Customer Reviews

Sabbathday River, The

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This book got under my skin. I found myself putting it down and walking away from it because I was so irritated by a character's behavior. That's how I knew that the author had written a great character--one does not inwardly argue with a character that one does not find believable. I would point out to some of the other reviewers that the book is set in 1984, which was prior to DNA evidence being admissible in trials, I think.

The thing that I loved most about this book was its focus on the myths of sisterhood. In some people's version of a perfect world, women would look out for the interests of women, but since we're humans first, we have all the same faults as men. Thus, as Naomi finds out, the women of Goddard do not rally to the cause of Heather and see her as a victim of patriarchy. They judge her within their culturally conservative context. It's only Naomi, with her utopian visions of feminist collectives, who has to find out that women aren't supportive of other women just because they share a gender.

I thought this book was well-written, well-paced, and well-plotted.

This book has some very minor flaws but I still had to give it 5 stars and here's why: This is one of those rare books that is so well-written and so engrossing that it is impossible to put down. I absolutely hated to finish it. At the heart of the book, is the murder of 2 babies, who may or may not be related and the trial of a woman who may be falsely accused, even though the evidence seems to point to her as the murderer. Behind the main story, however, are the kinds of details that make a book truly come alive, revealing deeper and deeper layers of complexity and mystery as the story unfolds. There is so much here to hold the reader - the descriptions of small town life, characters which are not stereotypical, portrayals of women searching for their identity in the rather constricted community they inhabit. Finally, there is the story itself, which is gripping, intriguing and horrifying. One of my favorite books of the year!

As an English teacher in a high school, I am always interested in finding wonderful contemporary novels -- by women -- for my students. This novel was impossible to put down, and in addition, I found that I wanted to savor each word, and I read it very slowly, an unusual feat for me, since I tend to devour my books in one bite. The characterization of the protagonist was real and the events through which she lived, riveting! The novel strode toward a climax of high power. I am recommending it to my book group, and to whomever I meet. Not since THE SHIPPING NEWS have I been so taken with a novel!

It speaks for the compelling character of this novel that I felt myself torn between loving it and considering putting it down for good (I did persevere and was rewarded with a stunning ending!).

The author does know how to write at a level that transcends the average mystery/courtroom drama fare. With that, however, comes an oftentimes overbearing pretension of literacy that makes this book at times hard to digest if not outright boring (particularly, the first 200 pages could have been trimmed by a good 50%--editor person, where art thou!).

Most glaringly, the author seems incapable of covering some of the basics of novel construction such as creating characters the reader cares about and becomes attached to (In all fairness, the characters seem to become fairly indifferent toward each other as well--so, perhaps this is intentional). While making an effort at drawing reasonably multi-dimensional women, the male characters are flat stick figures who seem to serve as nothing more than drones to populate the story's landscape wherever inevitable. For all of here concern for women's issues, this author has no clue about men!

Outside of the story line, the author meanders into all kinds of side areas, such as feminist ardor, liberal-cause pet peeves, Jewish paranoia, atheist despair and general interpersonal alienation (the protagonist lives in an area where she makes no friend in 9 years, yet somehow manages to leave pregnant without a partner anyway--go figure!). With the exception of a lively Passover discussion (which gains significance in the final resolution of the drama), most of these seem gratuitous and ultimately pointless pretensions at literary significance. Lighten up, young poetess!

The book's best writing occurs in the coutroom scenes. Although the tenacity of the ADA in light of a clearly unpromising case appears not very credible (par for the course with the way male characters are portrayed!), the legal drama goes through some fascinating twists and turns. The mystery is ultimately resolved outside of the courtroom--in a fashion which left this reader fairly disturbed long after putting the book down!

This book clearly aims higher than your standard legal drama. At best, it achieves a greater depth and more daring in the issues it tackles. More often though, it simply blunders more dramatically and frequently than less ambitious and self-conscious/pretencious efforts. Still, between the highs and the lows there's enough there for a middle-of-the-road three star rating.

I'll begin this review with two words: Hester Prynne. The recipient of the "scarlet letter" comes to mind as soon as Heather Pratt's love affair and pregnancy becomes the central theme of the story. This novel is a strange brew of three particular women: Naomi (who finds the tiny victims), a (nominal) Jewish feminist collective manager, recently divorced; Judith, a (practicing) Jewish feminist lawyer who becomes Heather's advocate in court; and Heather, an isolated, naïve young woman involved in an obsessive affair with a serial adulterer.

