Circle of Three

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Having read The Saving Graces which I just loved, I couldn't wait to read another Gaffney novel. I like this author's style of storytelling. Both books exhibited a similarity in this area and I enjoyed that, though at times in Circle of Three I wasn't totally sure who was speaking for several paragraphs. There was a relatinship of friends in the first book and a relationship of woman family members in Circle of Three, both appealing to women readers. The concept of honoring a dying man's wishes was a treat to follow to completion. However, I found this book to be very depressing until almost the concluding chapters. Death, grief, domineering interference, depression, rebeliousness, recklessness etc. were the underlying themes and how Carrie, Ruth, and Dana exhibited them and worked through them. I am sure many many families experience these states every day, but I wanted something uplifting to read. When her next novel comes out I won't be rushing to buy it until I read more reviews.

Rating:
Summary: Circle of Three Plus You = Great Reading
Review: I bought this book because I had read "Saving Graces" and wanted to see if Gaffney's power with the written word would be consistent.

I also find myself tired of seeing so many books that are solely based on romance. Is that all women care about? Not this one.

Gaffney has an exceptional talent for inhabiting the mind of her characters and speaking distinctively as she writes each character.

All three protagonists in this novel are strong, complex, likeable and dislikeable.

All three are real.

All three are dealing with a variety of players, different challenges in different stages of life. It was effortless to feel compassion, anger, laugh and cry with each of them.

While the main point of the book is to be a study of the relationship of three generations of women in the same family, I saw it as an additionally strong study in personal evolution through challenging situations and everyday situations.

I saw the responses as realistically human just as each character was realistically human.

Some examples of Gaffney's word weavings which I found especially enjoyable:

page 66:

"Brian's job becoming, at least it had accomplished what my mother, guilt over Ruth, and 50 milligrams of Zoloft hadn't been able to: my return to the real world. Half of me might be in the ether, zoned out and inattentive, mired in the old grief and guilt that a death in the family brings - naturally - but the other half was coping. It was a start."

page 101:

"Sex weas different -- he could and did make love in the face-to-face position -- but for everyday, standing-up, fully clothed affection he literally couldn't face me."

Ruth, the youngest woman, made this observation that stirred me:

"My mouth was making too much water, I couldn't swallow fast enough." (This was right before she became ill).

There is much, much richness... I suggest you read it for yourself.....

Rating:
Summary: Three Women, Three Realities
Review: My criterion for any coming-of-age novel is truth. And this book has it.

The plot is simple enough on the surface: Three generations of the Van Allen women are facing a major life phase, each coincidentally at the same time.

Grandmother Dana, about to turn 70, is facing the spectre of old age, and fighting it tooth and nail. She is afraid to grow old, afraid to become helpless (as who is not?), afraid of losing control. Healthy and vibrant still, she yearns to stay that way. But her coming milestone birthday has forced her to examine her life. Has it been what she expected? Did she do right by her husband, her daughter, her son-in-law, her granddaughter? Above all, did she do right by herself? There are no easy answers, of course, and no pat solutions, either.

Dana's daughter Carrie is suddenly thrust into single-womanhood after a car accident leads to her husband's untimely death. As with any woman in this situation, either by choice (divorce) or by fate, Carrie is forced to question her most deeply held values. And to examine a marriage ended by death, but still very much alive in her head. Like her mother, Carrie, in her early 40s, with a teenaged daughter, and facing the overwhelming spectre of pulling herself together and getting a job, is questioning her life choices. What exactly pulled her to this spot and this time? How will she ever begin again, and when she does, who will she be?

Carrie's daugher Ruth is 15, facing all the uncertainties of that age--along with mourning the loss of her father. Hovering between childhood and womanhood, she questions everything about herself--and her mother, who is appearing all too human as she copes with her grief and guilt over her husband's death.

Some truly ingenious subplots, one about a faux Noah's Ark, another about a health-food cum aromatherapy mecca, keep the story going. The lesser characters in the book, from a lecherous idiot who hits on Carrie on her worst day, to Jess, the man she loved before her marriage, are three dimensional and very real.

