Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Book Review: Good to a Fault by Marina Endicott

Title: Good to a Fault
Author: Marina Endicott
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Subject: Family Relationships
Publisher: Freehand Books
Release date: July, 2008
Length: 480 pages
I got this book: Borrowed it from the library

Summary:
From Goodreads:
"Clara Purdy is at a crossroads. At forty-three, she is divorced, living in her late parents' house, and near-ing her twentieth year as a claims adjuster at a local insurance firm. Driving to the bank during her lunch hour, she crashes into a sharp left turn, taking the Gage family in the other car with her. When bruises on the mother, Lorraine, prove to be late-stage cancer, Clara decides to do the right thing. She moves Lorraine's three children and their terrible grandmother into her own house—and then has to cope with the consequences of practical goodness: exhaustion, fury, hilarity, and unexpected love.

What, exactly, does it mean to be good? What do we owe each other in this life, and what do we deserve? Good to a Fault is an ultimately joyful book that digs deep, with leavening humor, into questions of morality, class, and social responsibility. Marina Endicott looks at life and death through the compassionate, humane lens of a born novelist: being good, being at fault, and finding some balance in between."

Personal opinion:
I have to admit that I didn't finish this book. I stopped reading at page 175. Technically I just left it there and then I didn't pick it up until it had to go back to the library. It is not that I didn't like the book, I did. I liked the concept, even though a bit unbelievable. I loved Dolly, even though she does some things that would be considered wrong. But the pace... it was just too slow to keep me interested enough to keep reading. I especially disliked the parts between Clara and the priest, who has a love interest in her. I can't remember what the priest is called. I kind of want to know how the book ended, but time just ran out. I guess I just wasn't in the mood for something as slow paced as this book was. I do think it is a nice book, but it just wasn't for me at this time and place.


It was okay.

Purchase links: Amazon
Other reviews: Leeswammes
If you have reviewed this book and want your link here, please leave a comment with the link, and I will add it :)

2 comments:

  1. It happens... sometimes you read a book at the wrong moment and it can't interest you enough to keep reading. Sometimes I'm too impatient and want some action and other times I find a book much too full of action.

    I really enjoyed the book, as you know. Well, good of you for trying. And lucky you got it from the library rather than buying it.

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  2. I've seen a few reviews of this book and the general consensus seems to be that it is just an 'OK' sort of book. The situation does seem to be a bit unbelievable.

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