Connecticut Books

This book should have been much better considering it's plot deals with some very timely issues, namely race relations, teen violence and alienation, corporate downsizing, etc.

Unfortunately, the book is poorly written and verbose, with pages and pages of the main protagonist's stream of consciousness and flashback monologues that fail to advance the plot. At times it seems the author couldn't decide what kind of novel he wanted to write, and resorted to throwing in as many contemporary issues and concerns and literary techniques and devices as he could think of.

While there are some positives, including interesting characterizations of some of the protagonists, overall the novel gives the impression that the author bit off more than he could chew.

I enjoyed this book, but I must admit that I thought John Del Vecchio's prose in The 13th Valley was much stronger. The important factor was the way the book examines the reactions of what would seem to be good kids to circumstances... What keeps a good kid good and what makes a good kid go bad?

Much like Mr. Del Vecchio's other book, the 13th Valley, I really enjoyed Darkness Falls. The book forces you to put yourself in Johnny's life and forces you to feel his pain, a pain that is so relavant to today. At the conclusion I found myself studying my foundation's in life and where they are going to take me. If you enjoy characters and a deep meaningful story pick up Darkness Falls.

As a parent of high school age kids, I could relate closely to the adolescent and school issues this book examines. In fact, it deals with such a broad selection of family and personal issues, there's something here that will touch almost everyone. I felt that parts of the story were written about me and I believe that most readers will experience this same feeling. The events are very troubling and this book puts you on the spot, to deal with them and where we're going as a society.

Meals served up by Del Vecchio (I think this is his 4th book) are not fast food. But, when you get up from the table, you feel full, satisfied and as if you've just experienced a new cuisine. Sticking with the metaphor, the story repeats on you. The issues and choices will continue to haunt you for a long time.

John Del Vecchio is best known for his Vietnam novels, written from his own experience in that war. This book, too, draws from his personal history, this time as an Italian-American, growing up in a large family in Connecticut. And like his other novels (13th Valley; For All Things Living; Carry Me Home), his characters, plot and writing is so good, you'll keep reading even if your vision of the world is quite different from the author's (note that this reviewer is a bleeding heart liberal pacifist WASP -- Del Vecchio is not)!

This story covers so much that an attempt to explain it in detail may make it sound too complicated. The writing is so good, it isn't too complicated, but it isn't a quick read.

Del Vecchio writes primarily from the view of Johnny Panuzio, a middle-aged husband and father in the process of being downsized from his job as an advertising executive. He struggles with a gambling addiction while functioning as best friend to Mitch (a black coworker), a good husband to Julia (fresh back in the workplace as an executive in a publishing company), a dedicated father to a college-aged son, and a son and daughter in high school, a patient son to Rocco, who lives with the family and is slowly losing his memories.

Add a mysterious death, a love story, corporate game-playing, and some local politics, all touched by a rich Italian-American heritage, and you have a book you won't want to put down. In addition to Johnny Panuzio's viewpoint, Del Vecchio also offers the reader a view from the murdered high school student (through publications of letters the young man had written), as well as from the views of his teen-aged son and his aging father. There are flashbacks from Johnny's childhood, as well as a running series of his own "final thoughts".

A good, thick read that will make you think long after you've put it back on the shelf.

A very original if flawed book. The character is obstinately real, honest, even as annoying as some people we know. Auden's line, "You will love your crooked neighbor with your croooked heart" comes to mind. The parallel story of the play-within-a-novel doesn't work terribly well, and it doesn't begin to resonate with the depths of the dimensions in Mattison's The Book Borrower. September 11 jumps in, a Deus Ex Machina, to save the plot with Something Really Important. Still, a very compelling and refreshing read.

I am in the middle of the book and totally love it! The author has done an amazing job of writing the way women think.... overthinking, justifying, overanalyzing. The author also has done an amazing job of writing how we behave.... sometimes illogical, both good and bad. I am finding the book fascinating and often see myself in the main character. I am looking forward to reading the author's other books

Unlike most of the other people who wrote reviews here, I was racing home from work each day to devour more of this book. I love Mattison's writing, and the voice of her complicated main character in this novel is easy to hear and endlessly interesting to listen to. Although I'm not sure I would like Daisy in real life, I couldn't put this book down because I loved having access to the internal struggles and seeing how they often contrasted with her actual actions.

