Becky H. (ficaddict) reviewed on 10/26/2008 + 7 more book reviews

When an early Ash Wednesday morning phone call wakes Jessie and her husband Hugh, she knows the day is going to be even more horrible than usual. For decades she has associated the day with her father's death and has felt nothing but guilt about it. But as she finds out her mother has purposely injured herself, and in the wake of her growing discontent within her marriage, she finds the courage to finally pack a bag and go back to the coastal Carolina island where her obsessively Catholic mother, and her mother's two very different best friends, raised her. Once she arrives, though the island at first glance hasn't changed, Jessie starts to see her past, her family, and herself in a totally different way, thanks in part to the (comparatively) young monk from the abbey next door, Brother Thomas.

I finished this book in one sitting. Kidd has created a colorful, vivid world inhabited by real people, just as flawed and eccentric as we all are. The strength of the main characters' connection to the nature of the island is admirable, and very different than the way most mainlanders live. But, underneath that, the story belongs in the "rediscovering self" sub-genre in which the main character relearns what he or she thought was known from an adult's point of view. I'm surprised by the number of books that can be written about someone "finally" growing up after age forty, and yet pleased, because in theory then, there is also hope for us all to find a better kind of happiness.

Back to all reviews by this member
Back to all reviews of this book
Back to Book Reviews
Back to Book Details