Shortlisted for Canada's prestigious Giller Prize, this "profoundly humane novel" (Vancouver Sun), wrings suspense and humor out of the ever...
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Jun 20, 2009
Bonnie
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Finalist Scotiabank Giller Prize 2008
One of Globe & Mail’s Top 100 Books of 2008
Marina Endicott has come up with an original concept: Is her character Clara (Clary) acting out of goodness, or guilt, or a sense of responsibility? Is she selfless or selfish? Or do all of these come into play? Clara herself questions her motives, as will the reader, given the conflicting hints along the way.
The story opens with a collision: Clara Purdy, 43, a divorced, childless woma More...
One of Globe & Mail’s Top 100 Books of 2008
Marina Endicott has come up with an original concept: Is her character Clara (Clary) acting out of goodness, or guilt, or a sense of responsibility? Is she selfless or selfish? Or do all of these come into play? Clara herself questions her motives, as will the reader, given the conflicting hints along the way.
The story opens with a collision: Clara Purdy, 43, a divorced, childless woma More...
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Aug 29, 2011
Stacie
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Had been wanting to read this for a few years, and picked it up at the library for $1. What a deal! It kept me engrossed the whole way through. It's about a small-town Saskatchewan woman who causes an accident with a down-on-their-luck family of 5 and winds up taking in the couple's three children when the Mother is suddenly hospitalized with cancer. Sounds depressing...and the themes of loneliness, longing for human connection, mortality, illness and the cleavages between us that are often defi
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Dec 08, 2008
Tiffany
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What an original theme, exploring what it is to be good. I don't think I've heard of a book that touches on this particular concept, at least not in contemporary literature. I usually have such conflicting thoughts and feelings toward Giller nominees, but I can safely say I understand why this book was shortlisted.
Endicott has clearly mastered point-of-view, and her transitions between voices are seamless. I didn't like Clara at first but it's clear we're not supposed to, that she's More...
Endicott has clearly mastered point-of-view, and her transitions between voices are seamless. I didn't like Clara at first but it's clear we're not supposed to, that she's More...
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Mar 10, 2011
April
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Good to a Fault is one of several of the Canada reads 2010 books that I plan to read this year. It was first by virtue of the fact that it popped up on my library request list and therefore I had a limited time in which to read it. It took me the entire three weeks to get started, and then I finished it in about four hours.
As you can imagine, it’s slow to start. I can’t say why – it’s not the fault of Endicott. In fact, she takes the reader straight into the action with the car a More...
As you can imagine, it’s slow to start. I can’t say why – it’s not the fault of Endicott. In fact, she takes the reader straight into the action with the car a More...
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Feb 06, 2011
Kathleen
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Throughout my life I have been surrounded by good people, people who are inherently good and those who choose to do good, who consistently and selflessly choose to help others more vulnerable, more in need than themselves. I have been disappointed when some have needed acknowledgement or “credit” for the good they have done probably thinking this some type of character flaw.
“Good to a Fault” throws virtue and sacrifice up in the air and then settles them back down with humanity and h More...
“Good to a Fault” throws virtue and sacrifice up in the air and then settles them back down with humanity and h More...
Apr 09, 2010
Pamela
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I was expecting to like this book much more than I did. It was short-listed for the 2008 Giller Prize, and of all the books on the short list that year, this was the one that seemed most interesting to me. I bought it then, but didn’t read it until after it was chosen for the 2009 Canada Reads.
The protagonist Clara is a lonely woman in her forties, who has worked in the insurance business for years. She’s responsible for a minor car accident, and out of guilt or boredom or a selfless More...
The protagonist Clara is a lonely woman in her forties, who has worked in the insurance business for years. She’s responsible for a minor car accident, and out of guilt or boredom or a selfless More...
