Greed. Envy. Sex. Property. In her subversively funny and genuinely moving new novel, Jane Smiley nails down several American obsessions with the e...
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reviews
Feb 11, 2008
Yvonne
rated it: 
I have read (I think it was an Amazon review) that this book moves too slow for some readers. For me, the story builds upon the observations and experiences of the main character with the perfect clarity of a well-measured pace. Upon reflection, the plot bears slight resemblance to The Great Gadspy and Goodbye Columbus, but I liked it better than either. Smiley has more than one story to tell so if the 80s savings and loan scandal sounds dull, try one of her other books (Moo or The All-true T
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Dec 01, 2008
Erin
rated it: 
Don't know why I'm giving this five stars, except that this novel was like an addiction. It wasn't life-altering, nobody dies, nothing blows up. But any time I wasn't reading this, all I could think was, "When can I read Good Faith? When can I read Good Faith?"
Feb 20, 2008
mark
rated it: 
I can´t believe I finished this book. If it weren´t for the severe lack of good novels in Chilean patagonia, I´m sure I would have given up about halfway through. Smiley´s novel paints a picture of the greedy ambition that swept through the US during the 1980s. It is realistic fiction, designed to portray a shift in American culture during the social and economic changes in the Reagan era. The protagonist is a small town realtor in upstate new york, raised by saintly god-fearing parents and
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Jan 03, 2011
Jenny
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http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/20...
Hot property
Jenny Shank, Special To The News
Published April 25, 2003 at midnight
Good Faith, Jane Smiley's new novel, concerns the quintessentially human journey of a man toward the realization that he was the sucker who was born that minute. Although Smiley has explored some of these themes previously, including divorce and power struggles among families and colleagues, Good Faith once again transports readers to More...
Hot property
Jenny Shank, Special To The News
Published April 25, 2003 at midnight
Good Faith, Jane Smiley's new novel, concerns the quintessentially human journey of a man toward the realization that he was the sucker who was born that minute. Although Smiley has explored some of these themes previously, including divorce and power struggles among families and colleagues, Good Faith once again transports readers to More...
Sep 24, 2010
Mike
rated it: 
If Rex Pickett had written Sideways about real estate instead of wine, you would have Jane Smiley’s Good Faith.
If you like a slow narrative about a field that you’re not passionate about, read Good Faith. It’s a 400+ page novel that is too involved in the uninteresting.
It’s 1982, and the narrator is a man named Joey Stratford. Stratford is an honest and ethical real estate man who makes an average living. Life changes for the lonely, divorced, restless real estate man More...
If you like a slow narrative about a field that you’re not passionate about, read Good Faith. It’s a 400+ page novel that is too involved in the uninteresting.
It’s 1982, and the narrator is a man named Joey Stratford. Stratford is an honest and ethical real estate man who makes an average living. Life changes for the lonely, divorced, restless real estate man More...
Nov 10, 2009
Emily
rated it:
She has been on my list of "Authors I Ought to Know" for a long time, and I was delighted to discover that this was a good old fashioned social novel, which is funny and wise about social aspirations in way that struck me as positively Austenesque.
The novel opens in 1981 with Joe Stratford, a straight-shooting small-time real estate agent. He is divorced, but not lonely thanks to the friendship of the Baldwin family; Gordon and Betty are like parents to him, and their child More...
The novel opens in 1981 with Joe Stratford, a straight-shooting small-time real estate agent. He is divorced, but not lonely thanks to the friendship of the Baldwin family; Gordon and Betty are like parents to him, and their child More...
Mar 07, 2011
Rachel
rated it: 
Jane Smiley could probably write about anything and it would be worth reading. The things she writes about aren't new or exciting but she has a way of writing that makes me want to keep reading her books.
The blurb sounded terribly boring but she somehow made descriptions of housing developments and buying/selling real estate interesting. The first half of the book was great but it started to drag in the middle for me. It's clear that something bad will happen but the buildup takes for More...
The blurb sounded terribly boring but she somehow made descriptions of housing developments and buying/selling real estate interesting. The first half of the book was great but it started to drag in the middle for me. It's clear that something bad will happen but the buildup takes for More...
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Sep 20, 2011
Snotchocheez
rated it:
After reading Jane Smiley's abysmally bad "Ten Days in the Hills", I vowed never to waste any more time on Ms. Smiley's fiction. In a fit of masochism, I broke that vow to read "Good Faith", her 2003 novel centered on the real estate world, circa 1983 in the vicinity of Portsmouth (NH? The book never specifically says, but it's inferred to be north of Boston, MA), in the Reagan era. What was most surprising was that the book was pretty interesting, and occasionally flashed
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Dec 24, 2009
Laurel-Rain
rated it:
Joe Stratford is a likable young man. After his divorce from wife Sherrie, he has returned to the town where he grew up, started a career selling real estate, and seems to have a comfortable life. People trust him; therefore his business is going well. He has a knack for the negotiation.
Enter Marcus Burns, friend of a friend—a charismatic outsider—and rather quickly, he becomes a part of several of Joe's deals. Soon Joe and his associates, along with Marcus, are a team. Their plans a More...
