Grace Notes, Charlotte Vale Allen, 2002, Mira. Genre: Fiction. 325 pages. Finished 3/28/10.
Fresh Air, Charlotte Vale Allen, 2003, Mira. Genre: Fiction. 282 pages. Finished 4/2/10.
Parting Gifts, Charlotte Vale Allen, 2001, Mira. Genre: Fiction. 372 pages. Finished 4/4/10.
LesOpinion: Charlotte Vale Allen is the kind of author that inspires me to be nice. She is smart, compassionate, and on a mission. Apparently, she's the bestselling author of Daddy's Girl (1976), which was something of a groundbreaking memoir about growing up with domestic violence. It's no surprise, then, that two of these three novels (she has written dozens of others), have a theme of child or spousal abuse.
Allen is smart and a decent writer. Her only downfall is her fondness for the deus ex machina plot device. Unlike our friend the Reverend Alcorn, though, Allen uses it only once per novel rather than every other paragraph. And because Allen carries the
flag for abused wives and children everywhere, it's hard to dislike her. She is generous with her characters, adept at writing about emotional fragility, and she does the unthinkable: she includes self-addressed reader comment cards at the end of her books!Would I go buy a Charlotte Vale Allen book? Nope. But I would happily read another should it appear on the library shelves.
Best quote: "...the truth is that every last one of us feels like a freak at some point. But that doesn't mean we are. It's about emotion, or instinct, or bad luck temporarily getting the upper hand and making us feel ugly or abnormal."
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3 comments:
Three more books I can skip. Thanks for saving me.
I'm currently reading Johnny Got His Gun. For a major claustrophobic like me, it was hard to read in the beginning. I wish it could be assigned reading for all my boys who glorify war.
Babs,
It is always our pleasure here at the LesBlog to help our gentle readers skip unnecessary reading.
The LesBlog Editorial board has read Johnny Got His Gun about 5 times and thus gives it the LesBlog stamp of approval.
Les
I can understand the need to read this book more than once. I was reading it so quickly the first time. I had to find out what would happen.
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