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Sep 15, 2008

Kellie rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 31, 2009

William rated it:

in our local library there is a shelf where the librarians put books that they have read and recommend. a week or so ago "the good mother" was on the rack. so i picked it up. i had read one other of miller's books, "private lives", and liked it. from a review of her most recent book i knew that this one was probably her best -- imagine having your first novel be very well reviewed and never writing another that was as highly regarded. that would feel weird.

after More...

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Oct 02, 2009

Kim rated it:

Occasionally when looking up the prices for these reviews I write, I have a quick look at what has been said previously about the book. I have found, on the odd occasion, that another review has made me consider something I had not previously even been aware of the existence of. The reviews never alter what I think about the book, but may add to it.

Not in this instance though. The cover of the book poses a question about whether she should chose her lover or her daughter More...

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Sep 24, 2011

Snotchocheez rated it:

Certainly you'd imagine there's little entertainment value in reading about a divorce. With all its attendant negativity and emotion, the subject of divorce is complicated, messy, often disturbing; it's not primary on my list of things to read about, let alone experience first-hand. Sue Miller, then, chose quite a dubious subject to showcase front-and-center in her first novel, "The Good Mother".

This is a book I'd never gravitate toward unbidden; only a curious review fr More...

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Sep 12, 2011

Judy rated it:

If you really want to enjoy this book start half-way through it. Seriously. The beginning is depressing and very slow paced. As I slogged my way through the book I contemplated giving up on it. Once I hit the halfway point, all of a sudden, the real story began. It became an instant page turner. I couldn't wait to keep reading. I don't know why her editor didn't think of chopping the book down. It likely would have sold a lot more copies.
The story is about a mother who gets divorced and r More...

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 05, 2011

Kelly added it

Boo. I thought I would really like another Sue Miller novel after "The Senator's Wife," but the main character in this book is so unbelievably narcissistic, I just can't find anything remotely redeeming in her. I don't have a problem with Anna Dunlap leaving her husband - I do have a problem with the totally reckless behavior that followed, and I can't force sympathy for someone who would sleep with a guy AFTER he had been accused of something so wildly inappropriate. I thought about w More...

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Nov 06, 2010

Nmyers rated it:

The Good Mother was a disappointment for me in several ways. The biggest disappointment was the fact that Anna never was taught by her own family or learned it herself, that "you don't have to let boys touch you or have sex with you that are mean to you and that you have a choice." You find Anna doing this in high school, in her marriage, and in her relationships after Leo. In fact, you read about her doing this when there is an upcoming court case to determine custody for her daughte More...

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Aug 04, 2011

Jayne rated it:

This has a weighty, serious, introspective feel about it, and yet the subject matter is the sort of stuff Take A Break magazine churns out every week. Except that they would have sidestepped all the fancy stuff about playing the piano, family etc and cut straight to the nudity. I admired the writing, the way the reader is immersed in every aspect of the main character's life. Having said that, the early stages sometimes felt like a slog - the chapters are lo-o-o-ong, and I would often find mysel More...

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Feb 09, 2011

Marigold rated it:

Lately I seem to be stuck in the world of "it was OK" books. Didn't hate it, for sure - Miller is a good writer & I've enjoyed her other work. Didn't love it either...& couldn't even get as far as unqualified like. This book felt a little dated to me. Finding yourself through really amazing sex - no one talks about that anymore! Most people I know are finding themselves at the gym. And no one nowadays would admit to putting their child anywhere but First in their lives. And the whole l More...

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Jun 19, 2010

Erin rated it:

I was physically accosted by an unfamiliar woman when I was checking this book out in the library. She was quite literally shaking with anticipation for me to read, love, and devour this book. It was by far her most absolute, favorite-of-all-time book!! I know how it feels to love a book so much that you just want to share your joy and have others love it just as much. So I was eager to crack it open when I got home to dive into all the promised goodness.

Well, let me say that it More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 04, 2011

Sherri rated it:

This book was not one of my favorites but it was ok. I often find it hard to like a book when I don't care for the main character and I found if very difficult to like the mother in this story. I also find Miller's writing style to be very jarring at some points...she will be describing something in a fairly normal tone and then say something that is so out-of-place graphic that it's shocking. I'm not shocked by many things and have no problem reading things that are graphic; it's the way that s More...

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Oct 18, 2011

Judith rated it:

Beautifully written. The mother in question wasn't, good...that is. The novel was written before we had articulated magical thinking. If that's the subject, then it's a brilliant treatise on magical thinking. If Miller is saying the freedom limiting context of the larger family, grandfather particularly, is the only safe way to raise a child...she might have pulled that off. But Anna, her protagonist, stumbles through her life, unsatisfied except for the critical fling with Leo, because she More...

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Feb 08, 2011

Katie rated it:

Based on the text on the back of this book and a recommendation, I thought I would enjoy this book. It started out OK enough, though a little intense, but by midway through I did not particularly care for Anna and I really didn't care for her boyfriend Leo. Though I am not a mother and know I cannot comment about how I would handle the situation with Molly, I really didn't like the way she handled her relationship with Leo and the ensuing consequences. I admired Anna in the beginning for being a More...

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Mar 16, 2011

Kate rated it:

The Good Mother took me completely by surprise. Since finishing it last night (instead of sleeping - which I am now regretting). I've really been pondering just how to review this and do it justice....

Why it surprised me:

* It was not what I anticipated from the blurb.