Although I sometimes found Daisy's choices illogical or hard to understand, I think that is the point of this sort of book: it's a specific character study, as much as it is a collection of observations about human nature in general. The slightly fragmented style of the story didn't bother me at all, because I had no trouble keeping up, and in general I like nonlinear stories. (note: LA Confidential, the movie, was way too fragmented for me).

Daisy is a fragmented, complicated person, and she is the one telling the story, so it makes sense that the stories are a little bit fragmented and interwoven. That's how real women are! I think Mattison has real insights that more readers should enjoy.

Daisy Andalusia is in her fifties but may be as fickle as a twenty-year-old as far as romance goes. Pekko, her former lover turned slumlord husband, has the unfortunate honor of having only half a wife. Daisy's preoccupation with sex makes her a fairly undesirable life mate, because the wind blows her this way and that.
She organizes clutter for other people. And, in the process, she makes herself just available enough to satisfy her own curiosity about the lives of her so-called clients. At least one of those clients helps her with her sexual addiction as Daisy goes about cheating yet remaining unfulfilled.

The title of the story, The Wedding of the Two-Headed Woman, is taken from a tabloid but says so much about the life Daisy has created for herself. Will her risky behavior leave her with nothing in the end?

The reader will consider this book either a collection of symbolism or a book of foolishness. This book is worth the read and worth a bout of quiet reflection.

I really might have given this book a four-star rating, because I would be inclined to save the five-star ratings for Faulkner-level fiction, but I wanted to offset the tepid reviews of other readers. I liked this book a lot.

I picked the book off the shelf for its bizarre title, and I was very glad that I did. This book works wonderfully on a number of levels---I will be thinking about it for quite some time. It's not your typical easy-read mystery novel, but it is nonetheless extremely engaging. It's deep enough to satisfy my English major origins, and accessible enough to hold me to the end, despite my overloaded lifestyle and constant interruptions from my children. This is an extremely insightful book that rings very true, both emotionally and philosophically.

The themes---or, rather, what I perceived as the themes---are complex and thought-provoking. The author doesn't dole out easy answers to moral and philosophical questions---life doesn't work that way, and neither should literature. What are some of the themes, as I perceive them? Oh, well........Personal moral responsibility, loyalty, the interconnectedness of human beings, moral relativity, emotional intimacy, how one judges the "goodness" of another human being, the emotional fall-out from keeping (or not keeping secrets), intellectual snobbery, the purpose of art..... I may be completely off base, but these are the issues that this book raised in my mind. Oh, and I disagree with the person who found the book bizarre. The characters, and even the plot, rang very true for me.

Whether you like or dislike this book, I predict that it will be very memorable for you.

I think Laurien Berenson did a GREAT job of writing this book.If you havent read it, it is excellent! At Amazon.com they areselling it, so if you want it quick, order it now! Anyway, I really loved this book, and it is great for people who like mysteries, and people who love animals (such as myself). I am only 12 and I love mysteries! My sister, who is 20 loves mysteries and when I gave this book to her to read, she read it in one night! She told me it was the best page-turner she had read in years! END

As a new fancier of purebred dogs and a long time lover of good mystery writing...the Melanie Travis mystery series is wonderful. I can't remember the last time I have stayed up until dawn to finish a book. Ms. Berenson's writing is witty and lets you know what really goes on in and out of the "show dog ring". As far as mystery writing goes...Ms. Berenson gets my vote for BEST IN SHOW! I look forward to her next ventures!

As both a dog lover and mystery addict, I expected to like this book a lot more than I did. Unfortunately, I found the characters (aside from the narrator) and the tale a little thin. For example, the only way Berenson can fit Travis' son into the plot is to mention that he's whining for junk food, which happens all too often. With tighter writing (or editing - I'm not sure who's at fault here) and a few less transparent characters, this book would be really engaging. As it stands, however, it's only decent.

I've been a dog breeder/exhibitor for 30 yrs.so I know she has her facts together and it great to be able to relate to those aspects while also getting a good mystery.

