Good Harbor: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: A small, compelling story well- and lovingly-crafted...
Review: As a huge fan of The Red Tent, Diamant's previous work, I was eager to read Good Harbor. What I found was a novel as concentrated in focus as The Red Tent is epic in scale yet that was written with as much care and creativity. Good Harbor is a warm, thoughtful exploration of the lives and friendship between two seemingly disparate women.

The name of the book comes from a location in the coastal New England town where the characters reside. Kathleen, a life-long resident and children's librarian recently diagnosed with breast cancer, which killed her beloved sister, meets Joyce, a younger woman living out her dream - sort of - of a second home near the coast in the same town. The two strike up a friendship as Kathleen deals with her recovery from her illness and past tragedies and Joyce tries to find the self that she feels has been lost.

There is genuine caring and empathy between the women, and the instant bond that is formed seems completely realistic and understandable. And while events do not take place on a grand scale, the women change, grow and make mistakes throughout the course of the novel, emerging at the end the same yet different. It's a marvelous story, very well-written, detailed, interesting and enjoyable, sustained by the warmth and strength of the friendship.

While Good Harbor is incredibly different from The Red Tent, that is not a handicap in anyway, just a testament to Diamant's strength as a writer. And despite the shift in scale - a much smaller span of time, locale, etc. - many of the same themes emerge. It's not a sweeping epic in traditional terms, but in a way, it focuses on a similarly dramatic time in the lives of the central characters and is treated with the depth and breadth necessary. Diamant has again lovingly created a tale of dynamic women and a compelling, worth-while novel.

Rating:
Summary: Definitely different for Diamant
Review: Good Harbor is a lovely story but definitely a different style for the author for those of us who read The Red Tent and might have expected the same here. Avoid being disappointed by knowing to expect a change with this story. It is well written to read nicely along. You get to know the characters well, not that you will necessarily like what they do, but that's what makes the story. This is worth your time to read and enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: Unfortunately A Ho Hum Read ...
Review: I always look forward to a good book about female friendships and when I read that Anita Diamant had a new book out on the subject I was so excited -- I really enjoyed "The Red Tent" and recommended it to friends and family. Unfortunately, I will not be doing the same for "Good Harbor: A Novel."

Unlike "The Red Tent" this book is not well-written. The dialogue was terrible (especially painful during Joyce and Kathleen's "peeing contest") and the pace of the book was sometimes tedious. Also, as the two women shared their personal histories with one another I was often uninterested -- even though the topics were important ones: faith, death, illness, parenthood, guilt, and marriage problems.

Part of "The Red Tent's" success was its ability to make us all want more out of our friendships with women -- it made us all long for the community, support, help, and kinship Dinah was surrounded by. And while "Good Harbor: A Novel" is a completely different read and set in different times, it fails to make me feel much of anything -- except disappointment.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I enjoyed her first novel and was a little disappointed by Good Harbor. Never felt interested in the characters and no real desire to finish the book

Rating:
Summary: Tender and True
Review: I just don't understand people finding this book flat or boring! It delicately probes the development of a friendship between two women who are able to share painful secrets gradually, and bonding over time during their long walks. It's about maturing marriages, lost and found children, career paths, deepening friendsship, faith and gratitude, all painted with a light, feathery brush. I would have wished to learn more of Kathleen's catholic childhood and influences on her life, but I guess Ms. Diamant doesn't know too much about that--and she never really fleshes out Pat's (Kathleen's sister) vocation as a nun--hence 4 stars only.

Rating:
Summary: Pleasant but forgettable
Review: I read this as an unabridged audiobook. Not having read "The Red Tent" I had nothing to compare "Good Harbor" to (for good or bad). Overall I all enjoyed listening to this in the morning but I wasn't nearly as emotional as I'd expected it to be which is good, I guess, because I expected it to ruin my makeup. On the downside, this is a book I won't remember come next week . . .

It was a nice, gentle tale about the distance that can develop between couples that often goes unnoticed but it was also a book about the power of friendship between women and the special bond and sharing that occurs when two friend's just "click".

