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Forgive Me
by
Amanda Eyre Ward (Goodreads Author)
From the acclaimed author of How to Be Lost comes a gorgeous new novel about love, memory, and motherhood.
Nadine Morgan travels the world as a journalist, covering important events, following dangerous leads, and running from anything that might tie her down. Since an assignment in Cape Town ended in tragedy and regret, Nadine has not returned to South Africa, or opened he...more
Nadine Morgan travels the world as a journalist, covering important events, following dangerous leads, and running from anything that might tie her down. Since an assignment in Cape Town ended in tragedy and regret, Nadine has not returned to South Africa, or opened he...more
Paperback, 256 pages
Published
January 29th 2008
by Ballantine Books
(first published June 19th 2007)
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I was struggling between 3 & 4 stars. I may end up changing my rating after some thought.
I was very much into the book--but have to agree with some goodreaders' reviews--most of the characters are just sketches, rather than juicy, sink you teeth into, 'flesh & blood' people.
The book loses something in this way--you never really get to know Hank, Jim, Maxim, Lily, George...and so on.
Nadine is fascinating. She is morally drawn to examine injustice all over the globe-...more
I was very much into the book--but have to agree with some goodreaders' reviews--most of the characters are just sketches, rather than juicy, sink you teeth into, 'flesh & blood' people.
The book loses something in this way--you never really get to know Hank, Jim, Maxim, Lily, George...and so on.
Nadine is fascinating. She is morally drawn to examine injustice all over the globe-...more
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Nadine, the protagonist, a 35 years old free lance journalist, lives her life without setting her roots anywhere since something happened in South Africa 10 years ago. Now she's beaten up in Mexico, is forced to rest, and after fooling around a bit, she escapes to South Africa to discover herself. That would be essentially the storyline here. (Note: not my usual type of read).
Now more into depth about the story (***skip below if you intend to read the book, as it may contain partial sp...more
Now more into depth about the story (***skip below if you intend to read the book, as it may contain partial sp...more
Nadine Morgan is a journalist that has traveled around the world. She is beaten up in Mexico and finds herself back home on Cape Cod to recoup. She escapes her father's house and stays with her doctor on Nantucket. Quickly they become more than doctor and patient. A story about Jason Irving, a young man who was killed in South Africa, has Nadine running from her home back to South Africa. Here she begins to relive what happened to her when she lived in South Africa and the present, trying to get...more
This book really made me cry because its about this global trotting journalist who basically confronts her past while she's covering a trial of an American man beaten to death in apartheid South Africa. A decade ago while on assignment the journalist becomes friend's with a girl's family members and learns the young girl actively participated in killing this man. When she's back in South Africa, she learns of the fate of all her friends, including the girl's family members, who tried to survive ...more
I felt like this story was unfinished. I liked it until the end when I felt like the author left too much to the reader to decide.
Interesting insights as to what would compel someone to choose a lifestyle in which they have no roots. Interesting characters but sad that they keep disappearing without any closure in the relationships.
I kept waiting for more to come when the last sentence was read. I expected the author to give us some insight into Nadine's motivation...more
Interesting insights as to what would compel someone to choose a lifestyle in which they have no roots. Interesting characters but sad that they keep disappearing without any closure in the relationships.
I kept waiting for more to come when the last sentence was read. I expected the author to give us some insight into Nadine's motivation...more
Mary
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Anyone who enjoys contemporary fiction
Recommended to Mary by:
Library Book Sale
I just finished reading Forgive Me by Amanda Eyre Ward. Nadine Morgan is a journalist who travels the world, covering dangerous and important events and running from anything that might tie her down. After a story turns tragic in Cape Town, South Africa, Nadine doesn't go back - or open her heart; until she hears the story of American Jason Irving.
Jason was beaten to death by angry local youths during the height of the aparteid era. Now, years later, his mother has been told that Jas...more
Jason was beaten to death by angry local youths during the height of the aparteid era. Now, years later, his mother has been told that Jas...more
After two terrific novels, Ward is entitled to something of a well-meaning disappointment. There is a fascinating subplot told through a young boy's journal entries, and Ward does a great job of bringing the reader into her South African settings, and the dialogue toward the end is both believable and poetic, but the first hundred pages or so are just one stumble after another. Clumsy exposition, an implausible romance, a character who comes across as more of a tough woman journalist fantasy tha...more
Amanda Eyre Ward, author of How to Be Lost, a book of which I was very fond, is a solid writer. Her prose is neat, her characters developed and the relationships almost (though not fully) of interest. There is something a little rushed about her books, something that makes them solid but not compelling.
