Second Chances

by Alice Adams

In a moving and richly evocative novel about the remarkable capacity of the human spirit, Alice Adams brings readers into the beautiful community of San Sebastian, California, where a group of dear old friends have shared their lives for many wonderful, difficult years. It has taken writer Dudley Venable and her husband Sam thirty years to perfect their once-tumultuous marriage, but now they've almost got it right...lovely Celeste Timberlake, recently widowed, has found herself in the midst of a destructive new relationship...Edward Crane is desperately trying to hold on to his much-younger lover, Freddy Fuentes...and the group's eccentric, Polly Blake, shares everything but her own dark secrets. Together they make up a circle of deeply devoted friends who have weathered life together -- and discovered the resilience of the heart, the power of friendship, and the wonder of second chances.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Womens

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Alice Adams was an American novelist, short story writer, academic and university professor.

She was born in Fredericksburg, Virginia and attended Radcliffe College, graduating in 1946. She married, and had a child, but her marriage broke up, and she spent several years as a single mother, working as a secretary. Her psychiatrist told her to give up writing and get remarried; instead she published her first novel, Careless Love (1966), and a few years later she published her first short story in The New Yorker. She wrote many novels but she's best known for her short stories, in collections such as After You've Gone (1989) and The Last Lovely City (1999).

She won numerous awards including the O. Henry Award, and Best American Short Stories Award.

Reviews

[jessica]

not necessarily bad - i just had absolutely no interest and made myself move on

[Kathy Smuz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since I'm now approximately the age of the group of friends in this book, I probably have a little more tolerance for the story than some of the younger readers. Even so, I found the characters an incredibly self-absorbed lot. Do people in their 60s really engage in such interminable introspection? I certainly don't! Yes, a lot of the references are definitely dated, but having lived through that era, it didn't bother me. I thought the present-tense narrative voice was somewhat distracting, but eventually got used to it and only occasionally noticed it. I really didn't like Sara getting killed off so abruptly, but on looking at the book as a whole, it was most likely the only logical thing to do. It was clear that she wasn't going to remain in San Sebastian, and since the town is as much a part of the story as Celeste, Dudley, Edward, et al, she would have only been a postscript had she lived.

[Patrick Barry · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is about a group of friends who realize they are getting older, sometimes to their surprise. It explores their history together, but it seems the author looks pessimistically at the possibility of second chances, which I thought made the title ironic. Th character are drawn well and likable and I enjoyed the first 2/3 of the n]book quite a bit. But the ending brings one calamity after another. Too much like real life. I was hoping for fantasy I guess.

[Vee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love books where the characters are so very well developed that they start to feel like real people that you know. That is what this book was like. Very good read.

[Connie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought it started out strong, then limped to an end. I like her short stories, with a similar theme, better.

[Lynne Spreen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this book. At the end of Part One the author convinced me of her authority, but I'm not sure if I am sold. Yet the writing is good, and I'm wondering where she's going with the characters, so I'm going to stick around a bit, because I am very much intrigued by characters who are in the latter parts of their lives.

Update: I finished it, but I feel very little for this book. Maybe if someone could help me understand any possible subtext, my opinion would change, but the characters seemed unchanging, boring, disengaged, and flat. Even the younger one, Sara, spends her days merely dodging actual relevance or meaningful engagement with the other characters. The most active character was the setting, with its ocean and weather. The only reason I finished this book was that the writer is very capable, and I was curious to see if anything of note happened by the end. The answer, regrettably, is no. No signs of life in any of them, still.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book I bought a long time ago and never got around to reading til now!
The setting is of interest to me--set in the Bay Area, mostly San Mateo County and SF, where I grew up.

Quirky novel of "old friends" as they age, cope, revisit their pasts, etc.

[Michele Cacano · Rating 3 out of 5]

A well-crafted work of literary fiction. While I did not identify with any of the characters, I still found myself interested in what happened to them. The story was written in the mid 1980's, and seems a bit dated, but the characters are also a bit of a time capsule, and their stories leap form the 1835 to 1885, usually at the half-decade mark, as a matter of fact.

[Pam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read quite awhile ago and probably liked it better then than I would if I reread it now. It is about the older generation and their group of friends which is where I am now. When I read it in 1988, it would not have meant as much to me as it should now but for some reason, do not feel inclined to reread. Since aging has changed so much, this might seem quite outdated.

[Bea Alden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story of a middle-aged couple in San Francisco in the 1980s, and the life adventures of their friends and neighbors. A cosy read.

[Catherine Mustread · Rating 4 out of 5]

A group of long time friends cope with the death of first one and then a second of their members.

[Tristy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dense and thick and uneventful. Stories for an older generation than mine, I think.

[Elizabeth C S · Rating 3 out of 5]

You must get through to the second part, I believe 'The Past.' It ended somewhat abruptly, not a bad read though.

[Kathleen Hanes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liked this story of middle/older agers looking back on interesting lives. Will read more by this author.