Rating: 
Summary: Unfortunately, I DID see the ending coming....
Review: ... but I continued to read for the excellent characterizations and the fine writing. This novel explores so many themes in one plot; sexual freedom vs. sexual fear, liberal idealism vs. small town insularity, religious progressiveness vs. religious hunger. The novel's POV moves from that of the central character who finds the dead child at the novel's beginning, to the POV of the character accused of putting the baby there. This section is keenly observed and beautifully written, and truly puts the reader into the mind of a woman drunk on simple physical passion. The two women couldn't be more dissimilar, and yet, they share some surprising commonalities. With its intricate plot, courtroom scenes, and central whodunnit plot driving the action, this is a fine suspense novel that should satisfy all readers who like that genre. However, the writer takes the time to explore so many other interesting aspects of her characters' lives (what DID happen to all those socially progressive liberals who dropped out in the 60s and 70s?) that the book works as a fine "literary" read. Also, this book offers humor, something sorely lacking in too many suspense novels.
Rating:
Summary: Guilty or Not Guilty?
Review: Guilty or not guilty? You will ask yourself this question dozens of times as you form a love/hate relationship with Heather, the accused murderess.
Jean Hanff Korelitz was brilliant in the writing of this book, making sure not to bore you with mediocre drama.
Your opinion of Heather will change throughout the book, and as the story unfolds do not be suprised by yet another unpredictable twist.
Rating: 
Summary: A suspenseful thriller, a compelling read
Review: I think this book has all the elements of great literature that a recent reader (see June 6 reader comment below) claims it to have lacked. It had excellent characterization, suspense, believability, intricate and compelling themes, and an unexpected resolution. The courtroom scenes evoked a physical reaction in me -- I found my stomach churning, my skin crawling with anger -- and literally caused me to miss my subway stop twice. I thought the SCARLET LETTER parallels were incredibly well-wrought (even if the matching initials -- Heather Pratt/Hester Prynn, Ashley Deacon/Arthur Dimmesdale -- were somewhat heavy-handed). Overall, this book succeeds not only as a thriller for the literary set, but also as a modern morality tale that speaks to a 90s world that -- somehow -- still harbors pockets of humanity like Goddard where feminism is a dirty word and justice is reserved only to a lucky few.
Rating: 
Summary: "The Scarlet Letter" meets Turow, Grisham, et al.
Review: I'll begin this review with two words: Hester Prynne. The recipient of the "scarlet letter" comes to mind as soon as Heather Pratt's love affair and pregnancy becomes the central theme of the story. This novel is a strange brew of three particular women: Naomi (who finds the tiny victims), a (nominal) Jewish feminist collective manager, recently divorced; Judith, a (practicing) Jewish feminist lawyer who becomes Heather's advocate in court; and Heather, an isolated, naïve young woman involved in an obsessive affair with a serial adulterer.Raised by her grandmother after her own mother abandoned her, Heather's obsession with the pony-tailed Ashley often renders her seemingly simple-minded, her inability to judge her actions with respect to others almost sociopathic. Heather flaunts her affair and openly carries Ashley's child at the same time his own wife is pregnant. A small town is the stage for this drama, Heather the fuel for gossip. When an infant is discovered facedown in the Sabbathday River, all fingers point to Heather. At this point, Naomi, Heather's employer, asks her friend Judith to represent the hapless girl. But not to worry, all bigotry is laid bare in the courtroom, thanks to Judith's incisive mind and the duplicity of the prosecutor. So many variables are tossed into the ring during the trial, that THE SCARLET LETTER morphs into high courtroom dudgeon. Each mean-spirited and misguided citizen is flayed during the trial by a merciless Judith. I don't want to spend too much time on a novel that is such a bubbling stew of far too many issues, which actually inhibit its potential. In its fashion, THE SABBATHDAY RIVER is a page-turner, but there are too many problems barely resolved by the last page, which has an improbable and abrupt ending. As well, the premise for Heather's indictment is absurd. A criminal case must meet certain standards to proceed, and this case is ludicrous. SABBATHDAY RIVER is plot-driven, rather than character-driven. I would have enjoyed it more had the author spent some time on character development.
Rating:
Summary: Didn't see the ending coming!
