Laura Rider's Masterpiece [Hardcover]

Jane Hamilton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 9, 2009

Laura and Charlie Rider have been married for twelve years. They share their nursery business in rural Wisconsin, their love for their animals, and their zeal for storytelling. Although Charlie's enthusiasm in the bedroom has worn Laura out, although she no longer sleeps with him, they are happy enough going along in their routine.

Jenna Faroli is the host of a popular radio show, and in Laura's mind is "the single most famous person in the Town of Dover." When Jenna happens to cross Charlie's path one day, and they begin an e-mail correspondence, Laura cannot resist using Charlie to try out her new writing skills. Together, Laura and Charlie craft florid, strangely intimate messages that entice Jenna in an unexpected way. The "project" quickly spins out of control. The lines between Laura's words and Charlie's feelings are blurred and complicated, Jenna is transformed in ways that deeply disturb her, and Laura is transformed in her mind's eye into an artist. The transformations are hilarious and poignant, and for Laura Rider, beyond her wildest expectations. (2008)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Oprah-anointed Hamilton once again takes readers to the Midwest, this time lacing her narrative with winning humor. Laura Rider and her husband, Charlie, live in Hartley, Wis., where they own and run Prairie Wind Farm. After 12 years of marriage, Laura decides to stop sleeping with Charlie, and although lovemaking is his one superb talent, she's convinced she's used up her quota. Also, Laura has a secret fantasy: to be an author. After she meets local public radio host Jenna Faroli, Laura decides to write a romance and encourages a flirtation between Charlie and Jenna, an experiment that she thinks will help her write her book. Their flirtation quickly slides into an affair, with Laura's sly interference. Laura, at once jealous and pleased, benefits from the inevitable chain of events, while Jenna isn't so lucky. Though the plotting is a bit predictable, the female characters are sharply observed and delineated, and the humorous tone will be an appealing surprise to Hamilton's readers. (Apr.)
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From Booklist

Best-selling novelist Hamilton turns to domestic satire with mixed results. Though humor is a welcome addition to this talented author’s bag of tricks, and her characters are certainly engaging, the quirky story line falls a little short of the standards set by Hamilton in The Book of Ruth (1988) and A Map of the World (1994). Marriage isn’t all it’s cracked up to be for small-town wife Laura Rider. She’s a little bored with the limited parameters of her midwestern life and exhausted from the physical attentions of her amorous husband. When would-be-writer Laura bans the amiable Charlie from the bedroom, she all but orchestrates an affair for him with her idol, Jenna Faroli, a public radio host. As her Machiavellian scheme successfully unfolds, Laura gains grist for her own ambitions. Of course, playing with people’s lives exacts a toll, but Laura doesn’t seems to mind the expense—especially when others pay for it. Though some readers may be puzzled by this new side of Hamilton, others will certainly want to go along for the surprisingly witty ride. --Margaret Flanagan

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 214 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing; First Edition. states and 1 in number line edition (April 9, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446538957
• ISBN-13: 978-0446538954
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.8 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #958,190 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jane Hamilton is the author of The Book of Ruth, winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award for first fiction, and A Map of the World, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and named one of the top ten books of the year by Entertainment Weekly, Publishers Weekly, the Miami Herald, and People. Both The Book of Ruth and A Map of the World have been selections of Oprah's Book Club. Her following work, The Short History of a Prince, was a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 1998, her novel Disobedience was published in 2000, and her last novel When Madeline Was Young was a Washington Post Best Book of 2006. She lives in and writes in an orchard farmhouse in Wisconsin.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Quirky, but underwhelming, April 15, 2009

By 

Carrie Dunham-LaGree "nomadreader" (Des Moines, Iowa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Laura Rider's Masterpiece (Hardcover)

Laura Rider's Masterpiece is a satirical love/lust triangle of sorts mixed with a character study in novel form. The triangle involves Laura Rider, an aspiring novelist and successful garden business owner; her husband, Charlie, whom everyone in their small Wisconsin town thinks is gay, but whose main gift in life is his sexual prowess; and Jenna Faroli, a local turned syndicated public radio show host who has moved to town because it is equidistant between the radio station and her judge husband's courthouse. Laura idolizes Jenna, and is eager to start a friendship.

I love Jane Hamilton's novels, but one of my favorite things about her novels is that it's always easy to relate to the characters, regardless of their background. Laura Rider's Masterpiece started off well. I was instantly intrigued with Laura's wit and honesty as a narrator. Her description of small-town life was comedic and spot-on. As the narrative shifted to Jenna as the narrator, I again found myself mesmerized by her experiences and perspective.

As the novel wore on (and it's hard to say it wore on at all, given it's only 214 pages), it became more satirical, which made the characters less accessible. I was torn between feeling sorry for them and not caring about how things turned out. For such a great start, I did not enjoy the second half of the book. The setup was more enjoyable than the fulfillment. I really wanted to like this novel, and I loved the first half of it, but ultimately, it was underwhelming.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This is comedy?, September 10, 2009

By 

Jody Latini (Finger Lakes, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Laura Rider's Masterpiece (Hardcover)

Laura Rider's Masterpiece is the story of Laura, an aspiring writer, her affable and henpecked husband, Charlie, and the object of their affection, local radio personality Janna Faroli. The book is described as a "full-blown comedy", but the humor is of the driest, darkest variety. The story reads like a doomed love affair, in that we meet the three main characters and see them as shining with potential, but as they are revealed in their entirety, we see that they are in fact boring, tawdry, clueless, pretentious and just plain thoughtless individuals. At the end, there is none of the initial infatuation and plenty of "I can't wait to be done with you" disgust. I didn't find the comedy in watching these three idiots (yes, I said it) tear apart their lives, but I don't laugh when I drive by a train wreck either. I appreciated Jane Hamilton's writing style much more in The Book of Ruth; Ruth is at least noble in her suffering. I picked this one up on a whim at the library, and had hopes that it would combine Jane Hamilton's beautiful writing with a good laugh- not so.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't waste your time, June 2, 2009

By 

Nanmade "Avid Reader" (Deerfield, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Laura Rider's Masterpiece (Hardcover)

How can a good author even bother to publish such drivel? This is in no way comparable to any previous Jane Hamilton books. Although the premise is amusing, the book ultimately goes nowhere and lacks the depth and story line of her previous works. I really hate to see an author start publishing just to publish. It irks me to pick up a book by an author I've read before and find myself let down so completely.