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  <title><![CDATA[Blame: A Novel]]></title>
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  <description><![CDATA[&lt;DIV&gt;<p>Michelle Huneven, Richard Russo once wrote, is “a writer of extraordinary and thrilling talent.” That talent explodes with her third book, <em>Blame</em>, a spellbinding novel of guilt and love, family and shame, sobriety and the lack of it, and the moral ambiguities that ensnare us all.</p><p>The story: Patsy MacLemoore, a history professor in her late twenties with a brand-new Ph.D. from Berkeley and a wild streak, wakes up in jail—<em>yet again</em>—after another epic alcoholic blackout. “Okay, what’d I do?” she asks her lawyer and jailers. “I really don’t remember.” She adds, jokingly: “Did I kill someone?”</p><p>In fact, two Jehovah’s Witnesses, a mother and daughter, are dead, run over in Patsy’s driveway. Patsy, who was driving with a revoked license, will spend the rest of her life—in prison, getting sober, finding a new community (and a husband) in AA—trying to atone for this unpardonable act.</p><p>Then, decades later, another unimaginable piece of information turns up.</p><p>For the reader, it is an electrifying moment, a joyous, fall-off-the-couch-with-surprise moment. For Patsy, it is more complicated. Blame must be reapportioned, her life reassessed. What does it mean that her life has been based on wrong assumptions? What can she cleave to? What must be relinquished?</p><p>When Huneven’s first novel, <em>Round Rock</em>, was published, Valerie Miner, in the <em>Los Angeles Times Book Review</em>, celebrated Huneven’s “moral nerve, sharp wit and uncommon generosity.” The same spirit electrifies <em>Blame</em>. The novel crackles with life—and, like life, can leave you breathless.</p>&lt;/DIV&gt;]]></description>
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    <![CDATA[Blame: A Novel]]>
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    <![CDATA[&lt;DIV&gt;<p>Michelle Huneven, Richard Russo once wrote, is “a writer of extraordinary and thrilling talent.” That talent explodes with her third book, <em>Blame</em>, a spellbinding novel of guilt and love, family and shame, sobriety and the lack of it, and the moral ambiguities that ensnare us all.</p><p>The story: Patsy MacLemoore, a history professor in her late twenties with a brand-new Ph.D. from Berkeley and a wild streak, wakes up in jail—<em>yet again</em>—after another epic alcoholic blackout. “Okay, what’d I do?” she asks her lawyer and jailers. “I really don’t remember.” She adds, jokingly: “Did I kill someone?”</p><p>In fact, two Jehovah’s Witnesses, a mother and daughter, are dead, run over in Patsy’s driveway. Patsy, who was driving with a revoked license, will spend the rest of her life—in prison, getting sober, finding a new community (and a husband) in AA—trying to atone for this unpardonable act.</p><p>Then, decades later, another unimaginable piece of information turns up.</p><p>For the reader, it is an electrifying moment, a joyous, fall-off-the-couch-with-surprise moment. For Patsy, it is more complicated. Blame must be reapportioned, her life reassessed. What does it mean that her life has been based on wrong assumptions? What can she cleave to? What must be relinquished?</p><p>When Huneven’s first novel, <em>Round Rock</em>, was published, Valerie Miner, in the <em>Los Angeles Times Book Review</em>, celebrated Huneven’s “moral nerve, sharp wit and uncommon generosity.” The same spirit electrifies <em>Blame</em>. The novel crackles with life—and, like life, can leave you breathless.</p>&lt;/DIV&gt;]]>
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    <body><![CDATA[Recommendation from NPR<br/><br/>To show just what a mess of a woman Patsy McLemoore is, our first glimpse of her is through the eyes of a young family friend who's about to be subject to a rather raw ear piercing. But then it's Patsy's story, and our piercee has nothing on Patsy, who's about to g...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79863859">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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    <![CDATA[&quot;A drunken car crash is the catalyst for Huneven's absorbing and beautifully written tale of remorse and retribution--a novel you can't put down.&quot; Lily Tuck]]>
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  <read_at>Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
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    <body><![CDATA[Blame, by Michelle Huneven, narrated by Hillary Huber, produced by Blackstone Audio, downloaded from audible.com.<br/><br/>Patsy MacLemoore, in her late 20’s, has just gotten her doctorate in history and has a bright teaching career ahead of her.  Patsy also has a wild streak involving much drin...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75825527">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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    <![CDATA[Blame: A Novel]]>
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    <![CDATA[&lt;DIV&gt;<p>Michelle Huneven, Richard Russo once wrote, is “a writer of extraordinary and thrilling talent.” That talent explodes with her third book, <em>Blame</em>, a spellbinding novel of guilt and love, family and shame, sobriety and the lack of it, and the moral ambiguities that ensnare us all.</p><p>The story: Patsy MacLemoore, a history professor in her late twenties with a brand-new Ph.D. from Berkeley and a wild streak, wakes up in jail—<em>yet again</em>—after another epic alcoholic blackout. “Okay, what’d I do?” she asks her lawyer and jailers. “I really don’t remember.” She adds, jokingly: “Did I kill someone?”</p><p>In fact, two Jehovah’s Witnesses, a mother and daughter, are dead, run over in Patsy’s driveway. Patsy, who was driving with a revoked license, will spend the rest of her life—in prison, getting sober, finding a new community (and a husband) in AA—trying to atone for this unpardonable act.</p><p>Then, decades later, another unimaginable piece of information turns up.</p><p>For the reader, it is an electrifying moment, a joyous, fall-off-the-couch-with-surprise moment. For Patsy, it is more complicated. Blame must be reapportioned, her life reassessed. What does it mean that her life has been based on wrong assumptions? What can she cleave to? What must be relinquished?</p><p>When Huneven’s first novel, <em>Round Rock</em>, was published, Valerie Miner, in the <em>Los Angeles Times Book Review</em>, celebrated Huneven’s “moral nerve, sharp wit and uncommon generosity.” The same spirit electrifies <em>Blame</em>. The novel crackles with life—and, like life, can leave you breathless.</p>&lt;/DIV&gt;]]>
