Monday, April 1, 2013

A Thousand Pardons by Jonathan Dee

A Thousand PardonsA Thousand Pardons by Jonathan  Dee
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A Thousand Pardons is a beautifully written and engrossing story about marriage, divorce, celebrity and public relations with their companion wrinkles and tragedies and the ever present need for forgiveness.  The characters are not particularly affecting, perhaps too removed from the reader as well as from each other, but their stories are and Dee presents them with skill and insight .  The section involving the two men marooned together in the house was amusing and truthful.  The ending leaves me in doubt as to this family making the changes necessary to sustain their new lives. The teenage daughter is insufferable.  The husband is a cipher.  The celebrity actor and the wife were most appealing and their stories sustained my interest in the book.  I did read it quickly and eagerly.  If you are looking for a runaway read, I  recommend A Thousand Pardons for the writing and its modern story line.  If you are a fan of character development and psychological insight, perhaps you might prefer  Adam Haslett's Union Atlantic or Jess Walter's Beautiful Ruins or Jean Thompson's The Year We Left Home.


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