Customer Reviews

Sleep Toward Heaven: A Novel

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was forced to stay up late into the night last night to finish this novel. That is to say that I just could not tear my eyes from the page, even after I finally closed this book, I lay awake thinking about it. When a book can do that it deserves the highest rating there is to give (and from a first time novelist no less!)

How do we forgive the unforgivable? That is the question that is at the crux of this well etched novel. This is a novel about women on death row, but just to say that would be selling this book incredibly too short. The story centers around three women: Celia, Franny, and Karen. Their lives become inextricably entertwined during a few short months in the hot Texas summer. All three have dealt with copious amounts of sadness throughout their lives and in the end have managed to work through it with tremendous grace.

This is a compelling read, very vivid, poetic. Ms. Eyre-Ward's style and her characters are memorable, no nonsense and very very real. I look forward to more by this author!! I have read many really good books so far this year, but the hours I spent engulfed in this story and these women's lives were the most rewarding.

I opened this book at 8:15 and, immediately caught up, finished it at 10:45, with tears in my eyes. The story of these three women, whose lives intersect during one hot summer in Texas, is gripping and heart-rending. The three pieces of the narrative, shifting from Karen to Celia to Franny, come together with an almost audible snap at the end, leaving you with a cohesive whole that's greater than the sum of its parts.

I look forward to reading the second book from this author.

Three very different women --one who is on death row, one who is the wife of one of the victim's, and one who is coming to work at the prison--come to terms with each other--and themselves--during one long, hot, steamy summer in Ward's haunting novel. How do you forgive another? How do you forgive yourself for the choices you made? Beautifully written and just a spell-binding read.

This is not the greatest book I've read, but it is one of the best I have read in a while. While the characters don't really seem to be fully developed, the story is engrossing. It is a fast read, and would be perfect for a bookclub discussion!

I had this book sitting on my wish list forever. Every time I needed a new book, I always skipped over this. Well, finally I decided to get it out from the library so I'd be forced to read it...and I'm soooo glad I did. This book was IMPOSSIBLE to put down. It came everywhere with me until I finished it.

The book offers three different view points from three very different women. In the beginning, these women are strangers to one another, but over time we see how they each come into each others lives, and how much they (and the reader) are affected by this.

Karen has been on death-row in Texas for 5 years for killing multiple men. She gives us a glimpse as to what the prison life is like, and the odd friendships that are formed. Franny is a doctor in NYC who's life is falling apart. After receiving news of her Uncle's death, she leaves her old life behind to go home to her native Texas. There she starts a most unexpected job, and a most unexpected relationship with a death-row inmate. And finally, Celia is the wife of one of Karens victims. We hear her heartbreaking story of life without her husband, her range of emotions towards Karen, and how she copes with it all in the end.

I can't recommend this book enough. These women become women we know, and care about. And even though Karen has killed numerous men, (and we hear how this has effected one of their wives) you can't help but feel sorry for her. I've added Ms. Ward's newest novel 'How To Be Lost' to my wish list, and definitely won't wait so long to read it.

I could not put this book down and read straight throught till morning. This is the story of three very different women, each with their own tragedy, who through a series of circumstances end up helping each other. This is not a fluffy book, it is deeply moving. Rarely have I read a book as moving as this one.

I've been an omniverous reader all of my life. I am also a psychiatrist. Ms. Ward presents three women with utterly different backgrounds and experiences in such a masterful way that I truly felt I was inside the heart and mind of each one of them. She wove her tapestry with such skill that, when her story ended, I could only sit quietly, in amazement, at the extraordinary beauty she had created. Not a thread was out of place. (I finished this book yesterday. I just ordered "How to Be Lost", by the same author. I'll read everything you ever write, Amanda Eyre Ward!! Brava!!)

For a first book by an author,this is very good.The only
objection I had,was the style of the linked characters
each telling their story.I thought it jumped around in the
beginning and I had to go back and check their status,with
each chapter.
That said,the story draws you into the failed romance of
Dr. Fran Wren,a New York City physician,and her failed
medical mistakes.Franny decides to leave her fiance,and
return to her roots in Waco,Texas.
Outside of Waco,is a women's prison where Franny's
Uncle,Dr. Wren,spent some of his time attending to
the patients.Dr. Jack Wren,dies suddenly and Franny
is asked to temporarily take his place.
Reluctantly,Fran agrees to treat the women,some who
are on Death Row.The women she finds herself assigned
to are distinguished by names like Satan Killer,The
Black Widow,(a serial bride who poisoned her husbands),
and Karen,who is HIV-positive,and sentenced to die.
Karen was terribly abused by men all her life-but she
also took innocent life and that is debated in this
book,along with Capital punishment.
It ends with almost an O.Henry ending,impossible
to guess.
I hope Ms. Ward writes more books.I am waiting

I've just completed the incredibly moving Sleep Toward Heaven . What a beautiful book it is. This will be on my year's best list. The author has rendered society's most loathesome people in a way that is sympathetic without sentimentality. The characters and their crimes are believable and comprehensible even as the crimes themselves are repugnant. This is a novel full of insight and compassion, wrapped in a story that is compelling and suspenseful. A great read with an important theme; Dickens would have loved this book.

I read way too much (30+ novels so far this year) and every once in a while I'll come across something special, this year it's "Sleep Toward Heaven". This is a great book and the sort of story that I know I can recommend universally to anyone. I could summarize the story for you but it just wouldn't do it justice, just know that it has interesting and well defined characters with real voices that will resonate with you long after finishing the book.