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    <rating>4</rating>
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  <read_at>Wed Sep 23 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Wed Sep 23 12:19:05 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Sep 24 09:51:57 -0700 2009</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[I'm sure I should reflect a bit before I post this, but I think I'll decline to control the impulse and just go with it. I enjoyed this novel thoroughly and I want to say so right now.<br/><br/>Huneven is a beautiful writer and I am off next to reserve her earlier titles at my local library. She m...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/72251723">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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    <name><![CDATA[Dennis D.]]></name>
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    <![CDATA[Blame: A Novel]]>
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    <![CDATA[&lt;DIV&gt;<p>Michelle Huneven, Richard Russo once wrote, is “a writer of extraordinary and thrilling talent.” That talent explodes with her third book, <em>Blame</em>, a spellbinding novel of guilt and love, family and shame, sobriety and the lack of it, and the moral ambiguities that ensnare us all.</p><p>The story: Patsy MacLemoore, a history professor in her late twenties with a brand-new Ph.D. from Berkeley and a wild streak, wakes up in jail—<em>yet again</em>—after another epic alcoholic blackout. “Okay, what’d I do?” she asks her lawyer and jailers. “I really don’t remember.” She adds, jokingly: “Did I kill someone?”</p><p>In fact, two Jehovah’s Witnesses, a mother and daughter, are dead, run over in Patsy’s driveway. Patsy, who was driving with a revoked license, will spend the rest of her life—in prison, getting sober, finding a new community (and a husband) in AA—trying to atone for this unpardonable act.</p><p>Then, decades later, another unimaginable piece of information turns up.</p><p>For the reader, it is an electrifying moment, a joyous, fall-off-the-couch-with-surprise moment. For Patsy, it is more complicated. Blame must be reapportioned, her life reassessed. What does it mean that her life has been based on wrong assumptions? What can she cleave to? What must be relinquished?</p><p>When Huneven’s first novel, <em>Round Rock</em>, was published, Valerie Miner, in the <em>Los Angeles Times Book Review</em>, celebrated Huneven’s “moral nerve, sharp wit and uncommon generosity.” The same spirit electrifies <em>Blame</em>. The novel crackles with life—and, like life, can leave you breathless.</p>&lt;/DIV&gt;]]>
  </description>
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    <rating>4</rating>
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  <read_at>Sun Oct 11 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Fri Oct 30 20:14:51 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Oct 31 21:16:23 -0700 2009</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[After a brief prelude to set the table, the story proper opens with Patsy MacLemoore awakening in jail.  Or, more precisely, she <em>comes to</em> in jail.  She’s a raging alcoholic, and has no idea how she wound up there, or what she’s 'in for', until she is led to an interrogation room with two cops, a...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76266598">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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    <![CDATA[Blame: A Novel]]>
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    <![CDATA[&lt;DIV&gt;<p>Michelle Huneven, Richard Russo once wrote, is “a writer of extraordinary and thrilling talent.” That talent explodes with her third book, <em>Blame</em>, a spellbinding novel of guilt and love, family and shame, sobriety and the lack of it, and the moral ambiguities that ensnare us all.</p><p>The story: Patsy MacLemoore, a history professor in her late twenties with a brand-new Ph.D. from Berkeley and a wild streak, wakes up in jail—<em>yet again</em>—after another epic alcoholic blackout. “Okay, what’d I do?” she asks her lawyer and jailers. “I really don’t remember.” She adds, jokingly: “Did I kill someone?”</p><p>In fact, two Jehovah’s Witnesses, a mother and daughter, are dead, run over in Patsy’s driveway. Patsy, who was driving with a revoked license, will spend the rest of her life—in prison, getting sober, finding a new community (and a husband) in AA—trying to atone for this unpardonable act.</p><p>Then, decades later, another unimaginable piece of information turns up.</p><p>For the reader, it is an electrifying moment, a joyous, fall-off-the-couch-with-surprise moment. For Patsy, it is more complicated. Blame must be reapportioned, her life reassessed. What does it mean that her life has been based on wrong assumptions? What can she cleave to? What must be relinquished?</p><p>When Huneven’s first novel, <em>Round Rock</em>, was published, Valerie Miner, in the <em>Los Angeles Times Book Review</em>, celebrated Huneven’s “moral nerve, sharp wit and uncommon generosity.” The same spirit electrifies <em>Blame</em>. The novel crackles with life—and, like life, can leave you breathless.</p>&lt;/DIV&gt;]]>
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    <rating>4</rating>
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  <read_at>Mon Nov 16 00:00:00 -0800 2009</read_at>
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  <date_updated>Mon Nov 16 15:47:11 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Here's a book I almost didn't finish because the first chapters did not invite my interest.  But I kept going into the next 40 pages, and at last, the story caught fire.<br/><br/>The story opens with an odd episode of a lady's man, Brice; his niece, Joey; and his date-of-the-night, Patsy.  Patsy i...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77647295">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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    <![CDATA[Blame: A Novel]]>
