Este site usa cookies para fornecer nossos serviços, melhorar o desempenho, para análises e (se não estiver conectado) para publicidade. Ao usar o LibraryThing, você reconhece que leu e entendeu nossos Termos de Serviço e PolÃtica de Privacidade . Seu uso do site e dos serviços está sujeito a essas polÃticas e termos.
From the bestselling author of The Double Bind, Midwives, and Skeletons at the Feast comes a novel of shattered faith, intimate secrets, and the delicate nature of sacrifice.
"There," says Alice Hayward to Reverend Stephen Drew, just after her baptism, and just before going home to the husband who will kill her that evening and then shoot himself. Drew, tortured by the cryptic finality of that short utterance, feels his faith in God slipping away and is saved from despair only by a meeting with Heather Laurent, the author of wildly successful, inspirational books about . . . angels.
Heather survived a childhood that culminated in her own parents' murder-suicide, so she identifies deeply with Alice’s daughter, Katie, offering herself as a mentor to the girl and a shoulder for Stephen – who flees the pulpit to be with Heather and see if there is anything to be salvaged from the spiritual wreckage around him. But then the State's Attorney begins to suspect that Alice's husband may not have killed himself. . .and finds out that Alice had secrets only her minister knew.
Secrets of Eden is both a haunting literary thriller and a deeply evocative testament to the inner complexities that mark all of our lives. Once again Chris Bohjalian has given us a riveting page-turner in which nothing is precisely what it seems. As one character remarks, “Believe no one. Trust no one. Assume all of our stories are suspect.”
I wasn't really sure what exactly to expect when my library director first commented I may like this book since I've never read any Chris Bohjalian before, but I was pleasantly surprised that it was, all and all, a fair read. In some reviews of the book I checked out beforehand I kept hearing over and over about what a fine job Chris does writing his female characters and I really have to agree. The ladies that take center stage in this book really do take center stage, no damsels in distress here. I can't say that I liked them all (Heather L. was a bit of a space case, but after reading her section of the story I could understand her situation a bit better). The story seemed really well paced and entertained me the whole time except for the bits in the section "written" by the male lead, Stephan. He just seemed like such an overbearing, entitled jerk at times and so it was really hard to feel bad for him, plus, the book itself begins with the story from Stephan's point of view which can be a bit of a turn off. If you like a mystery with a bit more of a complex flavor, I would definitely give this book a try. ( )
Awful! Completely predictable, oddly crude, filled with drivel about angels that seems to have no real purpose and a load of completely unlikeable characters. If I hadn't paid money for it, I wouldn't have finished. A total waste of time. ( )
Every time I read Bohjalian it is like discovering a new author. No two books are alike and, with the exception of one, I have not been disappointed. From the first line, I found myself immersed in this story and a desire to see beneath the surface of Pastor Stephen Drew and to unravel this mystery. ( )
Read this book after I got it at the library book club. They were talking about Hunger Games, loved it, and then they passed around this book for the next meeting. It was okay, I read "Midwives" by the same author. This one was about an abusive marriage, which is always depressing. The woman gets killed and then they try to solve what actually happened. I thought the most interesting character was the pastor that the woman was having an affair with. I found his break of faith really well thought out and very human. I probably won't attend the book club to chat this one up... ( )
Fans of Bohjalian's 11 other novels (including Midwives) know to expect the unexpected and, thanks to his creativity and cunning, readers usually get walloped by one heck of a plot twist by book's end.
In Secrets of Eden, the old saw that none of us knows what really goes on in a house when the shades are drawn rings chillingly true.
Informação do Conhecimento Comum em inglês.Edite para a localizar na sua lÃngua.
But for sorrow there is no remedy provided by nature; it is often occasioned by accidents irreparable, and dwells upon objects that have lost or changed their existence; it requires what it cannot hope, that the laws of the universe should be repealed; that the dead should return, or the past should be recalled. -- Samuel Johnson
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. - - Genesis 2:24-25
Dedicatória
Informação do Conhecimento Comum em inglês.Edite para a localizar na sua lÃngua.
For David Reed Wood and, once more, for Victoria
Primeiras palavras
Informação do Conhecimento Comum em inglês.Edite para a localizar na sua lÃngua.
As a minister I rarely found the entirety of a Sunday service depressing.
Citações
Informação do Conhecimento Comum em inglês.Edite para a localizar na sua lÃngua.
I tried to remind myself that hostility invariably boomerangs back. In the end we wound ourselves, too, when we lash out.
Últimas palavras
Informação do Conhecimento Comum em inglês.Edite para a localizar na sua lÃngua.
But somehow I don't think putting a bullet into my dad's head is ever going to be one of them.
From the bestselling author of The Double Bind, Midwives, and Skeletons at the Feast comes a novel of shattered faith, intimate secrets, and the delicate nature of sacrifice.
"There," says Alice Hayward to Reverend Stephen Drew, just after her baptism, and just before going home to the husband who will kill her that evening and then shoot himself. Drew, tortured by the cryptic finality of that short utterance, feels his faith in God slipping away and is saved from despair only by a meeting with Heather Laurent, the author of wildly successful, inspirational books about . . . angels.
Heather survived a childhood that culminated in her own parents' murder-suicide, so she identifies deeply with Alice’s daughter, Katie, offering herself as a mentor to the girl and a shoulder for Stephen – who flees the pulpit to be with Heather and see if there is anything to be salvaged from the spiritual wreckage around him. But then the State's Attorney begins to suspect that Alice's husband may not have killed himself. . .and finds out that Alice had secrets only her minister knew.
Secrets of Eden is both a haunting literary thriller and a deeply evocative testament to the inner complexities that mark all of our lives. Once again Chris Bohjalian has given us a riveting page-turner in which nothing is precisely what it seems. As one character remarks, “Believe no one. Trust no one. Assume all of our stories are suspect.”
.
▾Descrições de bibliotecas
Não foram encontradas descrições de bibliotecas.
)
)
)
Google Books — Carregando...
(3.41)
1
In some reviews of the book I checked out beforehand I kept hearing over and over about what a fine job Chris does writing his female characters and I really have to agree. The ladies that take center stage in this book really do take center stage, no damsels in distress here. I can't say that I liked them all (Heather L. was a bit of a space case, but after reading her section of the story I could understand her situation a bit better). The story seemed really well paced and entertained me the whole time except for the bits in the section "written" by the male lead, Stephan. He just seemed like such an overbearing, entitled jerk at times and so it was really hard to feel bad for him, plus, the book itself begins with the story from Stephan's point of view which can be a bit of a turn off. If you like a mystery with a bit more of a complex flavor, I would definitely give this book a try.
(