Rating: 
Summary: A Novel With Its Own Merit
Review: When you are the renowned author of "The Red Tent," how do you top yourself? Unfortunately, "Good Harbor" was not able to do that. However, "Good Harbor" captured my attention and I was taken in about the story of a friendship.Kathleen, recently diagnosed with breast cancer, meets Joyce, a romance writer. The friendship flourishes immediately as they enjoy walks together on Good Harbor. Through the walks, each woman feels safe in confiding with the other. There are many issues that "Good Harbor" addresses: cancer, religion, parenting, death, infidelity, and relationships. Diamant is a master at setting the scene. She describes the beauty of Good Harbor and Kathleen's garden so precisely that the reader is able to create a mental image. This was the strongest feature in the novel. "Good Harbor" is a novel with its own merit, however many will find it difficult not to compare it with "The Red Tent." I encourage readers to try "Good Harbor" and see a different side of Anita Diamant. I eagerly anticipate Diamant's future work.
Rating: 
Summary: Perfect for an easy yet touching read
Review: While I did not like the Red Tent due to a personal conflict with subject matter, I adored Diamant's writing style. I was excited to give her another try. This was a complete opposite of Red Tent, in that I adored the story, but found the writing very mediocre. It is not a bad read, in fact I enjoyed this story so much I read it quickly and intensely, but it is very light in lyrics and dialogue, much un-like her previous novel. Joyce and Kathleen meet by chance and hit it off immeadiately. You as a reader are so excited for their friendship and honesty in such matters as marriage, breast cancer, raising children and religion. While the dialogue wasn't earth shattering, certain lines were poignant and honest and as a women reader I so appreciated that. I recommend this book to anyone who would like a quick but good story, and if you know anyone or you yourself are dealing with breast cancer this book sheds a great light on the sympathy card that society often plays. I gave it four stars just because it was a fun book, easy to follow, and nice story line. If you enjoy women's lit much like Elizabeth Berg this is perfect for you.
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: An Excellent Book - highly underrated
Review: This book was an excellent, beautiful read. Yes, it was a surprise because it was *very* different than "The Red Tent" (Anita Diamant's first work of fiction). Sometimes readers buy follow up books by authors they like expecting the same style and type of storytelling and are disappointed when the book is unlike the first. If the book were *worse* than "The Red Tent", I could see the criticism. But, it's not. It's just a different type of writing, a different type of story. "Good Harbor" is a lovely story about two different women who come together and form a strong friendship in the midst of health problems, marital issues, and personal challenges. The setting is so beautiful that I wanted to travel to this sea-side town and try and find some of what the women found in the course of the book. I can't stress how much I enjoyed this book- and how I wish it didn't end. "Good Harbor" reminds me a lot of Elizabeth Berg's books (my favorite author)- well written, poetic, heart-breaking, but not saccharine. If you want another "Red Tent", skip this. But if you are open to a new experience by an excellent writer, read this book.
Rating:
Summary: A Novel With Its Own Merit
Review: When you are the renowned author of "The Red Tent," how do you top yourself? Unfortunately, "Good Harbor" was not able to do that. However, "Good Harbor" captured my attention and I was taken in about the story of a friendship. Kathleen, recently diagnosed with breast cancer, meets Joyce, a romance writer. The friendship flourishes immediately as they enjoy walks together on Good Harbor. Through the walks, each woman feels safe in confiding with the other. There are many issues that "Good Harbor" addresses: cancer, religion, parenting, death, infidelity, and relationships. Diamant is a master at setting the scene. She describes the beauty of Good Harbor and Kathleen's garden so precisely that the reader is able to create a mental image. This was the strongest feature in the novel. "Good Harbor" is a novel with its own merit, however many will find it difficult not to compare it with "The Red Tent." I encourage readers to try "Good Harbor" and see a different side of Anita Diamant. I eagerly anticipate Diamant's future work.
Rating:
Summary: Has been done before--and better
Review: Although I was never able to get into Diamant's "The Red Tent" (I tried twice), I knew many people loved it, so I was willing to give her another try with her new book. I finished "Good Harbor", but do not know why. The topic of the book, women's friendship and cancer, has been done so many times, and so much better by other authors. This book was just plain ordinary. Forgettable. My mind cannot even hold onto the title and I keep calling it "Safe Harbor"! This was a most unsatisfying read: it was not particularly well-written, there were no great insights, the characters were not well- developed, and there was a good amount of contrivance, a device that really annoys me. It is a very commercial book, in my opinion. To wit: Diamant combined Judaism, Catholocism, miracles, cancer, love affairs, drug running, and the death of a child. Some of these topics were just thrown in, as if they were afterthoughts rather than woven into the body of the story. The best parts were the descriptions of the beach area and how the beach comforts one's soul. This rang very true to me. My recommendation: buy JoAnn Mapson's "Bad Girl Creek" if you want to read a very good depiction of women's friendships, how women help each other through the bad times, and how they celebrate the good times.
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: 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: 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.
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.
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