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    <![CDATA[&lt;DIV&gt;<p>Michelle Huneven, Richard Russo once wrote, is “a writer of extraordinary and thrilling talent.” That talent explodes with her third book, <em>Blame</em>, a spellbinding novel of guilt and love, family and shame, sobriety and the lack of it, and the moral ambiguities that ensnare us all.</p><p>The story: Patsy MacLemoore, a history professor in her late twenties with a brand-new Ph.D. from Berkeley and a wild streak, wakes up in jail—<em>yet again</em>—after another epic alcoholic blackout. “Okay, what’d I do?” she asks her lawyer and jailers. “I really don’t remember.” She adds, jokingly: “Did I kill someone?”</p><p>In fact, two Jehovah’s Witnesses, a mother and daughter, are dead, run over in Patsy’s driveway. Patsy, who was driving with a revoked license, will spend the rest of her life—in prison, getting sober, finding a new community (and a husband) in AA—trying to atone for this unpardonable act.</p><p>Then, decades later, another unimaginable piece of information turns up.</p><p>For the reader, it is an electrifying moment, a joyous, fall-off-the-couch-with-surprise moment. For Patsy, it is more complicated. Blame must be reapportioned, her life reassessed. What does it mean that her life has been based on wrong assumptions? What can she cleave to? What must be relinquished?</p><p>When Huneven’s first novel, <em>Round Rock</em>, was published, Valerie Miner, in the <em>Los Angeles Times Book Review</em>, celebrated Huneven’s “moral nerve, sharp wit and uncommon generosity.” The same spirit electrifies <em>Blame</em>. The novel crackles with life—and, like life, can leave you breathless.</p>&lt;/DIV&gt;]]>
  </description>
  <published>2009</published>
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    <rating>2</rating>
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  <read_at>Sat Nov 07 00:00:00 -0800 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Nov 05 06:19:23 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun Nov 08 06:38:31 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[This book had promise:  Patsy, a woman in her twenties, a party girl with some DUIs in her past, wakes up in jail and learns that she killed a mother and daughter while driving drunk.  It sounded like a great premise for a novel, but the author didn't do the story justice.  Patsy is sent to prison f...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76795696">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[Blame: A Novel]]>
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    <![CDATA[&lt;DIV&gt;<p>Michelle Huneven, Richard Russo once wrote, is “a writer of extraordinary and thrilling talent.” That talent explodes with her third book, <em>Blame</em>, a spellbinding novel of guilt and love, family and shame, sobriety and the lack of it, and the moral ambiguities that ensnare us all.</p><p>The story: Patsy MacLemoore, a history professor in her late twenties with a brand-new Ph.D. from Berkeley and a wild streak, wakes up in jail—<em>yet again</em>—after another epic alcoholic blackout. “Okay, what’d I do?” she asks her lawyer and jailers. “I really don’t remember.” She adds, jokingly: “Did I kill someone?”</p><p>In fact, two Jehovah’s Witnesses, a mother and daughter, are dead, run over in Patsy’s driveway. Patsy, who was driving with a revoked license, will spend the rest of her life—in prison, getting sober, finding a new community (and a husband) in AA—trying to atone for this unpardonable act.</p><p>Then, decades later, another unimaginable piece of information turns up.</p><p>For the reader, it is an electrifying moment, a joyous, fall-off-the-couch-with-surprise moment. For Patsy, it is more complicated. Blame must be reapportioned, her life reassessed. What does it mean that her life has been based on wrong assumptions? What can she cleave to? What must be relinquished?</p><p>When Huneven’s first novel, <em>Round Rock</em>, was published, Valerie Miner, in the <em>Los Angeles Times Book Review</em>, celebrated Huneven’s “moral nerve, sharp wit and uncommon generosity.” The same spirit electrifies <em>Blame</em>. The novel crackles with life—and, like life, can leave you breathless.</p>&lt;/DIV&gt;]]>
  </description>
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  <read_at>Thu Oct 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
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  <date_updated>Fri Oct 23 10:18:34 -0700 2009</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[I gave this book 3 stars and yet I would like to give it more. It made me content, which felt like a 3 star kind of review, but really content as I was reading it. I'm not sure that it's the kind of book that will stick with me over time, but it really did have many appealing elements. The protagoni...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/74662547">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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    <![CDATA[Blame: A Novel]]>
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    <![CDATA[&lt;DIV&gt;<p>Michelle Huneven, Richard Russo once wrote, is “a writer of extraordinary and thrilling talent.” That talent explodes with her third book, <em>Blame</em>, a spellbinding novel of guilt and love, family and shame, sobriety and the lack of it, and the moral ambiguities that ensnare us all.</p><p>The story: Patsy MacLemoore, a history professor in her late twenties with a brand-new Ph.D. from Berkeley and a wild streak, wakes up in jail—<em>yet again</em>—after another epic alcoholic blackout. “Okay, what’d I do?” she asks her lawyer and jailers. “I really don’t remember.” She adds, jokingly: “Did I kill someone?”</p><p>In fact, two Jehovah’s Witnesses, a mother and daughter, are dead, run over in Patsy’s driveway. Patsy, who was driving with a revoked license, will spend the rest of her life—in prison, getting sober, finding a new community (and a husband) in AA—trying to atone for this unpardonable act.</p><p>Then, decades later, another unimaginable piece of information turns up.</p><p>For the reader, it is an electrifying moment, a joyous, fall-off-the-couch-with-surprise moment. For Patsy, it is more complicated. Blame must be reapportioned, her life reassessed. What does it mean that her life has been based on wrong assumptions? What can she cleave to? What must be relinquished?</p><p>When Huneven’s first novel, <em>Round Rock</em>, was published, Valerie Miner, in the <em>Los Angeles Times Book Review</em>, celebrated Huneven’s “moral nerve, sharp wit and uncommon generosity.” The same spirit electrifies <em>Blame</em>. The novel crackles with life—and, like life, can leave you breathless.</p>&lt;/DIV&gt;]]>
