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May 27, 2011

Jeanette rated it:

I read the Advanced Reader's Edition, which I won here on Good Reads. The book is due out on December 29. The letter that came with the book encourages me to "share candid thoughts with fellow readers" on Good Reads. Okey doke. My candid thoughts, coming right up.

Gail Godwin is certainly one of the queens of character development. She takes you deep into the minds and motivations of the people in a way few authors even attempt. In Unfinished Desires, Godwin is especial More...

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Aug 02, 2011

Candace added it

at 1/4 of the way through this book, i was wondering if i was going to be bored silly by the subject matter. at 1/2 way, i was afraid the whole thing was going to be horribly predictable. by 3/4 through, i thought i was going to hate every character, and by the end i was completely blown away by godwin's ability to convey a complex story with acumen and completeness. far from hating every character, i was struck by their construction--despite being a book mostly about nuns and their attendant ca More...

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Dec 15, 2011

Kathleen rated it:

I read this with my book group, which met to discuss on December 12, so that's the date I "finished" this book, hearing the reactions of others added to my own. As one group member put it, "Not my favorite Godwin." Her favorite is Evensong, which we also read with the group, and I also liked Evensong and Father Melancholy's Daughter better. In all of these books, there is great compassion for all kinds of people--a sort of tolerance and forgiveness for human flaws and foib More...

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Aug 22, 2011

Diane rated it:

Mother Suzanne Ravenel, now in her mid-eighties and nearly blind, has agreed to tell her memoirs by way of a tape recorder. For many years she was headmistress at the all-girls Catholic school, Mount St. Gabriel's.( Actually she began boarding there when she was in seventh grade.) Suzanne felt each class was a unit unto itself, unique and different from every other class, and thus begins the story of the class of 1955 and the year from Hell.
The author introduces several characters wh More...

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Jun 25, 2011

Steve rated it:

Unfinished Desires is an excellent read by Gail Godwin, one of my favorite authors. The characters are wonderfully complex. The story takes place in Mount St. Gabriel's, a Catholic school for girls in western North Carolina. The setting is perfect for raising relationship issues to the forefront and for presenting interesting perspectives on faith.

Mother Suzanne Ravenel is the headmistress of the school. She is a strong leader who has provided her girls with a rich environment th More...

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Feb 26, 2011

switterbug (Betsey) rated it:

This is a mature, adult book about adolescent girl behavior. Not since Margaret Atwood's Cat's Eye have I read such a powerful novel about teenage feminine conformity, coercion, betrayal, jealousy, secrets, and love. Godwin creates a labyrinth that begins with a simple layer and gradually builds to a complex and knotted snare. I was pulled in from the opening pages as this rich, multi-generational tapestry is woven as if from the loom. The book never loses steam, and the lyrical rhythm amplifies More...

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Sep 17, 2010

Dee rated it:

This novel about a private Catholic girl's school in an imaginary town in North Carolina in the Smokies is lovely. Godwin creates a wonderful 20th century world of girls, nuns, and their families.

Generations of girls, (at least three are followed) go to this school. The history of the school is being writen by the retired headmistress after the school has been closed in the '90's.

A big secret, (the headmistress and her best friend exchanged a passionate kiss when t More...

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Jul 20, 2010

Linda rated it:

This book proved to be ultimately to be a disappointment. It seemed to be a book in search of an identity. If it had been a 200 page memoir on growing up Catholic in the south, it would have been a very good book. Much of the writing was lovely and depicted the era (from 1930-1950ish) very well.

However, THAT story could have been told in about 200 pages. So what occupied the remaining 200 pages? Ah, but that is the weakness in the book. The plot, loosely, centered around an eve More...

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Jun 06, 2010

Kathleen rated it:

I approached this book with some trepidation not wanting to read about nuns abusing innocent students in Catholic schools, nun bashing in general, or abuses of the Catholic Church. The novel is built around the fictional memoir of an elderly headmistress writing in her Boston retirement about her many years in a girls school in the mountains of North Carolina, wrestling with regrets about her own school years as well as those in the early 1950's. Fiercely guarding the school's reputation in her More...

