Blame

Disappointing and Predictable

What a boring snooze, after the first two parts. It was so predictable and all the characters were so one note. They are all beautiful and have endless supplies of money and privilege. Why couldn't Patsy have been relegated to a life of linoleum and public transportation? Why didn't anything really happen? I'm supposed to feel bad for her because she resists an affair when she's married? And then we see that the man, her soulmate! has continued to carry a torch for her, after all these years. All the years she "suffered" with her older, wealthy (amazing good looking and virile) husband, expensive horses, organic garden and huge ranch dubbed the "Ponderosa". But inside she's felt blamed. Horrors! She was a drunk who thought she ran down and killed two people! She couldn't even remember! And aside from a few chapters about a short stint in prison (she gets blisters!), she suffers and struggles -- not at all. Upon her release there's a picturesque apartment, a colorful assortment of educated, wealthy friends, very cheap therapy and a seemingly well-paying job waiting for her. Oh, and I can't forget her thick, long, blonde hair which seems to stay with her even as she hits 50. She does lop it off in a soapy, sappy scene seemingly staged for a screenplay -- Charlize Theron maybe? I'm sure the hack job managed to look elegant, somehow. Couldn't she have any tribulations? A mole? A nasty prison scar? It's set in the 80s, so there are even the over-the-top gay characters, one of whom dies graciously of AIDS. I was stoked to read this book. It got so many good reviews. There were little bits that were brilliant, like a letter an old friend writes to Patsy when she's making her amends. These little sparks kept me going until the end, but it was really an intellectual's fairy tale. Ooh, look at the PhD with the DUI -- she didn't get to reproduce. Waaa, waaa. She'll have to settle for her land (enough to accommodate 2 horses and a barn) in Southern California and a successful career. The children were written by someone who does not have or know any. They were either amazingly wise and beautiful. (The clue is their "curls") or spoiled brats throwing tantrums that are indulged by the caricatured parents of today. This was trying to be Ian McEwan and falling way short. Read him instead. Atonement and On Chesil Beach are honestly touching and romantic and heartbreaking. Wow. I didn't realize how MUCH I didn't like this book until I decided to write this review.

4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

Quiet & fascinating novel

This book is not a murder mystery or fast-paced. It is the story of a woman who kills two Jehovah Witnesses because she is driving drunk. The book is about her life since that occurred and how she deals with guilt and the choices she makes. This is a totally character-driven story so if you don't like the characters, specifically Patsy, the main character, then you will not like the book or care about her choices. Critics keep mentioning the "twist" in the novel and they should stop because that pretty much gives it away. Plus, it's not all that dramatic. I suspected it almost from the beginning. The choices she made after the "twist" she may have made anyway. This is a very low-key novel, very well-written, interesting. The author made an unusual choice in not using quotation marks for dialogue. I often found that somewhat annoying and confusing because I wasn't sure if someone had said something aloud or if it was a mental comment. However, it did work with book to underscore its muted tone. Patsy is a woman who gave up some of her vivacity and personality when she gave up alcohol. Or is it because she is dealing with her guilt that she feels the need to be tamped down? Good discussion book.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Blackouts and Guilt

When Patsy has an accident that kills two Jehovah Witnesses who are solicting her home she does not remember a thing. Even though she is a professor at a nearby college, for years she has spent her free time bingeing on alcohol and pills. How the rest of her life is navigated by her tremendous guilt and the choices she makes because of it is the jist of this novel. There is a twist at the end, but what I loved most about this book was the characters and how each of their lives were impacted by this event. I have recommended this book to so many people and I think it is a wonderful book for book clubs. Interesting how the choices we make reverberate through our whole lives.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Just Okay

I enjoy reading memoirs, and thought this would be a good life story although fiction. Overall a good read, but I felt that with this type of story line the remorse was never really explored and the important factor in this woman's life after prison - recovery in AA wasn't quite developed either.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

I was definitely bored by this book. It was slow and and unevent

I was definitely bored by this book. It was slow and and uneventful. I found the main character unlikable and a disappointent.

A good read

I thought this was a great story. Patsy shows us how to live life on life's terms ~ something some folks (like me!) need to be reminded of every day.

Excellent.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It was captivating and poignant.

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

The writing is beautiful

I started to dog-ear pages and underline passages, but soon found almost every page had an associative pleasure, compelling a pause, re-read, and reflection. I've read reviews that said things like "beautiful, spare prose", but none of those books measured up to the expectation like this one. An added bonus - If you want to know the tempo and environmental feel of living in Southern California, this book takes you there. I am buying all her other books today.

A COMPELLING CHARACTER STUDY

With untold numbers of commercials and promos to her credit Hillary Huber is well known, sought after and respected in the voice role community. Luckily for listeners she turned her attention to audiobooks several years ago (Skinny Bastard, The Art Of Social War, and The Cheater). Not only is Huber blessed with a remarkable voice but she well knows how to use it, reflecting a state of mind.

When Patsy, the central character in Michelle Huneven's Blame, is asked by her psychiatrist why she comes to see him, her answer is "Guilt. How to live with guilt." The way those five words are delivered by Huber tells volumes about both the story and Patsy, striking a nerve for many of us. With Huber at the mike words are no longer just words but feelings, emotions.

There is a great deal of both in this honest, insightful story. History professor Patsy MacLemoore is for all accounts a success - she is also a drunk who wakes up in a jail cell one morning unable to remember why or how she got there. Almost laughingly she asks, "What'd I do?" As it happens two women, Jehovah's Witnesses, were found dead, run over in Patsy's driveway.

She is sent to prison where she attains sobriety thanks to AA. Upon her release she marries, teaches, and tries in many ways to atone. Yet always, ever, it is as she told her psychiatrist years before - the guilt.

Decades later the unthinkable happens and her life is again turned upside down. Blame is a penetrating character study, compelling and beautifully written leaving us with much to ponder.

- Gail Cooke

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