  </description>
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  <read_at>Mon Sep 14 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Sep 10 18:24:48 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Sep 14 23:32:59 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I liked this novel.  It is a compelling story of a woman whose life takes an abrupt turn, forcing her (and us) to come to terms with accountability, culpability and forgiveness.  It is well written and quietly surprising.  ]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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    <![CDATA[Blame: A Novel]]>
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    <![CDATA[&lt;DIV&gt;<p>Michelle Huneven, Richard Russo once wrote, is “a writer of extraordinary and thrilling talent.” That talent explodes with her third book, <em>Blame</em>, a spellbinding novel of guilt and love, family and shame, sobriety and the lack of it, and the moral ambiguities that ensnare us all.</p><p>The story: Patsy MacLemoore, a history professor in her late twenties with a brand-new Ph.D. from Berkeley and a wild streak, wakes up in jail—<em>yet again</em>—after another epic alcoholic blackout. “Okay, what’d I do?” she asks her lawyer and jailers. “I really don’t remember.” She adds, jokingly: “Did I kill someone?”</p><p>In fact, two Jehovah’s Witnesses, a mother and daughter, are dead, run over in Patsy’s driveway. Patsy, who was driving with a revoked license, will spend the rest of her life—in prison, getting sober, finding a new community (and a husband) in AA—trying to atone for this unpardonable act.</p><p>Then, decades later, another unimaginable piece of information turns up.</p><p>For the reader, it is an electrifying moment, a joyous, fall-off-the-couch-with-surprise moment. For Patsy, it is more complicated. Blame must be reapportioned, her life reassessed. What does it mean that her life has been based on wrong assumptions? What can she cleave to? What must be relinquished?</p><p>When Huneven’s first novel, <em>Round Rock</em>, was published, Valerie Miner, in the <em>Los Angeles Times Book Review</em>, celebrated Huneven’s “moral nerve, sharp wit and uncommon generosity.” The same spirit electrifies <em>Blame</em>. The novel crackles with life—and, like life, can leave you breathless.</p>&lt;/DIV&gt;]]>
  </description>
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  <date_added>Fri Oct 02 19:05:10 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Oct 03 08:31:20 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Huneven's elegant third novel probes some deep questions: What does it mean to be good? Is it possible to atone for terrible transgressions? If so, how? Patsy is an intelligent, honest heroine, and her guilt and pain are palpable. Huneven skillfully leads Patsy on the long and winding road to self-d...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/73257588">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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    <![CDATA[Blame: A Novel]]>
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    <![CDATA[&lt;DIV&gt;<p>Michelle Huneven, Richard Russo once wrote, is “a writer of extraordinary and thrilling talent.” That talent explodes with her third book, <em>Blame</em>, a spellbinding novel of guilt and love, family and shame, sobriety and the lack of it, and the moral ambiguities that ensnare us all.</p><p>The story: Patsy MacLemoore, a history professor in her late twenties with a brand-new Ph.D. from Berkeley and a wild streak, wakes up in jail—<em>yet again</em>—after another epic alcoholic blackout. “Okay, what’d I do?” she asks her lawyer and jailers. “I really don’t remember.” She adds, jokingly: “Did I kill someone?”</p><p>In fact, two Jehovah’s Witnesses, a mother and daughter, are dead, run over in Patsy’s driveway. Patsy, who was driving with a revoked license, will spend the rest of her life—in prison, getting sober, finding a new community (and a husband) in AA—trying to atone for this unpardonable act.</p><p>Then, decades later, another unimaginable piece of information turns up.</p><p>For the reader, it is an electrifying moment, a joyous, fall-off-the-couch-with-surprise moment. For Patsy, it is more complicated. Blame must be reapportioned, her life reassessed. What does it mean that her life has been based on wrong assumptions? What can she cleave to? What must be relinquished?</p><p>When Huneven’s first novel, <em>Round Rock</em>, was published, Valerie Miner, in the <em>Los Angeles Times Book Review</em>, celebrated Huneven’s “moral nerve, sharp wit and uncommon generosity.” The same spirit electrifies <em>Blame</em>. The novel crackles with life—and, like life, can leave you breathless.</p>&lt;/DIV&gt;]]>
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  <read_at>Thu Dec 10 00:00:00 -0800 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Nov 26 16:03:46 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun Dec 13 13:34:37 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Blame begins in 1980, when 29-year-old Patsy MacLemoore, a history professor with a long, buttery spill of hair, hints at an urgency for tea cups brimming with bourbon, poured neat, &quot;the first mouthful, as big and sweet and hot as gasoline&quot;. Patsy is a blackout drunk. Nine months later, an...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79069763">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79069763]]></url>
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</review>
      <review>
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    <![CDATA[Blame: A Novel]]>
