Customer Reviews

The Best of Good: A Novel

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Having just finished reading "The Best of Good", there are tears in my eyes. This book moved me deeply, while also providing hours of enjoyment. Writing in the first person, as a man, was an amazing feat for Sara, who continues to surprise me with her books. I've read all her novels, and this one rates right up there and, in fact, it's hard to choose a favorite. The characters were so very real to me. There are even things about Tom Good that I can recognize within myself. His struggles to start living his life again after isolating for 20 years made me examine my life, too. The children, his neighbors and his sister Ellen were all so realistic. They all have their layers of complexity, which Sara presents so brilliantly.

Read this book and see if you want to start making a quilt, upgrading your surroundings, getting closer to the people around you, and maybe even forgiving yourself for guilt that you should not have assumed for things in the past. This is a powerful book, in the guise of light entertainment! Absolute bravos for this, and I highly recommend it!

When I heard that one of my favorite authors, Anne Tyler, had written a book from a male point of view (A PATCHWORK PLANET), I was a bit nervous. Could Tyler authentically write a male voice? Indeed, I found the character totally believable and it was one of my all-time favorite Tyler books. Now Sara Lewis, an author who reminds me a bit of Tyler, has done the same thing with THE BEST OF GOOD. It's written from the first-person point of view of Tom Good, a musician whose traumatic past has led him to live an almost cloistered life until a shocking surprise helps draw him out of his shell.

I don't want to give away too much detail about the plot, since the book has a lot of twists & turns -- it's the kind of novel I found hard to put down because I wanted to know what would happen next! I really got caught up in Good's story, and found him to be a flawed but likable character -- the kind of guy you root for.

The one issue I have with Lewis's books -- and this was also very true of SECOND DRAFT OF MY LIFE, her most recent novel before GOOD -- is that the author obviously loves her protagonists so much that by the end of her books, it's almost as if she feels sorry about all the things she's put them through and gives them fairy-tale endings that just seem a little too good to be true (no pun intended). However, Lewis continues to be one of my favorite contemporary novelists, and THE BEST OF GOOD is, indeed, one of her best books.

I am a big fan of Sara Lewis's, and was thrilled to hear that she had written a new novel. This book, like her others, was wonderful. It's a real challenge to write from the point of view of the opposite sex, and I think she pulled it off beautifully. The character of Tom Good was like a little bit of all of us, I think--stagnant in some ways, blocked off, surrounded by his own demons, and afraid of change. But he made a real change throughout the course of the book, as did the characters around him (his sister Ellen, his neighbor Ellen, and even his son). I also loved reading about his songs and his guitar playing, how it was like a security blanket for him. The book moved quickly (and so did time!) and I definitely recommend it if you want to read a story about a real person, flawed just like the rest of us, who comes full circle to an understanding about his life and his past. And I am definitely looking forward to the author's next novel!

Once you meet Tom Good you can't help but root for him and hope for him. Good will stay with me for a long time. Be prepared to leave a place in your heart for him. The best of Sara Lewis' excellent novels. Can't wait to see her next book.

Sara Lewis' books are the kind of books I save in a special pile near the bed. Sadly the pile is always tiny because there just aren't too many books you can count on to cheer you up when you've had a day where a)the cat has died b)your husband has left you and c) you burned yet another teapot.

When you pick up one of her books, you enter a world of charming characters. Characters who care about each other,who are struggling to be better people, who have oddball life situations and wry senses of humour. In short, you escape but not to a place of mindless fiction but to a gentle world where people are funny, kind, quirky and struggling to live decent lives. As we all know that isn't as easy as t.v. (or George Bush) would have you believe.

Best of Good is lovely. Tom Good is filled with unresolved grief, yet he manages to find time to hang up the towel racks in his sister's apartment, help the neighbors with their children, and write great songs in his bedroom closet! It is a charming tale of one man's trip out of the closet.

NO! Not that kind of closet! As we learn from "The Best of Good" A closet can be a great place to hide from the bumps and miseries of life. Tom's sexuality is just fine thank you! Part of what lures him back into life is the discovery that he has fathered a child. How he comes back to life is the meat of this lovely book and I swear, if you read it you won't be disappointed.

I have read all of Sara Lewis' books and they just get better! I loved neurotic Tom Good. He was just like guys I knew in High School. I found his courage to make changes in his life, and work his way out of self-imposed isolation totally inspiring. I read the last few chapters slowly so it wouldn't end. I can't wait for Sara Lewis' next book!

"The Best of Good is a beautiful, wonderful, heart warming, inspiring book and I loved reading every word of it! Sara Lewis has a way of connecting and joining characters together that makes me want to be one of them!

Therese May

The Best of Good is a refreshing novel about real people and their journey to self discovery. We all know these people. We are these people. It has the right amount of bitter and sweet. I laughed and I cried. I felt rejuvenated while reading it. I didn't want to put it down. This is my new favorite of all of Sara Lewis' novels, and my favorite of all the books I've read in a couple of years!

What a wonderful book! The Best of Good is a gentle story about real people that grabs hold of you and won't let go, even after you've closed the cover for the last time. I found myself reading long sections aloud to my husband, and each time I thought I had finished, he would say "Keep reading!" It's that kind of book. One that asks you to keep reading because the characters have become important to you as real people, not because the chapter ended with an explosion or a car chase. If you like reading books instead of reading television shows written on paper, this is the perfect book for a fall evening.

Within a few pages, I was so hooked that I couldn't decide if I wanted to read it straight through or savor it for a few days. I couldn't put it down.
I am anxiously awaiting her next book.