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Summary: Thoughts on A Secret Word
Review: I read Paddock's A Secret Word in one night. It is a book that once I began reading, I couldn't put down. Her characters are well rounded, realistic, and pulled me into the story immediately, and I felt as if I had known these three girls my entire life. I wanted to know what happened to them. Her sparse writing and intense character develoment lend truth and realiability to her voice and engage the reader as more than a spectator. She has taken three girls from a small town and made their lives exciting as they go from being young girls to young women. Each milestone in their lives rings true and the readers can easily identify with at least one if not all of the characters. The further into the story that I read, I found that they changed from characters in a novel to friends and are stored inside my heart like Joe, and Laura, and all the other magnificent charcters from great stories that I have read in the past. What a great writer and a great a read, and I am looking forward to what ever else this talented author publishes.
jeannie
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Summary: A Secret Word
Review: I'm an older person, and I really enjoyed looking back on the lives of these three girls. The first chapter, especially, reminded me of an event that happened at my high school, and I liked reading what happened to the rest of the girls after this with the different paths they took. It's like life--it's always interesting to see how lives turn out. I suppose that's what makes high school reunions so interesting.
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Summary: intriguing look over a fifteen-year span at three women
Review: In 1986 Fort Smith, Arkansas, three tenth grade coeds and the boyfriend of one of the trio is in a car crash during an off campus lunch. The boy dies in the crash bonding the threesome with this tragedy. Two of the female students were already close friends coming from the elite of the community while the third belonged to the working poor. Not long after graduating, the affluent duo Chandler and Sarah leave the hicks for the bright lights of Broadway while Leigh remains behind toiling at minimum wage.Over the years, Chandler and Sarah enjoy the swinging life of the Big Apple until a tragedy forces the former to come home. While Sarah continues jet setting, Leigh tries to help Chandler adapt to her new life. The novel is an intriguing look over a fifteen-year span at three individuals tied together through the starting point tragedy. The low-key novel rotates first person narratives so that the audience sees the same event or time in separate first-person chapters. The crucial element that makes the tale work is that regardless of whether you remain behind in Fort Smith, move to Manhattan, or return to your small hometown, a person can never escape a pivotal moment calamity that ensures you can never truly leave home. Harriet Klausner
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Summary: I love "A Secret Word"
Review: It's no secret that Jennifer Paddock has become a writer to be reckoned with. Her style and characters are surpassed only by her obvious passion for life and her ability to grab and hold her reader's attention. A Secret Word reminds me (an ex-writer) how a really good book is supposed to be written. I can only hope that we see more of the same. Good job, Jennifer.
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Summary: Growing Up is Hard to Do
Review: Jennifer Paddock has accurately captured the trials of growing up and trying to become an adult. Her prose moves quickly and rhythmically, making it easy to get caught up in the story of these three young girls who are bound together by a small Southern town in Arkansas. It reminded me of my own close friendships growing up. I recommend this book to twenty and thirty-somethings, but the older crowd will enjoy it as well. I look forward to more books from Ms. Paddock.
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Summary: A MUST READ FOR YOUNG WOMEN
Review: Jennifer's book is an outstanding read for women of all ages. As a young college woman, this book was a great read and not only did it take me back to my childhood, it gave me something to look forward to in my future. I loved this book and plan on reading it over and over again. I have recommended it to all my girlfriends and those who have had the chance to read it all love it!
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Summary: Deceptively spare
Review: Paddock manages,with deceptive ecomomy to portray lifetimes, traumas and inner worlds. She keeps her prose unadorned so we can fully appreciate the realness of these characters. She is not a writer who is too precious or pleased with herself. This is a lovely and sad book and alot more complex than people will first realize.
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Summary: A Secret Word: A Novel by Jennifer Paddock
Review: Plan to read this book in a single sitting because Paddock pulls the reader immediately into the lives of the book's three characters. Every woman will find an experience or a personality in the book with whom she relates. It took me back to that same time in my life--those college and post-college years--of searching. I found myself wanting to offer the characters sisterly advice and a shoulder to cry on as I shared their disappointments and cheered their triumphs and successes.
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Summary: Lackluster
Review: The book begins by introducing three Fort Smith, Arkansas, high school girls, two from the tennis-playing country-club set and one from very meager, broken-home circumstances. After a one-time luncheon outing to the country-club - only taken because Leigh, the status challenged one, is old enough to drive - the girls come upon a traffic accident, where a boy who they all knew from their school has died. The stage is set; where is the author going with all of this. Unfortunately, mostly nowhere.
The author follows the girls for fifteen years, rotating among them with separate chapters. The two well-to-do girls float through life: Chandler eventually becomes a lawyer, but quickly abandons that venture, and Sarah maintains the illusion of being a budding actress. Their romantic interests are both brief and unsatisfactory. Both live on their families' resources. Leigh is stuck in dead-end jobs, eventually becoming an assistant manager in a gourmet food store, and appears to be set to duplicate her mother's unhappy existence by marrying a wanna-be, no-talent rocker. Only one of the girls is able to get off the treadmill to nowhere, and that seems contrived.
The author does throw one monkey-wrench into Chandler's life, but even that hardly rescues the book from terminal blandness. The traffic accident from their high school days disappeared immediately as any kind of stimulatory event. The reader is treated to endless descriptions of hair: wet, dry, blonde, etc; alcohol and food consumed, and states of dress: none, nightwear, appropriate, etc. Some say this is not Chick Lit - wrong, it is, but only if vacuous books fall into that category. As for those who cannot be trusted if some chapters do not move to tears: there are many who are going to have to make appointments due to being emotionally challenged.
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Summary: Three Coming of Age Stories in One Novel
Review: This book is about three Southern women who are forever connected by the death of a teenage friend.
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