Enter Marcus Burns, friend of a friend—a charismatic outsider—and rather quickly, he becomes a part of several of Joe's deals. Soon Joe and his associates, along with Marcus, are a team. Their plans a More...
Jul 25, 2008
Zach
rated it:
Eh... it was good, bot great; a good summer book. This is my foray into the Jane Smiley catalog, so I don't know how the more lauded novels stand up against this one. I found her female characters to be empty and not particularly deep; the main male character was the most complex female character in the whole novel. Anyway, it's a fun read, but by no means necessary.
Apr 17, 2011
Karen
rated it:
I thought this was a very boring book! The main problems were the pacing and editing. There was so much extraneous information that the book could have been half as long. The tension/conflict built up and faded so many times that the book was confusing rather than enjoyable to read. Additionally, while the protagonist was likeable and somewhat believable, his strange attachment to Marcus simply didn't fit his personality, and it was completely unclear why he trusted Marcus over and over when
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Jun 02, 2008
Alison
rated it:
Perhaps falling in love while reading affected my opinion of this book, but I strongly identify the lead character with my now-husband. It has artists, scammers, smart people who find their own naivete, scenery, progress - it's almost like a more-readable contemporary Ayn Rand novel. Don't buy a house without reading this novel!
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Jul 22, 2007
Bridget
rated it:
I hated this book! The characters are well developed but the story is not so interesting and there's some very graphic (and pointless) sex...maybe if it had something to do with the plot it would be okay but it seems like it's just dropped into the book for the naughtiness of it.
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Nov 16, 2009
Judy
rated it:
I bought this book based on an enthusiastic review in the Wall Street Journal, a paper I trust, and because I had heard of Smiley's previous well known works. But Good Faith was a huge disappointment. It dragged along for literally hundreds of pages before she brought us to the true dramatic crisis; what led up to that crisis was B-O-R-I-N-G. Even when we finally get to the "crisis," it seems like no big deal, and is resolved undramatically and quickly. The main character, Joe, also ha
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Jul 09, 2010
Melissa
rated it:
This book had a lot of elements that I like to classify it as a good read. There were secrets, betrayals, and greedy situations that lead up to a good ending.
I give it three stars because the book took a while to read. It wasn't slow per se but because of the nature of the book-being a bunch of shady business deals- there was a lot of wordy terminolgy that took a while to sift through.
With that said, it definitely kept me wanting to read on to see what would happen. I fe More...
I give it three stars because the book took a while to read. It wasn't slow per se but because of the nature of the book-being a bunch of shady business deals- there was a lot of wordy terminolgy that took a while to sift through.
With that said, it definitely kept me wanting to read on to see what would happen. I fe More...
Dec 15, 2007
rachel
rated it:
I don't know why I keep reading Jane Smiley. A Thousand Acres was incredible. Obviously, the woman can tell a story. Everything I read after ATA,however, is a combination of boring plus explicit sex scenes. It's disarming.
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Sep 11, 2009
Brian
rated it:
Near the end of 13 Ways of Looking at the Novel, Smiley has a chapter on how Good Faith came together for her. I was quite interested in that, so I ran out and read Good Faith before finishing that.
Smiley mentions that Good Faith was problematic, and somewhat difficult for her. It certainly wasn't one of her favorites, and I think that shows when one reads it. However, I'm not disappointed I read it. She offers some very subtle commentary on the 1980s push for economic growth. A More...
Smiley mentions that Good Faith was problematic, and somewhat difficult for her. It certainly wasn't one of her favorites, and I think that shows when one reads it. However, I'm not disappointed I read it. She offers some very subtle commentary on the 1980s push for economic growth. A More...
Mar 22, 2011
Eliza
rated it:
3/21/2011: Quirky, some amusing parts, but otherwise a bit of a slog. I'm not sure why I finished it--I almost put it down a few times--but in retrospect I'm glad I did. There is a definite punch line to the novel (after 465 pages...!) and I would always have wondered about the end if I hadn't finished it. Smiley can write, but I think her talents are a bit wasted on this experiment. Trying to send up the greedy 80s by following the life of Joe Stratford, realtor in an unnamed semirural area nea
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Oct 30, 2009
Mindy
rated it:
Um, well, props to J Smiley for being able to tell wildly different stories. She is a great storyteller in that she has an incredible knack for keeping a plot moving. One event hops toward the other without excess rumination or narrative stutters. In Good Faith, however, we along to the point that, halfway through the novel, I realized that I still didn't feel like I knew much about the main character--that is, how he processed stuff. He seemed congenial to the point of shallowness, but I don't
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Dec 12, 2007
Lisa
rated it:
Couldn't finish it. Oh Jane Smiley, I appreciate you trying your hand at various types of novels and styles, but this one didn't work so well.
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Aug 12, 2007
Chatnoir
rated it:
meh. One of those books you can put down and use to level your desk if your hardwood floors are warped from the tears shed.
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Dec 06, 2008
Needleroozer
rated it:
Hmmmm...I'm not sure what to say about this book.
