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Anonymous
Posted September 29, 2005
excellent book
I couldn't put this book down. The characters were richly drawn, the writing was a pleasure to read, and the story kept me involved with every page. This is not chick lit. It is for someone who wants a truly good book to cuddle up with.
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Anonymous
Posted May 13, 2004
a fine reading of a thoughtful story
Readers of Morris's four previous novels know that few can script dialogue with her skill and understanding of human foibles. This is rich territory for actor Jason Culp to mine and he does it superbly, whether it is the voice of Gordon Loomis, a man recently released from prison after 25 years or a 13-year-old street child who ekes out a living dealing drugs. Loomis has almost as much trouble outside prison walls as he did inside. He returns to his old neighborhood, which is dramatically changed. It's rundown, rife with drug dealers. His brother tries to help him find work, and Delores, the woman, who visited him regularly seeks to reconnect with him. He cannot forget his senseless crime; others don't want him to forget it. As she has done in the past Morris draws sharply etched, sympathetic portraits of the down and outers. We see them through her eyes and perhaps rethink our definition of forgiveness.
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Anonymous
Posted May 5, 2004
Unconvincing
An introspective, depressing book. The hero has stumbled out of 25 years in jail for murdering a girl when he was a teenager. Now in his forties, the book describes his travails in readjusting to his old neighbourhood. Throughout most of the book, the reader is teased with a constant ambiguity. Did Gordon Loomis murder the girl, or was it done by his sidekick? A deliberate result is a tension in the reader's attitude to him. Is Loomis really guilty but repentant? Or is he actually innocent? This book is not really a straightforward crime novel, per se. Emphasis is more on the psychological aspects of the character. Subtler than most crime novels. But perhaps somewhat unsatisfying to a reader who expects the latter. The passivity of Loomis, while maybe realistic, does not lend to an interesting read. One thing that Morris might perhaps have made more of is the adjustment after 25 years of absence. The book is set somewhere in 2003+. So Loomis is from the late 70s. Consider the myriad changes in American society since. Back then, no Walkmans or PCs. No cellphones. ATMs were just being introduced. No laser bar code scanners in stores. Plus, of course, the changes in fashions for men and, especially, women, during this period. Granted, Loomis would have seen some of this on TV when in jail. But that is vastly different from seeing it live. And of course, the change in prices. Morris periodically alludes to these changes throughout the narrative. But I would suggest that to Loomis, they would have far greater prominence. There have been in fact cases in real life with parallels to this. Like a woman who became a cloistered nun for several decades, early in the twentieth century. She then returned to society, and later wrote a book about the vast changes she felt.
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