I Loved You All: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Great characters & brilliantly funny.
Review: This is the first book I've read in a while that I longed to return to whenever I had to stop reading. Where to begin? First of all, the characters are great -- you wish you knew all of them personally. Secondly, the book is gripping -- it pulls you along with its comedy and drama and suspense. Third, I realized as I read this novel how rare it is nowadays to find a literary novel that tackles an important, controversial political topic like abortion politics. What a brave thing for a writer to do! Clearly, it would be impossible to write about this subject and please everybody, but I suspect that a very broad spectrum of people could enjoy this book. The treatment of the right-to-life debate in this book is brilliant, funny and balanced. I suspect only the most close-minded people could be offended by this book's handling of the underlying political controversies. Although I'd guess the writer is pro-choice, her portrayal of the main, right-to-life character, Isabel Flood, is affectionate and endearing, and insightful. She lets every character have his or her say on the issue, whether it's an evangelical minister or a muckraking journalist, and she shows believably that every character's political choices are motivated and driven by their own personality quirks. Perhaps that's the best thing about this book -- that even though it centers around a difficult issue, the issue is always secondary to the characters, who will stay with you for a long time. They include, among others, the anti-social but kind right-to-lifer Isabel Flood, the open-hearted and vivacious Marguerite Daigle and her parole officer boyfriend, the hyperactive troublemaking eight-year-old Penny and her rebellious older sister, and their hilarious uncle F.X., an unemployed journalist who loves provoking Isabel, and who brightens the page whenever he walks on. When I put this book down, what struck me most of all is that this book is completely original -- no one writes like Paula Sharp.