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Title: Breaking Her Fall by Stephen Goodwin ISBN: 0-15-100806-X Publisher: Harcourt Pub. Date: 01 August, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.06 (18 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Breaking My Fall
Comment: This book is awesome! From the first moment I cracked open Breaking Her Fall, I found myself a huge fan of Tucker Jones, rooting for his safe return from his perilous journey-entirely modern, entirely timeless-into all matters of the heart. Graceful, deft, humorous, more than a heartfelt account of fatherly love, Breaking is the story of a single father trying to reach his teenage daughter, his son; it's the story, also, of a man who must learn to put the past behind him and venture out into unchartered territory, towards relationships where love-meaningful love-is honored above safer, more complacent, constructs. By book's end I felt appropriately challenged-to love honestly; to love better. To find a love that matters. Thank you, Mr. Goodwin. You have delivered us a true gift: a story that is both a marvelous adventure and a call to action. Wake up! Read the book. Your heart will thank you.
Rating: 4
Summary: Nice to get a father's perspective
Comment: I liked this book immensely. As a woman, I like getting into into a man's head, and Stephen Goodwin's hero, Tucker Jones, is compelling and believable. I was rooting for Tucker and his children throughout. I also thoroughly enjoyed the Clinton-Lewinsky, upscale D.C . setting.
And Tucker's relationship with Lily is spot on believable.
My only problem with Tucker is that he never seems properly cognizant of the fact that, because of his actions, a boy lost his eye. Tucker obsesses about a lot of things, but the attention he pays to Jed's lost eye is cursory at best. (And Jed doesn't seem adversely affected by the fact that he lost an eye. He still is the star of his soccer team; is this normal?) I kept excusing the slim treatment of Jed's injury as denial on Tucker's part, but since the novel is over 400 pages anyway, I think Goodwin could have devoted a couple more paragraphs to Tucker's presumed remorse about it.
One more thing - Tucker tells us that Lily's baby Julia died on April 19, 1987, a work day in the novel. April 19, 1987 was, however, Easter Sunday. I know because my oldest child was born on Saturday, April 18, 1987, the day before. A tiny careless error that momentarily pulled me out of Tucker's world.
Rating: 4
Summary: I loved this book
Comment: As a writer, and avid reader, my critique criteria are simple: I want an engaging story (and that includes well-developed characters) and strong writing. Breaking Her Fall has both. I give extra stars when I don't want the book to end, when I feel true pleasure in the experience of losing myself in a story, and that's how I felt while reading this book.
I loved the plot, characterizations, pacing, and dialogue. I particularly enjoyed the tender, emotional moments between the protagonist and his children, a man trying to be a good father, who fails but keeps trying, and ultimately is successful. The relationships portrayed in the story felt authentic, very human.
My critiques are nitpicky: I occasionally was pulled out of the drama by the narrator's references to writing the story after the fact, now that he was looking back on these events. Too many times, the character, Tucker, spoke directly to the reader and apologized for using "cheesy" language to describe things. This worked for a while, but it eventually sounded too much like the author was stepping in to apologize for not being able to write as well as he wanted to. And this was unnecessary because Goodwin is a wonderful writer.
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Title: Single Wife: A Novel by Nina Solomon ISBN: 1565123824 Publisher: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill Pub. Date: 01 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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Title: Liars and Saints by Maile Meloy ISBN: 0743244354 Publisher: Scribner Pub. Date: June, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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Title: What Was She Thinking?: Notes on a Scandal: A Novel by Zoe Heller ISBN: 0805073337 Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. Pub. Date: 01 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
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Title: My Sister's Keeper : A Novel (PICOULT, JODI) by Jodi Picoult ISBN: 0743454529 Publisher: Atria Pub. Date: 06 April, 2004 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: Family History by DANI SHAPIRO ISBN: 0375415475 Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 01 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
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