Fortunate Lives: A Novel [Paperback]

Robb Forman Dew (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2, 2003

The Howells family are revisited in the summer of 1991. David, 18, is preparing to go to Harvard and Sarah is now 13. A young woman, Netta Breckenridge, enters the family's lives and creates a fragile domesticity for the Howells.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The perilous shoals of domesticity are addressed with consummate grace and skill in Dew's third novel, a BOMC selection in cloth, which revisits the characters of Dale Loves Sophie to Death.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Dew continues the story of the New England Howell family in this sequel to the prize-winning Dale Loves Sophie to Death ( LJ 5/15/81). The story centers around a summer six years after the death of the oldest son, Toby, when his surviving brother David is readying himself for Harvard. Parents Martin and Dinah are thus forced to come to grips with the death of one son and the departure (another sort of family "death") of the other. Ordinary People is at times suggested, but here it is Martin who must overcome his guilt and anger. During this one summer both he and Dinah learn that life goes on and that it is good. This is the kind of novel one doesn't find much anymore--featuring a sophisticated, Cheever-like town and people centered around a college and its subculture (Martin is a professor and editor of a literary magazine), where nothing much happens but the reader has a certain satisfaction in savoring the prose itself. A nice haven in the midst of the usual best-seller dreck. BOMC selection; serial rights to McCall's ; previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 11/1/91.
- Rosellen Brewer, Monterey Bay Area Cooperative Lib. System, Cal.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Back Bay Books (January 2, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316890685
• ISBN-13: 978-0316890687
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.9 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,447,397 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A son's last summer at home is detailed with charm and humor, January 2, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Fortunate Lives (Paperback)

Dew's story of a son's last summer before entering Harvard
University is charmingly detailed by a master storyteller.
It speaks of a mother's devotion and care for a son who must
inevitably separate from her. This is a book every mother
of a son should read before he leaves for school. Indeed,
the main character is fortunate to have a mother such as
Dew describes.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Family Deals with Loss, February 27, 2009

By 

Bonnie Brody "Book Lover and Knitter" (Port St. Lucie, FL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Fortunate Lives: A Novel (Paperback)

This novel explores themes of loss, individuation, family and friendship. The story is told with low expressed emotion built on the premise that still waters run deep and what is felt does not always have to be communicated.

There are several plot lines in this book. A family deals with loss after their son dies in a tragic accident. Years later, their oldest child gets ready to leave for college and these wounds open again. Meanwhile, a truly gross holier-than-thou nymphomaniac professor enters their lives and 'adopts' them. The mother for some reason is unable to set limits or boundaries with this woman. The woman soon drags the son into a preposterous affair. Superimposed on this is dad's attempt to make peace with the young man responsible for their son's death.

It all doesn't quite work but it was thought-provoking, very tender at times, and definitely worth reading.