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Summary: Suspense with Depth
Review: intriguing; in depth character study
i LOVED IT
Rating:
Summary: A Splendid Novel - First or Otherwise
Review: Ms. Ward explores the souls of three women and the reader has no choice but to come along for the ride. Her prose are concise and her wit is biting. This is the best novel I have read in a long time. Last weekend, I realized that I had left the novel at the office, so I immediately got in my car and went back to the office to retrieve it. It is that good. Well done!
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Summary: You'll be glad you read this great book!
Review: Not many books make you think hard about what is true and important in life, and also make you laugh with delight and cry helplessly while doing it. The three women whose lives intertwine in this book were so incredibly real and vivid to me. I chortled aloud again and again with Celia's first-person narrative, and also pushed down tears along with her. I kept wishing I could talk to Franny as if she were one of my friends--as if I should try to support this kind woman who so needs to give to others. I was humbled and awed by Karen: I had to consider and reconsider my feelings about morality, judgment, guilt, redemption, God, and most of all what it means to have dignity and to be a human being. I learned something important from reading this book--I had the sensation of coming out on the other side with something new. I delighted in the many graceful expressions of feelings and observations I had never quite pinned down for myself, and wasn't sure anyone else had ever noticed or appreciated. I feel like I have had an EXPERIENCE after reading this book! I cherish it.
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Summary: A stellar debut
Review: Sleep Toward Heaven gripped me from the first page and did not let go after I finished the book. Three women--a doctor struggling with the direction her life is taking, a convicted murderer on death row, and the widow of one of her victims--leave indelible impacts on eachother's lives one summer in Texas. Poignant and beautifully written, this haunting story will leave you with much to think about. A stellar debut, I look forward to more from this talented new author.
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Summary: A Far Cry From Sleepy .....
Review: Sleep Toward Heaven is a must read! Amanda Eyre Ward has done a brilliant job at stepping into the of lives of 3 *empty* women and making them *whole* again!! I can't say enough good things about this book. It was just amazing. I had very strong opinions on death sentences before reading this book ~ never in a million years would I think a novel could *open me up* some and make me see things through new eyes. Things went through my mind and heart, that I never thought could.. Amanda wrote this book with such dignity and grace ~ that all bled right through to each of the 3 women this book was based around. I, honestly, forgot this was fiction. I felt so wrapped up in it ~ like I was living right along with the story. With such tough subjects touched upon ~ such as murder, AIDS, lethal injection, end of a relationship, death of a child.... and so on ~ you would think the book would be *dark*. It was far from dark! It started out with a chill but ended up warm and cozy. Thank you, Amanda, for showing that everyone has a bit of grace within. Whether it's deep down or right on the surface ~ it can be found!
Rating: 
Summary: (4.5)A study in compassion and human dignity...
Review: The opening quotation, from whence the title, Sleep Toward Heaven, sets the tone for this extraordinary novel: "While they slept, faith flowered, an outside dream,and surrounded them in their cave. All they had to do was to sleep toward Heaven and open their eyes like dolls. Up there on the ceiling was all they needed." -William Stafford Small-town Texas in the dog days of summer, shriveling in the iridescent heat. Vibrating with expectation. At the end of August, the women on death row at the Mountain View facility, one by one, will be transferred to Huntsville for execution by lethal injection. The advice of a seasoned prison guard, "Whatever you do, don't look into their eyes before they go." The women: The Satan Killer. The Hairdresser of Death. The Highway Honey. The Black Widow. All are tagged with media-friendly nicknames, good PR for intimate press coverage. Their real names are Sharleen, Jackie, Karen, Veronica, Tiffany and later, Samantha. Each has her crimes, her reasons, a wall of denial, an absence of guilt, a history of abuse and neglect. And each has a date with death, moving inexorably closer. Then there is Franny Wren, the New York physician whose uncle, also a doctor, has died suddenly, providing her with an excuse to return to Gatesville, the town of her youth, her memory. On the way to Texas, Franny dumps a fiancée and a fast approaching wedding ceremony. Franny is beset by self-doubt after the recent and hideously painful death of a young cancer patient. Any attempt to extend the child's life only produced more agony. When Franny learns that her uncle has been volunteering his services at the women's prison, she offers to substitute until a replacement can be found. Five-years widowed, Celia Mills still grieves, her young husband killed by Karen Lowens, the Highway Honey. An innocent bystander, in the wrong place at the wrong time, Henry Mills met his demise when Karen panicked in the midst of a murder/robbery. She stared, detached, as the light in his eyes extinguished. Henry was basically collateral damage, taken out by a woman who murdered abusive "johns" to buy the affection of her junkie lover, the one who turned her in to the cops. Celia is a guest of honor at Karen's execution, should Karen survive the terminal phase of AIDS to endure the ritual. Celia has written a letter to Karen and later requests a last visit. The three women, doctor, widow and murderer cross paths this long summer in the stifling heat, forever connected by that brief association. Who knows what lies in the human heart? Franny makes a tenuous connection to the vulnerable Karen, knowing Karen has run out of time, one way or another. And Celia, wanting peace from her overwhelming grief, is unsure that the execution will accomplish the closure she craves. With a critical and compassionate eye, Ward opens the hearts of her characters to the unbearable, the unavoidable. Wrapped in the pain and confusion of loss and retribution, Ward delivers a story that is accessible and poignant, graced by a calm acceptance of humanity's failure to protect and nurture the innocent before they are irrevocably damaged. Luan Gaines/2003.
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Summary: Best book I have read all summer
Review: This book grabbed my attention from page one, and didn't let it go. I simply couldn't put it down. The characters, the descriptive writing style, the story - just check it out for yourself! What a great book...
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Summary: Also Could Not Put It Down
Review: This book is touching and beautifully written. For a first novel it is great. I read the book in one day and am very upset that there was no more to read. I anxiously await another novel from Ms. Ward.
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Summary: Get on Death Row but with a round trip ticket!!!!!!
Review: This brilliant novel cuts through the emotional layers that orbit capital punishment and capital crimes. Ward allows us to enter death row in a way no one else has been able to do. You can feel, smell and touch the daily routine of women who's lives are measured by the number of ever dwindling appeals they have left.There is a rich intertwining of victims and victimized. She allows us to see how the system deals with executions. How guards deal with their jobs of watching over prisoners who will be killed by the state.
This novel is astounding and will gently move you through the world of the living and the almost dead. Ward has an very keen eye and an extremely perceptive view of life in general. I cite as an example the Post Office scene which is nothing short of astounding. It is one thing to observe but quite another to be able to communicate such observations so keenly.
If you read one novel this is it. My only regret was finishing it so quickly but then again it just keep pulling me along through the pages.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful new novel
Review: This is a beautifully-written book: imaginative, distinct, the author's portrayals of her women characters are as unflinching as they are empathetic. Highly recommended!
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