Matters of Chance: A Novel [Hardcover]

Jeannette Haien (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 7, 1997

The storybook marriage of Morgan and Maude Shurtcliff, a couple raising their adopted twin daughters in the country outside New York City, is put to the test when Morgan goes off to World War II and other lovers beckon. By the author of The All of It. "

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

When she's not giving piano recitals worldwide, Haien is doing things like winning the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction for her work The All of It. Her new novel features a young family's struggles as the father goes off to World War II.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Septuagenarian Haien's second novel (The All of It, 1986) is a simplistic though satisfying and pretty much traditional family chronicle. The word ``saga'' may be too dramatic to describe this history of the Shurtliff clan, since their lives are happily free of long- term suffering, shocking revelations, or mysterious people. Instead, Haien has crafted an old-fashioned tale in which nothing much happens but ordinary life. Beginning with the courtship and subsequent marriage of Maud and Morgan Shurtliff, two upper-crust Ohioans, the novel paints an attractive picture of the young couple, rich, kind, and deeply in love. The only shadow thrown across their lives is Maud's infertility, which leads the pair to the eccentric Miss Zenobia Sly and her Tilden-Herne Adoption Agency. They bring home happiness in the form of twin infant girls, Caroline and Julia. Soon after, WW II erupts, and the reader follows Morgan's ordeal in the Navy. After the war, a more somber Morgan returns home, picks up his law practice, and prospers; the girls grow; and the family buys a large manor house. All the while, Morgan keeps in contact with Miss Sly (against Maud's wishes: the elderly lady is a reminder of their girls' adoption), and the two form a warm, confidential (and platonic) friendship. Time passes, the girls go off to Bryn Mawr, and just as Morgan and Maud are preparing for a long European holiday in celebration of partial parental freedom, Maud dies of a brain hemorrhage. The latter parts of the story are devoted to the ways in which the family puts itself back together, how life moves on, and how love blooms again. Not plot but character creates the charm here: The relationship between Morgan and his charismatic father, his confidences with Miss Sly, and his interactions with his daughters are all depicted in affectionate detail. Far from groundbreaking fiction, but a gratifying, companionable read nonetheless. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Harper; 1st edition (October 7, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060170034
• ISBN-13: 978-0060170035
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,123,250 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Matters of Chance would make a good tv movie of the week., July 1, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Matters of Chance: A Novel (Hardcover)

This book had an excellent beginning, filled with promise but quickly devolved into predictability. Most affecting section was the main character's wartime experiences. There was some expectation that, once home, some dramatic conflict would start, since he was changed by his wartime exploits. Instead, we are subjected to a relentless onslought of perfect people who always do the right, noble thing. Bits of historic arcana are sprinkled in for some odd reason -- perhaps to remind us that there is a real world out there. Subjects such as homosexuality, adoption, adultery are all reacted to with grace and equanimity. Isn't pretty to think so. I don't have a problem with noble and uplifting characters -- but there has to some bad guys, if for no other reason than texture!

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A disappointment, January 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Matters of Chance: A Novel (Hardcover)

My book club read Haien's THE ALL OF IT and loved it. I was looking forward to another excellent book, but I was very disappointed. I didn't connect with any of the characters and I especially didn't care for the wartime descriptions; they didn't seem realistic. The twins were not characterized well; I didn't feel I knew them. Too much time passed, too quickly for any real feelings to develop. I have to admit I just skimmed the last half of the book to see what the big mystery re: the twins was. And that was anticlimatic. I liked the first novel so much better. It hardly seems to be the same author.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very good read, May 7, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Matters of Chance: A Novel (Hardcover)

This book is about the 40's and 50's; it is written in the prose, style, and sentiment of those years; it has the manners and the voice of those decades. The writing is formal, the themes are idealistic, the plot is secondary to the characters. If you enjoy good writing about a special, simpler time, you'll enjoy this book. If you're strung out on 90's deconstructivism and can't or don't want to understand the codes and morays by which some people used to live, then you might think the book is trite or the author is somehow a betrayal to her gender (?). I for one found the female characters very strong and interesting, but then I think that mothers can be strong, passionate figures without being lawyers as well.