Errands

Rating:
Summary: Out of Grief Comes Change
Review: Annie is in denial, her husband is dying of a brain tumor. She's convinced the chemotherapy will work. It doesn't and she finds herself all of a sudden the sole provider of her three children. She's thirty-six and it's been seventeen years since she's had a job. Finding a way to make ends meet for her, is to say the least, a challenge.

Then there is the barrier her grief has put between herself and her children that she has to somehow deal with as they are each trying to come to the terms of their father's loss themselves. And her new job isn't going well.

Annie feels like she's no longer in control and when it looks like another tragedy is going to strike, Annie and her children are finally able to work through their grief and find that they have all been changed.

There is a lot of pain in this five star book, but there's humor too. It's a wonderful read.

Reviewed by Vesta Irene

Rating:
Summary: Story sneaks up on reader
Review: At first, I found the reaction of the mother disturbing. After all, how could she be so emotionally unavailable to her children? What surprised me in the end is how the story stayed with me. I realized that there is real grace at the end of the book when the children and the wife realize that the husband's presence is still with them. I believe this book provides an accurate portrayal of grief and grace. Worth the read

Rating:
Summary: sad but probably realistic
Review: I found the book to be quite melancholy much like Ordinary People. The characters don't so much overcome the tragedies in their lives but instead they succumb and then learn to deal with them. As a working mother with two teen-aged boys, I believe it would be possible to be so overwhelmed with responsibilities that you simply have nothing left to give, even to your children. I can't imagine what it would be like to be without my husband to share in the parenting responsibilities with my boys. Living both in the Detroit area and now on Lake Huron, I too was able to identify with the locations in the book and found that enjoyable. Not something you want to read when you are feeling blue

Rating:
Summary: Tedious
Review: I found this book to be somewhat disappointing. The impact of death within a young family is certainly an interesting topic but I was bored by the focus on the mundane. Often there was lengthy dialogue that was unenlightening and everyday. If that was part of the point of the book- that the mundane goes on after a drastic event- the literary presentation was a bit too dull to hold my interest adequately.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful story!
Review: I had first picked this book up at the library because we had to do an old-fashion book report in my Honors English class. I finsihed the book in three short days! The story was so amazing and such a tear-jerker. I hadn't cried over a book ever since Patricia Hermes' books. This books shows just how long it takes to get over grief. I loved that Ms. Guest wrote from the kids' as well as the widow's point of view. You really felt for every one of the characters. I recommended it to everyone I know.

Rating:
Summary: Very realistic
Review: I liked this book because it was so realistic, and the characters so ordinary (I like plain and ordinary things). I especially liked the ordinary-ness of the adult romantic relationships, such as the portrayal of sex between loving married partners with 3 active kids. However, this book lacked the "oomph" that would make me go back to it again and again. There is no deeper message to it than simple storytelling. It's a good read for passing the time, not for discovering humanity.

Rating:
Summary: I don't want this book to end...
Review: I love the way this book makes you actually feel what is going on - the loss, the struggle - the kids in this story actually fight just like mine which is a relief! The everyday aspects of life that are illuminated and their import shown. I have three chapters left and don't want it to end.

Rating:
Summary: I don't want this book to end...
Review: I love the way this book makes you actually feel what is going on - the loss, the struggle - the kids in this story actually fight just like mine which is a relief! The everyday aspects of life that are illuminated and their import shown. I have three chapters left and don't want it to end.

Rating:
Summary: Sad, but barely there
Review: I picked up this book because I had been so stunned by the skill Judith Guest exhibited in 'Ordinary People'. But apparently she's grown much more tolerant of flaws in her writing since then.

This book reads like it was totally unedited. While normally I am a patient reader, halfway through the book I just put it down and couldn't bring myself to pick it up again.

Is it mature? Yes, yes, yes. Kindly refrain from bombarding me with indignant comments to the effect that Guest's writing has *matured* since 'Ordinary People'. Perhaps it has. But it takes more than maturity to make a good book. First of all, take the characters. Is there even a single distinctive or memorable one in the lot? Kenneth draws the most sympathy from the reader, because he is dying, and because the moments within his head when he is trying to sort out the meaning of his own existence are beautifully written. But even so, the fact that he is dying is his most outstanding characteristic. When he dies, the sense of loss is acute, and very well expressed. Unfortunately it is not enough to carry the book.

Annie and the kids are, to be honest, rather dull. Their personalities are stereotyped, especially Harry's--another teen-deprived-of-father-figure delinquent for the ages. In general, people in this book seem to be defined by their problems, instead of being defined by genuine personalities.

What really turned me off this book was the dialogue. Dialogue has many purposes: to inform the reader about the speaker's character, or to further the plot, to contribute to atmosphere, to set the tone....none of these things are accomplished in the useless lines put forth here. It sounds like the author wrote down everything everybody said at her own family picnic--no matter how boring or pointless--and made a novel out of it. Certainly the mundane is an essential fact of existence. But why dwell on it to the point of insanity? I find it more inspiring to wash dishes than to read dialogue like this, because at least I'm accomplishing something.

If it hadn't been for the popularity of 'Ordinary People', I doubt this book would have been published without serious reworking.

Rating:
Summary: Multi-Kleenex read for Fall.
Review: Judith Guest has once again, since "Ordinary People" wrapped grief around her readers and allowed them to actually feel what loss is like. I used to think I knew how death of a loved one would affect me, but now that I've read "Errands" I no longer can assume I'll know how to react. At first I thought that Annie the mother was a bitter and inflexible woman and did not truly love her children. However, as she tried to be everything to everyone - a mother, sister, daughter and good employee, I realized that she was only "acting" the roles in an effort to avoid the true grieving process. The children, unfortunately, suffered the most in this novel. Judith Guest's ability to take the reader into the minds of each different child helped one visualize in a more florid way the trauma that they endured. Annie was not an easy character to like; Harry, the oldest, made me want to reach out and help. Errands was a quick, easy read that brought you to tears yet warmed your heart