Rating: 
Summary: A Dazzling Novel
Review: I Loved You All is witty, engaging and remarkable exploration of the mind of a religious fanatic involved in right-to-life politics. Isabel Flood, the novel's main character, is a woman who lives as a kind of outcast in a small town in Upstate New York. Her only way of integrating herself into human society is to worm herself into the lives of the families around her, ostensibly as a champion of the right-to-life cause. Her competing needs to cling to her rigid religious perspective, and to find companionship among people who rarely share her views, bring about results that are both hilarious and tragic. All of the characters in this book are vivid and entertaining, from the 8-year-old badly behaved girl who dogs Isabel on her religious missions to the provocative journalist F.X., who composes and sends to Isabel unsigned letters signed by "The Knights of the Unborn," an organization of fetuses who decide to protest the idea of birth. Paula Sharp is unequaled among American novelists in her ability to portray ordinary, quirky Americans caught up in the forces of modern ideological causes. This book is enjoyable from beginning to end.
Rating:
Summary: A Dazzling Novel
Review: I Loved You All is witty, engaging and remarkable exploration of the mind of a religious fanatic involved in right-to-life politics. Isabel Flood, the novel's main character, is a woman who lives as a kind of outcast in a small town in Upstate New York. Her only way of integrating herself into human society is to worm herself into the lives of the families around her, ostensibly as a champion of the right-to-life cause. Her competing needs to cling to her rigid religious perspective, and to find companionship among people who rarely share her views, bring about results that are both hilarious and tragic. All of the characters in this book are vivid and entertaining, from the 8-year-old badly behaved girl who dogs Isabel on her religious missions to the provocative journalist F.X., who composes and sends to Isabel unsigned letters signed by "The Knights of the Unborn," an organization of fetuses who decide to protest the idea of birth. Paula Sharp is unequaled among American novelists in her ability to portray ordinary, quirky Americans caught up in the forces of modern ideological causes. This book is enjoyable from beginning to end.
Rating: 
Summary: Very good
Review: I thought this book was provocative and would certainly recommend it. I did have a few qualms and comments however. 1. First, one of the problems with a first-person narrative is that it often requires that narrator to be present when significant events are occurring or significant dialogue is spoken. In some novels, this is not such a difficult feat, particularly where the narrator is the so much the dominant character that everything revolves around him or her. In this book however, there were at least a half dozen significant characters besides Penny, and whose lives were simulataneous undergoing a series of twists and turns. These facts required the author to "accidentally" place Penny in any number of situations where her presence was necessary to hear and relate the dialogue. Many of these set-ups were highly unrealistic, either because her presence was known and inexplicably ignored by the adults around her or because she was sneaking all over the place and invariably "just happened" to be present when all sorts of crucial dialogue was taking place. The scene in the trailer near the end of the book is particularly good example of this, though there are a number of others. 2. I found Mahalia to be relentlessly depressing in her role as the "little Isabel". Isabel's personality can be well understood and condoned/forgiven (depending on your politics). But Mahalia was at a stage in life where she should have been joyous and carefree. There was something unnatural about a beautiful 15-year old relishing her role as a "young spinster". Having said that however, I was surprised (and found it somewhat unrealistic) at how little it took to make her abandon her seemingly hardened views and engage in her volte-face. 3. In her own way, I found Marguerite to be much more compassionate and understanding towards those in her life (including Isabel) than the cold-hearted Mahalia. 4. Finally, I was intrigued by the poem itself. When I first read it, there was no doubt in my mind that it was anti-abortion; I didn't even know that there was any question about it. But then after reading about how the characters in the book (and thus presumably the author) viewed the poem, I was not so sure. For example, the staunchly pro-life Isabel and her like-minded colleagues clearly detested it. In addition, the teacher Mr. Brewer, in trying to get her to reconsider, says that "it's not even straightforwardly pro-abortion--its ambiguous and provocative," as if to imply that on a casual reading, most people would assume that it WAS pro-abortion. This interpretation never occurred to me for a moment. I wonder what others think about this.
