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Title: Ordinary People by Judith Guest ISBN: 0140065172 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: January, 1993 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $11.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.26
Rating: 5
Summary: the shock of recognition
Comment: Ms Guest tells the story, which the movie faithfully followed, of an upper middle class family in suburban Chicago. Calvin Jarrett is a successful tax attorney and his wife Beth is the queen of the country club crowd, but their son Conrad has just returned home from a sanitarium after slashing his wrists following the death of his beloved older brother. As Conrad tries to readjust to school, friends, a new psychiatrist and most of all his parents, he plumbs deeper into the depths of his own soul and comes to some startling realizations about himself and his family. At the same time, his father begins to realize that there are terrifying depths lurking beneath the seemingly successful surface of his marriage.
The book continually prompts the shock of recognition as we discern character traits and even scenes out of our own lives and we come to see that the Jarretts are truly "Ordinary People". The extraordinary tragedy in their lives has merely revealed fault lines that lie beneath many of our own lives.
GRADE: A+
Rating: 5
Summary: This novel was captivating, and quite enjoyable!
Comment: This is a story of a typical American family, living a typical American life. Then the unthinkable happens. The death of Buck, the family's eldest of two sons, brings Conrad to depression, which eventually leads him to attempt to attempt to take his own life. Follow Conrad and his parents as they recover from the painful tragedies they have recently suffered. Through these hard times their relationships are constantly challenged. The family is torn apart by these experiences, but are joined together in their struggle to heal. Live through their daily struggles to become normal once again: Conrad returns to school and must deal with curious and all to often cruel teenagers. His parents must return to work and friends, all the while explaining "why" when they themselves aren't even sure what went wrong. Showing the true uniqueness of each character is what Guest does best in this book. She brings the characters to life so that you can feel their pain and their joy; their deep hate and intense love for one another. We would recommend this novel to anyone. Throughout the story, the reader is given the ability to see the results of suicide from many points of view. You can see and feel each character's desperate steps in trying to get their lives back on track, overcome denial, and just live.
Rating: 4
Summary: How conflicts disrupts a family
Comment: "Ordinary People" is the story of a family's struggle with death and serious mental illness. Through the loss of the older son in a tragic boating accident, each member of the family grieves in their own way. The hardest struck in the family is the younger and remaining son, Conrad, who was present at the time of the death. Soon after the death of the brother, Conrad attempted suicide. The story begins after his return from the hospital. The process of mental recovery is one that takes a huge toll on the family. The parent's lack of understanding for his illness is cause for a breakdown from within the family.
Judith Guest uses conflict to develop the theme that in life we all face internal battles and, though these battles may seem difficult, in the end they mold us into the people we are. Guest's molding process takes place in mainly one form, and that is the mental conflict within the son Conrad. He fights with himself almost constantly throughout the book. After the accident it seems almost impossible for him to control his life. Conrad wishes also for his mental battle to be understood. Most of the problems within the family originate from his will to be understood.
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Title:Ordinary People ASIN: 6300216977 Publisher: Paramount Studio Pub. Date: 30 January, 1996 List Price(USD): $14.95 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $13.99 |
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Title: TheName of the Rose : including Postscript to the Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco ISBN: 0156001314 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: September, 1994 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Avoiding Liability in Premises Security by R. Keegan Federal, Michael F. Hunter, Jennifer L. Fogleman ISBN: 0697176444 Publisher: Strafford Publications, Incorporated Pub. Date: January, 1990 List Price(USD): $62.50 |
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Title: Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck ISBN: 0140177396 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: September, 1993 List Price(USD): $8.00 |
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Title: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury ISBN: 0345342968 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: February, 1995 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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