Forgive Me also has that quality. The story of a native of Woods Hole Nantucket, Nadine lost her mother at 6 and has felt unrooted in the world since. Through (of course) a lover, she ...more
Forgive Me also has that quality. The story of a native of Woods Hole Nantucket, Nadine lost her mother at 6 and has felt unrooted in the world since. Through (of course) a lover, she ...more
In her first two novels, Sleep Toward Heaven and How to Be Lost, Amanda Eyre Ward asked questions about loss and forgiveness: Is salvation possible to achieve? What are the costs of achieving it? Does everyone deserve it? Forgive Me, as the title suggests, blatantly explores these questions and other big themes-from apartheid to race, globalization, and motherhood. Filled with plot twists, Ward intersperses Nadine's story with the first-person journal entries of young boy in Nantucket. Her spare
...more
This story follows a few months in the life of a young reporter, Nadine, as she sorts through her own hurt and anger against the backdrop of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. The book is well written and is layered in a number of ways. One subplot is Nadine's struggle with her past in Woods Hole, MA where her mother died and her father could never fill the void. Another subplot is Nadine's investigation of a young white American, Jason Irving, who was killed by a group of ...more
So this book was about a 4 or 5 for me until the very end. I don't know if I had a brain lapse or what, but I am so very confused. It seems as if there was a bit of a mystery going on with Sophia Irving, but I missed how that all tied up. If anyone can clear it up for me, I would be forever indebted!
I wanted more of each of the characters. Seemed like we visited them for such a short time, except for the main character Nadine, and even Nadine did not feel fully realized. Even at the end of the novel, I felt as though her character was a jigsaw puzzle with half the pieces missing. Like several other readers, I was totally confused when Jason's journal morphed into Harry's journal. It felt like an author's trick.
That said, I found the story itself very clear and satisfying. The au...more
That said, I found the story itself very clear and satisfying. The au...more
Christina
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Christina by:
A Garden Carried in the Pocket
It’s hard to put into words how much I enjoyed this novel. I don’t think the fact that just the main character is a journalist swayed my decision, but it probably helped.
“Ten years after Nadine’s departure, South Africa was tasting a fragile peace. The city before Nadine had changed completely, and yet her was Nadine, still alone, still running, the same.” {pg. 112}
The story is heart-wrenching and gripping. I read the whole thing on the airplane ride home from Anaheim...more
“Ten years after Nadine’s departure, South Africa was tasting a fragile peace. The city before Nadine had changed completely, and yet her was Nadine, still alone, still running, the same.” {pg. 112}
The story is heart-wrenching and gripping. I read the whole thing on the airplane ride home from Anaheim...more
A story about a journalist unable to deal with her past who uses the pull of the 'next big story' to justify her life and her decisions. Most of the book revolved around a story she was following in South Africa, and I have to say that particular part of the book was so enlightening. (Personally I only know bits and pieces of the history of South Africa and really learned a lot from this part of the story.) Up until the last 50 pages I was set on giving this book 5 stars, but I just didn't thi...more
Good story that could have been a lot better. There are a few storylines, some are developed, some are only touched on (and it leaves you wondering why it was introduced to begin with). I have to say there is a twist in the story that caught me completely by surprise at the end. The book is short which contributes to the lack of character development. However, I did find myself caught up in Nadine's story and I read this in one sitting. This is also a good reminder (for those of us that need...more
3.5 stars
This one had its ups and downs. The end was rather silly in my opinion and not well connected to the rest of the book. I found it basically implausible. In addition, a new narrator introduced halfway tells a story that is rather disconnected from the rest of the book that I felt didn't add a lot. It's difficult to describe without giving away the story. Nevertheless, I enjoyed most of the story that took place in the present, and the parts of the novel that were about o...more
This one had its ups and downs. The end was rather silly in my opinion and not well connected to the rest of the book. I found it basically implausible. In addition, a new narrator introduced halfway tells a story that is rather disconnected from the rest of the book that I felt didn't add a lot. It's difficult to describe without giving away the story. Nevertheless, I enjoyed most of the story that took place in the present, and the parts of the novel that were about o...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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I love a book that is both a literal journey and a metaphorical journey. The literal teaches about our world; the metaphorical teaches about ourselves. Ward's "Forgive Me" takes us to South Africa, before and after the apartheid policy. She describes the political tension, the social dysfuntion, the poverty, and the beauty of the land. More than this though, it is the story of Nadine, finding her way in the world, how to be true to her career ambitions and still find time and heart...more
This book was ok, but not as good as the author's other book, "How to be Lost." I liked it until the last 1/4 of the book, at which point things became sort of disjointed. I kept expecting that it would all come together and make sense, but the author didn't do a great job of tying things together. There were a lot of things that the author kept hinting at, and several situations that she was foreshadowing throughout the book. However, she never came through with any real answers or co...more
I thought the book was a let-down. There was so much to be explored in the subject matter. I picked up the book because I was interested in reading more about South Africa, the story of the two mothers, and the heroine's own coming to terms with her past -- the complicated and painful process of reconciliation not only with someone who should be your enemy, but also with yourself. With such a rich theme, I feel like Amanda Eyre Ward threw away what could have been a great novel so that she could...more
Forgive Me is Amanda Eyre Ward's third novel. It's a powerful piece about forgiveness and love in the aftermath of apartheid and the hearings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Protagonist Nadine Morgan is a journalist who specializes in covering dangerous events. After she is mugged and beaten in Mexico City the TRC's hearing on the death of Jason Irving draws her back to South Africa after a decade's absence.
