false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166586342m/14300.jpg 14300 12 Opening a Jane Smiley novel is like slipping into a warm bath. Here are people we know, places where we grew up. But the comforting, unassuming tone of her work allows Smiley incredible latitude as a writer, and her books are full of surprises. <I>Good Faith,</I> a novel about greed and self-delusion set in the economic boom of the early 1980s, is no exception. Joe Stratford is an amiable, divorced real estate agent in an unspoiled small town called Rollins Hills. He takes it in stride when a married female friend pursues a love affair with him; he is more suspicious when a high-rolling newcomer named Marcus Burns begins to influence the business affairs of the men closest to Joe. Nevertheless, the promise of easy riches draws Joe into one of Burns's real estate development schemes, and then, ominously, into gold trading. The steps by which a nice guy can be lured into betraying his principles are delineated so sharply in <I>Good Faith</I> that you wonder how Joe cannot see them. Although he never quite manages to understand what has happened to him, he's granted a moment of grace at the close of the novel, a second chance that has nothing to do with money, ambition, or the tarnished American Dream. Since we live with the legacy of the self-serving 1980s, Smiley's novel seems as timely as if it were set in the present. Penetrating, readable fiction by one of our best writers and social critics. <I>--Regina Marler</I> 2433062 2003 Good Faith total:501|5:37|4:165|3:178|2:89|1:32| 501 1589 700 97 4 2 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Mon Feb 11 08:57:38 -0800 2008 Mon Feb 11 09:19:34 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 2 false false Thu Nov 20 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 01 07:13:09 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 01 07:21:46 -0800 2008 1 1 false false Mon Feb 18 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 20 06:06:51 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 20 06:20:39 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Sun Nov 11 19:43:41 -0800 2007 Sun Nov 11 19:50:46 -0800 2007 ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue May 13 00:00:00 -0700 2003 Tue Nov 10 10:27:04 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 10 10:27:04 -0800 2009
The novel opens in 1981 with J...more...]]> 2 1 false false Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 25 06:16:52 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 25 06:26:43 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sat Apr 12 12:06:05 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 02 07:40:58 -0700 2008 more...]]> 1 1 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Jul 22 11:30:55 -0700 2007 Sun Jul 22 11:30:55 -0700 2007 2 0 false false Mon Nov 16 19:14:17 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 16 19:14:35 -0800 2009 more...]]> 2 1 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Wed Dec 12 09:54:41 -0800 2007 Sat Dec 15 13:25:46 -0800 2007 0 1 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 10 18:05:10 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 10 18:06:25 -0800 2008 3 0 false false Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 11 08:38:40 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 11 08:41:35 -0700 2009
Smiley mentions that Good Faith was problematic, and somewhat difficult for her. It cert...more...]]> 2 0 false false Fri Oct 30 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 30 16:18:21 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 30 16:29:20 -0700 2009 Good Faith, however, we along to the point that, ...more...]]> 2 1 false false Wed Nov 07 10:02:41 -0800 2007 Wed Dec 12 09:11:16 -0800 2007 1 1 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Sun Aug 12 11:49:33 -0700 2007 Sun Aug 12 12:02:31 -0700 2007 2 0 false false Sat Dec 06 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Nov 23 15:36:18 -0800 2008 Sat Dec 06 13:33:31 -0800 2008
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 ...more...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 05 07:44:32 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 05 07:55:17 -0700 2009 more...]]> 1 0 false false Sat Sep 12 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 13 22:04:15 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 12 08:06:13 -0700 2009
The story focuses on...more...]]> 2 0 false false Sun Oct 05 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 30 13:55:33 -0700 2008 Sun Oct 12 13:30:20 -0700 2008 more...]]> 2 0 false false Mon Nov 12 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Mon May 19 14:14:48 -0700 2008 Thu May 22 09:54:04 -0700 2008 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 relationshi...more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=14300