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  <average_rating>3.63</average_rating>
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  <description>
    <![CDATA[&lt;DIV&gt;<p>Michelle Huneven, Richard Russo once wrote, is “a writer of extraordinary and thrilling talent.” That talent explodes with her third book, <em>Blame</em>, a spellbinding novel of guilt and love, family and shame, sobriety and the lack of it, and the moral ambiguities that ensnare us all.</p><p>The story: Patsy MacLemoore, a history professor in her late twenties with a brand-new Ph.D. from Berkeley and a wild streak, wakes up in jail—<em>yet again</em>—after another epic alcoholic blackout. “Okay, what’d I do?” she asks her lawyer and jailers. “I really don’t remember.” She adds, jokingly: “Did I kill someone?”</p><p>In fact, two Jehovah’s Witnesses, a mother and daughter, are dead, run over in Patsy’s driveway. Patsy, who was driving with a revoked license, will spend the rest of her life—in prison, getting sober, finding a new community (and a husband) in AA—trying to atone for this unpardonable act.</p><p>Then, decades later, another unimaginable piece of information turns up.</p><p>For the reader, it is an electrifying moment, a joyous, fall-off-the-couch-with-surprise moment. For Patsy, it is more complicated. Blame must be reapportioned, her life reassessed. What does it mean that her life has been based on wrong assumptions? What can she cleave to? What must be relinquished?</p><p>When Huneven’s first novel, <em>Round Rock</em>, was published, Valerie Miner, in the <em>Los Angeles Times Book Review</em>, celebrated Huneven’s “moral nerve, sharp wit and uncommon generosity.” The same spirit electrifies <em>Blame</em>. The novel crackles with life—and, like life, can leave you breathless.</p>&lt;/DIV&gt;]]>
  </description>
  <published>2009</published>
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    <rating>4</rating>
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  <read_at>Wed Nov 11 00:00:00 -0800 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Nov 10 13:08:20 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Nov 12 07:55:22 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[This was a very good book about taking responsibilty for your actions.  Patsy MacLemoore, a new PhD. in Literatures and History at a California university is also an alcoholic.  One day, after binge drinking, she returnes home from the bar, although her licenses has been suspended, she is still driv...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77348737">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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    <![CDATA[Blame: A Novel]]>
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    <![CDATA[&lt;DIV&gt;<p>Michelle Huneven, Richard Russo once wrote, is “a writer of extraordinary and thrilling talent.” That talent explodes with her third book, <em>Blame</em>, a spellbinding novel of guilt and love, family and shame, sobriety and the lack of it, and the moral ambiguities that ensnare us all.</p><p>The story: Patsy MacLemoore, a history professor in her late twenties with a brand-new Ph.D. from Berkeley and a wild streak, wakes up in jail—<em>yet again</em>—after another epic alcoholic blackout. “Okay, what’d I do?” she asks her lawyer and jailers. “I really don’t remember.” She adds, jokingly: “Did I kill someone?”</p><p>In fact, two Jehovah’s Witnesses, a mother and daughter, are dead, run over in Patsy’s driveway. Patsy, who was driving with a revoked license, will spend the rest of her life—in prison, getting sober, finding a new community (and a husband) in AA—trying to atone for this unpardonable act.</p><p>Then, decades later, another unimaginable piece of information turns up.</p><p>For the reader, it is an electrifying moment, a joyous, fall-off-the-couch-with-surprise moment. For Patsy, it is more complicated. Blame must be reapportioned, her life reassessed. What does it mean that her life has been based on wrong assumptions? What can she cleave to? What must be relinquished?</p><p>When Huneven’s first novel, <em>Round Rock</em>, was published, Valerie Miner, in the <em>Los Angeles Times Book Review</em>, celebrated Huneven’s “moral nerve, sharp wit and uncommon generosity.” The same spirit electrifies <em>Blame</em>. The novel crackles with life—and, like life, can leave you breathless.</p>&lt;/DIV&gt;]]>
  </description>
  <published>2009</published>
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  <read_at>Sat Oct 31 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Oct 08 20:07:26 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Oct 31 07:08:30 -0700 2009</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[not what i thought it would be - it was a glorified danielle steel book - all romantic relationship, i did not feel the guilt, the blame - more like the lack thereof. i did not care about a single character. i did not care about the book. why were the people hit jehovah witnesses? there was no reaso...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/73928261">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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    <![CDATA[Blame: A Novel]]>
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    <![CDATA[&lt;DIV&gt;<p>Michelle Huneven, Richard Russo once wrote, is “a writer of extraordinary and thrilling talent.” That talent explodes with her third book, <em>Blame</em>, a spellbinding novel of guilt and love, family and shame, sobriety and the lack of it, and the moral ambiguities that ensnare us all.</p><p>The story: Patsy MacLemoore, a history professor in her late twenties with a brand-new Ph.D. from Berkeley and a wild streak, wakes up in jail—<em>yet again</em>—after another epic alcoholic blackout. “Okay, what’d I do?” she asks her lawyer and jailers. “I really don’t remember.” She adds, jokingly: “Did I kill someone?”</p><p>In fact, two Jehovah’s Witnesses, a mother and daughter, are dead, run over in Patsy’s driveway. Patsy, who was driving with a revoked license, will spend the rest of her life—in prison, getting sober, finding a new community (and a husband) in AA—trying to atone for this unpardonable act.</p><p>Then, decades later, another unimaginable piece of information turns up.</p><p>For the reader, it is an electrifying moment, a joyous, fall-off-the-couch-with-surprise moment. For Patsy, it is more complicated. Blame must be reapportioned, her life reassessed. What does it mean that her life has been based on wrong assumptions? What can she cleave to? What must be relinquished?</p><p>When Huneven’s first novel, <em>Round Rock</em>, was published, Valerie Miner, in the <em>Los Angeles Times Book Review</em>, celebrated Huneven’s “moral nerve, sharp wit and uncommon generosity.” The same spirit electrifies <em>Blame</em>. The novel crackles with life—and, like life, can leave you breathless.</p>&lt;/DIV&gt;]]>
