It is a well written story; I especially liked the description of the dog's relationship (devotion really) to her mistress. I eventually figured out that chapters 3a and 3b were actually two different endings/paths to the story (admittedly after a little backtracking!). The idea of being able to change a person through experimental treatment was chilling and I enjoyed this part of the story. The book is well named - devotion isn't just about religion but devotion to a daughter, job, the name of a perfume etc. However, I gave it two starts (for the writing and style) as I hated the main character, really hated him. He caused so much destruction/devestation that I wondered if he was the one who was actually sectioned and everything that happened in the book was in his head. I also felt the son suddenly vanished from the story for no aparrent reason as did Merriweather. ( )

I will admit that it took me a long time to read and review this book. This is not because I did not enjoy it; the exact opposite is true. Most accustomed to fast and light reads that require little brain work, I found that this story could not be read without stopping to enjoy the poetry that was intrinsic to the writing. The author has an uncanny ability to take the most simple of events and create sheer beauty in the lyrical descriptions of those events. It's worth the effort and the time to enjoy the beauty of this work and writing. ( )

I applied for Devotion as a Early Review because the theme reminded me of John Pielmeier's Agnes of God with its clash between science and faith and also because the author's first book (The Marlowe Papers, which I haven't read) had been long-listed for the Desmond Elliott Prize. I was disappointed.

Devotion does not remind me of Agnes of God but rather of Paolo Coelho's The Witch of Portobello or, worse yet, James Redfield's The Celestine Prophecy – a lot of New Age drivel.

That said, Devotion is not badly written, though Ros Barber does occasionally slip from a third-person limited to a third-person omniscient narration, which can be disconcerting but is fortunately only occasional.

I'm going to rate this 3½***. To my own taste it's worth a lot less, but there must be a lot of readers out there who actually like Paolo Coelho and New Age "philosophy" and these readers may well rate Devotion far higher than the 3½*** I'm giving it. ( )

"Devotion" by Ros Barber is an interesting book. Religion vs. Science, and the effect of our thoughts and words making things happen. It's a book that will make you think. ( )

I saw by the reviews that this book has garnered many stars. I did not like it at all. In fact I only got half way through then stopped. I find this writing style very disjointed and hard to read. Just not for me. The subject matter is most intriguing, but just couldn't get through it. I will pass this on to my book club girls to get their opinion as well. ( )