I loved this book. In my view, it has more depth than "The Saving Graces," although, judging from other reviews, I seem to be in the minority. I'm going to stick by my opinion, though, and give this book a solid and strong 4 stars. It is definitely worth reading, and definitely has something to say.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully complex characters
Review: Never having read a book by Patricia Gaffney before, I wasn't really sure what to expect. At first, I didn't really like it--Carrie seemed very scatterbrained and pathetic after her husband's death, a careless mother and an even worse daughter. Her mother Dana came across as overbearing and horribly tactess. But this book proved that first impressions are not always correct. Not too long passed before I was hooked, simply delighted with the wonderfully realistic characters. I came to like Carrie very much, and her daughter Ruth I liked even more. Ms. Gaffney just does something wonderful with dialogue, even realistically affecting teenage prose. The plot, although not incredibly exciting, was very engaging and the day to day struggles of these three became my own problems as well. I sympathized easily with them, not something every book does for me. I highly recommend this book to just about everyone, just for the sheer brilliance of the story telling--perfectly realistic. I look very much forward to reading The Saving Graces.

Rating:
Summary: Decent
Review: Patricia Gaffney cleverly leads the reader through a story to which most women can relate: the continuing struggle of self-identity as we age. No longer a child, how do you act as a teenager? No longer a teenager, how do stop from acting like your mother? How do you accept growing old?

I especially enjoyed the method by which the tale was woven by each of the three characters, one voice and one chapter at a time. Each chapter is written from the perspective of either the grandmother, the mother, or the daughter.

I found the start of the book somewhat depressing. The mother's remorse at the death of her husband coupled with her long time unhappiness in that marrage helped to set the stage but was too long. Then, once she gets over the death, it seems to be almost forgotten. Additionally, it did not touch on the daughter's loss very much at all. Once I read past this part, I couldn't put the book down.

Rating:
Summary: Decent
Review: Patricia Gaffney cleverly leads the reader through a story to which most women can relate: the continuing struggle of self-identity as we age. No longer a child, how do you act as a teenager? No longer a teenager, how do stop from acting like your mother? How do you accept growing old?

I especially enjoyed the method by which the tale was woven by each of the three characters, one voice and one chapter at a time. Each chapter is written from the perspective of either the grandmother, the mother, or the daughter.

I found the start of the book somewhat depressing. The mother's remorse at the death of her husband coupled with her long time unhappiness in that marrage helped to set the stage but was too long. Then, once she gets over the death, it seems to be almost forgotten. Additionally, it did not touch on the daughter's loss very much at all. Once I read past this part, I couldn't put the book down.

Rating:
Summary: Life Changes for Three Different Generations
Review: The untimely and unfortunate death of Stephen Van Allen affects three generations of women in this story. Carrie, his wife, falls into a deep depression as she struggles to find her identity now that her husband is gone and her daughter is almost grown. Ruth, her daughter, is a fifteen-year-old who is fighting her way from childhood to adulthood. And Dana, Carrie's mother, is frightened of growing old like some of her friends have, and is facing a lonely retirement, as her husband refuses to slow down and relax with her. Together and separately, these women fight to find their identities, their independence, and their new places in the family. In the midst of all this, Carrie falls in love with her old boyfriend Jess, much to her mother's consternation and her daughter's horror.
This was an enjoyable read, although it did get a little long-winded by the end. Gaffney paints very real and vivid characters, people you'd expect to know, and even people you already do know!

Rating:
Summary: A story about women
Review: This is a great book for women, about women, and the mother and daughter relationship between them.
The pivotal character is Carrie, newly widowed and still immersed in the grief and shock that only another widow would understand.Her teenaged daughter Ruth, is struggling with the loss of her father with whom she had never quite connected in the way that she fantasised- a completely open and caring father,daughter bonding.Carrie's mother Dana is a strong woman, still attractive yet overly possessive in a loving way in that she feels that it's her right to direct the lives of her daughter and grandaughter.Carrie is reunited with Jess, the sweetheart of her childhood and teenage years. Under Jess's influence,Carrie resumes painting,decorating a modern day Noah's Ark for a dying man who is convinced that building the Ark is his only way to redemption.This is a very moving story and is totally believable.

Rating:
Summary: lost interest
Review: This started as a very good book, yet when I got near the end it kind of lost it's appeal and I couldn't wait to be done with it. I will try others of her books, even though I wasn't totally pleased with this one.

Rating:
Summary: Warm, funny and heartfelt.
Review: This was a wonderful story about three generations of women and the men in (and out) of their lives. Told from each of their viewpoints, Gaffney especially captures what it is like to be a teenager, along with what it is to be like the mother of a teenager, and what it is like to be the matriarch , growing older and trying to hold her family all together. Recently widowed, Carrie struggles to get on with her life, raise her teen daughter Ruth, and come to terms with her pushy-at-times mother Dana and the relationship she has with her father George. Enter Carrie's highschool sweetheart and throw in her domineering new boss and some ark animals and you have a wonderfully entertaining story that will stay with you for a long time. A terrific novel for any generation.