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  <read_at>Sun Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Sun Nov 29 13:01:19 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun Nov 29 13:42:14 -0800 2009</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[Pasty MacLemore is a dedicated party girl with several DUI's.  Pasty frequently gets drunk too the point of blackouts.  One morning she wakes up in jail asking &quot;what did I do kill someone.  Unfortunately, that is what happened.  She is accused of running down a mother and daughter in her drivew...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79311672">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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    <name><![CDATA[Leslie]]></name>
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    <![CDATA[Blame: A Novel]]>
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    <![CDATA[&lt;DIV&gt;<p>Michelle Huneven, Richard Russo once wrote, is “a writer of extraordinary and thrilling talent.” That talent explodes with her third book, <em>Blame</em>, a spellbinding novel of guilt and love, family and shame, sobriety and the lack of it, and the moral ambiguities that ensnare us all.</p><p>The story: Patsy MacLemoore, a history professor in her late twenties with a brand-new Ph.D. from Berkeley and a wild streak, wakes up in jail—<em>yet again</em>—after another epic alcoholic blackout. “Okay, what’d I do?” she asks her lawyer and jailers. “I really don’t remember.” She adds, jokingly: “Did I kill someone?”</p><p>In fact, two Jehovah’s Witnesses, a mother and daughter, are dead, run over in Patsy’s driveway. Patsy, who was driving with a revoked license, will spend the rest of her life—in prison, getting sober, finding a new community (and a husband) in AA—trying to atone for this unpardonable act.</p><p>Then, decades later, another unimaginable piece of information turns up.</p><p>For the reader, it is an electrifying moment, a joyous, fall-off-the-couch-with-surprise moment. For Patsy, it is more complicated. Blame must be reapportioned, her life reassessed. What does it mean that her life has been based on wrong assumptions? What can she cleave to? What must be relinquished?</p><p>When Huneven’s first novel, <em>Round Rock</em>, was published, Valerie Miner, in the <em>Los Angeles Times Book Review</em>, celebrated Huneven’s “moral nerve, sharp wit and uncommon generosity.” The same spirit electrifies <em>Blame</em>. The novel crackles with life—and, like life, can leave you breathless.</p>&lt;/DIV&gt;]]>
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  <date_added>Mon Nov 09 07:17:36 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Nov 09 07:22:59 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I might destroy my credibility by making my first review five-stars, but I thought this book was wonderful: moving and surprising, unsentimental but unafraid to court deep feeling in its attention to characters and the quiet stasis of their pain, their small moments of redemption. I've often seen li...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77195904">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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    <![CDATA[Blame: A Novel]]>
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    <![CDATA[&lt;DIV&gt;<p>Michelle Huneven, Richard Russo once wrote, is “a writer of extraordinary and thrilling talent.” That talent explodes with her third book, <em>Blame</em>, a spellbinding novel of guilt and love, family and shame, sobriety and the lack of it, and the moral ambiguities that ensnare us all.</p><p>The story: Patsy MacLemoore, a history professor in her late twenties with a brand-new Ph.D. from Berkeley and a wild streak, wakes up in jail—<em>yet again</em>—after another epic alcoholic blackout. “Okay, what’d I do?” she asks her lawyer and jailers. “I really don’t remember.” She adds, jokingly: “Did I kill someone?”</p><p>In fact, two Jehovah’s Witnesses, a mother and daughter, are dead, run over in Patsy’s driveway. Patsy, who was driving with a revoked license, will spend the rest of her life—in prison, getting sober, finding a new community (and a husband) in AA—trying to atone for this unpardonable act.</p><p>Then, decades later, another unimaginable piece of information turns up.</p><p>For the reader, it is an electrifying moment, a joyous, fall-off-the-couch-with-surprise moment. For Patsy, it is more complicated. Blame must be reapportioned, her life reassessed. What does it mean that her life has been based on wrong assumptions? What can she cleave to? What must be relinquished?</p><p>When Huneven’s first novel, <em>Round Rock</em>, was published, Valerie Miner, in the <em>Los Angeles Times Book Review</em>, celebrated Huneven’s “moral nerve, sharp wit and uncommon generosity.” The same spirit electrifies <em>Blame</em>. The novel crackles with life—and, like life, can leave you breathless.</p>&lt;/DIV&gt;]]>
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  <read_at>Sun Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Nov 30 12:27:46 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Nov 30 12:28:24 -0800 2009</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[Patsy MacLemoore is a fun yet reckless young history professor who wakes up in jail after one drunken night, accused of hitting and killing a mother and daughter in her own driveway. Remembering nothing, she resolves to be good, to make herself useful to others and balance wrong with right. Years la...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79429029">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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    <![CDATA[Blame: A Novel]]>
