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Exit Lines (2008)

by Joan Barfoot(Favorite Author)

3.3 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

030739705X (ISBN13: 9780307397058)

languge

English

genre

Humor

publisher

Knopf Canada

review 1: The idea behind the book is great, some of the writing was very compelling, but unfortunately the characters tended to be stereotypes rather than real people. The struggling immigrant woman, the social worker who never had children and has been crippled by the past (both her's and her family history) the socialite with the sharp tongue... the story could have been so much richer but ultimately she did not get "deep enough" with the characters. Also I found the ending unsatisfying, not because "no one died" but I didn't find any true resolution. Although, maybe that is the point.There were details; phrases that I found quite wonderful, but overall it did not achieve the initial promise.
review 2: I'd give this enjoyable read a 3.5 star rating actually. Life ... morein a newly opened retirement home brings 4 people together into a close-knit friendship. The story features each one of the four---their childhood, marriages, careers (all the external trappings and accomplishments of a full life) but then shifts deeper into their internal dialogue about their relationships with their adult children, their views about their failing bodies, their beliefs and ethics, the good and the bad in the world, the perspectives of the young and old (about themselves and about the other end of the age spectrum). Even though it covers past experiences they were less proud of, it didn't really seem like it was as regret but just more of a looking back on one's life story "as is". Then to add to this, one of them decides to set and orchestrate her own death....which consumes them all. less

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