Melanie Travis appears to have learned quite a bit about the dog show world in between Pedigree and this second Berenson novel. In Underdog we find Melanie is a Poodle owner now, grooming her puppy for the big time, yet still unable to avoid trouble.

It happens when a dog trainer and friend of Melanie's dies suddenly from what appears to be natural causes. Melanie, however, refuses to let sleeping dogs lie (I have GOT to stop it with these dog puns) and returns once again to sleuth mode.

Like Pedigree, Underdog is a quick read; I would estimate a mystery fan could finish this book in 1-2 days. The story as a whole is quite good -- it will be interesting to see how the budding romance between Melanie and fellow dog owner Sam Driver plays out in future novels -- yet I must admit I had a good idea as to who the murderer was early in the story. Usually I'm not very adept at that, nevertheless I'll see if I can go two for three with the next Melanie Travis mystery.

This book shows one of our greatest legal minds, a close relative of mine, at work. Very few people know that in addition to being a star attorney, Louis Nizer (the author of the book, not myself) was an all- star baseball player in the ill-fated Norewigan pro- baseball leage. This book unpacks both, and Nizers love of felines. A smash hit!

Legal thrillers are my favorite genre of books; however, Attorney Nizer either assumes his readers are not paying attention or stupid. I was very tired of the repetition which caused me to put down this book several times. It is a riveting story which makes this book worth while, but be prepared to be annoyed at the author's technique. It might work well with a jury, it doesn't work well with an educated reader.

Louie was my step-grandfather. All of his books reveal the truth of his existence. Louie had a passion for the law that exceeds words or description. An injustice to Louie was a sin against G-d and man. This book wrote itself a the story unfolded during its authorship. I remember having dinner with my parents and Louie (and my glorious grandmother and Louie's precious wife..Mildred) as Louie in his later years was engrossed by this case and its twists and turns. I was unable to put the book down and I hope you enjoy it too..and it gives insight into how a lawyer could love the law and his profession with intensity and passion. Email me with thoughts: swollins@aol.co

As the story unfolds the tension mounts. It left no doubt in my mind that this was truly an unjustly accused and convicted man. I was also greatly impressed with the dedication and compassion of defense attorneys.

Louis Nizer wrote this book at age 90 ! Unbelievable ! This is an incisive true account of the 4 trials of Murray Gold for murder, his mistrials, his convictions, his mental deterioration, and his eventual paralysis of will. It illustrates perfectly the chaos that ensues when the formal court system bumps up against the mentally ill defendant. The defendant sabatoges not only his case, his attorneys,his family, and the judge, but himself as well. The results, as here, are catastrophic. The only real ray of hope in this man's ordeal was the skill, creativity, persistence, and compassion shown by attorney Louis Nizer. I hope he lives to be 150. They just don't make them like that anymore !

A "must have" for anyone that lives in CT. or on the East Coast of New England. Mr. Handler writes well and helps you to picture perfectly the area about which he writes. You feel you are there and part of it all. I enjoyed every moment of it and felt that I knew the characters personally.

The prologue of this mystery about a series of murders in a small community started off fabulous. Unfortunately, the rest of the book never quite lived up to that excitement. It simply slowly unfolded. Mitch is a despondent film critic who has lost his wife and can't bring himself out of the ensuing depression. His boss sends him off to do a travel article in hopes that a change of scenery will do him good. He finds himself renting a carriage house there on the small Connecticut Island of Big Sister. A dead body turns up and Desiree, a Lieutenant in the Major Crimes Squad, is summoned to investigate. There were several interesting facets to the main characters. Since Mitch is a film critic, the frequent comparisons he makes between old films and real life were right on target. Desiree's constant search for homes for her rescued stray cats was amusing and also showed her need to produce the happy outcomes that she couldn't in her job. However, I felt the attraction between Mitch and Desiree was forced and didn't feel real. It could have easily been left out entirely. Mitch has an idea on how to resolve the murders that works well with his character but I thought there could have been more of a twist at the end.

Though only thirty-two years old, New York City film critic and author Mitch Berger feels his life ended the day his beloved wife died from ovarian cancer. His editor Lacy Mickerson worries that Mitch rarely leaves his Greenwich Village home, passing time watching classic films. He even rejected a trip to Cannes for the festival. Because she cares, Lacy sends Mitch to Dorset on the Connecticut Gold Coast, allegedly to write an article, but more to get him out of his apartment.

