Rating: 
Summary: Excellent book on a lost father
Review: Rapid-fire, Goodwin gets right to the issue, and the pace continues. He captures the struggles of parents and adolescents to communicate and grow, but it's more. It's a view into the heart of one man who thought he had it all together. Goodwin captures a time and place--Washington, DC, yay!!--and his dialogue is spot-on. Most important, he makes you care for everyone, with all their flaws and stupid choices. I'm a non-fiction published author and I'm working on a novel. Would love to accomplish what Goodwin has--a work you don't want to put down.
Rating: 
Summary: Captivating read -- but small complaints
Review: The one thing I kept asking myself as I read this book was why wasn't Tucker more outraged at what happened to his daughter and why didn't he or his lawyers file a lawsuit against Vanderburg Sr.? Mr. Vanderburg was clearly justified in his fury and sadness for his son; his arrogance and sense of entitlement only made him unlikable, rather than someone to be pitied. Nevertheless, why didn't it dawn on anyone that it was at Vanderburg's house that liquor was served to minors in which the rapes took place? Doesn't Vanderburg have a legal responsibility for what happens in his house, whether he is present or not? Going after the three boys would have been like treating a symptom, rather than addressing the root of how the tragedies took place. That is, none of it would have happened if a party didn't become out of control in the absence of adults.
I don't have children, so I can only imagine what a parent might feel like, but it bothered me that Tucker wasn't more angry for his daughter after Jed's accident; rather, it seemed to me that Tucker's primary concern was for himself. While I understand that what might happen to Tucker had serious implications (what would the childrens' lives be like if the custodial parent went to prison), I still think his reference to the incident as Kat's mistake was bizarre.
Rating: 
Summary: A father ¿ daughter relationship caught on the brink
Review: The year is 1998 and the Clinton sex scandals are plaguing the White House; all over the country people are talking and passing judgment on the President. This unlikely setting forms the backdrop for Stephen Goodwin's ambitious, intelligent and somewhat overemotional story of teenage sex, and family relationships. Although to some extent melodramatic in places, Breaking Her Fall is still a very accomplished, and at times, quite riveting domestic drama, that really captures you from the outset, and embraces you in its entirety. One night Tucker Jones, an American "ordinary man" - a loving and devoted father receives a hostile phone call from another parent who blames his thirteen-year-old daughter, Kat, for indulging in a drunken sexual orgy with some boys at a party. This sets of a chain reaction of violence and recrimination, which reverberates throughout Tucker's entire life affecting his children, his ex-wife, his current girlfriend, and his best friends. On the surface, the story passes for an attention-grabbing legal drama, where Tucker - accused of assaulting one of the boys - fights to save his reputation, and his innocence. But, in reality, the story is much more than this: Goodwin introduces us to a subtle domestic world seething with pent up tensions - strained relationships between ex-wives; father-daughter relationships that are not what they seem; unspoken sexual passions between best friends that are clandestinely acted upon, and teenage pregnancy which inevitably rears its controversial head. Goodwin writes with a clear confidence of a professional, and he keeps the narrative taught and tight by placing the story in the first person and always telling the story through Tucker's point of view, The narrative flows with a gentleness and ease, never loosing sight of its focus, and the author is determined to share with us every aspect of Tucker's life - from his days doing drugs in college, to the history of his courtship with his ex-wife Trish, to his decision to leave the corporate world, and build an independent life for himself as a landscape gardener. The strength of Breaking Her Fall is also in its enthusiastically believable characters: There's the somewhat self-obsessed and hot-headed main protagonist Tucker, who doesn't think before he acts, but who loves his two children dearly; there's Kat, Tucker's teenage daughter - impetuous, rude, conflicted and unhappy, and there's Tucker's best friend Lily, naive and kind, whose only crime is to want more passion in her life and be the woman who Tucker really loves. There are lots of other supporting characters that weave with equal grace in and out of the narrative, each contributing their own stories, and each influencing Tucker's life in one way or another. About half way through the book, the character of Lily, speaking at her father's funeral talks about how her father made her feel safe and rescued, and that if she "fell" her father would be there to catch her. Perhaps this reflects the thematic core of the novel in that there should always be someone there to catch us if we fall. Loneliness, loss, the inability to communicate, family structures, the value of friendships, and the ability to be able to make the "right" decision are all presented in Breaking Her Fall with an astute and sensitive clarity. This is a very perceptive and emotionally sensitive piece of work. Michael
Rating:
Summary: Breaking My Fall
Review: This book is awesome! From the first moment I cracked open Breaking Her Fall, I found myself a huge fan of Tucker Jones, rooting for his safe return from his perilous journey-entirely modern, entirely timeless-into all matters of the heart. Graceful, deft, humorous, more than a heartfelt account of fatherly love, Breaking is the story of a single father trying to reach his teenage daughter, his son; it's the story, also, of a man who must learn to put the past behind him and venture out into unchartered territory, towards relationships where love-meaningful love-is honored above safer, more complacent, constructs. By book's end I felt appropriately challenged-to love honestly; to love better. To find a love that matters. Thank you, Mr. Goodwin. You have delivered us a true gift: a story that is both a marvelous adventure and a call to action. Wake up! Read the book. Your heart will thank you.
