Good Intentions. [Paperback]

JOY. FIELDING (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Penguin Books, New York: January (1999)
• ASIN: B001KRAUF2
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Joy Fielding is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Still Life, Charley's Web, Heartstopper, See Jane Run, and other acclaimed novels. She divides her time between Toronto and Palm Beach, Florida.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Betrayed, November 11, 2005

By 

Beverley Strong (Australia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Good Intentions (Hardcover)

Social worker Lynn Schuster thought that she had the perfect life....a handsome, successful lawyer husband who loved her and two well adjusted children, until the day he tells her that he's fallen out of love with her and into love with another woman. The other woman's husband visits Lynn to talk over their mutual problem and an instant attraction happens. Lynn's lawyer, clever but overweight Renee, is continually trying to please her dominating, psychiatrist husband, in the same way that she was always trying, and never succeeding, to please her cold, unemotional father. As both Lynn and Renee fight to keep control of their lives, they are sadly confronted by the realisation that often, no matter how determinedly they try to please by grovelling, the grass is always greener elsewhere for the straying partner. Ok, it's a "chick" book but such an enjoyable read as these two women struggle to maintain and sense of self worth.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An oldie but a goodie, April 7, 2004

By 

Toni Constantino (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Good Intentions: A Novel (Paperback)

I have read many of Joy Fielding's latest novels, and had to dig deep to get this older one. It was different from the usual murder/suspense plots that Fielding usually writes. I enjoyed the in-depth look at 2 women's emotional states and needs (and desires). What a twist of how Marc and Lynn got together! The sexual tension theme did get a bit redundant after a while, however. I found the Renee pronunciation thing a tad annoying too, but I decided to read it as "Re-nay" and make it easier on myself! I despised both Debbie and Philip, but I think that Debbie finally helped Renee to snap out of her fantasy that Philip was perfect and that she was the problem. I think Debbie (perhaps unwittingly) did Renee a favor, but perhaps she did care for Renee enough to give her a dose of reality. I also read "See Jane Run" but I don't remember the Renee character from that novel.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Less Lynn, More Renee, July 11, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Good Intentions (Paperback)

Had I been the editor of this book, I would have instructed JF to scrap the "love story" with Lynn and Marc. It was not the least bit interesting or compelling, and the "sexual tension" between the two of them made for a rather boring read. Renee, on the other hand, did have a much more interesting character and storyline (and PLEASE, let her pronounce her name Re-NAY instead of REE-NIE!) However, Renee and her story were not without flaws. For one thing, Renee is a successful divorce lawyer who's a mere 10-15 pounds overweight and does all the housekeeping and cooking. However, because of her lousy childhood and cold-hearted parents, she believes she is a fat, frowsy loser who was "lucky" to land her philandering, condescending, handsome husband. I had trouble believing that someone as intelligent as Renee would give Phillip the time of day, let alone marry him. Also, why are all the idiot women (including Phillip's "other women") constantly telling Renee that Phillip is such a good catch? Don't they know better? The character of Kathryn, Renee's sister, is the most baffling. She seems to have no sense of herself (didn't this woman ever have to get a job?) and is a childless widow who clings to other people, including her younger sister, and unfortunately, good old philandering psychiatrist Phillip. What bothered me even more than Phillip's taking advantage of Kathryn's mental state was his lack of ethics in dealing with all of his attractive female patients over the 6 years of his and Renee's marriage. Shouldn't Renee, as a lawyer, have been appalled by this, instead of quietly putting up with it? I would have liked to see her bring a mass lawsuit against him at the end, on behalf of his former patients. Instead, the ending was anticlimactic. Just so I don't spoil it, let me sum it up by saying that there's a quote from Phillip's spoiled-brat daughter from his first marriage that says it all: "How much more are you going to stand for? Why don't you tell! him to go to hell? Why don't you tell ME to go to hell?" The daughter, Debbie, spends the whole book putting down Renee, and it is never quite clear why (was Renee an "other woman" too?), nor does it strike me as believable that Renee, the warrior lawyer in the courtroom, would meekly put up with a mouthy stepdaughter at home. Phillip would have been a better character had his sadism been more subtle. A weakness of the book is that he is presented as "handsome" (which of course we can't see) and "charming" (of which there is no evidence whatsoever to support it). Again, Renee, no matter how bad her self-image is, seems far too sharp to have put up with a bad marriage for so long.