Customer Reviews

Circle of Three

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Carrie instigates an argument while her husband is driving home from an outing when he suddenly keels over and dies from a heart attack. Carrie's guilt is so intense, she slides into a deep depression for the next four months, unable to eat or even dress until her mother Dana forces her into obtaining a job. Dana hopes that Carrie's new boss will prove to be a suitable spouse once her daughter comes out of mourning.

Carrie cares about no male except perhaps her first love Jessie, a person she fled when she decided to abandon her small hometown. Carrie's teenage daughter Ruth knows nothing about the shared past her mother and Jessie had. Instead she likes him, treating him like a friendly older brother and occasionally like a father. Dana never approved the "socially inferior" Jessie, but feels that when he thinks the time is right he will make his move. However, when Ruth catches Jessie and Carrie in a compromising position, she feels betrayed causing a crisis that forces the three generation of women to confront each other and themselves.

Patricia Gaffney follows up her last bestseller THE SAVING GRACES with another powerful drama that will appeal to her fans as well as that of Delinsky and Siddons. The poignant story line deals with problems on different levels as the three females bring differing perspectives to the table. This makes for an engaging tale that charms the audience as everyday people try to do their best to attain a happy life for themselves while hoping to bring contentment to their loved ones. CIRCLE OF THREE is family drama that is impossible to put down until the final page is read.

Harriet Klausner

Ah - a new Patricia Gaffney book -- reading rarely gets better than a work from this talented author. The follow-up to her much-acclaimed THE SAVING GRACES, CIRCLE OF THREE is really more of a romance than THE SAVING GRACES in that the main character, a recent widow, ends up seeing her old high school sweetheart and things really heat up. I think the main theme of the story is intended to be the relationships between three generations of women in a family, but this middle character is so much stronger than the other two that her story really is at the forefront of the book making the other two (her mother and daughter) more like subplots. The story is told in first person from the POV of each of the three main characters and I love the way Gaffney seems so easily able to alternate between the three and give them their own unique voice. I can only give it 4 stars because it really isn't as powerful as THE SAVING GRACES, but nevertheless a very worthwhile read and worth paying the hardcover price.

Many romance readers were sorry to see Patricia Gaffney move from historical romance into hardcover women's fiction last year. I for one am glad she made the move if that means more readers will read her books. In Circle of Three, author Gaffney does what she does best - creates complex characters who might not always be likable, but who are true to themselves. They don't act according to the plot written for them; they drive the plot by the force of their personalities.

The three women whose voices narrate this book are bound by blood and gender in a manner only women can be. Grandmother, mother, and daughter, Dana, Carrie, and Ruth are connected through their actions and the men in their lives in an honest and emotional story. The plotting is inventive (the ark subplot is funny at times and poignant at others) and the writing is intimate. The reunion and developing romance between Carrie and her first love, Jess, is quite lovely, although her choices do not always have the impact she'd hoped for.

This can be a difficult book to read, however, precisely for the same reasons it is worthwhile. I'm going to get Gaffney's The Saving Graces out of my TBR pile and try it next!

TTFN, Laurie Likes Books

Publisher, All About Romance

I really liked Gaffney's "The Saving Graces" and when an opportunity arose for me to buy this book, I didn't hesitate. And it is one of the best summer reads this summer. I read it in a day and a half. It's that good!!

We women all understand that we have different relationships with our mothers and daughters ~~ and while I am extremely close to my mother now, I wasn't always so. And this book is a refreshing look into those complex relationships we all share with the most important women in our lives.

Carrie, her daughter Ruth and Carrie's mother, Dana were thrown into a life change when Carrie's husband, Ruth's dad died suddenly. And Graffney explores what happens between mother/daughter during a grieving period. Carrie struggles with guilt that she didn't love her husband like she should have. Ruth struggles with the realization that she never really knew her father and she misses the father she thought she had. And Dana comes to several realizations about her marriage and her relationship with Carrie, especially after Carrie falls back in love with her high school sweetheart. All three of them come to painful conclusions about themselves and matured in the process.

Every woman needs to pick up this book. I highly recommend it for book clubs. It is well-written, thought-provoking, hilarious in some parts and bittersweet. We all can relate to each of those characters ~~ because at one time, we all were at Ruth's age ~~ trying to figure out what the adult world is really like; and we've all remember our first loves and regrets; and some of us know what it is like to face our mortality and regrets over a long period of life. It is one of the rare insights into women's lives and thoughts.