Surprisingly, Mitch finds the town charming and even rents a home from Dolly Seymour on exclusive Big Sister as he sees this as an opportunity to start over again. However, his need for a new type of tranquillity is disturbed when he finds a corpse in his garden. Police Lieutenant Desiree Mitry of the State Major Crimes Squad leads the official investigation even as Mitch makes his own brand of inquiries. As they run into one another, Mitch and Desiree form an attraction, but he feels guilty and she hurts from the abandonment of her first spouse, making it obvious that once the case is solved the relationship is over or is it?

Renowned for his Hoag novels, David Handler begins a new series starring two attractive and complex individuals. A die hard New Yorker, Mitch remains in mourning until he arrives at Big Sister while Dolly is a beautiful Amazonian African-American who mistrusts males except if they are cats. Thrown together in an interesting police-procedural-amateur sleuth who-done-it, they form the basis for a wonderful opening novel.

Harriet Klausner

I really wanted The Cold Blue Blood to be the start of a great new series, because I was a big fan of the Stewart Hoag books. But while film critic Mitch Berger is a well-conceived character, unfortunately Desiree Mitry is simply not believable. The fault lies primarily in Handler's attempts to have Desiree sound like a black woman. It doesn't work and, sadly, she comes across sounding like an aging valley girl, repeating the word "way" w-a-y too often, calling other women "girl" regardless of their ages, and talking about her "bootay" (read that as butt.) As well, her reactions to Mitch seem more teenage than adult. And this is a shame, because the plot is not without merit and the other characters in the book are well-drawn and believable. Handler is a seasoned writer who knows how to retain control of his material, and how to move the narrative along at a good pace. As well, his descriptions of Connecticut are accurate and appealing; he captures very successfully the flavor of the state and its great social contradictions. But for this projected series to work, he's going to have to make Des more real, more human, and less of a caricature. I'll go for the next book in the series, in the hope that he can pull it off.

Though only thirty-two years old, New York City film critic and author Mitch Berger feels his life ended the day his beloved wife died from ovarian cancer. His editor Lacy Mickerson worries that Mitch rarely leaves his Greenwich Village home, passing time watching classic films. He even rejected a trip to Cannes for the festival. Because she cares, Lacy sends Mitch to Dorset on the Connecticut Gold Coast, allegedly to write an article, but more to get him out of his apartment.

Surprisingly, Mitch finds the town charming and even rents a home from Dolly Seymour on exclusive Big Sister as he sees this as an opportunity to start over again. However, his need for a new type of tranquillity is disturbed when he finds a corpse in his garden. Police Lieutenant Desiree Mitry of the State Major Crimes Squad leads the official investigation even as Mitch makes his own brand of inquiries. As they run into one another, Mitch and Desiree form an attraction, but he feels guilty and she hurts from the abandonment of her first spouse, making it obvious that once the case is solved the relationship is over or is it?

Renowned for his Hoag novels, David Handler begins a new series starring two attractive and complex individuals. A die hard New Yorker, Mitch remains in mourning until he arrives at Big Sister while Dolly is a beautiful Amazonian African-American who mistrusts males except if they are cats. Thrown together in an interesting police-procedural-amateur sleuth who-done-it, they form the basis for a wonderful opening novel.

Harriet Klausner

First if all this book has so many charachters with not so interesting lives that even after reading 300 of the about 700 pages I still was not drawn to continue. This was a book that 8 fellow friends tried to read and we all felt similar, one or two of us even shot to the end to see if there was anything groundbreaking that would make us want to continue. Sadly not. Of the 6 books we have read together so far this was the only stinker.

This book is beautifully written - each character has a very distinct voice. It gives an interesting glimpse into a small Connecticut town in 1976. Each of the characters has his or her own demons, some more than others, and it is interesting to follow each of them as they wrestle with them. Some of the characters are more sympathetic than others, although I did not find myself rooting for one or another character as one might in another novel. I recommend this book just for the sheer enjoyment of the writing - Malone obviously loves using words and seeing how they work together and in differing combinations.

