false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1167761579m/25717.jpg 25717 14 Given the breadth of Anita Diamant's bestselling biblical epic, <I>The Red Tent</I>, it seems natural that her second novel has a much closer focus. Set in the small Massachusetts fishing town of Gloucester, <I>Good Harbor</I> is a slow-paced study of female friendship. Here Diamant can luxuriate in the development of just two principal characters: 59-year-old Kathleen Levine, a children's librarian who is undergoing radiation therapy for breast cancer, and a 42-year-old romance novelist, Joyce Tabachnik, who has bought a summer retreat in Gloucester in the hope of finally writing a "serious" book. The two meet at temple after a service presided over by a newly hired female rabbi. (What joy it must have been for Diamant, who chronicled so much oppression of Hebrew women in <I>The Red Tent</I>, to casually include the presence of female clergy.) Kathleen has no real confidante aside from her husband, Buddy; Joyce is facing estrangement from both her business-minded husband, Frank, and her soccer-obsessed daughter, Nina. What the women are lacking, they find in each other. As their intimacy grows, Diamant sometimes tells us what we already know, breaking into a conversation, for example, to announce how well things are going ("They smiled at each other. They were going to be okay."). This is a moving story nonetheless--short on incident, but with carefully drawn characters and fluid, matter-of-fact prose. <I>--Regina Marler</I> 1323437 2001 Good Harbor total:1340|5:81|4:331|3:625|2:258|1:45| 1340 4165 1740 192 4 0 false false Thu Feb 12 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 11 15:17:40 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 11 15:23:14 -0800 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 18 10:31:25 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 18 10:36:43 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Jun 21 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 21 07:22:30 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 21 16:37:20 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Apr 14 00:00:00 -0700 2003 Sun Mar 22 18:30:03 -0700 2009 Mon Apr 06 03:38:14 -0700 2009
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 de...more...]]> 2 0 false false Thu Sep 24 14:15:41 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 24 14:17:47 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Sep 06 06:05:08 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 06 06:14:04 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Sat Jul 25 22:12:54 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 25 22:13:05 -0700 2009 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
...more...]]> 2 0 false false Tue Jun 23 13:39:10 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 28 06:53:19 -0700 2009 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.more...]]> 2 0 false false Wed Nov 18 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Aug 31 06:34:38 -0700 2009 Wed Nov 18 11:38:51 -0800 2009 1/2 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Jun 21 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 21 12:23:24 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 21 12:32:36 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 10 18:38:03 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 10 18:40:38 -0800 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Tue Sep 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 16 13:03:21 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 16 13:03:21 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Oct 16 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 18 15:12:04 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 18 15:16:29 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Aug 15 01:22:33 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 15 01:24:31 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2001 Mon May 11 11:05:36 -0700 2009 Mon May 11 11:10:24 -0700 2009 1 more...]]> 2 0 false false Tue Sep 08 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 04 14:52:36 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 08 15:21:07 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Tue Apr 14 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 07 05:44:58 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 14 15:23:16 -0700 2009
The setting is Gloucester, with walks on the beach, and one of the main characters is a School Librarian, so how could she miss? She...more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Oct 28 11:49:29 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 28 11:53:05 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 24 12:08:20 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 24 12:11:01 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Tue Dec 02 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 02 13:45:15 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 02 13:54:14 -0800 2008 1 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=25717