Rating: 
Summary: The power of family stories
Review: I love the way Jane Hamilton uses words. Her sentences soar yet the language is down to earth. Henry's description of his mother's infidelity tells the story of all families and their struggles. How family members can love and hate each other. How they wonder how they could even be related but will defend each other against all foes. I loved the different ways Beth Shaw could be and express herself depending on who she was with. Jane Hamilton lets us in on the secret that our lives all have many pages waiting to be discovered.
Rating: 
Summary: Best Jane Hamilton novel yet
Review: I was pleasantly surprised with Jane Hamilton's latest novel, Disobedience. Beth and Kevin Shaw's teenage son, Henry, is faced with knowing things about his mother that he can't share with anyone. While sneakily reading his mother's e-mail, he discovers that she is having an affair. For an entire year, Henry works through his anger, his disappointment and in some cases, his jealousy, as his mother works through her guilt and desire for a different life. The supporting characters in this novel are tremendously enjoyable, from Henry's tomboy, Civil War re-enactor sister, Elvira, to his first girlfriend, Lily, and keep the plot moving along at a fairly quick pace. For most of the book, I kept wondering when Henry would finally confront his mother and when he'd "get over it." Henry asked himself the same question in the novel, which I thought was entertaining. I loved Beth's book club and Henry's analysis of female book groups and would even recommend this to book groups for a potentially intense debate over infidelity.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring
Review: It took me a while to finish this book. Every time Hamilton started to get to the actual story, she'd stop and explain through Henry how every character felt about every little thing that was happening. It bogged down the story for me and eventually got on my nerves. There were so many points where I was tempted to just give up. The story is complex and multi-layered, but incredibly slow-paced. I am glad that I reached the end; the story gets interesting at the end. Overall, though, it's a very boring read, and I don't feel the ending, as good as it is, makes it up for the time I spent dragging myself through the rest of it.
Rating:
Summary: Another good book by a great writer
Review: Jane Hamilton has perfect pitch! Each word, each sentence, each character is in perfect harmony. The Shaw family of four is disobedient in terms of middle-class, upper-midwest morals. Elvira, the 13-year-old sister and most colorful character in the book, a cross-dressing civil war living historian, seeks every possible opportunity to get it wrong. The father, an amateur historian and professional teacher, lacks passion and presence. Elizabeth, the mother, recreates period music on the piano, has an affair with a violinist, and arranges trysts for Henry, her 17-year-old son. Henry reads his mother's e-mail. Sometimes, even great signers choose odd operas and inappropriate roles. Ms. Hamilton's choice of a seventeen-year-old male for her first person voice was odd. Certain scenes were nearly perfect. Most seemed much more like the son's voice as imagined by the mother. Tolstoy's Anna Karenina works. Hamilton as Henry doesn't. If you're looking for a book about a seventeen-year-old boy becoming a man, don't look here. If you're looking for some of the best writing in America, buy this book. Jane Hamilton is among the best writers in the country.
Rating: 
Summary: A road to nowhere
Review: The book's theme was deeply personal for me, the prose engaging, almost like easedropping. The narrator's writing, thought provoking and poetic, did not ring true. The young man spoke like a middle-aged woman, not a man deeply affected by his mother's affair. I found the book engrossing and could not put it down, yet all the while I wanted it to be longer. Let me hear more of Kevin's voice, I would think. Act like a 17 year old, Henry! Do something impulsive, demand that your mother do something, anything, to make this story have a reason to be told. I have read 2 other Jane Hamilton books and I will continue to read more, but it's as if she was on a deadline and decided to finish the book almost before it began.
Rating:
Summary: Disobedience
Review: The title says it all. Each member of the family disobeyed and broke trust with the other family members. I finished the book because it was the selection for that month for my book group. But it's not among my favorites. It's not a "must read."
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful writing, but......
Review: There is no question that Jane Hamilton is one very talented author. The woman is literate, funny and tells one hell of a story. "Disobedience" is no exception to this. Filled with the quirky, amusing antics of the Shaw family, Hamilton creates characters you want to know. When mother Beth Shaw's extra-marital affair is discovered by her email snooping son, the Shaw's lives become an open book. Herein lies my problem with the novel; the voice of our narrator Henry, the son in question. Henry is a seventeen year old boy, albeit a witty, intellectual one, but a teenage boy none the less. While Henry's dry observations had me laughing out loud on many occasions, a voice inside my head kept saying one thing over and over. "This is great writing, and I'm enjoying this story, but this is not how a seventeen year old boy talks or thinks, this is the voice of a middle aged woman" In her quest to be literary, the author has made Henry's narration far too mature and urbane to be believable. Even the most sophisticated seventeen year old would not have the life experience necessary to form the types of opinions on sexuality, infidelity and marraige that Henry is apparently capable of. While the novel is enjoyable and worth reading, Henry's voice never quite rings true.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful writing, but......
Review: There is no question that Jane Hamilton is one very talented author. The woman is literate, funny and tells one hell of a story. "Disobedience" is no exception to this. Filled with the quirky, amusing antics of the Shaw family, Hamilton creates characters you want to know. When mother Beth Shaw's extra-marital affair is discovered by her email snooping son, the Shaw's lives become an open book. Herein lies my problem with the novel; the voice of our narrator Henry, the son in question. Henry is a seventeen year old boy, albeit a witty, intellectual one, but a teenage boy none the less. While Henry's dry observations had me laughing out loud on many occasions, a voice inside my head kept saying one thing over and over. "This is great writing, and I'm enjoying this story, but this is not how a seventeen year old boy talks or thinks, this is the voice of a middle aged woman" In her quest to be literary, the author has made Henry's narration far too mature and urbane to be believable. Even the most sophisticated seventeen year old would not have the life experience necessary to form the types of opinions on sexuality, infidelity and marraige that Henry is apparently capable of. While the novel is enjoyable and worth reading, Henry's voice never quite rings true.
Rating:
Summary: A filial maternal biography?
Review: Well maybe not. I think if you are reading this, you understand the premise; a boy finds out about his mother's affair. But it is also about the mother, his family and his growing up. It is detailed, well written, and not sophmoric. The book is written in retrospect, so there is ample reflection and it is not a Salinger or Portnoy's complaint from a young or impudent voice. I was very happy with this book and recommend it highly. I also will predict that this author's other works must be equally well written.
Rating:
Summary: falling off the pedestal
Review: When I first started teaching, I remember wondering to myself how in the world I was ever going to be a teacher . . . after all, teachers were perfect people! Growing up I always thought that my teachers walked on water. How could I aspire to be one of them? Of course it didn't take long to find out that teachers actually weren't perfect. That upset me at first. I guess that's what happens when someone falls off the pedestal. This is what happens to Henry in the novel Disobedience. At the age of 17- half boy, half man- Henry realizes that his mother is more than a mother- she is a woman and she is not perfect. This realization upsets, yet intrigues him. The remainder of the novel is a series of his reflections about human nature, families, and the complications of our lives. I thought Jane Hamilton did an excellent job of examining family dynamics in Disobedience. Her story brings to light what we all know but often fail to acknowledge- that you never really know what goes on in peoples' private lives (unless you know their email password). Seemingly happy marriages- and families- are often not what they appear to be. Often people are disobedient. This may be an "old story with nothing new in it," but it is intriguing nevertheless.
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