I was thrilled to find Malone and am wondering where he is today and why he isn't writing another one of these wonderful, bizarre novels. Dingley Falls has a strange premise, a government facility infecting the townspeople of Dingley Falls. Dingley Falls, a strange little town whose citizens include a midget, a gay clergy member, poets and artists, wealthy matriarchs and even a communist-loving rapist. How he manages to make this odd assortment of people amusing is a marvel. Handling Sin is definitely his best(I haven't read them all yet), so far. And if you loved Handling Sin, you will surely enjoy Dingley Falls. Michael Malone reminds me of Richard Russo and John Irving put together with a lighter humorous touch.

This book is not only well written but it is a dlightful story of a bunch of quirky peoople in a small town.

This book compares favorably to The Shipping News and should have had more press. It is a delightful tale of a town through the eyes of the current generation and the woes of the previous one. The slimy and the sublime coexist in the small town that sits next to disaster and eats with it, drinks with it and revels in its lunacy. The watershed that feeds this lunacy could well be said to play a major role in its fabulous tale. Malone has done an excellent job.

The Night Bus is one of those rare novels whose lyrical, ethereal prose is matched by the strength of its plot. Told from the point of view of Cath, who walks a narrow stretch between sanity and insanity, the story masterfully unfolds. Without ever hitting you over the head with melodramatic revelations, Janice Law deftly weaves in subtle clues and red herrings that compell you to read through to the end (without stopping, if you can help it).

When reading The Night Bus, you enter a different plain, where protagonist Cath's own sensibilities lie. As compelling as this novel is -- I really did have a hard time putting it down -- here's why I rated it at four stars instead of five. Though the story is told in relatively close third person, you feel someone distanced from Cath, which makes sense since she is also somewhat removed from herself. However, this also makes it hard to feel particularly close to Cath and to the other characters, as well. Also, Cath's "special gift," alluded to throughout, is never fully explored. Nonetheless, this rich world of music, murder, good and evil, crafted with great skill by the talented Janice Law, makes The Night Bus a thrilling and satisfying read. I highly recommend it.

"The Night Bus" refers not only to the wheeled vehicle that Cath uses for her journey, but also as a symbol of her attempt to find freedom from madness.

The question throughout the book is, who is insane: Cath, or perhaps her husband Derek? What about her cruel sister-in-law, Derek's sister Yvonne? Is Cath's attorney, Luc, really on her side?

The book begins (oddly enough, like the beginning of Zenna Henderson's "Pilgrimage") with a woman on a bus in the dead of night, fleeing problems she doesn't want to face. (It was this sole similarity to Henderson's books that made me continue.) The woman, who is suffering from amnesia and who makes up a name from bits and pieces she overhears, thinks that she has escaped. At this point, she is mugged, and the hospital and police put out a bulletin that brings the sister-in-law of the woman -- CATH, we learn, -- to her "aid."

Throughout the book, Cath begins to remember bits and pieces of a frightening truth. The book is hard to put down, not only because of the suspense but because there are phrases that are downright poetic. Cath's (the author's?) enjoyment that comes from etymology makes the book such fun to read.

The twist in plot -- and in the characters' minds -- makes for a good book. I'm only holding back a * because "The Night Bus" left me feeling almost... unclean... as though people can't be trusted. That, and only that, caused the story to be unsatisfying. However, on the whole, it's a good, solid book.

If you read or saw Sleeping with the Enemy, you ge the idea of this book. Fragile woman in love with a potentially evil man and her attempts to free herself from the emotional entanglement. Of course she's mentally fragile and physically delicate and wonderfully arty. Of course right away she meets a tall man with incredibly kind eyes. Not much new here.

From time to time I found the writing to be superb, almost poetic. Other times I found myself skipping pages that were filled with exquisite details of conversations and occurances that were there only to lead up to something and were unimportant in themselves (do we really have to know all about Attorney Luc's children?).

Finally, I was desperately irritated with the cover of this book. I know, I know, never judge a book...But I did. I got this book primarily because of the cover. I thought it would be lighthearted and maybe full of magical realism because of the wavy text and the musical score and the inviting park scene. Well, forget it! This is supposed to be a rather dark and twisted tale though it never amounts to much more than a "scary" episode on a daily soap opera (remember Dark Shadows?) And if you can't figure out who the bad guy is from the first few chapters, you have to turn in your Sherlock Holmes decoder ring!

