Rating: 
Summary: Relationships
Review: After reading Good Harbor, I couldn't believe the lukewarm reviews I had read before ordering it. Boy, am I glad I ignored them based on how much I had liked The Red Tent! Good Harbor is a fast read, full of excellent character development based on human relationships and the strengths and weaknesses of such. Diamant deals realistically with friendship, marriage, death, and religion. A little of somethiing for just about everyone. The combination of Catholicism and Judaism, I thought, was excellent. She also develops the two main characters, Kathleen and Joyce, giving them both strength while emphasizing their differences. Excellent book! I would highly recommend reading this.
Rating: 
Summary: Has been done before--and better
Review: Although I was never able to get into Diamant's "The Red Tent" (I tried twice), I knew many people loved it, so I was willing to give her another try with her new book.I finished "Good Harbor", but do not know why. The topic of the book, women's friendship and cancer, has been done so many times, and so much better by other authors. This book was just plain ordinary. Forgettable. My mind cannot even hold onto the title and I keep calling it "Safe Harbor"! This was a most unsatisfying read: it was not particularly well-written, there were no great insights, the characters were not well- developed, and there was a good amount of contrivance, a device that really annoys me. It is a very commercial book, in my opinion. To wit: Diamant combined Judaism, Catholocism, miracles, cancer, love affairs, drug running, and the death of a child. Some of these topics were just thrown in, as if they were afterthoughts rather than woven into the body of the story. The best parts were the descriptions of the beach area and how the beach comforts one's soul. This rang very true to me. My recommendation: buy JoAnn Mapson's "Bad Girl Creek" if you want to read a very good depiction of women's friendships, how women help each other through the bad times, and how they celebrate the good times.
Rating:
Summary: Has been done before--and better
Review: Although I was never able to get into Diamant's "The Red Tent" (I tried twice), I knew many people loved it, so I was willing to give her another try with her new book. I finished "Good Harbor", but do not know why. The topic of the book, women's friendship and cancer, has been done so many times, and so much better by other authors. This book was just plain ordinary. Forgettable. My mind cannot even hold onto the title and I keep calling it "Safe Harbor"! This was a most unsatisfying read: it was not particularly well-written, there were no great insights, the characters were not well- developed, and there was a good amount of contrivance, a device that really annoys me. It is a very commercial book, in my opinion. To wit: Diamant combined Judaism, Catholocism, miracles, cancer, love affairs, drug running, and the death of a child. Some of these topics were just thrown in, as if they were afterthoughts rather than woven into the body of the story. The best parts were the descriptions of the beach area and how the beach comforts one's soul. This rang very true to me. My recommendation: buy JoAnn Mapson's "Bad Girl Creek" if you want to read a very good depiction of women's friendships, how women help each other through the bad times, and how they celebrate the good times.
Rating: 
Summary: Definitely different for Diamant
Review: Good Harbor is a lovely story but definitely a different style for the author for those of us who read The Red Tent and might have expected the same here. Avoid being disappointed by knowing to expect a change with this story. It is well written to read nicely along. You get to know the characters well, not that you will necessarily like what they do, but that's what makes the story. This is worth your time to read and enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Definitely different for Diamant
Review: Good Harbor is a lovely story but definitely a different style for the author for those of us who read The Red Tent and might have expected the same here. Avoid being disappointed by knowing to expect a change with this story. It is well written to read nicely along. You get to know the characters well, not that you will necessarily like what they do, but that's what makes the story. This is worth your time to read and enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: A disappointing read.
Review: I chose not to read the Red Tent as I was not interested in the subject matter, but picked up Good Harbor thinking it would deliver a good read. By the end of the book I questioned why I hadn't laid it down before as I found the characters contrived and at best, unlikely. Kathleen and Joyce's friendship takes off far too quickly for my taste, they are bonded in an immediate velcro-like relationship without ever having had the chance to get to know each other. Reminds me of high school infactuations, "falling in love " on the first date. The book speaks about the tragedy of familial loss, but not soon enough, and readers will likely be long gone before the meat of the book is presented. There are far, far better books out there right now. All in all, a very disappointing read.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I enjoyed her first novel and was a little disappointed by Good Harbor. Never felt interested in the characters and no real desire to finish the book
Rating:
Summary: Tender and True
Review: I just don't understand people finding this book flat or boring! It delicately probes the development of a friendship between two women who are able to share painful secrets gradually, and bonding over time during their long walks. It's about maturing marriages, lost and found children, career paths, deepening friendsship, faith and gratitude, all painted with a light, feathery brush. I would have wished to learn more of Kathleen's catholic childhood and influences on her life, but I guess Ms. Diamant doesn't know too much about that--and she never really fleshes out Pat's (Kathleen's sister) vocation as a nun--hence 4 stars only.
Rating:
Summary: Tender and True
Review: I just don't understand people finding this book flat or boring! It delicately probes the development of a friendship between two women who are able to share painful secrets gradually, and bonding over time during their long walks. It's about maturing marriages, lost and found children, career paths, deepening friendsship, faith and gratitude, all painted with a light, feathery brush. I would have wished to learn more of Kathleen's catholic childhood and influences on her life, but I guess Ms. Diamant doesn't know too much about that--and she never really fleshes out Pat's (Kathleen's sister) vocation as a nun--hence 4 stars only.
Rating: 
Summary: Uneven Second Novel from Talented Author
Review: I loved Diamant's first novel, THE RED TENT, more than any book I've read in the last ten years. So I it was with great anticipation that I bought GOOD HARBOR. Diamant wisely chooses a topic as far from Biblical times as possible, and the two novels couldn't be more different. Two women at a crossroads in their lives and marriages meet in the small town of Gloucester, Massachusetts, and become fast friends. The setting is rich with possibilities, but Diamant's intentions are more successful than her execution. The simplicity of style which worked so well and powerfully in RED TENT here seems to undermine the emotional arc of the two women, Joyce and Kathleen, and we never care for them as deeply as we could. Kathleen's battle with breast cancer, and her attempt to make peace with her son's death 25 years earlier just doesn't move us as it should. And when a lonely Joyce drifts farther and farther from her husband and teenaged daughter into an affair with a handsome Irish fisherman, who will never fully consummate their physical relationship, we, too, feel unfulfilled. Diamant is a hugely talented author, but GOOD HARBOR just isn't in the same class as THE RED TENT. Let's hope her next effort proves more worthy, since she obviously has the talent and the vision to write brilliantly when the topic moves her.
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