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Feb 25, 2010

Joanne rated it:

I've really liked Godwin's other books, particularly The Good Husband, for their exploration of faith. This one is set in a Catholic girls' school from the point of view of the headmistress, who is writing her memoirs, and moves back and forth from the 1950s to the 2000s. There was an episode with the ninth grade class play in 1951 -- hinted at about five dozen times before we finally get to it three fourths of the way through the book -- at which point it's entirely anticlimactic. After so m More...

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Jan 10, 2010

Faith rated it:

By the time I finished reading this novel, I didn't particularly care for any of the characters. I didn't dislike them all, but I found them annoying. I was looking for a noble character -- not necessarily bigger than life. Ordinary is fine, but even those characters who showed potential to be bigger than life, in the end, were just very ordinary, interesting only in the way observing strangers is interesting.

Unfinished Desires is the story of a pivotal year in the life of Mother Rav More...

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Jan 10, 2010

Sara rated it:

Gail Godwin’s Unfinished Desires is in the league with some of her best work (for instance my favorite Evensong). Desires is set nearly entirely in an elite Catholic Girl’s school only its time frame spans nearly a century. We get the perspective and stories of the schools inception into 2008 and those who shaped the school’s history (a lot of nuns, girls, and parents). Only we don’t get the story chronologically, but instead Godwin builds up a little momentum settling with one time period a More...

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Mar 08, 2010

Linda rated it:

Unfinished Desires is a novel that sweeps through the 20th century. Mother Ravenel, headmistress emeritus of the private school for girls, St. Gabriel’s, dictates her memoirs, with the goal of memorializing the now-closed academy. Between her chapters are interspersed flashbacks, told in real time by various key players, including students and other teachers. The hook is cast early, when the elderly nun muses about the “toxic” class of 1955. Being set in the South, at a small school (only 15 gir More...

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Jun 27, 2010

Brenda (Lansdowne) rated it:

This book is about an all girls Catholic school and the intrigues or secrets that involve some of the nuns and the girls and their families. The characters are tied in with each other through family ties and attendance at the school. Many families sent multi-generations to the academy. It is all over the place. It jumps from 1931 to 1951 to 2001 with a little about the 9-11 disaster thrown in. The end is a neat (meant in the literal sense of the word) little wrap-up to bring you up to date More...

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Mar 06, 2010

judy rated it:

I was so excited reading this book. I had forgotten what a remarkable writer Goodwin is. Her character development is second to none. The complexity of the characters and their interaction had that all important book club word "Discussable" woven into every line. I wanted to talk about this female coming-of-age novel with a room full of intelligent women. I could imagine us still debating as we walked out the door. My euphoria continued until the end of the book--or what I thought was More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Aug 30, 2009

Debbie rated it:

I gave this book 4 stars because the writing was exceptional. Godwin does an amazing job of developing these characters and bringing their personalities to life. This was no simple undertaking given that this story was filled with larger than life personalities that jumped off the page and grabbed your attention. Every character, dead or alive, spent time in the spotlight and fought for the reader's attention.

I found the early passages of Mother Ravenel's memoir a little tedious More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 08, 2010

Bookmarks Magazine rated it:

To sum it up, the consensus regarding Unfinished Desires is, well, that there is no consensus. Critics were definite in their opinions, which were all quite contradictory. Several believed Godwin skillfully weaved past and present while others thought it a confusing jumble. Some described the summary of the girl's lives after Mount St. Gabriel's as disappointingly brief, others thought it dragged on painfully. Finally, several reviewers found it to be a fascinating coming-of-age tale, but others More...

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Jan 08, 2011

Patricia rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 16, 2011

Mssongbird rated it:

When I was about a fourth of the way through this book, I wondered why this book had been chosen for our club to read. When I called another member, we agreed that we didn't like the book and wondered, again, why it was chosen. Everyone at the meeting had one verdict: we all disliked this book. I don't recall that any of us got through it completely.

Well, then I went home and stubbornly continued the reading journey. I got more and more involved as the hours passed. The writing was l More...

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Nov 19, 2010

Judy rated it:

Mount St. Gabriel's, a Catholic girl's school in Mountain City, North Carolina, is the setting for this book about friendship, betrayal, revenge, redemption, and memory. Mother Ravenel, the former headmistress of the school--it closed in the 1990s--has been asked from some of her former students to record her memoirs. Mother Ravenel had been sent to Mount St. Gabriel's in the 1920s as a student and after taking vows and going to college, she returned as a teaching nun. The action alternates b More...