Rating:
Summary: powerful examination of loneliness in battle over abortion
Review: In the capable hands of novelist Paula Sharp, the so-called "right-to-life" movement serves as a backdrop to an extraordinary examination of the consequences of loneliness on a series of fully-realized characters. The people who live in the pages of "I Loved You All" are fully-realized individuals, each of whom struggles with the anguish of either self-imposed or social isolation. Even the setting, bleak, remote Stein, New York enhances the eccentricities and frustrations of the characters in this compelling, believable, and ultimately redemptive novel. Told through the eyes of the endearingly hyperkinetic eight-year-old Penny Daigle, the novel gains its tension through the unspoken battle between her beleaguered but vibrant mother Marguerite and the eerily stoic Isabelle Flood, whose anti-abortion stance masks a life bereft of human connection. Penny's sister Mahalia, compelled by circumstances and personal needs, reflects and intensifies the loneliness experienced by the two women who exert the most profound influence over her life: her mother Marguerite and her caretaker/mentor/role model, Isabelle. "I Loved You All," however, is much more about character development than a plot that pivots around the struggle over abortion rights. The four females who comprise the core of the novel's attention each face their own demons; each confronts a brutal loneliness and each develops the means to face her adversary. Marguerite, though absent much of the novel, has enormous appeal. While young, she sacrifices her adolesence so that she may care for her recently blinded brother, F.X. Denied the opportunity of romance and free time, Marguerite is rescued by a loving marriage, which ends precipitously when her husband dies and leaves Marguerite the responsibility of raising two vastly different daughters. A hell-raiser by nature, the grating endless restrictions of work, parenting and homemaking submerge Marguerite in a haze of unfulfillment. A transplanted Louisianan suffering through life in barren upstate New York, Marguerite staves off oblivion through drink. Only the steadfast dedication of the two men who love her (her brother F.X. and her beau, David) convinces her to return to her home state to recover. In her absence, her daughters take divergent paths to alleviate their sense of abandonment and isolation. The oldest, Mahalia, obliterates her beauty and effaces her personality as she orbits more and more closely around Isabelle Flood. Paula Sharp draws an exquisite picture of a teen-ager at odds with her family and her self as she presents Mahalia selecting involvement in a dessicated and stultifying "right-to-life" church instead of the unpredictable, but liberating, prospects of adolesence. Mahalia's youngest sister, Penny, is literally hell on wheels. Her unfettered enthusiasm for life and unquenchable thirst for knowledge and adventure thinly mask a child vulnerable to her own feelings of being unmoored, adrift amidst a family which is disintegrating. For sheer, unadulterated energy and commitment to life, Penny is unparalleled; yet all her sound and fury pivot around her profound misery at being apart from her mother. The novel's most enigmatic character, Isabelle Flood, suffers her own sequestered life. Unwanted from childhood and untouched by love, Isabelle satisfies her need for connection through a ramrod dedication to the precepts of the anti-abortion movement. Though capable of caring for Mahalia and Penny during Marguerite's absence but utterly unable to savor the messy possibilities of love, Isabelle is best seen not as a mouthpiece for a political movement, but the tragic residue of a culture which offers alienated and rejected adults little opportunity for a happy life. She is at once honorable and detestable, idealistic and repressive, caring and insensitive. Her contradictions give her a tragic believability. In a revealing interview, Paula Sharp confesses, "I can't imagine life without stories. I think I would evaporate if I stopped writing." Her briliant and absorbing "I Loved You All" endeavors to educate its audience about the most painful aspects of life: how humans battle, often without the benefit of emotional roadmaps, to overcome loneliness. That Ms. Sharp has done so though a novel which charts the tumultuous waters of the struggle for reproductive rights is all the more remarkable.
Rating:
Summary: powerful examination of loneliness in battle over abortion
Review: In the capable hands of novelist Paula Sharp, the so-called "right-to-life" movement serves as a backdrop to an extraordinary examination of the consequences of loneliness on a series of fully-realized characters. The people who live in the pages of "I Loved You All" are fully-realized individuals, each of whom struggles with the anguish of either self-imposed or social isolation. Even the setting, bleak, remote Stein, New York enhances the eccentricities and frustrations of the characters in this compelling, believable, and ultimately redemptive novel. Told through the eyes of the endearingly hyperkinetic eight-year-old Penny Daigle, the novel gains its tension through the unspoken battle between her beleaguered but vibrant mother Marguerite and the eerily stoic Isabelle Flood, whose anti-abortion stance masks a life bereft of human connection. Penny's sister Mahalia, compelled by circumstances and personal needs, reflects and intensifies the loneliness experienced by the two women who exert the most profound influence over her life: her mother Marguerite and her caretaker/mentor/role model, Isabelle. "I Loved You All," however, is much more about character development than a plot that pivots around the struggle over abortion rights. The four females who comprise the core of the novel's attention each face their own demons; each confronts a brutal loneliness and each develops the means to face her adversary. Marguerite, though absent much of the novel, has enormous appeal. While young, she sacrifices her adolesence so that she may care for her recently blinded brother, F.X. Denied the opportunity of romance and free time, Marguerite is rescued by a loving marriage, which ends precipitously when her husband dies and leaves