I picked out this book because I sometimes enjoy psychological suspense stories and because I often find amnesia mysteries (a distinct small genre in thrillers!) to be fascinating. The first few pages seemed so anxious and uncomfortable I almost put the book aside! Then I was compelled to read a few more pages, and a few more--and then I was hooked. Now I am glad that I read the whole book, since I found it to be totally engaging and captivating. It was one of those books that became so suspenseful that I barely could look up to converse with my family at times! I found the character of Cath to be quite sympathetic, although her flights of fancy could be disturbing and I began to fear--as she did--what might lie in her past. I'm not sure I'd wish to rush to be her friend, but I had a growing compassion and affection for her as the book developed, and truly wanted everything to work out for her. I don't know if something like this story could truly happen in real life, but as fiction it was compelling, fascinating, and intriguing. The characters of the husband and sister-in-law were very complex and unusual--as was Cath's--and were revealed gradually amid engrossing suspense. I never felt as if I had it all figured out; I couldn't wait for the next revelation. The theme of music in the book was very enjoyable and added another dimension. Cath and her husband are both gifted musicians, and the wonderful music they create together provides both a calming backdrop for the dark events as well as adding adding complexity to their relationship. I recommend the book wholeheartedly as a great psychological suspense thriller.

Catherine "Cath" Tolland was fleeing from her New England home by bus when she was mugged and suffered the head injury. She has no credit cards or other identification her and cannot remember anything about her past including her name. The police find out who she really is.

Her Connecticut husband brings Cath to what he insists was their happy home. Yet Cath begins to remember some of his affairs with his music students. Her sister-in-law insists that Cath was losing her mind before she suffered from amnesia and her runaway attempt by bus was the latest mental incident. Yet Cath wonders why she remembers no hints of psychological care. Her lawyer insists she is rich. Yet Cath wonders why she left home with no money or credit to ride a bus south. As Cath begins to recover her memory, she realizes that for years someone has been murdering Derek's most talented female students. Cath wonders if she is the killer?

THE NIGHT BUS is an exciting psychological thriller that demonstrates the width of talent of author Janice Law. The story line is fast-paced, exciting, and avoids the prime pitfalls of using amnesia as a plot mechanism. The main charcaters seem genuine due to their weird but realistic interrelationships. Although the occasional character introspection slows the tale a bit, Ms. Law shows she has the ability to bring her audience along for a ride on the darker side of human emotion.

Harriet Klausner

I searched Amazon looking for a novel about the loss of will and faith in midlife, and this book came up. And it's exactly what I was hoping to find. I'm astonished at what Rachel Basch created. I'm fascinated by the clergy, especially the intellectual ones. How do they reconcile life's disappointments with God's promises of happiness to those who trust in Him? How do the thoughtful clergy deliver sermon after weekly sermon, overselling the promises of faith, then having to comfort the bereaved who believed those promises?

The author paints a vivid, deeply personal portrait of such a person. The symbolism used, the supporting characters, the situations described are all realistic scenarios for what a small-town reverend encounters. The beautiful part of this book is the author creates symbolic meaning from this common, day to day happenings.
Reverend Nash is not a simple portrait. It's a picture of depth, of human pain and longing, a picture of a person who jumped into Belief with unquestioned faith, because that's what the Bible requires. Ms. Basch portrays what happens to a person years after the emotionally idealistic commitment is made.

This book is well-written, not contrived, with subtle but sturdy plot development. I'm most impressed with the author's able depiction of congregational life. Life in a parish is messy, rewarding, and oddly dangerous. This book does remind me of the best narratives about congregational life - yes, Gail Godwin or Buechner's The Final Beast. Author weaves other sources well and there's a nice interplay going on between the kind of healing that spiritual direction offers and the kind of healing that therapy offers. Nice work.

A drinking, smoking, swearing lady reverend who is separated from her husband and has a lousy relationship with her sister. I read and read looking for something to move Reverend Nash up and over the edge of her constant grieving, but the one character who might have shared some insight for her had a sudden stroke within a few pages of his introduction. Too contrived! The symbolism is too blatant; the characters stereotypical. The only one to love in this novel is the nephew and he had a very forced, brief relationship with his aunt.

