Circle of Three: A Novel

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Summary: I look inside of us
Review: This book is the story of three women all at difficult stages of their lives. A woman in her early 40's who suddenly loses her husband and is faced with new beginnings, a 15 year old girl just discovering herself while dealing with the loss of a father who was never there and a mother who emotionally abandons her, and finally a grandmother just turning 70 who was never happy with her life and wonders what her future will hold. This book makes us take a deeper look into who we are, why we feel the way we do about life, and a common bond that can hold three generations of women together despite their differences.

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Summary: Circle of Three
Review: This book was sooooo boring and very predictable. I was very disappointed to say the least. I can't believe they even published this.

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Summary: A story about women
Review: This is a great book for women, about women, and the mother and daughter relationship between them.
The pivotal character is Carrie, newly widowed and still immersed in the grief and shock that only another widow would understand.Her teenaged daughter Ruth, is struggling with the loss of her father with whom she had never quite connected in the way that she fantasised- a completely open and caring father,daughter bonding.Carrie's mother Dana is a strong woman, still attractive yet overly possessive in a loving way in that she feels that it's her right to direct the lives of her daughter and grandaughter.Carrie is reunited with Jess, the sweetheart of her childhood and teenage years. Under Jess's influence,Carrie resumes painting,decorating a modern day Noah's Ark for a dying man who is convinced that building the Ark is his only way to redemption.This is a very moving story and is totally believable.

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Summary: Touching story for generations of women
Review: This is a wonderful book for women of all ages. This story of three generations of women, each dealing with their own problems, really touched my heart. I am 19, and I found myself relating so much to the things that the women were going through. I couldn't so much relate to the grandmother, but that's expected. This book gives a very realistic example of how mothers interact with daughters and vice versa.

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Summary: Ruth Is A Female Holden Caufield
Review: This is not a novel that you plunge right through. It is way too observant for that. I read it about fifty to a hundred pages at a time because I needed to reflect upon what I'd read. I was raised with my mother's and grandmother's living in close proximity and alternating with me, like these women characters do. Gaffney got the dynamic 100% right for that situation. I got a lot out of all three women but the absolute treasure is Ruth, the adolescent. I haven't read this good an adolescent since Salinger's "Catcher In The Rye" and Judith Guest's "Ordinary People." Every scene with Ruth is memorable: from her making out with her boyfriend on her father's grave, to getting the wrong female symbol tattooed on her hand when she's on the lam in Washington, DC, to hiding out in her health food guru-employer's apartment after she's learned of her mother's love life in the hardest way possible. There is a marvelous device Gaffney uses with all three women too. This is the way women have of criticizing their husbands to the child they had with that husband! The grandmother does it to the daughter, Carrie, and Carrie does it to her daughter, Ruth. Each of them has the exact same problem with hearing her own father criticized too, no matter how just the comment which was made. The novel is filled with universal moments between and among the generations that are like this. Gaffney has a sense of humor as well, albeit a dry one, with her having Ruth's mother, Carrie, an artist, build a Noah's ark with all the animals and then float it to save an old man's soul. This is a different novel from "Saving Graces" so don't pick this one up expecting to pick up where you left off. Gaffney is somewhat famous for this among her longtime fans though. Read, for example, her "To Have & To Hold" if you want a novel that's radically different from both "Saving Graces" and "Circle Of Three." Of all the romance writers who have tried to transition to general, mainstream fiction, in my opinion only Gaffney has really made the whole journey. The rest have non-romance covers and are shelved in general fiction or mystery but only Gaffney has made the transition wholly within the pages of the book itself as well. My only criticism is that I would have preferred seeing the three women at the graveside of Ruth's father/Carrie's husband on the cover. That site is used as an important setting several times in the book. I can't remember anyplace set for the three women to eat outside, which is the cover image used. If not the graveside scene, the Noah's ark reenactment would be nice for the cover.

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Summary: lost interest
Review: This started as a very good book, yet when I got near the end it kind of lost it's appeal and I couldn't wait to be done with it. I will try others of her books, even though I wasn't totally pleased with this one.

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Summary: lost interest
Review: This started as a very good book, yet when I got near the end it kind of lost it's appeal and I couldn't wait to be done with it. I will try others of her books, even though I wasn't totally pleased with this one.

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Summary: Warm, funny and heartfelt.
Review: This was a wonderful story about three generations of women and the men in (and out) of their lives. Told from each of their viewpoints, Gaffney especially captures what it is like to be a teenager, along with what it is to be like the mother of a teenager, and what it is like to be the matriarch , growing older and trying to hold her family all together. Recently widowed, Carrie struggles to get on with her life, raise her teen daughter Ruth, and come to terms with her pushy-at-times mother Dana and the relationship she has with her father George. Enter Carrie's highschool sweetheart and throw in her domineering new boss and some ark animals and you have a wonderfully entertaining story that will stay with you for a long time. A terrific novel for any generation.

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Summary: I loved this story of mothers and daughters
Review: This was definitely a different book than THE SAVING GRACES but in it's own way, it's just as satisfying. I loved the picture it creates of mothers and daughters, and how difficult each role is sometimes. I loved all the women characters, and definitely, Ruth hods a special place in my heart. I can't wait for Ms. Gaffney's next book!

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Summary: A wonderful second book from the author of the saving graces
Review: What a wonderful book! It explores the relationships between mothers and daugheter with three generations of strong women who all have their own little qwirks! Carrie, Dana and Ruth are not perfect, and their relationships aren't perfect, but whose are? This book looks at how these women deal with their own imperfections and those of their loved ones. There is a great message on love in this book-love lost, love found, and the sacrfices we all make for love and what lengths we go to in order to protect our loved ones. Read it with a box of kleenex handy and enjoy!