Rating: 
Summary: Very unlikable main character
Review: This book seemed very promising, and it was pretty good for the first 100 or 150 pages; then it went downhill. I did finish it, but it was one of those books I wish I'd never seen in the first place. To sum it up, the author is trying to get a few basic points across to the reader, and I think this is what they are: 1. Find out who Eva Cassidy is, and buy her CDs. They're great.
2. It's ok to have an adulterous affair with someone whom you consider a "friend". Never mind the fact that it's wrong and adultery. If you can convince yourself it's true love, it's ok to disregard the fact that what you are doing is WRONG!
3. Did I mention Eva Cassidy? I know you've never heard of her, but I have and she's wonderful. Buy her CDs and listen to them. The main character in this story, "Tucker Jones", really comes across as a selfish, shallow jerk. He wants to seem cool to his kids so he lets them use profanity when they talk to him, and he lets them talk about drugs nonchalantly like it is no big deal. And the icing on the cake is that he has an affair with Lily, a friend of his who happens to be married with children, but this is the first time he has "truly loved" someone, so it surely must be ok!! (Please!)
I wanted to like this book and it did have promise, but for the most part I just really developed a dislike for Tucker, the selfish, arrogant, egotistical man whom the story is about. I was rooting more for Mr. Vandenberg than Tucker.
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Summary: Lisa from Boca Raton
Review: This book was excellent. The writing style was so "there" that I was drawn into the lives of each character.
Rating:
Summary: well worth reading!
Review: This book was such a page turner I found myself engrossed with the characters and wanted them to continue on. Though I enjoyed the ending I hated to put it down, I wanted there to be more. Thank you for such a page turner, Stephen Goodwin, whoever you are. I hope to read more from you.
Rating:
Summary: not that great
Review: Tucker is a single father who makes mistakes ad anuseum and doesn't see that he does. He is so annoying to read as a result. In July 1998 in Washington DC (the era of the Lewinsky scandal), he receives a phone call from the father of one of his 14-year-old daughter Kat's classmates, who reports that Kat apparently had conducted some lewd behavior at a party (she had told him she and her best friend were going to the movies.) In a rage, he sets out to find Kat and goes to the house of the now-over party, and ends up trespassing, and injuring and disabling a minor who was not directly involved in the incident. From there, the book goes on to show Tucker struggling in a lawsuit with the boy's family (what goads me is he just does not see what he did wrong! Even though he has a young son himself!) He also struggles in his relationships with both his children (as Kat points out, he never talks to her about it, but makes decisions about the incident without her, including moving her to another school.) Tucker also has poor relationships with women, including his ex-wife in New York, his girlfriend Christine, and various others. Still, it is a good read about aman just having to learn to make better decisions particularly where his kids are concerned, especially in this day and age.
Rating:
Summary: Is it possible to keep our children safe?
Review: Tucker Jones, full of love and rage, rushes to a party after receiving a phone call that Kat, his 14yo daughter is there and is experimenting with drugs and sex. A big mess of a fight ensues, a battle that leaves a high school boy seriously injured. Tucker is arrested and the kid's father sues him. This compassionate, painful, and beautiful novel is a paean to the tenacity of a father's love.
Rating:
Summary: This novel should be much better known
Review: What a terrific book this is. Absolutely absorbing from the first page on. It's about the dilemmas both parents and teens face in this confusing world of multiple values. Beautifully written and very resonant for any parent raising a child today. I'm teaching a university course called "Fathers, Sons and Daughters in Literature and Film" and this is an instant addition to the book list.
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