Artie: 7.25 -7.5
Liked the opening with Strand enjoying his walk in Central Park and identified with how he felt on a spring day like that. The major characters were fleshed out quickly and though the story was formulaic, it all tied together well. He wondered if Hazen's motivations were benevolent, especially since the tickets he gave Strand and Leslie were to the Damnation of Faust. Was Strand selling his soul? It was a nice touch. A quarter of the way through he wondered where the story was going. He liked Strand's name; you could think of it as 'hanging on by' or 'stranded'. Strand was just an old school type of guy who liked to keep things positive. He resisted change, but knew it was inevitable. Artie liked the big ideas the book brought up in spite of its formulaic approach.
Miles: 8.5
Immersed himself in the book over a weekend which usually means a high rating. He liked the style and tone of the writing and thought the characters were fleshed out with effortless dialogue. A running theme was the choices that wealth can afford people and how they deal with it. Strand's lack of communication with his wife was aggravating. There were awkward circumstances from beginning to end which made for a thoughtful, entertaining read. It reminded him of Crossing to Safety.
Caroline: 8
Enjoyed it and found it a thought provoking take on the proverbs Be careful what you wish for and The road to Hell is paved with good intentions. The title indicates the good you send out into the world should come back to you. However, all of Hazen's good acts came back exactly the opposite of his intentions. His arrangement of Jimmy's job came back to bite him. Sending Romero to private school comes back to bite both him and Strand. Strand's love for Leslie allows him to let her go to France and he winds up losing her. It captured the feeling we have as parents when our kids make choices we don't want for them, but can do nothing about it. She liked the line about grazing in peace on grass and hunting on cement. It made her think that some of her students are peacefully grazing in grass in life and will be fine, while those hunting on cement need extra attention.
Michelle 8.75
Fell in love with the writing right off the bat. She read it in two days but wanted to savor every paragraph. Wondered if Hazen was a good guy or bad. She saw Strand as a non-judgmental, nice guy who wanted simplicity in his life and what was best for his family. So why not go to the opera, or take in a game? But as gift after gift piled up, he began to give up his principles. She hoped that Romero would make it.
Maggie 5
Found this an easy read and knew everyone involved was coming to a bad end the moment Hazen started dishing out gifts. She had no sympathy for anyone except Romero. Hazen destroyed his own family, so why let him into their lives and lead them by the nose? He may not have set out to destroy the Strands (perhaps subconsciously) but that's exactly what happened, and they unquestioningly accepted it! Sending Romero to a private boys school? What were they thinking? Of course he was going to fail in that environment; are they blinkered? It read like predictable pulp fiction and was full of stereotypical, greedy, unlikable characters.
Letiticia 6.25
Agreed with Maggie. She was unsure at first, but 2/3 of the way through, she didn't want to put it down. She occasionally thought that perhaps she had read it before, but nope, it was just that predictable. The characters drank scotch like the characters in Exodus smoked. She found Strand an absent-minded professor. She wondered if there still would have been abortions, pot smoking, and tennis playing nymphomaniacs with nose jobs, if Hazen hadn't shown up at their doorstep.
Sandy 4.5
Found the characters despicable. They have zero friends, what does that tell you? They used Hazen and made fun of him. Who goes on a vacation with someone they don't like? Strand was a horrible teacher who didn't find out anything about his students or care about them at all. And what an ego! Going up to his co-worker's apartment for a 'drink'. He knew exactly what was up but had to stroke his ego by telling her no so that he could feel good about himself. How could they be friends with Hazen and never ask him about his family? No, they were too self-absorbed. And Hazen! We're supposed to feel he's easier to like because he gave a baseball to a kid in the stands? Multiple rants which covered Solomon's wife, Caroline's nose job, and Hazen losing control in Paris with his wife. Eleanor was the only person with any brains until she lost her mind and got married because the guy threatened to leave her if she didn't? But what really got Sandy's goat was not only did Hazen lie about Caroline's broken nose, but Strand thanks him when he reveals it was her boyfriend? At this point Sandy began to fantasize about what she would do to Hazen if it were Brenna. She turned slightly green, ala' Bill Bixby in the Incredible Hulk, and I only managed to capture these few lucid sentences during the metamorphosis: They were all a bunch a jerks! Oh My Gawd I Hated This Book. And they called him a great TEACHER? Jimmy was the BIGGEST LOSER! Well he WASN'T A FATHER TO HIM! Leslie was an even BIGGER FLAKE THAN I THOUGHT SHE WAS! LIFE WOULD BE NO BETTER IN NEW YAWK FOR HIM!
End of rant
I occasionally pictured Hazen as Mr. Burns from the Simpsons to liven it up. It touched upon themes of change and aging, but the plot was too predictable to do much with them. About half way through I figured that Hazen had the hots for Leslie. Much of the dialogue sounded like a made for TV special. I didn't believe many of the circumstances, from the rescue of Hazen, to the weekends at the beach house, to Hazen always knowing someone who could do a certain something. With all of his ingratiating favors, I suspected Hazen as Mafia for a while, which would have made a better story. Check out The Gold Coast by Nelson DeMille that covers a lot of the same territory.
K'Lynn 7.5
Thought it was well-written, professional, and serious, but not depressing. She liked the characters. What were Hazen's intentions? Was he doing this just because he was lonely? What was his motive? She found him an interesting character and wished that it had been told from his perspective. This was Shaw's last novel and K'lynn wondered if he knew it would be. It's full of end of life themes with a dark mood throughout. Shaw was very wealthy. Was it a tale of his own demise? Was it a cautionary tale or one of morality? It was very adult in content, but not because of sex or violence, just big adult ideas about the choices we make. Very deep. Good pick.
Becky 4.5
From the get go she was uneasy and didn't like Hazen. Buying a new tennis racket for Caroline? Okay, fine. Thanks. Opera tickets? Weekends at the beach house? He ingratiated himself into their family and it was insidious. He was an unhappy man who couldn't control his own family so he tried to control theirs with the influence his wealth could afford. He might have had good intentions, but he was controlling, none the less. She had no sympathy for him. The writing was stereotypical, flat, and contrived and the story left her kind of depressed.
Next book: The Girl Who Came Home by Hazel Gaynor
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