Anita Diamant whose rich portrayal of the biblical world of women illuminated her acclaimed international bestseller "The Red Tent, " now crafts a ...
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Jul 03, 2011
Wfbcreeds
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Anita Diamant whose rich portrayal of the biblical world of women illuminated her acclaimed international bestsellerThe Red Tent,now crafts a moving novel of contemporary female friendship.Good Harbor is the long stretch of Cape Ann beach where two women friends walk and talk, sharing their personal histories and learning life's lessons from each other. Kathleen Levine, a longtime resident of Gloucester, Massachusetts, is maternal and steady, a devoted children's librarian, a convert to Judaism,
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Apr 04, 2010
Bookventures
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Essentially, this story is about the power of friendship, no matter the age it is forged and how friendships can help you through some of the most difficult periods. I loved both characters in the story. I identified with Kathleen because she was steady and mature but most of all she was strong. Even in her most difficult times, she did not complain or show signs that she was hurt. I loved Joyce because she was the wise crack; the sarcastic friend who always knew what to say to make you laugh. T
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Jan 15, 2010
BarkLessWagMore
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I read this as an unabridged audiobook. Not having read The Red Tent I had nothing to compare Good Harbor to for good or bad. Overall I all enjoyed listening to this in the morning but it wasn't nearly as emotional as I'd expected it to be which is good, I guess, because I expected it to make me a runny mess. On the downside, this is a book I won't remember come next week . . .
It was a nice, gentle tale about the distance that can develop between couples that often goes unnoticed but i More...
It was a nice, gentle tale about the distance that can develop between couples that often goes unnoticed but i More...
Jan 04, 2012
Karen
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This was my first book of 2012 and the first for the What's in a Name Reading Challenge (for the topographical feature category). I would really give this a 3 1/2 stars if that was possible. I did like the two main characters and their evolving friendship, and the descriptions of the North Shore (MA) coastline made me miss it so much! Oh, to live near an east coast shoreline...
What I didn't like so much was that I had this weird feeling I'd read it before (which is not really the book's More...
What I didn't like so much was that I had this weird feeling I'd read it before (which is not really the book's More...
Oct 08, 2010
melydia
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Joyce is a romance writer who recently purchased a vacation home near Good Harbor, Massachusetts. Kathleen is a children's librarian living in the area who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. The two meet at Synagogue one week (both are Jewish, though Kathleen converted from Catholicism before getting married) and become fast friends. Together they journey through many changes in their marriages, children, and selves. It's beautifully written, and has instilled in me a desire to see t
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Apr 25, 2011
Liz
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I tend to agree with another reviewer who felt used, like the author had a deadline to meet for her editor and didn't give the ending the time necessary to make it decent. I also agree with another reviewer that I found Joyce to be dull--I guess maybe she was more petulant than dull, but still not appealing. I would definitely not have been able to maintain a friendship with her. I also thought that Joyce's affair was ridiculously pathetic, and while it was a way to get Kathleen to reveal her
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Sep 04, 2010
Faith
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I interviewed Diamant when The Red Tent hit it big and this book was the answer to the question, "What's next?" She was ready to write something different and modern after three years of marketing her historical novel and driving it to the best seller lists. This book continues some themes - women's relationships, family and loss - and is a fast easy read. The story centers around the relationship between Kathleen, a fifty-seven-year-old children's librarian with breast cancer and Joyc
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Mar 27, 2011
Nancy
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I've always wanted to read some Anita Diamant, but perhaps this was not a good choice. It's the story of a friendship that grows between a woman who has recently been diagnosed with Stage 1 breast cancer and a woman who is profoundly lonely in her marriage. I found the portions devoted to the disease and treatment of the cancer patient interesting, but that's mostly for personal reasons (a family history of the disease, and my own desire to become a nurse). I found the portions devoted to the
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Oct 06, 2010
Jeanne
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Kathleen and Joyce become good friends over the course of a summer spent in Gloucester, Massachusetts. They take walks along the beach at Good Harbor, a metaphor for the safety and support they feel as they walk and talk there together. Each one is dealing with a crisis of sorts; Kathleen is facing breast cancer and Joyce is struggling with her marriage and her teenage daughter. Despite their age difference they feel a rapport soon after they meet and spend many hours together, walking, talking,
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Apr 25, 2011
Debbie
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This story centers around the friendship of two women with an age gap of 10 years or so. They meet in a Jewish synagogue but neither is religious. The older woman is dealing with the discovery and treatment of breast cancer and the younger gal is struggling with a general malaise in her marriage relationship and career. I think the author strives to show how valuable friendship is for women, but the main characters are not developed to the point where I really cared about either one. She scratch
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Feb 09, 2010
Stacey
