Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed
Review: Although I'm in the minority here, I had to write. Try as Imight, I couldn't bring myself to care about any of the characters inthis book. They were all egocentric adults, foisting their problems on each other and the two small children, who (surprise!) turned out to be equally unlikeable adults. My biggest problem with the plot was this: If two little girls are caught up in the bitter divorce of their parents, who would they have greater issues with as adults. Their know-it-all father, whose greatest fault seems to be a tendency for making a blustering fool of himself in public, or their mother, whose lesbian affair precipitated the divorce, and whose sexuality apparently remained unresolved all the years they lived with her? Since they were girls, I think their mother's story would be the one to fill them with angst-ridden questions as adults. But in this book, it is their father's behavior and affair with a woman after the divorce, that is inexplicably the center of their universe. Why? No idea, except that the father is the main character in the book, therefore all the attention is given to his motivations. And if Mike wasn't a yawn and a half when he was speaking about himself, his daughters' disection was even more sleep inducing.
Rating: 
Summary: An Adult Book About Adult Things
Review: An excellent novel about what it is like to be a man or a woman in this world. The effects that your family and friends have on you and your family and friends. Nothing is forced, the plotting is excellent and the writing is graceful, superb and flawless. Casey doesn't leave you stranded. The ending is thoughtful and emotional. For every action there is a reaction. I was very moved. Very.
Rating:
Summary: The Half-Life of Happiness
Review: Casey reveals characters that breath. He ask the reader to work on knowing the meaninging behind the motivations of his characters. I found myself "dog-earing" many pages and reading sections over again as I connected to the narrative. I found The Half-Life of Happiness to be a wonderful companion to the complexities of this holiday season. This book will challenge you to slow down and look at the life around you from many different narratives. You will see yourself, your family and your friends in this powerful piece of work. Enjoy and watch the compassion in you grow with each chapter.
Rating:
Summary: The Half-Life of Happiness
Review: Casey reveals characters that breath. He ask the reader to work on knowing the meaninging behind the motivations of his characters. I found myself "dog-earing" many pages and reading sections over again as I connected to the narrative. I found The Half-Life of Happiness to be a wonderful companion to the complexities of this holiday season. This book will challenge you to slow down and look at the life around you from many different narratives. You will see yourself, your family and your friends in this powerful piece of work. Enjoy and watch the compassion in you grow with each chapter.
Rating:
Summary: richly textured, moving and insightful
Review: For those wanting an escape from legal potboilers, books about horses and medical thrillers, here is a great summer read that may actually linger in your mind awhile. Reminiscent of Updike's Rabbit novels, Casey's Half-Life of Happiness is a richly textured, very moving account of the breakup of a marriage set against the backdrop of a fascinating Congressional election. The characters come alive in the skilled hands of John Casey, who describes the couple's boredom, their inability to communicate as their world crumbles around them, and the frustrations felt by liberal Democrat lawyer Mike Riordan as he slips into middle age and is coaxed into a seemingly futile bid to run for Congress. The story is one about relationships- at its core the novel deals with the breakup of Mike and Joss, but it works on so many more levels including the strained relationship between sisters Edith and Nora, as well as numerous effective passages involving the couple's friends, colleagues, political opponents, etc. The narrative focus changes frequently, but never in such a fashion as to disrupt the continuity of the plot. Overall, a very intelligent, moving novel of a family crisis written with humor, compassion and attention to detail.
Rating:
Summary: richly textured, moving and insightful
Review: For those wanting an escape from legal potboilers, books about horses and medical thrillers, here is a great summer read that may actually linger in your mind awhile. Reminiscent of Updike's Rabbit novels, Casey's Half-Life of Happiness is a richly textured, very moving account of the breakup of a marriage set against the backdrop of a fascinating Congressional election. The characters come alive in the skilled hands of John Casey, who describes the couple's boredom, their inability to communicate as their world crumbles around them, and the frustrations felt by liberal Democrat lawyer Mike Riordan as he slips into middle age and is coaxed into a seemingly futile bid to run for Congress. The story is one about relationships- at its core the novel deals with the breakup of Mike and Joss, but it works on so many more levels including the strained relationship between sisters Edith and Nora, as well as numerous effective passages involving the couple's friends, colleagues, political opponents, etc. The narrative focus changes frequently, but never in such a fashion as to disrupt the continuity of the plot. Overall, a very intelligent, moving novel of a family crisis written with humor, compassion and attention to detail.
Rating:
Summary: Exasperating book
Review: I found this book to be disappointing on all fronts. Try as I might, I could not empathize with even one character, and I found the style to be somewhat rambling, almost stream-of-consciousness. Are we supposed to feel compassion for Mike because of the breakdown of his marriage? In a book in which all the adults seem to be egomaniacal and some even cruel, it is difficult to even like anyone let alone sympathize with them, except perhaps the children who get front row seats to their parents' self-destruction. I found the writing style of this book somewhat monotonous. More often than not, we read of an incident in Mike's life from his point of view; then we hear it re-hashed from the point of view of another character; years later, it gets another re-telling from his grown daughters. If Mike were more interesting, or his actions less self-serving, this might warrant a closer look. But who cares if his post-divorce girlfriend took advantage of him? Or if he mouthed off more than he should have? The only characters who were marginally sympathetic were neighbors Edmund and Evelyn, who moved away and inexplicably never showed up in the book again. Not angst-ridden enough, I guess.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful family saga.
Review: I loved this book. Near the end I had to slow down to keep it from ending. This is a full and beautiful account of a family made up of people who are all quite appealing yet human, with all the weaknesses that humanity entails. It is the story of Mike Reardon's journey through the break-up of his marriage and the indignities of a political campaign. The point of view shifts between an omniscient narrator reporting events as they happened in the 1970s and the first-person account of Edith, Mike's somewhat embittered daughter, looking back from the present. This technique produces a rich and often humorous point/counterpoint portrayal of events. The denouement, built around a final scene in which the daughters, Edith and Nora, drive to a family reunion attended by both their father and mother, took my breath away. I closed the book, but I didn't want to let go. Thank you, John Casey.
Rating:
Summary: a great read
Review: i loved this novel. i loved spartina. like the best john irving novels, i didn't want them to end. i will patiently look forward to casey's next knowing it will be worth it. there are so few truly great writers today - casey is one of them.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent insights into family life
Review: In this novel about a marriage falling apart, Casey spends an enormous amount of time with each character, describing his or her feelings and thoughts in clear detail. I felt like I really knew each of them, yet I didn't feel suffocated by being in the character's head too long. This works well because besides the husband and wife point of view, Casey gives us their older daughter as a narrator looking back on her childhood during the time of the divorce. Plenty of plot, too, that kept me reading. Altogether this book was an excellent balance of insightful fiction, family drama and local color all done by a highly talented writer. I enjoyed his other books, too, and look forward to the next.
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