Helpful Score: 2
I am not quite sure why this is listed as "mysteries/horror". This had fabulous characterization with people that stick with you long after you close the book.
Helpful Score: 1
Hassler's first novel about a bachelor who teaches in a high school in small town Minnesota. A compelling story which you will not be able to put down.
Helpful Score: 1
I liked this story because the characters were delightful and real and they were either funny or weird or idiots or wonderful. The plot moves along at a good pace which kept me interested and reading right up to the end.
A novel about a 35 year old bachelor who teaches in a high school in a small town in Minnesota. He lodges placidly with a spinster who has taught for 41 years in a Catholic grade school. If you miss it, you'll be missing one of the year's truly freshly conceived and carried out novels, one whose not always so gentle ironies address themselves to a broader range of life than is to be found in Staggerford, Minn.
If you like page turners, this is not the book for you. It is dull, dull, dull! I kept reading to the end (my personal policy) in hopes it would get better. In the end, the nicest of the main characters is killed off for no reason. It is a stupid story. I was sorry I believed the rave reviews about it. Do not waste your time. D.
"Maybe a novel about a 35-year-old bachelor who teaches in a high school in a small town in MN - and lodges placidly with a spinster who has taught for 41 years in a Catholic grade school - doesn't sound very compelling. But if you miss it, you'll be missing one of the year's truly fresh conceived and carried out novels, one whose not always so gentle ironies address themselves to a broader range of life than is to be found in Staggerford,MN." (The KS City Star)
Gently read, an older copy, but clean unmarked pages from nonsmoking environment.
