If only we all took an honest moment to examine, and then listen, to what our hearts are truly saying, we'd avoid, create, and love with authenticity; contributing to a world of pure and raw humanity just living it's best life.

[Trudy Roy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was so confused reading this book. When was it set? The characters acted like it was the 50’s but they had car phones. Why was abortion not considered? Why was leg size an issue? Why was engagement the outcome of such short love affairs? I should have quit reading this book as it bothered me so much. Instead I rushed through it so I could move onto something more meaningful.

[sof · Rating 4 out of 5]

at first you think that’s the typical book of a group of friends who find their path in the world and they loose their connection. but this is not the case. I LOVED how everything turned out. how everyone thought about something happened and then boom!!! I absolutely loved this book, I had a really fun time reading it.

[Hillary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Why would a book be written that is just so depressing? Yes I was curious enough about the characters to keep reading it but I was waiting for the hope and forgiveness, not the back stabbing and bitterness that occurred.

[Val · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just mediocre...

I love Belva Plain's usual keen understanding of human nature and the careful construction of her plot lines. This title, though, missed the mark. From its first paragraph to its closing paragraph, the fluidity of language, character development and story fell far short. It just didn't satisfy.

[Rhonda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I stuck this under romance, but it's not a real romance novel.
This starts out with three friends in collage that end up trying to remain friends as they graduate and move on with their lives.
It is sad in many ways, but also has some twist and turns that you don't see coming.
A good read.