Now that I've read it, I am passing it onto my mother to read. I'm sure she'll find pieces of herself in this book like I did. It is a book worth reading and savoring. It is also a quick read ~~ you can't help but be drawn to the characters and relate to what they're going through. And you won't forget Ruth, Carrie and Dana. You can't. They're around you every day.

I just listened to the unabridged audio of this book, and it completely carried me away. I disagree that The Saving Graces is better. I loved that one, too, but it said "BESTSELLER" all over it, and this one is quieter, a much more thoughtful book, and in many ways, to me, a better one. I like the way Gaffney captures women's voices. This one is about family, not friendship, so automatically it's more complex and doesn't reach any easy conclusions. I liked the way she didn't force any pat ending on me. Life just goes on. I look forward to this author's next book.

After reading Patricia Gaffney's "The Saving Graces", I could hardly wait for Circle of Three to come out. It was written in the same style as "The Saving Graces" and was definitely a page turner. Gaffney does a wonderful job of telling the story from three different perspectives while pulling it all together. I would definitely recommend this book.

I read The Saving Graces [TSG] and was hooked. I couldn't put it down. The characters were so real and well developed - I laughed and cried. I found out about Circle of Three and couldn't wait till it made it to paperback so I could suggest it for our book club. Unfortunately, after reading it I did not feel the same. It never really took off and the characters were flat. I kept thinking it would get better but sadly it did not. It was an OK book but if I had read it first I would not have read TSG thinking that it was average as well. I was very impressed with the writing in TSG and will give Gaffney another try in hopes that her next book will be better. If you haven't read TSG you should, it is 5 stars!!

This book is the story of three women all at difficult stages of their lives. A woman in her early 40's who suddenly loses her husband and is faced with new beginnings, a 15 year old girl just discovering herself while dealing with the loss of a father who was never there and a mother who emotionally abandons her, and finally a grandmother just turning 70 who was never happy with her life and wonders what her future will hold. This book makes us take a deeper look into who we are, why we feel the way we do about life, and a common bond that can hold three generations of women together despite their differences.

The untimely and unfortunate death of Stephen Van Allen affects three generations of women in this story. Carrie, his wife, falls into a deep depression as she struggles to find her identity now that her husband is gone and her daughter is almost grown. Ruth, her daughter, is a fifteen-year-old who is fighting her way from childhood to adulthood. And Dana, Carrie's mother, is frightened of growing old like some of her friends have, and is facing a lonely retirement, as her husband refuses to slow down and relax with her. Together and separately, these women fight to find their identities, their independence, and their new places in the family. In the midst of all this, Carrie falls in love with her old boyfriend Jess, much to her mother's consternation and her daughter's horror.
This was an enjoyable read, although it did get a little long-winded by the end. Gaffney paints very real and vivid characters, people you'd expect to know, and even people you already do know!

My criterion for any coming-of-age novel is truth. And this book has it.

The plot is simple enough on the surface: Three generations of the Van Allen women are facing a major life phase, each coincidentally at the same time.

Grandmother Dana, about to turn 70, is facing the spectre of old age, and fighting it tooth and nail. She is afraid to grow old, afraid to become helpless (as who is not?), afraid of losing control. Healthy and vibrant still, she yearns to stay that way. But her coming milestone birthday has forced her to examine her life. Has it been what she expected? Did she do right by her husband, her daughter, her son-in-law, her granddaughter? Above all, did she do right by herself? There are no easy answers, of course, and no pat solutions, either.

Dana's daughter Carrie is suddenly thrust into single-womanhood after a car accident leads to her husband's untimely death. As with any woman in this situation, either by choice (divorce) or by fate, Carrie is forced to question her most deeply held values. And to examine a marriage ended by death, but still very much alive in her head. Like her mother, Carrie, in her early 40s, with a teenaged daughter, and facing the overwhelming spectre of pulling herself together and getting a job, is questioning her life choices. What exactly pulled her to this spot and this time? How will she ever begin again, and when she does, who will she be?

Carrie's daugher Ruth is 15, facing all the uncertainties of that age--along with mourning the loss of her father. Hovering between childhood and womanhood, she questions everything about herself--and her mother, who is appearing all too human as she copes with her grief and guilt over her husband's death.

Some truly ingenious subplots, one about a faux Noah's Ark, another about a health-food cum aromatherapy mecca, keep the story going. The lesser characters in the book, from a lecherous idiot who hits on Carrie on her worst day, to Jess, the man she loved before her marriage, are three dimensional and very real.

I loved this book. In my view, it has more depth than "The Saving Graces," although, judging from other reviews, I seem to be in the minority. I'm going to stick by my opinion, though, and give this book a solid and strong 4 stars. It is definitely worth reading, and definitely has something to say.