book data
33 ratings, 3.15 average rating, 10 reviews
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published
2003
by W. W. Norton & Company
binding
Paperback, 320 pages
isbn
0393324265
(isbn13: 9780393324266)
description
Verna Flake is fleeing Utah, a failed marriage (her husband has left her for a former beauty queen named Pinky), and the constricted yet reliable Morm...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 39)
Read in March, 2005
One I would likely have never read if not for bookgroup. Others liked it more than me - Verna Flake really was kind of a flake:)
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Read in September, 2008
This is a very strange book in some ways. It's told mostly in flashback, and it's definitely not a happy book. But it's not depressing either - in fact, I liked it a lot, even though very little that's good happened to the protagonist until the very end. I have to say I was a little bit surprised at the end - it reminded me of the end of "A Version of the Truth," mainly because the protag ends up with someone that the writer hasn't gone out of her way to make us like. But I was hap...more
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Read in June, 2007
I was so excited to read this, and I ended up being very disappointed. It would start to get going, and then Verna (the narrator) would flash back in time. To me it was overwritten and nothing really "happens" until the last 10 pages. While Freeman writes beautiful prose, I found the story very flat, and the characters depressing.
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Read in December, 2007
The structure was interesting, with most of the book written in flashback. I'm torn between whether that worked or not. On the one hand the flashbacks are used not just to convey backstory, but as a way to show how memory is intertwined with action. Still, not sure it worked.
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Read in January, 1994
My daughter is reading this book right now, and I was reminded how much I liked it. Judith Freeman is one of those authors who doesn't seem to have a LOT of books in her, but the ones she has written are truly lovely.
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Read in February, 1990
I just came across this book again and remembered how much I liked it. It was one of the first novels I read set in part in Utah,my own country, which might have been why I was so charmed
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A woman leaves Utah and her marriage for something she hopes will be better. I wanted to like this novel. But I didn't. The description is wonderful but the narrative never held me.
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Read in September, 2008
recommended to Betsey by:
King's English Bookstore
I found this book on a list produced by King's English Bookstore as an "easy to read, hard to put down" book. I enjoyed reading the novel.
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Read in August, 2008
I just liked the main character. I liked following her narrative and listening to her memories. And I never like characters so there you go.
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