I got it for free at the end of the Fall '08 Friends of the Library book sale. I've been reading it off and on for a few weeks.
I would give it two and a half stars if I could. It deserves a bit more than a two, but not quite a three.
I read the whole thing, but it's hard to sum up any plot. The book is more about character than about plot, but it's hard to say what, if anything, the main character learned. Is it More...
I got it for free at the end of the Fall '08 Friends of the Library book sale. I've been reading it off and on for a few weeks.
I would give it two and a half stars if I could. It deserves a bit more than a two, but not quite a three.
I read the whole thing, but it's hard to sum up any plot. The book is more about character than about plot, but it's hard to say what, if anything, the main character learned. Is it More...
Sep 05, 2009
Ruth
rated it:
I'm sorry to say this is another Jane Smiley book that was not a fun read for me. It's about real estate, so maybe I shouldn't be surprised that I was so bored, but Smiley really won me over to the world of racehorses with Horse Heaven, so I jumped into this one hoping the same thing would happen. But, no, it was as boring as I would have expected a book about real estate would be. The main character was OK, I guess, but there was nothing in the plot to sink my teeth into, the sex scenes were
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Sep 12, 2009
Sarah
rated it:
This book was a real dud! I read "A Thousand Acres" many years ago and really liked it. So, when I came across "Good Faith" recently at a garage sale, I thought it would probably be pretty good, since it's by Jane Smiley. I was sadly mistaken!
The story focuses on the world of 1980s real estate (and the pending collapse of the savings and loan industry) and, in particular, the business dealings of the main character, Joey. The whole story leads up to one betr More...
The story focuses on the world of 1980s real estate (and the pending collapse of the savings and loan industry) and, in particular, the business dealings of the main character, Joey. The whole story leads up to one betr More...
Oct 12, 2008
Sarah
rated it:
This was an intriguing look into the real estate market of the ‘80’s. The story revolves around a realtor, a land developer, and a contractor that get swept up in one man’s dream to build a luxury housing community. The story is relatively well written so I’m not quite sure why I didn’t enjoy it more. The only conclusion I can come to is it simply made me too nervous. I’m not a risk taking type of person by nature, especially when it comes to money. Even knowing the book was entirely a work of f
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May 22, 2008
Sara
rated it:
I found Jane Smiley's novel Good Faith to be an interesting read on many levels. Smiley fills her novels with meticulous detail, helping create a vivid world for her characters to inhabit. The last book of hers I read, Horse Heaven, was a very detailed look at horse racing framed by the relationships of people -- as well as the horses -- involved in the sport. This time, Smiley painstakingly recreates the world of late 70's - early 80's real estate in the Northeast. I was really just a wee chil
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Aug 30, 2007
Johnsergeant
rated it:
Listened to Audiobook from Recorded Books
Narrator: Richard Poe
This is the blurb from the Recorded Books site:
Jane Smiley is a #1 New York Times best-selling author and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for A Thousand Acres. In 2001, she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She delivers a searing indictment of 1980s greed culture in Good Faith, an insightful and provocative novel. Booklist gives it a starred review, raving, “Smiley has never been mo More...
Narrator: Richard Poe
This is the blurb from the Recorded Books site:
Jane Smiley is a #1 New York Times best-selling author and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for A Thousand Acres. In 2001, she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She delivers a searing indictment of 1980s greed culture in Good Faith, an insightful and provocative novel. Booklist gives it a starred review, raving, “Smiley has never been mo More...
Oct 11, 2011
Sherry
rated it:
Fun read.
Story of a group of friends in small towns New England. All involved in one way with real estate.
Enter Marcus, new to the community, and full of ideas. A large, old estate comes on the market and off we go. Plans for development are large and convoluted.
In the end Marcus flees the area with all the money.
In between we are involved with the locals, their families, ties, romances, etc.
Told thru the experience of Joey, who had thought M
Story of a group of friends in small towns New England. All involved in one way with real estate.
Enter Marcus, new to the community, and full of ideas. A large, old estate comes on the market and off we go. Plans for development are large and convoluted.
In the end Marcus flees the area with all the money.
In between we are involved with the locals, their families, ties, romances, etc.
Told thru the experience of Joey, who had thought M
Jun 23, 2010
Robyn
rated it:
What a timely book! It's about the long-term impact of greed in real estate in the 1980's. It reads like it was written about 2003. But I really loved this book. It was effortless to read. I think that is a mark of great writing - it seems deceptively simple, but then you start to realize the layers and layers of meaning. And it is so funny too. I just fell head over heels for the main character Joey and I found myself keeping my fingers crossed for Felicity!
Aug 17, 2007
Mark
rated it:
I once had a friend pay me the great compliment of saying he had read my story all the way through even though it was a topic he wasn't interested in. I sort of feel that way about Jane Smiley. She is immensely talented, and she picks a different area of contempoary (and sometimes historic) life to delve into with each novel. This one is about the real estate business, and a particular complication that arises when the protagonist meets a charismatic ex-IRS agent who moves into town.
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