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May 30, 2010
Eileen
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I was surprised at the way I put off "Good to a Fault" by Marina Endicott after reading the opening chapters. But then I took it on trip, and found myself completely engrossed. At first, I was distracted by the opening event of the car accident, questioning the reality of the situation. The other driver, husband, Clayton, appears to be a horrible man, a complete and utter loser. Who on earth would get involved as Clara Purdy does? Then, as the story moved on with Clary and the famil
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Jul 28, 2010
Lisa
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Good to a Fault is the ANZ LitLovers reading group choice for August, and it’s a wonderful book for discussion. It was shortlisted for the 2008 Giller Prize in Canada, and won the 2009 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Canada and the Caribbean.
Once, exasperated by a rather dreary visit to some nice friends of my mother’s, my father (sotto voce) said that very good people were usually boring. My father himself is a very good man so I was a bit shocked, but have since then sometimes t More...
Once, exasperated by a rather dreary visit to some nice friends of my mother’s, my father (sotto voce) said that very good people were usually boring. My father himself is a very good man so I was a bit shocked, but have since then sometimes t More...
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Sep 02, 2009
Louise
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An okay book. The story line was great but the writing lacked oompf. Too slow and lazy.
From back cover:
"In a moment of self-absorption, Clara Purdy's life takes a sharp left turn when she crashes into a beat-up car carrying an itinerant family of six. The Gage family had been travelling to a new life in Fort McMurray, but bruises on the mother, Lorraine, prove to be late-stage cancer rather than remnants of the accident. Recognizing their need as her responsibility, More...
From back cover:
"In a moment of self-absorption, Clara Purdy's life takes a sharp left turn when she crashes into a beat-up car carrying an itinerant family of six. The Gage family had been travelling to a new life in Fort McMurray, but bruises on the mother, Lorraine, prove to be late-stage cancer rather than remnants of the accident. Recognizing their need as her responsibility, More...
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Jun 19, 2010
Irene
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In a very convoluted way, Good to a Fault reminded me of one of the sub-plots in the book, Gone, Baby, Gone by Dennis Lehane.
As Clara Purdy robotically examines her mundane life, she subconsciously wonders what she has accomplished. Unfortunately, her meandering thoughts while driving create a bit of a predicament as she accidentally collides with another vehicle containing a down-and-out family whose vehicle was their primary residence.
Who is at fault is debatable, but More...
As Clara Purdy robotically examines her mundane life, she subconsciously wonders what she has accomplished. Unfortunately, her meandering thoughts while driving create a bit of a predicament as she accidentally collides with another vehicle containing a down-and-out family whose vehicle was their primary residence.
Who is at fault is debatable, but More...
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Oct 11, 2008
Alexis
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Very interesting and thoughtful book about what it means to be good, and the prices we pay for being good and doing kindness to others. Where is the line drawn between selfish and self-serving?
Set in Saskatoon. This book contains believable characters, and an interesting plot. I think it had qualities similar to writing by Carol Shields.
Set in Saskatoon. This book contains believable characters, and an interesting plot. I think it had qualities similar to writing by Carol Shields.
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May 28, 2010
At 43, Clara Purdy's life takes a dramatic turn after she crashes into the homeless Gage family car while out driving on her lunch hour. Lorraine Gage is diagnosed with cancer and must stay in the hospital to undergo chemotherapy, so Clara suddenly decides to take Lorraine's young children and their grumpy grandmother into her own home, with mixed results. Divorced, working a monotonous insurance claims job, Clara has been lonely living in her late parents' house. She soon becomes devoted to
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May 01, 2010
Su
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Fantastic book. The premise seems a bit unrealistic until you actually get a few chapters into the book. A 43 year old divorced woman, Clara, who really feels as though her life is in a rut accidentally runs her car into a down on their luck family. The family consists of a emotionally distant dad, his mother, his wife and their three small children. Once in the hospital, the wife is found to be suffering from a late stage cancer. Out of guilt, Clara takes them all into her home and steril
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Sep 16, 2011
Sharon
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Another example of the great writing coming from authors of Canada's prairie provinces. Endicott explores the conflicted emotions of helping and being helped. The book has an unlikely plot: following a minor car accident, a middle-aged woman takes in the family in the car she hit, caring for the young children while their mother undergoes in-hospital cancer treatment, but the plot is made believable through detailed descriptions of the character's thoughts, emotions and needs. Her book includ
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Aug 18, 2010
Allyson
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I really loved the writing in this book and found it very unusual in the way she moved her story forward. Exceedingly skillful writing combined with short chapters entitled with a theme or subject. It was unlike anything I have read before. Graceful presentation but I did not emtionally become involved in these characters. After finishing it and reading again about the author, it struck me that they seemed characters on a theatre stage, a little removed even though entirely explained. Trans
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Sep 11, 2011
Linda
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What a beautiful book. many of the reviews I've read focus on how this book is all about what it means to be good. I didn't get that much at all from it except for one chapter. The main character is at fault in a car wreck, making the family in the other car homeless in the process (they'd been living in their car). She takes the family into her home to live when the family's mother discovers she has cancer.
