What do readers think of The Red Book by Deborah Copaken Kogan? Write your own review.

Four former roommates reveal the back story of their undergraduate years at Harvard during their 20th reunion weekend. Despite advantages in life, their reality is a messy unraveling of betrayal, paths not taken and the myth of having it all, while trying to live authentic, meaningful lives. Smart, probing and sophisticated. The women and their friends have a range of experience and backgrounds. Touches upon lesbian and gay relationships, younger woman falling for older men, pursuing the artistic versus being practical, and combining motherhood and career. Over all, the book is an indictment of today's technology driven communication and the loss of true connection between people.

A 20 year class reunion transforms four roommates' lives in an unforgettable weekend. The novel begins with short essays collected in the Red Book (published every 5 years) which highlights their accomplishments. In the first chapter Addison is arrested for 20 year old parking tickets and ends up spending the night in jail. This is just the beginning of a roller coaster ride that spans the entire weekend. This story is about new beginnings and second chances in life. I had trouble putting the book down - highly recommended.

I enjoyed The Red Book, but felt the author worked too hard to make it PC and created too many convenient situations. The group of four women featured in the story were a little hard to believe as a friend group - a privileged WASP, a short Jewish girl, a black girl who grew up in a CA commune and a Vietnamese girl adopted by an American soldier. I had not heard of Harvard's Red Book and enjoyed the author's use of mock Red Book entries to frame each character's past and future. I think this book is targeted to women 35 - 60 who enjoy books in upper middle class or academic settings.

Every section starts out with some Harvard alumni's bios of what they had been doing the past five years since the last "Red Book" had come out. Then there is a reunion with some of the aforementioned students. Good concept but I wish the author had not included bios of characters who weren't in the book. I got a bit overwhelmed with all the names. Good story but a bit soapy. I did enjoy the epilogue which included entries in the Red Book that appeared 5 years after the novel ended.

The Red Book by Deborah Copaken Kogan kept me reading straight to the end. I really connected with the characters and wanted to know more about them.

When I first started reading this book, I was sure I would not enjoy it. Oh boy, I thought, another reunion story about a bunch of privilege, self-centered yuppies who wasted all the gifts they were given. But for some reason, I couldn't stop reading it and soon found some sympathetic characters with whom I could identify on some level. It is a well-written book and the author did a great job of making the characters come to life in a way that kept me engaged and eventually even caring about what became of them! I would recommend it to anyone as an entertaining and fairly quick read.

But you can indulge yourself with this book! An interesting story following the lives of four former Harvard roomates leading up to and including their 20th anniversary. The characters have so much depth. I saw a part of myself in each character. It's a story to make you realize that you can't go back to life as it was in college but you can learn from life's mistakes for a better future. Highly enjoyable and addictive read!

I read every word of this in just a few days and while I thought it had some really terrific substance, I also wasn't very engaged by most of the protagonists. Maybe TMI - hard to keep up with. Maybe it's hard for most readers to relate to Harvard Grads. I did like the book and would recommend it.