* That others too long for a way of being not their inherent selves and try a change, yet ultimately fall short.

* The way the plot stealthily crept up on me - I could very easily have More...

1 comment like

Sep 03, 2010

Edith rated it:

This is one of Sue Miller's earliest books -1986, and it may well be one of her best books. The mother in this story gets herself in a terrible dilemma involving her 3 year old daughter, her new lover, and her ex-husband. I don't recall Miller being so explicit about "sex" in any of her other books; she certainly seems "no holes barred" here. The mother, caught up in the abandon and passion of her new lover, Leo, makes some bad judgments and these bad calls rear up to upend h More...

3 comments like

May 18, 2008

Esther rated it:

first read this when I was about 13, and it made quite an ..cough cough...impression with the whole sex/relationships theme. I thought it was brilliant, in that way you do at that pretentious age when you read something meant for readers older than you. Came across a dusty copy in a secondhand store recently and so I'm curious to re-read as a cynical thirtysomething old bag. Wondering if its really just a steaming pile of chick-lit with literary aspirations. We'll see....
Finished this toda More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Nov 04, 2011

Dane rated it:

I picked this up b/c I heard a review of Jonathan Franzen's book Freedom on Fresh Air and the reviewer commented on how there were several other authors, Sue Miller among them, that were just as good at doing what Franzen does: namely, cataloguing our modern times in fiction.

The Good Mother is a first person blow by blow of one young mother's fall from marriage in the 80s. Her entrance into single motherhood, to bohemian life, and fall from grace. But life goes on.

Very go

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Nov 17, 2011

Megan rated it:

The main character in this book decides to divorce her husband because she feels empty. Honey, your marriage felt empty because you are empty. I disliked her and her lover and found them to be short on good judgment and living pretty shallow, self-involved, narcissistic lives. Neither one of them seemed to be concerned about the child’s mental and emotional well-being. Overall, I felt that they were more focused on justifying their actions and their sexual rights and the little girl’s welfar More...

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Jun 17, 2009

Lise rated it:

This was a highly rated book in all the reviews I'd read. It was the first of several Sue Miller novels I intended to read. I chose The Good Mother for all of the possibilities this subject presented. For me, it was terribly written. Not one main character was to my liking and the clinical, flat tone of the writing made it tough for me to even finish. I'd like to see this topic tackled by an author I like. It could have been a really good book.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 28, 2009

Leigh rated it:

Good writing but it's hard to be sympathetic to the main character. She leaves her husband to find herself and becomes involved in a passionate affair with an artist. Her husband sues for custody and he wins on the grounds that her new found sexuality makes her a poor mother. I loved the writing but the "I gotta find myself and discover sexual passion, even if it damages my child" makes the character hard to like.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 01, 2009

Karen rated it:

I found this book in a used book store. It was written in the mid 80's but could very well have happened today. A young mother who is recently divorced tries to start a new life. She makes some poor choices after she adds a lover to her life. There is no bad guy just people making bad choices and a small child who innocently see's and asks questions that the ex husband uses to get custody of the child.

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Jul 18, 2009

Susan rated it:

A great contemporary novel with just the right amount of reality. The main character Maggie makes mistakes like people do. Some you might not make yourself but this is one of Sue Miller's great traits; she writes people as they might really be. Loved the other characters as well, like Leo. Super sexy Leo...

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Oct 30, 2008

Jill rated it:

If I could give this book 2 1/2 stars I would, because there were moments when I enjoyed it (most notably the courtroom scenes). What bothered me the most, though, was the narrator and main character, Anna. I thought she was extremely selfish in the first half of the book (seriously, who brings their young daughter into bed while having sex?!?), and any mention of her daughter seemed almost gratuitous. I began to sympathize with her in the second part of the book and thought that her feelings More...

4 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 22, 2008

Ghettohippie rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Jun 09, 2011

Mary rated it:

I went to a book discussion at the Chicago Bookstore, Women and Children First. Afterwards we decided that we could do that ourselves and so formed a book group. I believe that was around the mid-80s. Several charter members of that group are still meeting and discussing in 2011.

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Aug 04, 2011

Michelle rated it:

I found this book alright. I had to read it fo an ISU at school. I found it hard to still like the main charcter near bthe middle/ end of the book. She should have definatly always put her child first and i get bthe vibe that she never even liked Leo that much.

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Mar 21, 2011

Jane rated it:

Eva, Mark,divorced. Eva, John, second husband, who dies in car accident. Daisy who has affair with much older famiiy friend, Duncan. Emily, her sister, and Theo baby brother. Mark works in vineyards, Eva owns bookstore. Usual family story for Meller.

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Oct 11, 2010

Alicia rated it:

This is my favourite Miller book. I really like she explores highly charged, often difficult issues (such as a child's exposure to adult sexuality). I also felt that her depiction of a marriage and of a parent's relationship to her child was dead-on.

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Aug 09, 2010

Sue rated it:

Interesting... did not agree w/ character's life choices to sleep around, however, life presents itself differently to everyone so did find interesting the section w/ the counselor and the mother working through her problem w/ her child and the father..

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May 27, 2009

Mary rated it:

WOW! Just finished this book. It took me through a whole range of emtions from anger, frustration, disbelief and in the end I cried.
Upon reflection I enjoyed the book, but while living it, I just kept shaking my head at the main character. A book I wasn't able to put down.

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