Customer Reviews

Two Weeks Since my Last Confession'

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After reading her book "Two Weeks Since My Last Confession", I had the pleasure of meeting Kate Genovese in person yesterday at my book club gathering in Brookline, MA. Meeting the author gave this compelling story even more depth and certainly insight into the characters and subject matter. I found the novel to be realistic, engaging and both heartening and heartbreakingly sad; all in all, a great read. I highly recommend this novel and will be buying Kate's other books as soon as I can get my hands on them. She is thoughtful, kind and generous with her time and information, which is probably what makes her novel so close to home, even if you come from a 'perfect' family and not one as dysfunctional as the O'Briens. I highly recommend it to people who have suffered from addiction(s), sexual abuse, domestic abuse, family issues and to just book lovers in general.
Bev Bass

The title was just so wonderful for a women having been raised Catholic that I bought it and then was so pleased that the characters were well developed, authentic and unpredictable, all the things I look for in a novel.
I was so grateful that the author added important information at the end to help survivors of sexual abuse find guidance on their path to recovery. Good Job Ms. Genovese, you are helping our troubled world in an interesting way!

IreneCarver, therapist in Northern California

The author brings us into a world of a real life family. Many of the pieces exist in every home today, although not disclosed by many. The frustrations within the family are highlighted along with the importance of continued and tiring support necessary for healing. The author has researched subject matter and actually reports many resources to assist with these societal issues.

I couldn't put this book down. I really cared about the characters and what would happen next. I do enjoy books that take place in the Boston area, being from around here. Definitely recommend it.

I recently read Kate's book as part of my book club. I found that it was very well written overall and included many beautifully crafted sentences. It has an intruiging prologue that kept me hooked to the book from page 1. The story feels very real. I also enjoyed the fact that it's set in Boston, so as a resident I felt very familiar with Kate's accurate descriptions. The book moved quickly, and I read it in 2 days. Finally, Kate was kind enough to visit my book club not once, but twice: once to meet the members, and once to discuss her book. Her dedication to her craft and her readers is unparallelled. This, combined with her gift for writing, encourages me to read her two other novels.

Kate relays the story of Molly, a young woman growing up in a well-to-do, Irish Catholic family. This is an easy read but the topics are not easy as we learn about her struggles to find herself and discover where she fits within her family, friends, religion, and life. This is a feel good book in the end.

SOMETIMES I THINK FICTION EXISTS TO LET US KNOW THAT OUR OWN FAMILY LIFE WAS NO SO DIFFERENT OR DISFUNCTIONAL AS ANYONE ELSES ALTHOUGH GROWING UP IN THE 50'S AND 60'S WE WERE TOLD THAT WHAT HAPPENS IN OUR FAMILY STAYS WITH OUR FAMILY WHEN THERE WERE TIMES IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN GOOD TO SHARE. THIS STORY TAKES US INTO THE HEART AND SOUL OF A BOSTON CATHOLIC FAMILY WITH ALL THEIR FAULTS AND FOIBLES. IT IS ONE OF THOSE 'CAN'T PUT IT DOWN' BOOKS THAT IS SO WRITTEN THAT YOU FEEL COMPASSION AND EMPATHY FOR EVERY FAMILY MEMBER EVEN THOUGHT THEY MOSTLY ALL HAVE THEIR OWN DEMONS. SET IN A TIME AND PLACE THAT WE ALL KNOW, THESE WERE PEOPLE I RECOGNIZED, LOVED AND RELATED TO. KATE GENOVESE HAS DONE A BRILLIANT JOB OF DEPICTING THIS VERY HUMAN FAMILY, WARTS AND ALL.

Kate Genovese has written a truly engrossing story of Molly O'Brien, a young woman coming of age and confronting sibling sexual abuse and parents too involved in their own lives. She is forced away from the family only to deal with adult situations long before she is ready.

It is a story of a dysfunctional family, sexual abuse, betrayal, religious fervor, and deterioration into drug addiction and immorality. A gripping tale, well worth the read.

Bill Copeland
author: Ashes to the Vistula

From October 1951 through October 1985, readers follow the lives of the O'Brien family in Two Weeks Since My Last Confession by Kate Genovese. John O'Brien, the respected politician, and Marie, his fanatically religious wife, have eight children and, by worldly standards, should have been the happy, perfect family. After all, they appeared to have it all--or did they?