Marguerite the responsibility of raising two vastly different daughters. A hell-raiser by nature, the grating endless restrictions of work, parenting and homemaking submerge Marguerite in a haze of unfulfillment. A transplanted Louisianan suffering through life in barren upstate New York, Marguerite staves off oblivion through drink. Only the steadfast dedication of the two men who love her (her brother F.X. and her beau, David) convinces her to return to her home state to recover. In her absence, her daughters take divergent paths to alleviate their sense of abandonment and isolation. The oldest, Mahalia, obliterates her beauty and effaces her personality as she orbits more and more closely around Isabelle Flood. Paula Sharp draws an exquisite picture of a teen-ager at odds with her family and her self as she presents Mahalia selecting involvement in a dessicated and stultifying "right-to-life" church instead of the unpredictable, but liberating, prospects of adolesence. Mahalia's youngest sister, Penny, is literally hell on wheels. Her unfettered enthusiasm for life and unquenchable thirst for knowledge and adventure thinly mask a child vulnerable to her own feelings of being unmoored, adrift amidst a family which is disintegrating. For sheer, unadulterated energy and commitment to life, Penny is unparalleled; yet all her sound and fury pivot around her profound misery at being apart from her mother. The novel's most enigmatic character, Isabelle Flood, suffers her own sequestered life. Unwanted from childhood and untouched by love, Isabelle satisfies her need for connection through a ramrod dedication to the precepts of the anti-abortion movement. Though capable of caring for Mahalia and Penny during Marguerite's absence but utterly unable to savor the messy possibilities of love, Isabelle is best seen not as a mouthpiece for a political movement, but the tragic residue of a culture which offers alienated and rejected adults little opportunity for a happy life. She is at once honorable and detestable, idealistic and repressive, caring and insensitive. Her contradictions give her a tragic believability. In a revealing interview, Paula Sharp confesses, "I can't imagine life without stories. I think I would evaporate if I stopped writing." Her briliant and absorbing "I Loved You All" endeavors to educate its audience about the most painful aspects of life: how humans battle, often without the benefit of emotional roadmaps, to overcome loneliness. That Ms. Sharp has done so though a novel which charts the tumultuous waters of the struggle for reproductive rights is all the more remarkable.
Rating:
Summary: Thought provoking and fun
Review: Paula Sharp manages to keep her cast of characters larger than life, yet believable at the same time. "I Loved You All," told from the point of view of a precocious eight year old Penny, tells the story of her and her sister Mahalia's stay with anti-abortion zealot, Isabel Flood, while their mother, Louisiana native Marguerite Daigle, must dry out from a losing battle with the bottle. Penny can, in her own way, see the failings of Isabel in her efforts to rally the troops, but Mahalia becomes Isabel's most faithful disciple -- a sort of backhanded way to rebel against her fiery mother. The story may seem to be about abortion, but it is more about how religion is used by people as a controlling device, an escape valve, a way to judge people, anything but what it is supposed to be.
Rating:
Summary: An absolutely delightful book!
Review: This book is pure story, from cover to cover. I just fell in love with Penny Daigle, the child star of this book. She is precocious, hard to handle, mischievous, and an overall delight to know. I admired her courage and her devilish ways. Each character is brought to light simply, yet revealed in intimate detail. There is Isabel, who I can picture in my mind as clear as day from the descriptions in the book. She is our resident religious fanatic intent upon forcing her views on the world and changing reality. Mahalia is a struggling teen, Penny's older sister, who acts as though she is just that, a struggling teen, vacuumed up by Isabel and unsure of her place in the world. F.X. is a fabulous uncle, I wish I had one like him. The mother's struggle with alcoholism tends to take a back seat to the story, even though I think it was intended to be the focal point, yet it is Marguerite's alcoholism that really starts everything. From page to page, the story is filled with drama and delight. It's humorous and sad, fluffy and deep at the same time. This author is a true find.
Rating:
Summary: Almost great
Review: This is a truly compelling read. I looked forward to returning to this book each time I was forced to leave it. The characters are well drawn, and there is a well-paced forward motion. Unfortunately, there were flaws, too. In order to convey information through the young narrator, the reader was expected to believe that Penny got herself into any number of unbelievable situations. Worse for me was the fact that the author let her views on the issue of abortion overpower her characters. It is certainly Sharp's story to tell, but I wish she had done just that--told the story. The politics are there; we didn't need to be hit over the head with them. But you won't be sorry to read it. Just don't pick this one up when you have a lot of other things to attend to. It's really hard to put down.
Rating:
Summary: Well-written, engaging story
Review: This is a wonderful read, which expands and flowers with every page. The characters - even those who are not likeable - are well-drawn, and one cannot help but fall in love with the main character, a feisty pre-adolescent girl, who is aching for her temporarily absent mother. Paula Sharp is a wonderful writer, who uses extremely creative metaphors. I truly looked forward to crawling into bed each night and opening the pages of this delightful, engaging story.
Rating:
Summary: an excellent read
Review: this is one of the best books I have read this year. I love books that center around someone trying to find themselves. this one does that. we learn about the two sisters and how they each learn to deal with their mother in their own way.
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