Raised by her grandmother after her own mother abandoned her, Heather's obsession with the pony-tailed Ashley often renders her seemingly simple-minded, her inability to judge her actions with respect to others almost sociopathic. Heather flaunts her affair and openly carries Ashley's child at the same time his own wife is pregnant. A small town is the stage for this drama, Heather the fuel for gossip. When an infant is discovered facedown in the Sabbathday River, all fingers point to Heather. At this point, Naomi, Heather's employer, asks her friend Judith to represent the hapless girl.

But not to worry, all bigotry is laid bare in the courtroom, thanks to Judith's incisive mind and the duplicity of the prosecutor. So many variables are tossed into the ring during the trial, that THE SCARLET LETTER morphs into high courtroom dudgeon. Each mean-spirited and misguided citizen is flayed during the trial by a merciless Judith.

I don't want to spend too much time on a novel that is such a bubbling stew of far too many issues, which actually inhibit its potential. In its fashion, THE SABBATHDAY RIVER is a page-turner, but there are too many problems barely resolved by the last page, which has an improbable and abrupt ending. As well, the premise for Heather's indictment is absurd. A criminal case must meet certain standards to proceed, and this case is ludicrous. SABBATHDAY RIVER is plot-driven, rather than character-driven. I would have enjoyed it more had the author spent some time on character development.

All through the book I kept wanting to scream because many of the evidentiary issues at trial no longer exist because of the more sophisticated genetic technology how available.

I think that the book would have been a lot more compelling if it had been set in a slightly more remote time. Then it would have been easier to accept the general level of ignorance about genetics on which the plot hinges. But because the novel is contemporary on its face. the knowledge time-warp is difficult to accept.

Also, there is a polemical subtext about genetic disorders that seems to take control of the plot. While advocacy is in itself a good thing, it played too large a role for my taste.

And finally, I did find the novel more than a little bit condescending to rural New Englanders. I understand that the book is written from the point of view of an Auslander Jewish New Yorker, but, even so . . . . Surely everyone in New Hampshire is not so emotionally arrid as the characters in this book.

I couldn't put this book down. I tried, but had to keep picking it up again and stayed up far too late finishing it. I found the mystery gripping and the characters wonderfully drawn especially loved the beautifully drawn cipherlike character of Heather.

I could not put this book down. I loved every word of it, even the characters I hated. Seldom does a writer invoke in me the desire to reach in and shake a character til his/her teeth rattle. In this book, I wanted to shake at least three characters. Repeatedly.

The characterization was excellent, the plot gripping. One previous reviewer asked why the characters acted so stupidly, but I've always wanted to re-write Romeo & Juliet with some common sense. Why come up with such an elaborate ruse to be together - why not just run off? But that wouldn't make much of a story, would it?

In the end you are left wondering if justice was really served - and if so, do circumstances really matter? And if they do, who decides? I also have to say I never expected the ending - it was laid out, almost SPELLED out for me in the last chapeter, but it was upon me before I even guessed.

I don't usually buy books I haven't read first, or at least by an author I've read - but this is one impulse purchase I don't regret.

This is the first novel in years that kept me up all night long, reading with burning eyes...MUST finish this story! Having tried paternity cases with DNA evidence myself, I can confirm Korelitz's facts on the subject. Anyway, although the novel ended in a way I hoped it wouldn't, nearly every theme resonated with me, a woman lawyer, and one who has been an urban outsider in a rural area (though one more welcoming than rural New England). If you care about moral issues and well-drawn characters, good writing, good plotting, and dialogue that rings true, you may enjoy this as much as I did. On the other hand, it may be a story that will not engage men as much as it does women. A man I work with read some of the beginning, and declared it interesting, but with too little action and too much "description". Too bad. Men who skip it will be the poorer for their choice.

My book group read this book this summer, and we enjoyed it immensely. In fact, many of us reported that once we'd gotten into the story, we had trouble putting it down. It's a gripping mystery, but much more: most of Korelitz's main characters are struggling--some more than others--with the remnants of sixties' idealism, and with developing a sense of what it means to have truly grounded friendships, communities, responsibilities and value systems. The central mystery is solved by the end, but Korelitz leaves us with much to talk about.

Korelitz is a strong, funny writer. Her principal characters are beautifully drawn; she has a good ear for dialogue and is wonderful at creating memorable physical scenes.

I agree that the townsfolk are not as sharply delineated as the central characters -- like the villagers in Fielding's Tom Jones, they are more like a Greek chorus than a sympathetically-drawn group of individuals. But this is not a major detraction. Nor can I figure out why one reader below complains that no DNA tests were done; the book is set in 1985 and we learn in the appendix (in case we hadn't figured it out for ourselves) that DNA tests weren't available at that time. That part of the story couldn't have happened today; but the rest could have -- including the truly frightening demonstration of how easy it is for the police to extract confessions -- but maybe they were right to use those techniques in this case; I won't spoil the ending by saying.