This collection is a collection of short stories and a novella. The novella, which makes up Part 2 of the book, was fabulous - I would give it 4 stars. The characters were interesting, and I cared about their dilemma. I wish that Adams had written a full length novel exploring their story rather than giving us the short stories in Part 1.

Some of the short stories in Part 1 were good. In general, however, they did not go deep enough into developing the characters or their situations to make me care about them. I found myself having to trudge through Part 1 of the book. I only held on because Adams did show a gift for the language; she is a fine writer. But the stories don't stick with the reader.

a very lovely collection of stories about mature relationships. men and women, all flawed, yet intriguing. adams was san francisco's 20th century version of jane austen. her stories are urbane and quiet, sometimes shocking and very funny. she had a knack for speaking about difficult subjects with tact and grace. i will read her novels.

"His Women" and "Old Love Affairs", two short stories in this anthology, are such wonderful pieces. I had read both of these when they appeared years ago in The New Yorker, and very much enjoyed reading them again. The stories in this anthology are consistent, and the world will greatly miss you, Alice.

This is another one of Ms. Adams collections of short stories. Like the others it refers back to some of the characters in other books (like Popsie). Ms. Adams is so excellent in her description one can almost feel the fog roll into the San Francisco bay as the stories are read. The stories of how children are affected as adults by their parents alcoholism were my favorites in this collection.

I enjoyed the book but I can't help but thinking about how unsafe the sexual activity was in this book. I know that it took place in the 30s and 40s but I was reading it with '01 eyes and got dizzy with all of the adultery and unsafe sex.

The protagonist Cynthia Baird was so flighty! She wanted to go to law school but she also wanted to run around having affairs. What about her husband?

So much for the "old days" being so sexually repressive!

Story of a dysfunctional romance, compelling at times, but eventually tiresome.

The beauty of this book is the author's inside the mind of the woman who knows what she's thinking and why, but continues to continue. The ambiguity of loving the wrong man in the right way at the right time. Positing her own development as a personality and a published author against the neediness of the beautiful man who loves me; therefore, I must be beautiful and lovable even if my famous, important father did not think so. Reveals the male character as well as the female character by balancing the power plays of his success vs her success and his neediness and her neediness. The triumph of the strong woman while her friends still search for the male completeness is an ironic ending. You just can not have success and love? The descriptions of place and how they fit the yuppiness of the Bay Area add to the ambience. The characters recreate their environments and themselves. I loved the angst...

I read Almost Perfect right after I read Adams' Superior Women. Almost Perfect is not as good, but still display's Adams' talents: character studies, touching upon the protagonists' motives, describing the ambiance and politics to romance and keeping it all readable and engaging. I walked away from this book still not really knowing the characters and I know that Adams does better at getting inside her characters' heads.

Read it anyway. Then read Superior Women.

I read it and I still dont understand what the point was. There has to be a better way to portray the elderly than a bunch of bohemian Californian weirdies who have no clue. At least I hope there is.

Alice Adams uses her trademark writing style to chronicle the aging process among a tightly knit, yet diverse group of friends. They are unalike, but their judgements toward each other are mild. They make comprimises because, when you get down to it, they need each other. They are alone, lost their mates, or are a heartbeat away from losing their mates.

Aging is a drag, but Alice Adams has a way of softening it. It's always a pleasure to get to know her characters. She gets inside their heads and shows (through the help of limited parentheticals) what they are immediately thinking as they are saying something else. They are not forced upon us. Tragedies happen in this story, but they aren't the easy emotional or manipulative bombs that a lesser author would overuse.

It's an engaging read. Unfortunately, this book is not as good as her Superior Women.

First of all, I have to say Alice Adams is (was, alas) one of my favorite writers. Of short stories. Not novels. I was thrilled to have won a short story competition to be in one of her workshops. To me, almost all of her many stories are perfect. I can read them over and over. Her novels, however, are a different story. Rich Rewards has its rewards and there is something intriguing about Second Chances. But all the others left me disappointed. A disaster. Which is how I saw "After the War" from page one. A mess. Ridiculous characters. Cliche after cliche. Please, I would rather that my memories of Alice Adams did not include this awful work.

I actually bought this book before I bought the more superior "A Southern Exposure". "After the War" is the sequel.

"After the War" was too pat. The precocious Abby got really boring. She hooked up with a man and was on the way to getting married and leading a predictable life. She would have her own career but so what? I think she would have been more interesting single and on her own for a couple of years, traveling the world and learning about life.

As in "Exposure", Cynthia Baird continued to be flighty and confused most of the time. Miraculously, she was accepted to law school. Maybe she was the precursor to Ally McBeal. I don't know. She has the nerve to complain about her husband's affair ad nauseum when she was busy having her own affair(s).

