On the Divinity of Second Chances: A Novel [Mass Market Paperback]

Kaya McLaren (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 28, 2009

A broken family finds its way back together in this captivating story from the author of Church of the Dog

A charismatic author with a voice and message all her own, Kaya McLaren has become beloved in the book world as much for her upbeat energy as for her rich storytelling. In On the Divinity of Second Chances, she portrays a family on the brink of dissolution-a mother besieged by middle age, a distant father lost in daily life, and their three teenage children struggling in various ways with the family's disintegration even as they conceal a secret that could send their parents further over the edge. With the help of a group of tap-dancing old ladies, a sensual tango teacher, and a lot of luck, this family is about to learn that everyone gets a second chance which, as McLaren beautifully reminds us in this inspiring novel, is sometimes even better than the first.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

McLaren's touching if too busy newest weaves together a complex set of family narratives. Phil and Anna's 30-year marriage is crumbling: Anna sleeps in the yard, and Phil busies himself with inane projects. Their oldest daughter, Olive, gets knocked up by her immature boyfriend and quits her bank job to move in with her grandmother. Son Forrest left home at 14, consumed with guilt from a tragic mistake, and could be dead for all Phil and Anna know, though youngest daughter Jade knows where Forrest is, but keeps that, and many other things, secret. As the family drifts farther apart, it will take tango lessons, bagpipes and enormous effort to bring its members back together. While the book starts slow, it picks up steam quickly, though McLaren tries to stuff too much into the narrative, switching character perspectives at an annoying clip. That aside, McLaren manages to present a rich cast dealing gracefully with spirituality and mortality, a not inconsiderable feat considering the material is ripe for kitsch.
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From Booklist

Jade’s family is slowly pulling apart. Her grandmother lives on a farm and spends her days angrily shooting at her neighbor with a pistol. Her father, sidelined by a heart attack, putters around the house alphabetizing everything and secretly reading Forbes magazine. Her mother deals with the throes of menopause by painting pictures of raisins. Her older sister, Olive, was recently dumped by her boyfriend because she refused to live in a tipi in the woods with him. Her younger brother, Forrest, who committed a horrible crime at age 14, lives in self-exile in a tree house in the Idaho wilderness. Jade herself is doing all right, even if the only assistance she gets is from her spirit guide, Grace. When Olive abandons her job and reveals that she is pregnant, the family members realize they’ve reached a crisis point and they must come back together to find what they’ve lost along the way. McLaren’s involving novel is an uplifting story about unconditional love and family ties. --Hilary Hatton

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics); 1ST edition (April 28, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0143115189
• ISBN-13: 978-0143115182
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #670,665 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A delicious novel celebrating life, love, and second chances, August 15, 2004

By 

G Burkett (Brittany, France) - See all my reviews

This review is from: On the Divinity of Second Chances (Hardcover)

Written from the wildly different perspectives of six members of a family spanning three generations, this is a beautifully told fable of family, individuality, and fate.

Where else will you find a novel encompassing rattlesnakes and sunflowers, power drills and bagpipes, childbirth and house construction, painting and tangoing, manslaughter, wild fire, and living in treehouses, a superhero cape wearing massage therapist with spirit guides and a gun-wielding, tap-dancing grandmother?

McLaren is brilliant. She masterfully weaves together the individual stories of her vividly drawn characters. At times laugh-out-loud funny, others times tear-jerking, always thought provoking, this is a compulsively readable book with depth and substance.

Love comes disguised in many forms throughout our lives, and this lovely book celebrates its many guises ~ parental love, married love, love between siblings, between parents and children, between lovers, between races, between genders; love of the land, love of children, and most of all, love of Life, with all its mysteries and mayhem, mud puddles and magic. Truly wonderful.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kaya Mc Laren kept me on my toes!, October 8, 2007

By 

Silvia Goncalves (New York,NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: On the Divinity of Second Chances (Hardcover)

This wonderful book by Kaya McLaren really keeps you on your toes !!!
Because the different chapters are each written from the perspective of a different character in the story, the reader has to keep changing "shoes" and it creates a very fresh approach to the fictional reality encountered.
The story is weaved like a masterful tapestry of human relationships and we are swept off our feet by this magical carpet into a much richer world.

I couldn't put the book down until I read the very last page!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Give Second Chances a chance!, May 17, 2008

By 

Tera M. Fenixx "TM Fenixx" (Albuquerque, NM USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: On the Divinity of Second Chances (Hardcover)

Delightful read! Insighful and touching. Laugh, cry, reflect. Masterful intertwining of perspectives of various characters. Characters are entertainingly quirky, yet endearingly human. Portrays the triumph of love, in all its many and sometimes surprising guises, throughout the changes and challenges of life. Hard to put down. Give "Chances" a chance; you'll love it as I did! Can't wait to read more of Kaya McLaren.