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    <![CDATA[&lt;DIV&gt;<p>Michelle Huneven, Richard Russo once wrote, is “a writer of extraordinary and thrilling talent.” That talent explodes with her third book, <em>Blame</em>, a spellbinding novel of guilt and love, family and shame, sobriety and the lack of it, and the moral ambiguities that ensnare us all.</p><p>The story: Patsy MacLemoore, a history professor in her late twenties with a brand-new Ph.D. from Berkeley and a wild streak, wakes up in jail—<em>yet again</em>—after another epic alcoholic blackout. “Okay, what’d I do?” she asks her lawyer and jailers. “I really don’t remember.” She adds, jokingly: “Did I kill someone?”</p><p>In fact, two Jehovah’s Witnesses, a mother and daughter, are dead, run over in Patsy’s driveway. Patsy, who was driving with a revoked license, will spend the rest of her life—in prison, getting sober, finding a new community (and a husband) in AA—trying to atone for this unpardonable act.</p><p>Then, decades later, another unimaginable piece of information turns up.</p><p>For the reader, it is an electrifying moment, a joyous, fall-off-the-couch-with-surprise moment. For Patsy, it is more complicated. Blame must be reapportioned, her life reassessed. What does it mean that her life has been based on wrong assumptions? What can she cleave to? What must be relinquished?</p><p>When Huneven’s first novel, <em>Round Rock</em>, was published, Valerie Miner, in the <em>Los Angeles Times Book Review</em>, celebrated Huneven’s “moral nerve, sharp wit and uncommon generosity.” The same spirit electrifies <em>Blame</em>. The novel crackles with life—and, like life, can leave you breathless.</p>&lt;/DIV&gt;]]>
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  <read_at>Mon Dec 21 00:00:00 -0800 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Dec 08 04:08:01 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Dec 21 01:13:37 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I passed this book countless times at the library and I'm now kicking myself in the ass!  I so wish I would have picked it up and read it sooner.  Addiction is a difficult topic for me to read about though.  That being said, this is a really wonderful book.  It was a different addiction kind of book...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/80273109">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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    <![CDATA[Blame: A Novel]]>
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    <![CDATA[&lt;DIV&gt;<p>Michelle Huneven, Richard Russo once wrote, is “a writer of extraordinary and thrilling talent.” That talent explodes with her third book, <em>Blame</em>, a spellbinding novel of guilt and love, family and shame, sobriety and the lack of it, and the moral ambiguities that ensnare us all.</p><p>The story: Patsy MacLemoore, a history professor in her late twenties with a brand-new Ph.D. from Berkeley and a wild streak, wakes up in jail—<em>yet again</em>—after another epic alcoholic blackout. “Okay, what’d I do?” she asks her lawyer and jailers. “I really don’t remember.” She adds, jokingly: “Did I kill someone?”</p><p>In fact, two Jehovah’s Witnesses, a mother and daughter, are dead, run over in Patsy’s driveway. Patsy, who was driving with a revoked license, will spend the rest of her life—in prison, getting sober, finding a new community (and a husband) in AA—trying to atone for this unpardonable act.</p><p>Then, decades later, another unimaginable piece of information turns up.</p><p>For the reader, it is an electrifying moment, a joyous, fall-off-the-couch-with-surprise moment. For Patsy, it is more complicated. Blame must be reapportioned, her life reassessed. What does it mean that her life has been based on wrong assumptions? What can she cleave to? What must be relinquished?</p><p>When Huneven’s first novel, <em>Round Rock</em>, was published, Valerie Miner, in the <em>Los Angeles Times Book Review</em>, celebrated Huneven’s “moral nerve, sharp wit and uncommon generosity.” The same spirit electrifies <em>Blame</em>. The novel crackles with life—and, like life, can leave you breathless.</p>&lt;/DIV&gt;]]>
  </description>
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    <rating>3</rating>
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  <read_at>Wed Dec 16 00:00:00 -0800 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Sat Dec 05 18:49:15 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Dec 16 18:52:44 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[If I could give a book 3.5 stars, that is what I would give this book. The fact is, I read this book in three days. I stayed up late to read this book. But when I looked at my other four-star books, this one just wasn't quite there. I enjoyed the characters and the plot ever more. My one complaint i...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/80023898">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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    <![CDATA[Blame: A Novel]]>
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    <![CDATA[&lt;DIV&gt;<p>Michelle Huneven, Richard Russo once wrote, is “a writer of extraordinary and thrilling talent.” That talent explodes with her third book, <em>Blame</em>, a spellbinding novel of guilt and love, family and shame, sobriety and the lack of it, and the moral ambiguities that ensnare us all.</p><p>The story: Patsy MacLemoore, a history professor in her late twenties with a brand-new Ph.D. from Berkeley and a wild streak, wakes up in jail—<em>yet again</em>—after another epic alcoholic blackout. “Okay, what’d I do?” she asks her lawyer and jailers. “I really don’t remember.” She adds, jokingly: “Did I kill someone?”</p><p>In fact, two Jehovah’s Witnesses, a mother and daughter, are dead, run over in Patsy’s driveway. Patsy, who was driving with a revoked license, will spend the rest of her life—in prison, getting sober, finding a new community (and a husband) in AA—trying to atone for this unpardonable act.</p><p>Then, decades later, another unimaginable piece of information turns up.</p><p>For the reader, it is an electrifying moment, a joyous, fall-off-the-couch-with-surprise moment. For Patsy, it is more complicated. Blame must be reapportioned, her life reassessed. What does it mean that her life has been based on wrong assumptions? What can she cleave to? What must be relinquished?</p><p>When Huneven’s first novel, <em>Round Rock</em>, was published, Valerie Miner, in the <em>Los Angeles Times Book Review</em>, celebrated Huneven’s “moral nerve, sharp wit and uncommon generosity.” The same spirit electrifies <em>Blame</em>. The novel crackles with life—and, like life, can leave you breathless.</p>&lt;/DIV&gt;]]>
