false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165518261m/5205.jpg 5205 14 <B>Oprah Book Club® Selection, December 1999:</B> In <I>A Map of the World</I>, appearance overwhelms reality and communal hysteria threatens common sense. Howard and Alice Goodheart, the couple at the center of Jane Hamilton's 1994 novel, have labored mightily to create a pastoral paradise in a Wisconsin subdivision. Their 400-acre dairy farm is the last in Prairie Center, and they're working flat out to raise their two young girls in a traditionally bucolic manner. Yet paradoxically, they strike their neighbors as unacceptably modern, and have been treated as interlopers since the day of their arrival. Howard, in love with his vocation, chooses not to believe that they've been frozen out. But Alice, flinty and quick to judge, finds things harder. And her job as school nurse doesn't work wonders for her reputation either. Happily, there's one exception to this epidemic of unfriendliness: their closest neighbors. Theresa and Dan, who also have two young daughters, function as a virtual lifeline for the embattled family.<p> But in June 1990, whatever idyll the Goodhearts have worked for comes to a permanent end. On a beautiful morning--marred by her 5-year-old's tantrum but still recuperable--Alice looks forward to taking her children and Theresa's youngest for a swim. Distracted for several minutes, she has no idea that the 2-year-old is no longer in the house: <blockquote> Lizzy had run to the pond and splashed in. It had felt good on her hot feet and she kept running and then she was pedaling and pedaling. She tried to grab hold of the water, pawing for the metal bar, a ladder rung, her mother, but there was nothing. She clutched and flailed.... She sank. The trout that Howard had stocked in the pond swam along through the dark water. They noticed Lizzy out of the corner of their eyes. They had inherited the knowledge of that look, and they knew it by heart. </blockquote> This is only the first of Alice's body blows. Next, she's questioned about one of her students, a memorably bad seed. On the verge of collapse, she cries out, "I hurt everybody!"--which will later be construed as a confession. Charged with sexual abuse and unable to come up with $100,000 in bail, she is forced to await trial in jail. <p> Narrated first by Alice, then Howard, and then Alice again, <I>A Map of the World</I> moves from intimate domesticity to courtroom drama with grace and subtlety. Hamilton wrote her book when accusations of abuse in schools and day care were peaking, yet this is not a modish work or an "issue novel" but a lasting creation of several complex lives. At one point, fed up with civil mechanisms, Alice tells her lawyer: "'Let Oprah be the judge.... Let Robbie and me, Mrs. Mackessy, Howard, Theresa, Dan, Mrs. Glevitch--let all of us come before Oprah. Let the studio audience decide. They're nice suburban woman, many of them, dressed for a lark. They have common sense and speak their minds.'" Apparently La Winfrey was listening, since she chose this beautifully observed novel for her book club. <I>--Kerry Fried</I> 3046634 1994 A Map of the World (Oprah's Book Club) total:4968|5:636|4:1665|3:1828|2:610|1:229| 4968 16773 6300 487 2 4 false false Mon Apr 28 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Feb 22 08:26:51 -0800 2008 Mon Apr 28 11:32:11 -0700 2008
This book was well written, however it was terribly depressing. It is about a mother's worst nightmare. A child she is watching for her best friend drowns in her lake while she is distracted. Then she falls into a terrible depression/guilt and in the mi...more...]]> 2 4 false false Sat May 10 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon May 12 18:32:15 -0700 2008 Mon May 12 18:42:22 -0700 2008 Although I liked the story I did not like the writing style. I found the narrative wordy and found myself skipping over paragraphs that didn't advance the story.
Also,...more...]]> 5 3 false false Mon Feb 19 23:42:49 -0800 2007 Tue Feb 20 08:42:28 -0800 2007 more...]]> 2 2 false true Tue Oct 12 00:00:00 -0700 2004 Sun Jan 20 06:36:08 -0800 2008 Sun Jan 20 06:36:08 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 2 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Jun 22 09:34:18 -0700 2007 Fri Jun 22 09:39:14 -0700 2007
Anyway... the book is about ...more...]]> 2 2 false false Sat Jan 24 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 14 16:51:49 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 24 09:33:11 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 2 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Oct 31 13:22:30 -0700 2007 Wed Oct 31 13:35:59 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 1 false false Tue Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Sun Jul 08 10:21:49 -0700 2007 Sun Jul 08 10:22:07 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 1 false false Mon Nov 01 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Tue May 29 01:00:59 -0700 2007 Tue Jun 12 11:57:37 -0700 2007 more...]]> 1 2 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2002 Mon Oct 22 21:46:06 -0700 2007 Tue May 20 09:30:00 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false true Mon Mar 09 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 10 04:07:08 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 10 04:13:59 -0700 2009 Atonement (which it in many way resembles). Her reaction: "Wow!" It d...more...]]> 4 1 false false Tue Jun 19 19:49:19 -0700 2007 Tue Jun 19 19:54:02 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Jun 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 24 14:21:22 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 30 04:58:10 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 1 false false Tue May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed May 23 03:23:38 -0700 2007 Thu May 24 07:08:17 -0700 2007 more...]]> 1 2 false false Sun Jul 15 12:25:53 -0700 2007 Sun Jul 15 12:26:36 -0700 2007
]]> 0 0 false true Sun Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Nov 24 10:56:14 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 24 11:00:32 -0800 2009
This books, in very...more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Nov 16 22:34:27 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 16 22:40:30 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 1 false false Thu Aug 21 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 12 21:43:02 -0700 2008 Sat Sep 20 11:15:06 -0700 2008 2 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Thu Apr 02 08:33:43 -0700 2009 Thu Apr 02 08:36:47 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Mar 03 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Mar 10 13:04:04 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 10 13:08:04 -0700 2009 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=5205