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Small Blessings (2014)

by Martha Woodroof(Favorite Author)

3.63 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1250040523 (ISBN13: 9781250040527)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

St. Martin's Press

review 1: Martha Woodroof has accomplished something really special with "Small Blessings". The characters wrapped me in from the outset and kept me engaged for the duration and I'm a tough customer. Since I've been a prolific reader for 50 years, I've read a lot of books and met a lot of characters. Ms. Woodroof's characters really appealed to me. Maybe it's that I've worked in higher education for 30+ years, maybe it's that the characters seemed familiar, yet really interesting or maybe Martha's just a great writer. No matter the reason, this book is one that's staying with me - one I've thought about frequently the last few days. I hope Ms. Woodroof will continue to share her characters with me in more novels in the future.
review 2: Small Blessings is a rari... morety in that it is one of those stories that is serious without being heavy, sweet without being insipid. It is a warm and hopeful story, that is indeed charming, as many other reviewers have noted. It takes place on a college campus and concerns a professor, Tom, who lives with his fragile, largely shut-in wife and shrewd but tender mother-in-law; the newly arrived campus bookstore employee, Rose; and Henry, the son Tom never knew whose arrival in town follows Rose's and really sets in motion the events of the novel. There are other characters in the orbits of these four, also tying to lead decent lives in spite of their imperfections. Some of what happens seems more improbable than not, but not outlandishly so. (In this way, the plot reminded me a bit of one in an Ann Tyler novel.). Besides, the characters are all so endearingly flawed, but well-meant, and the writing so insightful and fluid--some really, really lovely writing--that it is easy to forgive a plot that asks the reader to believe in what could be true, however unlikely. less

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