Endicott switches back and forth among many points of view deftly throu More...
Endicott switches back and forth among many points of view deftly throu More...
Apr 07, 2011
Our Library
rated it: 
Forty-three year old Clara is lost after the death of her parents and feels her life is going nowhere. When she crashes into a car a family has been living in, her life and the life of the family are changed dramatically. From this one event, Clara’s life is turned upside and she (perhaps for the first time) begins to really live.
Although this is not the type of book I would usually read, I must say I did thoroughly enjoy it. Told from the point of view of several characters Endicott More...
Although this is not the type of book I would usually read, I must say I did thoroughly enjoy it. Told from the point of view of several characters Endicott More...
Jun 30, 2010
Kathleen
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Clara Purdy manages to run into a homeless family who is living in their car, totaling the Dodge Dart, so that it is unuseable. She's shaken by the accident. While the mother, Lorraine, is in the hospital, it is discovered that she (Lorraine) has cancer. Doing the right thing, Clara takes them into her home and cares for the three children. The father skips town, and the unpredictable mother-in-law, Mrs.Pell is a part of Clara's household, turned upside down. Is she doing this out of guilt? to s
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Feb 09, 2010
Daytona
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Marina Endicott's Good to a Fault is a lovely read. The book dances deftly and with ease between sad and happy, anger and calm, disappointment and contentment; a believable tale told with honesty and sincerity. All characters, down even to the baby, receive enough attention and treatment to give us a full portrait of each, allowing for the transmission of some profundity from more than one source, which too often seems to be only the main character.
I found myself interested in and r More...
I found myself interested in and r More...
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Apr 28, 2011
Jane
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Clara is self-aware enough to question herself when after an accident she caused she takes in the family whose car she struck after the mother's visit to the hospital reveals that she is suffering from lymphoma. This family fills a void in Clara's life and through her helpfulness to them she becomes closer to others in her community. Endicott provides a realistic look at our reasons for doing good and the rewards we expect. At the same time, she so very well describes the difficulty of managin
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Mar 13, 2010
Robyn
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When Clara Purdy's car collides into a car carrying a homeless family, the repercussions trigger a bizarre chain of events. Bruises on the mother, Lorraine, turn out to be late-stage cancer, so acting on what Clara sees as kindness and well-intentioned charity, she takes the family into her own home. While Lorraine's life teeters on the edge of death, Clara's explodes into one of purpose and unexpected love. I can't recommend this book more highly. It took me my customary 'warm-up' of several ch
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Jan 24, 2010
C
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The story of a single woman in her 40s whose life gets tightly interwoven with that of a family she meets as a result of a car accident.
The book jacket says "a wise and searching novel about the fine line between being useful and being used". I think that statement sums the book up perfectly.
I enjoyed the novel and changes I saw in the main character. It was very interesting to watch her grow and make major life changes (I think they were for the better in her More...
The book jacket says "a wise and searching novel about the fine line between being useful and being used". I think that statement sums the book up perfectly.
I enjoyed the novel and changes I saw in the main character. It was very interesting to watch her grow and make major life changes (I think they were for the better in her More...