  </description>
  <published>2009</published>
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    <rating>3</rating>
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  <read_at>Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
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    <body><![CDATA[¶   My review for the AP:<br/>¶   &quot;Blame&quot; (Sarah Crichton Books, 291 pages, $25), by Michelle Huneven: Anyone who has been on a bender will read the first chapters of &quot;Blame&quot; with thank-God-it-wasn't-me relief and the anxiety of knowing it could have been.<br/>¶   History pr...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/70235784">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[Blame: A Novel]]>
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    <![CDATA[&lt;DIV&gt;<p>Michelle Huneven, Richard Russo once wrote, is “a writer of extraordinary and thrilling talent.” That talent explodes with her third book, <em>Blame</em>, a spellbinding novel of guilt and love, family and shame, sobriety and the lack of it, and the moral ambiguities that ensnare us all.</p><p>The story: Patsy MacLemoore, a history professor in her late twenties with a brand-new Ph.D. from Berkeley and a wild streak, wakes up in jail—<em>yet again</em>—after another epic alcoholic blackout. “Okay, what’d I do?” she asks her lawyer and jailers. “I really don’t remember.” She adds, jokingly: “Did I kill someone?”</p><p>In fact, two Jehovah’s Witnesses, a mother and daughter, are dead, run over in Patsy’s driveway. Patsy, who was driving with a revoked license, will spend the rest of her life—in prison, getting sober, finding a new community (and a husband) in AA—trying to atone for this unpardonable act.</p><p>Then, decades later, another unimaginable piece of information turns up.</p><p>For the reader, it is an electrifying moment, a joyous, fall-off-the-couch-with-surprise moment. For Patsy, it is more complicated. Blame must be reapportioned, her life reassessed. What does it mean that her life has been based on wrong assumptions? What can she cleave to? What must be relinquished?</p><p>When Huneven’s first novel, <em>Round Rock</em>, was published, Valerie Miner, in the <em>Los Angeles Times Book Review</em>, celebrated Huneven’s “moral nerve, sharp wit and uncommon generosity.” The same spirit electrifies <em>Blame</em>. The novel crackles with life—and, like life, can leave you breathless.</p>&lt;/DIV&gt;]]>
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  <date_added>Mon Oct 26 16:20:27 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Oct 26 16:24:08 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count>1</read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[The first two chapters make no sense but keep reading.  This is a very interesting book.  The main character is a college professor who is convicted for killing two people.  She was very intoxicated at the time.  The book follows her through her incarceration, time in prison and life afterwards with...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75822621">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[Blame: A Novel]]>
  </title>
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  <average_rating>3.63</average_rating>
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  <description>
    <![CDATA[&lt;DIV&gt;<p>Michelle Huneven, Richard Russo once wrote, is “a writer of extraordinary and thrilling talent.” That talent explodes with her third book, <em>Blame</em>, a spellbinding novel of guilt and love, family and shame, sobriety and the lack of it, and the moral ambiguities that ensnare us all.</p><p>The story: Patsy MacLemoore, a history professor in her late twenties with a brand-new Ph.D. from Berkeley and a wild streak, wakes up in jail—<em>yet again</em>—after another epic alcoholic blackout. “Okay, what’d I do?” she asks her lawyer and jailers. “I really don’t remember.” She adds, jokingly: “Did I kill someone?”</p><p>In fact, two Jehovah’s Witnesses, a mother and daughter, are dead, run over in Patsy’s driveway. Patsy, who was driving with a revoked license, will spend the rest of her life—in prison, getting sober, finding a new community (and a husband) in AA—trying to atone for this unpardonable act.</p><p>Then, decades later, another unimaginable piece of information turns up.</p><p>For the reader, it is an electrifying moment, a joyous, fall-off-the-couch-with-surprise moment. For Patsy, it is more complicated. Blame must be reapportioned, her life reassessed. What does it mean that her life has been based on wrong assumptions? What can she cleave to? What must be relinquished?</p><p>When Huneven’s first novel, <em>Round Rock</em>, was published, Valerie Miner, in the <em>Los Angeles Times Book Review</em>, celebrated Huneven’s “moral nerve, sharp wit and uncommon generosity.” The same spirit electrifies <em>Blame</em>. The novel crackles with life—and, like life, can leave you breathless.</p>&lt;/DIV&gt;]]>
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  <read_at>Wed Sep 02 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Wed Sep 02 19:31:11 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Sep 02 19:40:34 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[This was like the best-written soap opera ever -- elegantly plotted, gorgeous prose, but full of juicy drama and surprises and coincidences.  Also, talk about timely, it's set in brushfire country -- Arcadia, Pasadena, Altadena -- and even features scenes of prison fire crews.   I couldn't stop read...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/69877943">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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