The author used imagery, but nothing that was especially memorable. The plot twisted every which way. I kept expecting something [anything] to HAPPEN, but Jordanna seemed doomed from the beginning. I had to force myself to read the book after the first few chapters. Don't bother!

I couldn't stop reading this book. I was nabbed immediately by the clear, crisp prose style, the acute observations of family dynamics, and the gutsy depiction of a character who seems almost arrogantly larger-than-life -- to some of the very people who surround her. The character of Jordanna Nash reminded me, in fact, very much of my own older sister (one of the key relationships in the novel is between Jordanna and her younger sister). I loved the depiction of Jordanna Nash's apparently supreme confidence, her occasional obtuseness, and her swelling, wounded heart. She is a character I've never read before, and yet I recognize her type from real life. I was compelled to follow her story until it was through, and though I wished for a different end for Jordanna, I recognized the aptness of the one she's chosen. This is a book about a woman who throws herself into life. It is about connection and moral choices. But mostly it is about how people keep going after tragedy strikes. The style of the book just kept me reading, and I was very sorry when it was through. Too bad the author has only two novels out so far.

What happens to us when a major cataclysmic event re-orders our lives? How do we go about organizing our world and rewiring our nerve endings to deal with pain and loss? This novel deals with these issues but ups the ante and forces us to see these things through the eyes of one who is supposed to be more perfect spiritually and her view from behind the pulpit. The juxtaposition of a person of faith dealing with grief, loss and questioning faith while simultaneously holding the position of religious leader compounds and heightens those issues. As the reviewer from the Christian Science Monitor put it ?The Passion of Reverend Nash is one of those novels that's so wonderful you're afraid to recommend it because if your friends don't like it, you'll just pity them.?

This book is not good or bad, but it is okay but yet I could not put it down. There were some really good stories and them some that sound like a history textbook. I wished there were pictures of ghost orbs. Overall, it was a decent book but is a little overpriced.

This is a great book on Historicial Eastern Connecticut and lore. The
ghost stories only add to it. Most facinating stuff. Buy the book
you will love it.

I was hoping for something new about these stories, but there wasn't.
It was an o.k. book if you've never heard them before, but definately not worth the cost for so few pages.

We are fortunate enough to have met Donna Kent, and yet she continues to surprise and engross us with her command of the supernatural!! We have read many books, some more authoritative, some less, concerning paranormal legends and lore of New England, but this one still manages to tell nuances of stories we THOUGHT we already knew!! Donna's warm personality, combined with her considerable first-hand paranormal experiance, makes this a must-have part of any devotee's libray!! We can only hope and pray that she is working on Part Two already!!!

Steve and Nancy

I haven't read anything by Wally Lamb in a while and while this book was not exactly written by Wally; it still captures his spirit. He inspired these women to get to the inner truth and beauty of harch realities and this touches you in the same fashion that Mr. Lamb does. I am very impressed.

I liked most of these stories except for "Prom Queen" which was just the typical day for a druggie - with tedious detail. The rest were very well-written, although lots of them lacked self-insight. Only a few of the writers felt any remorse for their crimes - one of them, Roberta Schwartz, gave an excellent perspective of prison life. One woman killed her husband because he molested her granddaughter. She felt bad and called herself a murderer. She shouldn't feel bad for doing the world a favor. Another girl killed her boyfriend in self-defense, and she felt badly too. It seems either the writers felt badly about themselves, or blamed somebody else for their actions.

Wally Lamb is one of those writers that readers wish would write more. But seeing how he spends his time, readers can understand why he isn't pounding away at a keyboard relentlessly. Instead, he is inspiring incarcerated women to reach within themselves, bring forth what they know, and express themselves creatively. The pieces in this second collection are poignant given the circucumstances in which they were written, but hopeful in that they give voice to these neglected women, giving them expression. It is uncertain whether any of them could write as effectively about something outside of their experience or out of their imagination; however, that is not the point. The fact that they are able to be creative with what they do know is enough.

Excellent anthology of writing by women in prison who took part in Wally Lamb's writingn classes. Several of the most touching pieces are by young women serving long sentences for crimes committed at very young ages. Great reading for anyone interested in social justice issues.