Both women came across as very realistic but somehow I always remained at a distance from them both. Joyce's attitude towards her "romance" novel (which paid for her summer home ~ I'd love to know who her agent was as new romance novelists are typically paid a slaves wage!) rubbed me the wrong way on more than one occasion though. Her troubles with her bratty daughter were very realistically portrayed and her loneliness well done but in the end I still sympathized much more with Kathleen's character (though, in the end, she nearly lost me as well).

This isn't a book I'd read again but I am interested in picking up "The Red Tent" after reading many of the reviews here.



Rating:
Summary: Pleasing Read
Review: I thought this was a well written book with nicely developed characters. I appreciated the back story on the people in the novel and their seeming realism. I think this is an excellent followup to The Red Tent... Diamant is also known for her non-fiction. With Good Harbor, I believe she has proven herself to be a well-rounded author, with a variety of talents. Enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: completely disappointing -- zero stars
Review: I'm another Diamant fan who grabbed this book after being moved for months by the absolutely fabulous "Red Tent" which was everything a great book can be -- perspective-altering, horizon-widening, and maybe even life-changing.

Alas, what I found was this lightweight poorly written piece of fluff. Anita, Anita, when did you write this? Was it part of a college course in which you had to fullfill a "best-seller checklist"? Religion -- check; sex -- check; marital infidelity -- check; competely extraneous drug bust -- check; dead child -- check; and the most important New York Times Best Seller Checklist Item of all -- **breast cancer** (or in this case, pre-cancer) -- check, check, check.

It happens that I know a lot about breast treatments and those parts rang true, but hey, girls, we're talking about DCIS here -- generally a non-lethal, non-life threatening, non-fatal disease, and it would have been a worthy public service for Ms. Diamant to emphasize THOSE facts rather than writing about Kathleen's "disease" with such sweaty-palmed drama. The walks on Good Harbor were likewise well-described (an area I myself have walked many times) but really, again, we didn't need all the drama. The plot sidelines ended up just plain silly (what was WITH the drug bust, the broken collarbone, and the weirdo unconsumated sex (which I was sure was going to turn into a "Crying Game" type scene but instead went absolutely nowhere with zero explanation)).

I love books about the fine relationships that women can have with one another, and I love books about the wisdom that we accumulate over the years. But reading about these self-involved, hand-wringing, breast-beating, completely self-obsessed women was a total waste of my time. I just wanted to grab Kathleen and show her REAL cancer suffering and tell her for god's sakes go do some grief therapy so you can help your poor remaining children and (ridiculously devoted) husband, and I wanted to grab the paintbrushes out of Joanne's hands and shout, "Who cares about your perfect ceiling?? Go work with the ESL kids in Gloucester who are struggling with the MCAS, or go help in a women's shelter, or do SOMETHING more than obsess about your poor innocent teenage daughter, your Mary-on-the-half-shell, and your paint chips."

Oh, I so hope Ms. Diamant's next effort amounts to more than this hill of beans.

Rating:
Summary: Women need other women!
Review: If you think this is a book about cancer, you are wrong. It is about dealing with the past. It is about the relationship between Kathleen and Joyce, who have more in common than the love of walking.

The 20 year difference between Kathleen and Joyce is quite insignificant...what is signigicant is that they listen to one another without judging. They tell one another deep, hidden secrets...

'My child died and it's my fault. I had an affair. I had one too.

I have cancer.'

"Good Harbor is about two women who met at the right time. Two women who walk together enjoying the beauty of Cape Ann Beach, enjoy the beauty of one another.

It's about being thankful for what we have.

Kathleen says...
'Thank you for my health. Thank you for books. Thank you for my garden, for the trees, for a perfumed night. Thank you for Joyce.

When you see two women walking, talking, laughing, Nike's hitting the pavement at a good speed...they are probably revealing the most unbelievable secrets about one another...they are probably saving the world.

Thank you for girlfriends and long walks....We are indeed one another's therapy! AMEN.

Rating:
Summary: Comfortable book
Review: Like others here, I loved 'The Red Tent' by Diamant. 'Good Harbor' has its own merit, which in my opinion, is the profile of the kind of relationship most of us have if we are lucky. The kind of friendship that is comfort, honesty, and trust, but like real relationships, Joyce and Kathleen's friendship in 'Good Harbor' has its problems too. This novel isn't as compelling or captivating as 'The Red Tent' but I still enjoyed reading it. Hey, no one can hit every single one out of the ballpark.