An Act of Love [Hardcover]

Nancy Thayer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1997

When Linda McFarland's daughter attempts suicide and then accuses Owen McFarland's son (her stepbrother) of raping her, the happily married couple find their lives torn apart at the seams. By the author of Belonging. 65,000 first printing."

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

It is always a frustrating experience when an author has a great story to tell but is not a great storyteller. Here, it's just the opposite. Thayer's prose is fluid and concise, her characters rich and human, her dialogue easy and believable. But what happened to the story? An Act of Love revolves around a modern family, made up of Linda and Owen McFarland, both on their second marriage, and their respective children from their first marriages, Emily and Bruce. They live in a large, secluded Massachusetts farmhouse and, having been together for seven years, have become a real family. The kids attend a boarding school outside of town, and both excel in academics and social situations. Their world begins to crumble when the parents learn that Emily has just attempted suicide. At first, no one can get her to reveal why she is so troubled and guilt ridden, but when the truth does surface, the family is torn apart even further. Can a family made up of bits and pieces hold together through such trauma? That is the central question in this well-written but uninteresting novel and finding the answer is both exciting and frustrating, given the story's weaknesses. Thayer's popularity, however, warrants stocking up. Mary Frances Wilkens

From Kirkus Reviews

Can a tale of the rape of a teenaged girl by her stepbrother, even when it's told by the author of Belonging, 1995, among other contemporary romances, really be anything but sordid and unpleasant? Apparently not. Novelist Linda McFarland is a happy woman--wife of fellow novelist Owen, mother of Emily, a bright chatterbox of a high school sophomore, and stepmother to handsome 17-year-old Bruce. Living together in Owen's comfortable Massachusetts farmhouse, the McFarlands have worked hard during their seven years of marriage to treat the children equally and lovingly, and have hoped that their guidance--as well as the kids' shared experience of being abandoned by their other parent--would bring the children as close as real siblings. Until Emily's and Bruce's current year at Hedden Academy, an exclusive Boston boarding school, the parents were convinced they'd succeeded. Now, however, they're summoned to a hospital near the school with the news that Emily has attempted suicide. When Emily reveals that the reason for her action is that her beloved stepbrother raped her, Linda and Owen swing wildly between horrified belief in Emily's confession and denial that Bruce could possibly have committed such an act. Eventually, each parent inevitably takes his or her child's side--a situation that leads to a marital separation as Emily prepares to leave the hospital's psychiatric ward and live with her mother. Just at this propitious time the truth about the rape erupts--leading to the possibility of healing for the family of four, and an eventual reconciliation between husband and wife. More off-putting and icky than heart-stopping. Thayer's bland prose style doesn't help. (TV rights to ABC-TV; Literary Guild Alternate Selection) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 245 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr; 1st edition (September 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312154712
• ISBN-13: 978-0312154714
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,135,659 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars BORING!, January 12, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: An Act of Love (Hardcover)

I have to admit that I am not finished the book yet. I am on page 59 and I don't think I want to read anymore. This book is so boring and uninteresting. The author writes like I am in 6th grade and gives too many details of stupid, common sense things. EX:"With only a twinge of guilt, Linda lifted the receiver and stuck it into a drawer. It would make disturbing noises for a few seconds, then go mute. Anyone calling would get a busy signal." DUH! Why did she need to go into detail with that? She has many more of these boring details all throughout the book. My advice...don't buy it or wait to buy it at a yardsale for $.25.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Badly written, period!, July 4, 2003

By 

lynsey5966 "lynsey5966" - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Act of Love (Mass Market Paperback)

I tried to like this book, after all, I devoted several hours of my life to it, but it is so badly written that I would prefer to give it no stars.

The story could be interesting, but the writer made the bridging parts of the book so bloody boring. I cringed every time Linda went to Owen for *warmth*... or relished the *warmth* of a room... the character Linda is so unrealistic and annoying. There could have been chapters of Linda's seasonal disorder. The story would have been better told from Emily's perspective.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I Hated It!, September 2, 2006

By 

Lovely to See You (Out There Somewhere) - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Act of Love (Mass Market Paperback)

First of all, Nancy Thayer went into so much detail about the most mundane situations that, listening to it on tape, I ended up letting my mind drift on other things until something interesting happened. What's with all the reviewers saying "we never really know what happened?" It's very obvious by Emily's behavior and rage that she isn't lying, and you can see by snippets of Bruce's behavior that he's guilty as sin.

Why do I REALLY hate this book? The reason is this: I wouldn't give a flying fig if that boy was my immediate family or half-family. He deserved, like the girlfriend's father said to Bruce in court, to be put away for longer than the 20 years he could have gotten. He did something rotten and disgusting twice, and everyone let him get away with it. Therapy is highly overrated and doesn't always work--especially when it comes to predators who use their rage in this destructive a fashion. Thayer has obviously never been a victim of this kind of violence, or there is no way you would let your stepson get away with something this shattering. If I was Emily, I would be outraged at the way her account was treated both until and after the girlfriend was attacked. The girlfriend who, by the way, teased Bruce in one segment of the book. I would also have been furious at Linda and Owen for thinking they could stay together as a family after what that rotten little woman hating creep did. I'm sorry, but this is a subject I take very passionately, and if this is the kind of wishy washy writing Thayer likes to dish out, then this will likely be the only one of her novels I will ever read.