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Jan 19, 2010

Angela rated it:

Anne of Windy Poplars meets Doubt in this multigenerational story of boarding school drama set in a girls' Catholic school. Told from the perspective of headmistress Mother Ravenel and others, the story alternates between a dry "official" version Ravenel constructs for the school's recorded history and a more objective view of what really happened during a pivotal annus horribilis that resulted in Ravenel's year-long leave of absence.

The story moves along at a good clip, bu More...

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Feb 18, 2010

Diane rated it:

This is the first novel I've read by this author, and although I loved the setting, and the novel is beautifully written, it was not an easy read.

Briefly, the story begins in 2001, Mother Suzanne Ravenel is an 85 year old, former headmistress of Mount St. Gabriel's, Roman Catholic boarding school for girls. The school was founded in 1910, and closed in 1990, and the school is located in the mountains of North Carolina. The school serves as the background for the well written novel.
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Nov 07, 2009

Lauren rated it:

This novel is based on Godwin's own experiences at a Catholic day school in North Carolina. The retired headmistress is writing a memoir /historyof the school and is drawn back to a certain incident in the early 1950s that caused the expulsion of several students as well as her own leave of absence. But it is as much about the relationships between women - mothers and daughters, teachers and students, and the passionate friendships that exist between adolscent girls. In some ways, it is a very c More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 04, 2010

Carol rated it:

Gail Godwin is an excellent writer. Her character development is outstanding. The characters in this book were developed over various time tables and events. I enjoyed reading this book because of Godwin's style of writing and my identification with parochial school and the way teenage girls can be mean, catty, helpful, caring, and everything in between. The way all the families and generations were intertwined was interesting. And then there were the nuns...I was taught be some of these when I More...

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Aug 18, 2010

Jane rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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May 04, 2010

Kathy rated it:

Our book club unanimously agreed “Patience and Faith” was the essence of Unfinished Desires.

In Unfinished Desires, a beloved author delivers a gorgeous new novel in which thwarted desires are passed on for generations–and captures the rare moment when a soul breaks free. (Goodreads)

All of my book club friends except one were brought up Catholics. We each attended a Catholic grade school. Three of us went to same school! We found it very easy to discuss this book possibly More...

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Jun 11, 2010

Sharon rated it:

I picked this book up used because the author's name resonated. It seems I had read "A Mother and Two Daughters" and "The Finishing School" in the past. This story takes place in a Catholic high school in the mountains of North Carolina. It spans three generations of students, focusing on the school's matriarch. The story moves between the memoisr of the school she is writing and the mothers and daughters who were students in 1931 and 1952. Taken from the jacket: "In Unf More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 02, 2009

Eileen rated it:

I have loved most of Gail Godwin's books, with "Father Melancholy's Daughter" and "A Mother and Two Daughters" among my top 100 favorite books.

I will not be adding Godwin's newest book, "Unfinished Desires," to my top 100 nor my top 1000.

The story moves around in time and narration frequently. The main story of Mother Ravenel's big secret gets lost in the interplay between the soap opera lives of Maud, Tildy, and Chloe.

I did en More...

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Jul 14, 2010

Katherine rated it:

First of all, WHY do I so enjoy stories about nuns? I don't really want to think about why I like reading about the cloistered life, which holds little appeal to me in reality.

Anyway, I can't quite make up my mind about this one. It was interesting to read about the operation of the school, the interactions of the generations, the different expressions of faith. But overall, things felt a little flat. Some of the great reveals were so heavily foreshadowed as to have little impact. Ev More...

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Feb 25, 2010

Readnponder rated it:

I thorougly enjoyed reading this book. Couldn't wait to get home from work to fall back into it. In fact, on the day I finished it, I was reading it at my desk while waiting for the computer to boot up, etc. The world of adolescent girls is a catty and complicated one ... even in 1952, even at a Catholic boarding school. Seeing the interpersonal dynamics played out across two generations of students enhanced my fascination with this little microcosm of society.

Why, then, am I gi More...

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