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This book started out slow and I was really unsure if I'd be able to finish it. I knew I loved "The Red Tent" by the same author, so I made myself keep going. The story revolves around two friends that meet at the beach and help each other go through trials in their lives. It was actually a great book. I would have loved to be AT the beach when reading it, but it really makes me look forward to Florida that much more. The main characters captivated my attention as they make choices, al
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Feb 11, 2009
Strother
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This was a very quick read from an author I have loved, on themes I was mostly not versed in. Though the women's circumstances were thankfully unfamiliar to me, I would recommend this book to anyone who has struggled to make friends during a transition or a tough personal time, and who knows (or wants to know) the blessing of walking and talking with good company. The harbor of the book's title is not only Joyce and Kathleen's favorite stretch of beach, but a metaphor for the haven they become
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Jun 18, 2009
Gwen
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Found this for fifty cents at a library book sale and since I'd just left the Andrea Gail folks in The Perfect Storm, I had to have another book set in Gloucestar, MA. This is what I call a "chick flick" kind of book--can't see it appealing to the testosterone-laden. It starts and keeps going pretty slow until the very last section which finally got some decent plot twists. But the ending felt so abrupt after them, that I felt unresolved and a little used. Almost like the editor's
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Nov 06, 2011
Diane
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I loved Anita Diamant's other novels, but this one definitely didn't measure up to the others. The storyline had a lot of potential, but the execution was poor. I felt no liking for the main characters. Despite what was taking place in their lives, they both came across as selfish, whiny and incapable of talking to their partners. I had more sympathy for their husbands than for them. Joyce, was especially annoying and her transgression seemed rather silly in terms of who was involved and w
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Oct 03, 2011
Jodi
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I enjoyed reading about the relationship between the two women in the book - everyone needs a good friend to talk to when things are tough. I had to giggle at the one character who is secretly writing romance novels under the name Cleo Lehigh after her first pet and the street she lived on - I guess that would make me Pee Wee Bexley! Eek!
Although I enjoyed the relationship between the women, I was sad that the book made the affairs both women had at different points in their life s More...
Although I enjoyed the relationship between the women, I was sad that the book made the affairs both women had at different points in their life s More...
Jul 14, 2011
Linda
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Basically, a very well-written story about the importance of female friendships. Women can talk to other women so much better than they can the males in their life. This is especially true when, as in this story, two women are having the perils of real life bring about crises. Walking and talking just is so very healing to women. Made me realize how much I am missing a really good friend to talk with about things that are occurring in my life. This is a completely warm and heartfelt story of
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Jun 21, 2009
Maureen
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LOVED it!!!! I would recommend this book to anyone who has ever had a best friend with whom they have been able to share their hopes, dreams, expectations, and regrets. Anita Diamant explores the gift of friendship in an honest, enlightening, and hopeful spirit. Joyce and Kathleen are 2 women with whom I would love to share a walk on the beach at Good Harbor!It's a story of love, forgiveness, loss, and the amazing resilience of the human spirit. A wonderful read for women! A wonderful read for b
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Oct 08, 2010
After I was into the book, realized I had read it before. Now thanks to Goodreads, won't make that error again!..Anita Diamant is wonderful at capturing the essance of communication between women. There was a wonderful line that went something like, we love our men but love to talk with women more.
There was a very poignant part...Right after a tragic event, a father says he doesn't want to talk about it. He didn't mean "forever" but that is the way it was taken by his More...
There was a very poignant part...Right after a tragic event, a father says he doesn't want to talk about it. He didn't mean "forever" but that is the way it was taken by his More...
Nov 15, 2011
Diane
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I have read 'The Red Tent' by this author and have always recommend it to people, so I was looking forward to this one, as it had also been recommended many times to me. I wasn't disappointed, what a wonderful book of true friendship between two woman who meet by chance and help each other through the turmoil of coping with breast cancer, while the other deals with her teenage daughter and distancing relationship with her husband. It made me laugh and cry, while they deal with all the modern day
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Apr 06, 2009
Louise
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A wonderfully written story about a friendship between two women.
Despite a 17 year age difference, Kathleen and Joyce become friends and share each other's pain and experiences. Kathleen is dealing with a diagnosis of breast cancer and the impending treatments and Joyce a writer, is dealing with a dead end marriage, a daughter approaching the teenage years and the guilt of a quick affair. Kathleen and Joyce develop a friendship that enables them to confide and confront the difficul More...
Despite a 17 year age difference, Kathleen and Joyce become friends and share each other's pain and experiences. Kathleen is dealing with a diagnosis of breast cancer and the impending treatments and Joyce a writer, is dealing with a dead end marriage, a daughter approaching the teenage years and the guilt of a quick affair. Kathleen and Joyce develop a friendship that enables them to confide and confront the difficul More...