In doing this review I am going to concentrate mainly on the main character, Maureen Bridget O'Brien, whose name was immediately shortened to "Molly" by her father who wanted her named after her great-grandmother. Molly is the human thread that intricately weaves the story of this family onto written pages--ones that depict a very messed-up family. Today a psychologist would use the word "dysfunctional" to describe this unit of ten.

Molly, the next to the youngest child, is the defiant one with a unique and strong personality whose impertinent acts often get her into trouble, especially with her mother. Mrs. O'Brien insists that her daughter go to confession every two weeks. Molly thinks this is stupid and says that she is tempted to commit a mortal sin to see how many Hail Marys and Our Fathers the priest would give her. Much later in life Molly realizes that her mother never talked about God's endless love; instead, she continually tried to instill the fear of God in her children. It all seemed ritualistic and silly to Molly's rebellious nature which landed her in a Catholic school for girls during her freshman year of high school.

At the age of fourteen, Molly meets seventeen-year-old Bobby Angelo, a young good-looking boy, and her life changes forever. Very popular, he has a reputation as far as "loving and leaving" girls; however, Molly is determined that she isn't going to be one of those whom he makes love to and forgets. They are very close--so close that she tells him about her older brother Sean who had molested her. Though her father had believed her and punished this son, her mother had always downplayed the accusation, telling her that she was exaggerating the situation. Even when Molly confronted her with the fact that he had also tried to do sexual things with two of her older sisters, her mother remained in denial. Sean had always been very special to Mrs. O'Brien; it seemed he could do nothing wrong in her eyes.

Though Bobby wanted sex, Molly held out for over a year, wanting to be sure that she was ready and that he truly cared about her. And he did. She was beautiful, extremely mature for her age, witty, and a true challenge. It wasn't long until he told her that he loved her and was in their relationship for the long haul, promising her that he'd marry her in four years when he finished college. He had a scholarship to Holy Trinity College, and before he left, they finally did have sex. The two of them truly believed that their love would last forever. Each time they were together, the bond between them became stronger. But when she became pregnant, everything changed; she rejected his request for her to have an abortion. Though she went away and had the baby, she was forced by her prominent family into giving up her daughter for adoption. Bobby, after only one year of college, had accepted an offer by the New York Mets to play professional baseball. He wanted her but not the baby, while she wanted both the baby and his father. As it turned out, the words "long haul" taunted her memory as Bobby disappeared from her life.

While in college, Molly's brother Sean got involved with drugs--even selling them--but his father used his position as a senator to fix it so he wouldn't have a police record. It was then Sean entered into the army and, despite his father's wishes, joined the 82nd Airborne and went to Viet Nam. He fell in love with a Vietnamese woman, and she had his son. But once he was home, he was trapped into marrying a woman he didn't love, and taking a job he didn't want. After seeing a psychologist, his life gradually changed as he made up his mind to be his own person, instead of allowing his father to dictate his life. When he discovered that a torturing dream was indeed reality, it was the beginning of an inward emotional healing that involved sexual abuse. He also became a "rebel with a cause" as a Viet Nam veteran who was against the war.

Molly's life goes on a downward spiral as she sinks further and further into the world of drugs and addiction. She does whatever is necessary, including selling her body, in order to support her heroin habit. How and why does this happen? Was it the fact that her brother molested her? Was it because her parents dictated orders more than they listened? Was it because she had lost the love of Bobby and been forced to give up her daughter? Perhaps it was all of these things and more. I do know that the journey is so vividly portrayed that I felt the pain of traveling it with her.

This riveting book, though fiction, presents readers with a true picture of the perils of drug addiction, incest, physical and sexual abuse, and the dark secrets of a family. But it is also a story of hope and restoration. The author includes valuable resources in regard to childhood sexual abuse and incest that many will find useful. The book is definitely a "must read" and is recommended for all adults.

The best upbringing in the world doesn't foolproof one from a terrible life. "Two Weeks Since my Last Confession" follows Molly O'Brien, daughter of a senator and raised by a devout catholic. To the public, she had the perfect upbringing. But at thirty, she has a crippling heroin addiction and her life is on the rocks. What went wrong? Her family holds deep secrets, and only they can come to terms with them to set Molly on the right path in life again. "Two Weeks Since my Last Confession" is a moving novel of dealing with one's dark past, recommended.