Overall I enjoyed the story but it has its weak points. Th...more
Protagonist Nadine Morgan is a journalist who specializes in covering dangerous events. After she is mugged and beaten in Mexico City the TRC's hearing on the death of Jason Irving draws her back to South Africa after a decade's absence.
Overall I enjoyed the story but it has its weak points. Th...more
I would actually give this more like 3 1/2 stars. I would even give it 4 except that I really thought the main character was a beeyatch and I didn't like her and the ending was a little too pat. Shoulda been wrapped up in a big red bow. The best aspect of the book was the flashbacks to apartheid era South Africa. There were some really well-written and heartrending scenes. The overall story arch, on the other hand... I had that figured out within the first 10 pages.
A dreadful book, gave up after five chapters. Banal, clichéd, utterly predictable. Is this really the same woman who wrote the excellent'How to be Lost'? (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43409...).
My theory is this is a very early work by Ms Ward and she let it get published just to earn a bit of cash.
I really can't believe it is by the same author.
My theory is this is a very early work by Ms Ward and she let it get published just to earn a bit of cash.
I really can't believe it is by the same author.
Like Paul Coetzee's Disgrace, Forgive Me is a tale of violence, redemption, sorrow and forgiveness in immediate post-apartheid South Africa. The central character of the novel is a globe-trotting journalist named Nadine who thrives on getting The Story and always being on the move, thus avoiding relationship and familial entanglements. While recuperating in the US from a beating by thugs in Mexico, Nadine is drawn back to South Africa after hearing that a family in her Cape Cod hometown will be...more
This book intrigued me and frustrated me. If you have ever loved a journalist or even wondered what makes them tick...this book provides insight into what I think must be a "hardcore" journalist's life. She lives writing to the exclusion of all else. But the way it switches past to present drove me a bit whacky. All in all I would highly recommend this book - it opens up the apartheid subject and makes it a bit more human and compassionate, at least for me.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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This is the story of a woman journalist who has been unable to commmit to even one place after tragedy strikes when she is in South Africa. It is a moving about a woman obsessed with getting a big story who makes a terrible mistake to further her own ends. Though the whole book does not read as depressing, more interesting, there is a section that is not for the faint of heart that concerns the torture of some South African dissidents. There are no torture scenes but just a brief discussion o...more
A few years ago, I read Sleep Toward Heaven by the same author after receiving a free trade copy at a conference. I loved the book, and thought it to be a wonderfully written complex story with three flawed but still amazing female main characters. I even bought the book for Gina, someone without a lot of time to read, so you know I really liked it. So I thought I’d try another and was really disappointed. This book sucked. This book reads like the book I would have written as a 16 year old, fil...more
This was a book on cd for me on my trip up to NoVA this past week. It was difficult to keep up with which character was speaking as the voice moved around to multiple people. If I had this in book form, I'm not sure I would have finished it. It kept my attention for what I needed it to do though. That's why it got 3 stars. :)
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Amanda Eyre Ward was born in New York City in 1972. Her family moved to Rye, New York when she was four. Amanda attended Kent School in Kent, CT, where she wrote for the Kent News.
Amanda majored in English and American Studies at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. She studied fiction writing with Jim Shepard and spent her junior fall in coastal Kenya. She worked part-time...more
More about Amanda Eyre Ward...
Amanda majored in English and American Studies at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. She studied fiction writing with Jim Shepard and spent her junior fall in coastal Kenya. She worked part-time...more
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