Sep 24, 2009
Dianne
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The story involved breast cancer – DCIS – which I have had, and it was somewhat interesting to read about that. However, I didn’t get it at all when the woman’s first and only reaction to the mastectomy option was horror…wouldn’t even consider it. That seemed unrealistic to me, that she didn’t at least acknowledge the worth of mastectomy.
Um, it was good, I guess. I mean, I stayed interested and all, but it just seemed a little too simple, contrived; made use of too many tired stereo More...
Um, it was good, I guess. I mean, I stayed interested and all, but it just seemed a little too simple, contrived; made use of too many tired stereo More...
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Jun 05, 2010
Jen
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Mom brought this book over for me to read because I'd asked her if she had liked "The Red Tent," which is by the same author and had been recommended to me by another friend.
"Good Harbor" is a solid, easy, enjoyable and moving read. The two lead characters -- women who find friendship in one another -- are incredibly "real," from the things that they do to the things that they say to the way that they think. This book makes heavy topics like breast canc More...
"Good Harbor" is a solid, easy, enjoyable and moving read. The two lead characters -- women who find friendship in one another -- are incredibly "real," from the things that they do to the things that they say to the way that they think. This book makes heavy topics like breast canc More...
Sep 06, 2009
JoAnne
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I bought this book because I had read The Red Tent. This book is different, no comparison. I have two sisters who live in Gloucester, so I loved the setting and the female themes. Women just need other women to talk things through. Fast read, but very enjoyable. I liked the characters, although I always find myself frustrated, I must admit, with female characters who don't have to work...who take time off for soul searching or to raise kids. It's so far from my point of reference that I question
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Nov 28, 2009
Jeana
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Wow am I disappointed in this one. I expected much more after having read The Red Tent. BUT this is a much different book. Diamant is great at the Bible historical fiction, but this modern story just lacks. The writing is okay, the characters are so-so, the friendship (the main object of the story) is completely hollow. Geez, Joyce couldn't even tell her best friend about her marital problems. Clearly, they weren't really talking as friends. Really the whole novel is hollow. I just wante
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May 01, 2010
Toeknee
rated it:
Two weeks ago I finished the novel, Good Harbor by the best selling author of the novel The Red Tent (a favorite read), Anita Diamant. A story about two women facing fragile points in their lives, these two women sealed a friendship in between fighting breast cancer, a failing marriage, and a common experience that sealed their fates.
Here are some of my favorite lines from the book:
- Buddy, talking to his wife Kathleen about death. Kathleen was having a hard time dealing More...
Here are some of my favorite lines from the book:
- Buddy, talking to his wife Kathleen about death. Kathleen was having a hard time dealing More...
Jul 25, 2009
Debbie (Readerbuzz)
rated it:
I was surprised to find that I
liked this book as much as I did;
the book struck me at first as
choppily written and amateurish.
But I liked it more and more as
I went along, especially the
spiritual aspects of the story.
Recommended as a light,
yet thoughtful read.
liked this book as much as I did;
the book struck me at first as
choppily written and amateurish.
But I liked it more and more as
I went along, especially the
spiritual aspects of the story.
Recommended as a light,
yet thoughtful read.
Aug 08, 2011
Karisa
rated it:
I was so excited to read this, since The Red Tent is one of my all-time favorite books....but, ugh, just so disappointing. So many heartbreaking things going on in this book (breast cancers, a dead 3yr old, strained relationships, marital troubles) that really it was such a bad choice for a family vacation read. I did like the theme of the importance of a strong, supportive female friendship, and that of the comfort and beauty of the beach/ocean.
Apr 09, 2011
Ann
rated it:
A nice story about friendship. I bought it for three reasons: 1) 60% off at Borders going-out-of-biz sale; 2) it was written by the woman who wrote "The Red Tent"; and 3) it takes place at one of my FAVORITE beaches, Good Harbor in Gloucester, MA. It's a quick read - I read a big chunk of it this afternoon in just a couple of hours. I would call it chick lit for the over 40 set! ;) I miss Good Harbor . . . and spending time there with girlfriends!
Nov 13, 2011
Beth
rated it:
This was a good story about friendship. It was a little difficult for me to listen to at times because of my aversion to stories involving cancer but I just had to pace myself while listening. I found myself enjoying the chapters about Joyce more than those about Kathleen, hers where a bit depressing.
This wasn't as good and fascinating as The Red Tent by Diamant. But still very good fiction. I think I just had more exceptions for it.
This wasn't as good and fascinating as The Red Tent by Diamant. But still very good fiction. I think I just had more exceptions for it.
Jun 28, 2009
Susie
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I loved The Red Tent, so I had high expectations for this book. I was pretty disappointed. I felt it read more like Anita Shreve than Anita Diamant. Fine for chick lit, but didn't feel it was much more than that.
