The All of It

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful book for a rainy afternoon!
Review: This is a treasure book...not to be loved by all, but by a few who love humanity. The tender mercies clearly detailed in this book will strike the souls of those who know they could falter along life's road. It is lyrical and simple...beautifully told. I read it several years ago and forgot the title. Tonight I ran into a friend in a bookstore who was looking for it and was delighted to have, at last, found the title again. This is a book to keep and return to when you are sure your sins will never be forgiven, and to learn,at the end of the day,that they will.

Rating:
Summary: Simple Yet Pleasing
Review: While first reading this book I found it to be interesting, yet I couldn't help but wonder how the book would stay that way when the whole plot comes from two main characters -one telling her life story to another. But the author ran it all together nicely with small chronological jumps that don't interrupt the flow of the story. The end has more interaction between the characters and they become a little more alive. It leaves a pleasing everything-has-worked-out-just-the-way-it-was-supposed-to feeling that is a large contrast from the shocking secrets revealed in the first chapters. If you're looking for a simple pleasure read for a couple of evenings, then this is it.

Rating:
Summary: Great book that taps into the inner you
Review: While starting to read the book, I wasn't sure that it would do anything for me, in terms of touching me emotionally. After 6 hours, and having completed the book, all I can say is-"WOW! " The book was short but really to the point. Reading it transported me to Ireland into the room where Edna is telling Father Declan the story of her and her "husband". The psychological effect is really phenominal and it is truly artistic the way Jeannette Haien jumps from Father's conversations with Edna and his fishing trip. All the human emotion of the characters and their story has touched my heart and I hope that more people will read this book so that it can touch theirs.

Rating:
Summary: A great novel that asks: What makes a moral life?
Review: Witty, thought-provoking, and brilliantly written, it was one of only 2 novels listed on the "Best 10 List" by all members of the Buckhead Bibliophiles at its 25th-year anniversary. (The other was William Maxwell's "Time Will Darken It.") It's worth reading for the surprising plot alone, but at the heart of this story is the question one keeps asking long after the book is closed: What makes a moral life?

Rating:
Summary: A great novel that asks: What makes a moral life?
Review: Witty, thought-provoking, and brilliantly written, it was one of only 2 novels listed on the "Best 10 List" by all members of the Buckhead Bibliophiles at its 25th-year anniversary. (The other was William Maxwell's "Time Will Darken It.") It's worth reading for the surprising plot alone, but at the heart of this story is the question one keeps asking long after the book is closed: What makes a moral life?

Rating:
Summary: The repercussions of a moral secret
Review: You'll either love this book, or you won't like it at all, at all. It's just that kind of story.
Put me down as having loved it. And it's short, but it's not a book to be gobbled up too quickly. Take your time.
A well-liked man in a small Irish town has died, and his deathbed confession has hurled the village priest, Father Declan, into a moral dilemma. Turns out Enda and Kevin Dennehy lived a lie for 50 years by pretending to be married. Kevin refuses to marry her at the end, and also refuses to say why. So it's left to Enda to tell Father Declan "the all of it," and tell it all she does. It leaves you pondering the question: What makes a moral life?
Don't miss this one - in fact, buy two and give one as a gift to some thoughtful reading friend.