Jul 22, 2009
Candace
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Clara Purdy, a 40-year-old, spinsterish woman is at fault in a car accident with a homeless family. When the mother's bruises (Lorraine) turn out to be late stage cancer, Clara tries to do the right thing by taking in the three children and their grandmother. It not only turns her life inside out, it shows the fine line between being good and being selfserving, being good and being taken advantage of. The children have to cope with mixed loyalties, Lorraine faces death and losing her children, C
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Feb 17, 2009
Doreen
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I wasn't initiallly sure whether I would like this book based on the story description but I was hooked after the first few pages. I think Endicott raised some interesting questions about acts of "goodness" and the ties that can often come with them. And what of the recipients of our acts of kindness and the debt they feel they owe. I loved the fact that she set the story in Saskatoon although she could have just acknowledged that instead of making tiny changes to cover that up. Her ch
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Apr 17, 2010
Rhiann
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I really enjoyed this book. It is written so beautifully, Marina Endicott certainly has a lovely way with words. The first paragraph had me hooked
" She was pushing on the brake, a ballet move, graceful- pulling back on the wheel with both arms as she rose, her foot standing on the brake- and then a terrible crash, a painful extended rending sound, when the metals met. The sound kept on longer than you'd expect, Clara thought, having time to think as the cars scraped sides and ch More...
" She was pushing on the brake, a ballet move, graceful- pulling back on the wheel with both arms as she rose, her foot standing on the brake- and then a terrible crash, a painful extended rending sound, when the metals met. The sound kept on longer than you'd expect, Clara thought, having time to think as the cars scraped sides and ch More...
Jul 03, 2010
Carrie
rated it:
I have mixed feelings about this book. The premise was interesting enough: A 40-something woman, living alone, invites a young homeless family to live with her after they get into a car accident together. The single woman feels at fault, so the book attempts to explore how much people owe each other when something bad happens.
But something about the writing style bothered me. I felt like the author, in an attempt to be "literary", kept a real distance from her characters. T More...
But something about the writing style bothered me. I felt like the author, in an attempt to be "literary", kept a real distance from her characters. T More...
Jul 06, 2009
Shane
rated it:
"The cancer card trumps everything," protagonist Clara Purdy ruminates, and that sums up the premise of this novel. Throw this dreadful desease into the midst of any family unit (functional or dysfunctional) and everyone is afflicted, conflicted, guilt-ridden and exposed, not just the patient. Many outcomes are also possible: the patient can die, the patient can survive, the marriage may crumble, new romances may flourish, wisdom may arrive, and everyone is changed - tools for the wri
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Oct 06, 2011
Diane16
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I enjoyed, but did not love, reading this plot-driven book about a single, 40ish woman taking in a homeless family. The book raised a lot of ethical questions, from charity to health care, and will be a very good discussion book for my book club. Because there were so many characters, and there was a lot of action, it was difficult to relate to any of the characters in particular. Also, the first third of the book bogged down a bit. There were constant problems, without a break from the bad news
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Feb 20, 2011
Jennifer
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Thoroughly enjoyed Good to A Fault! I would highly recommend this novel and encourage others to put this on a reading list! Basic premise: main character, a sad middle-aged woman perhaps a bit depressed with her lack of life, finds herself daydreaming while driving. She crashes into a nomadic family who receive hospital treatment for their injuries. While in hospital, the mother - Lorraine - is diagnosed with cancer. The father, a no-good wanderer, takes off and leaves the protagonist to care fo
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Feb 09, 2011
CynthiaA
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I really liked this book a lot, and in particular, I related to the character of Clara Purdy, who impulsively offers to help a family she doesn't know in a big way. People start to question Clara's motives -- and so does Clara. The question is -- when we do something good and benefit from it ourselves, is it still good? And where is the distinction between being useful and being used?
All of the characters in this story are wonderfully drawn and believable. And I thought the ending was More...
All of the characters in this story are wonderfully drawn and believable. And I thought the ending was More...