The gay rights movement has changed the way authors portray gay characters. Thirty years ago, the gay character would be a sad lonely man. In our thankfully more enlightened time, the gay character finds love, pretty quickly, but unfortunately this results in there being little conflict. Adams portrays the lesbian character in Superior Women quite differently - and more effectively.

In any case, sequels are rarely as good as the original, so read this but also peruse "A Southern Exposure."

After the War is a beautiful finale to the wonderful writing career of Alice Adams. In typical Alice Adams style, this novel follows the life of her main character, Cynthia Baird, and also weaves itself around the lives of other characters important to Cynthia. Utilizing the character "vignettes" that Adams so wonderfully writes, the novel takes the reader through the emotions of love, rejection, death and strengthening of personal character. Fans of Alice Adams MUST read this book!

Adams is a great writer and story teller and I was swept up in her story right away. I found, however, that the main character and her best friend were just too passive about their love lives for me to relate to. Continuing to date men they did not like because they did not want to hurt their feelings, not calling the police when they were being stalked, it just did not ring true for me.

I would not have encountered my first Alice Adams's book, "Medicine Men" had I not seen a large-print copy in the book trailer from our local library. As a retired physician (ob-gyn), I was intrigued by the title, puzzled a little by the cover statements, and swiftly drawn into the sexy segments when I leafed quickly through it. I was even more intrigued when I found references on more careful reading to familiar names and locations, such as "Massachusetts General" and "Chambers Street". I trained at the MGH myself, and lived in a apartment on Chambers Street in 1956-57. Since Chambers Street was destroyed for redevelopment in the late '50's, I wondered at the vintage of the author, who tosed out bits of this kind of information as if she/he were an "insider", like myself. I wondered more than once whether the author might not be a man writing with a female pseudonym, since the sexual attitudes were largely masculine (i.e., casual sex, quick orgasms, and little or no commitment) Sexy scenes were for the most part intriguing, making for fast reading. But the more effective parts were the feelings of Mollie, particularly, as she became ill with a malignant tumor somewhere in her head. The fears and uncertainties she felt as her treatment progressed rang true. The same applied to the feelings expressed by the big stud "Raleigh" as he faced his prostatism at the end of the story. However, there were too many blind alleys and complexities to the plot, and at least some of them didn't work for me. The "twin" of Mollie's dead husband didn't add much to the story, nor did the return of her first husband. And I was sorry that nothing seemed to happen in Mollie's favor by the end of the story. We know that she survived her cancer, but had no identifiable relationships. There were too many loose ends and unresolved situations to suit me. As a physician myself, I'm certainly aware of how some physicians and some patients have interacted over the last fifty years, and personally know of liasons that took place such as depicted in the book, but gracious! How many lovers/mistresses/seductions/rejectins do we need to make a point? Overall, the novel was a quick and easy read, in part due to the large print, and from the entertaining but often meaningless interactions we experienced as we read on. The keen descriptions of how ill patients really feel, plus the references to Boston in the "good old days" saved it for me, but might not work for other readers. Will I read another Alice Adams story? Probably, at least one, to look for the "formula" he/she uses to make them interesting enough to get published. But I'm not clearing a shelf for the books in my library!

Medicine Men was my introduction to the wonderful world of Alice Adams. It was with the greatest sadness that I finished reading her complete works. Ms. Adams is indeed a modern-day Jane Austen. She chronicles the lives, loves, and angst of the "upper crust." Her satire on the medical establishement in Medicine Men is priceless -- Raleigh Sanderson is the ultimate brilliant, egomaniacal, and totally self-absorbed surgeon. Molly and Felicia are bright, funny, talented women who are just ditzy and vulnerable enough to be totally engaging. Medicine Men is hardly a chronicle of modern cancer treatment. And if all your encounters with doctors have been sublime and reverential, you won't get it. But if you've ever dated, married, had an affair with, or been the patient of a less than perfect physician, you will find enough stereotypical truth in the likes of Raleigh, Dave, and Mark to be delightfully amused, entertained, and perhaps touched.

Alice Adams obviously labored to include all the 'hot' themes here -abortion, the homeless, revolting sex and drug use. All the themes are poorly and shallowly expressed. And, of course, there is the gay daughter and all the gay friends. If only Adams had written the story we were promised on the flyleaf.

A boring novel about boring waspy women in San Francisco who have no morals and no concern for anyone else besides themselves. These characters were predictable and dull. I hoped for something memorable to take away from this book, but I was left with nothing. I just hope that these characters are truly fictional and not based on real people. People like these characters are sad examples of humanity.

The insight into one family in a well-told tale gives the reader food-for-thought about many contemporary issues. Alice Adams is truly a gifted writer and this book is ample evidence of this fact. Five protagonists is a difficult feat and only a truly excellent writer can pull it off.