The Good Wife: A Novel
by Stewart O'Nan
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Told in a matter-of-fact, unsentimental way, The Good Wife tells the story of one family and 25 years of their lives as they work through the New York state penal system.
Tommy Dickerson does something stupid. He follows his friend Gary's lead and ends up involved in a murder for which he (and not Gary) pays the price--25 years in prison. At the time of his arrest, his wife Patty is pregnant. This is her story.
We see through her eyes the frustration of the poor as they try to work the s...more
Tommy Dickerson does something stupid. He follows his friend Gary's lead and ends up involved in a murder for which he (and not Gary) pays the price--25 years in prison. At the time of his arrest, his wife Patty is pregnant. This is her story.
We see through her eyes the frustration of the poor as they try to work the s...more
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The Good Wife, begins with a phone call in the middle of the night. Small-town housewife Patty Dickerson, pregnant with her first child, has been waiting in bed for her husband Tommy to get home. When the call comes, it's from jail. Tommy has been arrested for murder after a robbery gone awry. He doesn't make it home for 28 years.
This isn/t a novel of beating the odds but of enduring them. We follow Patty through her husband's long incarceration as she moves in with family, gets a series of lo...more
This isn/t a novel of beating the odds but of enduring them. We follow Patty through her husband's long incarceration as she moves in with family, gets a series of lo...more
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The sadness of this book, the long life story of a woman whose husband goes to jail for murder while she is pregnant with his child, reminded me of the big open lost sadness of Norman Mailer's The Executioner's Song, even though the story is far less sensational. This is America not as a place of cruelty and menace, as in Cormac McCarthy, or a place of unrealized dreams, or a place of great injustice - it is less definite than that. It is a place of disconnection, of small lives, modest hopes. L...more
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This book, which I finished about four minutes ago, was good and will stay with me for a long time. Very simple writing, few 'great' sentences, but the story is memorable.
Briefly, a pregnant woman's husband commits a crime in the first couple of pages and he is sent to jail for 28 years. She stays with him and raises their son, builds a life for them, and waits. It made me think about things I never have before, but should have--prisoners' families, how the system makes it so difficult ...more
Briefly, a pregnant woman's husband commits a crime in the first couple of pages and he is sent to jail for 28 years. She stays with him and raises their son, builds a life for them, and waits. It made me think about things I never have before, but should have--prisoners' families, how the system makes it so difficult ...more
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This is a novel of endurance, full of sadness without comfort and drama not found in sensationalism but in the ordinary moments of a working class life. [O’Nan: Stewart O'Nan] uses hauntingly beautiful prose to illuminate the day to day complications of making it through someone else’s 25 year sentence, raising a child who won’t reject an absent father, and finding a way to deal with your own choice to continue to love when circumstances make it easier to leave.
I am not completely ha...more
I am not completely ha...more
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Read in November, 2007
I like the idea of writing about a wife who stands by her husband throughout his prison sentence. O'Nan doesn't really provide a belieavable novel of this, though, in many ways...the couple never really discusses what happened with the murder that the husband is convicted of committing and the 25 year sentence flies by in less than 350 pages which obviously means that many chunks of time have to be skipped over. Also, this book portrays the wife as someone with nothing to do but wait for her m...more
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Read in June, 2008
I couldn't decide between 3 and 4 stars, wavered, then opted for 4. The book is haunting and lyrical, a sad tale of a woman who stands by her husband during his 28-year prison sentence. The prose is gorgeous and spare, appropriate for a story in which nothing really happens except normal day-to-day life... it just so happens that the main character's sense of normalcy is completely shaped by the fact her husband is in jail. This is a thought-provoking and compelling read despite its almost total...more
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Read in August, 2007
The difficulties of waiting for, supporting, etc. a loved one who is in jail are explored in this novel. Patty endures much as she "stands by her man," including a not altogether supportive family, raising a son as a single mother, and keeping her life together. Very matter of fact style conveys the passing of time and the living of life. Not sure I entirely bought the reality of the legal proceedings, especially with regard to the co-defendant's sentence. But took it to represent ...more
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recommends it for:
the patient and depressed
completely depressing, and yet i couldn't. stop. reading.
i'd never really THOUGHT thought about what happens to the family members of people that go to jail for 25-40 years. i was so involved in it that at one point i personally felt years of my life being wasted on behalf of the main character, a woman who must raise her son alone after her husband makes one really bad decision that sends him to jail for half his life. but she sticks by him, amazingly, and yet at the end i understood why....more
i'd never really THOUGHT thought about what happens to the family members of people that go to jail for 25-40 years. i was so involved in it that at one point i personally felt years of my life being wasted on behalf of the main character, a woman who must raise her son alone after her husband makes one really bad decision that sends him to jail for half his life. but she sticks by him, amazingly, and yet at the end i understood why....more
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Read in February, 2008
I loved this book. Sparse prose that was touching and tragic at times. It was painful at times (emotionally - not to get through) and ultimately rewarding. Much like Springsteen, Steve Earle, and Seger O, Nan has a way of elevating the middle class. We never pity Patty (awkward to say out loud) but revere and respect her for her difficult burden in simply surviving. Towards the end you'll find yourself wondering who is truly doing the hard time - Patty or her husband. A very good read.
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Read in May, 2007
If your husband robbed houses without you ever knowing, accidentally killed an old woman during the process, got arrested, got sentenced to 20-30 years in jail, never explained himself, and left you with nothing but an unborn baby, would you wait around for him for 20 years, visit him routinely though he was inprisoned thousands of miles away, and pine for the good old days? Me neither. I couldn't believe this story.
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Read in March, 2006
Just an interesting read on a subject not to my knowledge much as been written of - how families cope when their significant others are in prison. Gives you an overview in a very personal way of the prison system and it's impact on families and in this case "the good wife". Mr. O'Nan is a masterful writer - kudos to him for taking on this topic.
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Read in February, 2008
Heard this one as an audio book. Found it for a very good price at a truck stop and I needed a book. It is about a wife whose husband gets sent to prison and what life is like for her and her son after this happens. It does give some interesting insights into this person's life and how she tries to earn a living.
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Read in February, 2008
This was a random book I picked up and I wasn't expecting much. I was moved by the spare prose, and by the author's ability to make me care about the main character. The book spans quite a few years-- the time flew by! I feel an affinity with/admiration for "endurance." A definite recommendation!
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A sobering, depressing, but eventually hopeful novel that follows a woman's life as her husband serves 25 years in jail. The prose is simple, sparse and haunting; its one of those books that, when you put it down, you feel as if you've lived an entire life.
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Read in March, 2008
this is a powerful story of the quiet strength that often gets overlooked in people.........
if u wanna read a book that will make u think.....and make u question ur motivations and principles...
here it is..
roberto
if u wanna read a book that will make u think.....and make u question ur motivations and principles...
here it is..
roberto
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Read in July, 2008
This book was okay at best. I felt the plot was a bit boring. It picked up at the end. I think the author should have skipped the chapters in between the beginning and the end! There are better books out there!
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Read in March, 2006
Someone at one of my favorite independent book stores in NYC recommended this book to me. The whole time I was reading it, I wondered why. I didn't find the main character believable nor the premise interesting.
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Read in January, 2007
A phone call comes in the middle of the night and the protagonist's husband is going to jail. He spends 25 years there and his wife deals with it in this novel. Somewhat sad and depressing but also inspiring.
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Read in November, 2007
Good story; one you never really read about - the life of the wife/family left behind. It was long but I wanted to see what would happen next. Amazing how much life goes on even when you don't want it to.
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