Review: Intrigued by the concept of the novel, I finished this one quickly. Naomi Roth is jogging along the river and comes upon a baby infant in the water. She quickly pulls the dead infant out and sets into motion a series of events that lead to the stunning conclusion. Heather, a member of Naomi's quilting association, quickly becomes the main suspect and is put on trial. Not just for the murder of the baby, but her entire lifestyle and beliefs are also put on trial. A woman's legal thriller, as this book deals with many womens issues such as feminism, womens rights, and peoples perceptions and prejudices against women. I bargained on a quick read and I got it, only because I couldn't put this book down. Thanks for reading :) **Pandora
Rating:
Summary: Compelling and infuriating
Review: It speaks for the compelling character of this novel that I felt myself torn between loving it and considering putting it down for good (I did persevere and was rewarded with a stunning ending!). The author does know how to write at a level that transcends the average mystery/courtroom drama fare. With that, however, comes an oftentimes overbearing pretension of literacy that makes this book at times hard to digest if not outright boring (particularly, the first 200 pages could have been trimmed by a good 50%--editor person, where art thou!). Most glaringly, the author seems incapable of covering some of the basics of novel construction such as creating characters the reader cares about and becomes attached to (In all fairness, the characters seem to become fairly indifferent toward each other as well--so, perhaps this is intentional). While making an effort at drawing reasonably multi-dimensional women, the male characters are flat stick figures who seem to serve as nothing more than drones to populate the story's landscape wherever inevitable. For all of here concern for women's issues, this author has no clue about men! Outside of the story line, the author meanders into all kinds of side areas, such as feminist ardor, liberal-cause pet peeves, Jewish paranoia, atheist despair and general interpersonal alienation (the protagonist lives in an area where she makes no friend in 9 years, yet somehow manages to leave pregnant without a partner anyway--go figure!). With the exception of a lively Passover discussion (which gains significance in the final resolution of the drama), most of these seem gratuitous and ultimately pointless pretensions at literary significance. Lighten up, young poetess! The book's best writing occurs in the coutroom scenes. Although the tenacity of the ADA in light of a clearly unpromising case appears not very credible (par for the course with the way male characters are portrayed!), the legal drama goes through some fascinating twists and turns. The mystery is ultimately resolved outside of the courtroom--in a fashion which left this reader fairly disturbed long after putting the book down! This book clearly aims higher than your standard legal drama. At best, it achieves a greater depth and more daring in the issues it tackles. More often though, it simply blunders more dramatically and frequently than less ambitious and self-conscious/pretencious efforts. Still, between the highs and the lows there's enough there for a middle-of-the-road three star rating.
Rating:
Summary: Defines the term "page-turner"
Review: It's been a long time since I read a thriller I could literally not put down, but "Sabbathday River" ended the dry spell. Korelitz masterfully sets up plot elements and themes -- infanticide, small town morality, Judaism, over-the-top liberalism and feminism, among many others -- that interact like fine machinery and propel the reader forward as if on a bullet train. Some characters, like the super-evil prosecuting attorney, border on coming across as barely credible stereotypes, but this is primarily a courtroom thriller after all. That Korelitz still manages to make it far more than that is a credit to her skills as an author. Not to take anything away from the merits of this book, but it would make a terrific film!
Rating:
Summary: On My Top Ten List This Year
Review: The Sabbathday River was highly entertaining and engrossing. It was hard to put down as the mystery of the dead babies began to unravel. I found the characters both likeable and believeable and especially enjoyed the depiction of the hypocrisy and puritan attitudes of the small New England town. The book also does a great job showing what can happen when one gives herself up completely to another only to discover what complete betrayal feels like. The father of Heather's baby is one you definitely love to hate, even though she doesn't seem to realize just what a "creep" he is like the reader does!! The only part of the book that "bogged me down" a bit was the characters trying to come to terms with their Jewish heritage and religious beliefs. This was hard for me to incorporate into the whole "scheme of things" of the story. Even though I had figured out the "mystery" of the "river baby" long before the book ended, it was still a great read and I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Unable to Put Down
Review: What a wonderful combination of superb characterizations and page-turning mystery. Korelitz's descriptions of the characters are so real that you are inside their heads...even if you don't want to be. The dynamics of the community, the thoughts and actions of the characters, the unexpected discoveries...all make you forget you are reading. You are there. I found myself angry, sad, chilled, frustrated, puzzled. Every time you think you grasp the whole picture another small piece is revealed, causing you to restructure the whole scene. I could not put it down.
Rating:
Summary: Don't Miss Chapter 41. Forget the Rest.
Review: Worth reading for its own sake in an often implausibly plotted 504 page novel is one gem of a theological chapter, number 41, pp. 424 - 441. There Naomi, a thoroughlyy secularized Jew from New York, attends a seder hosted by the only other Jewish people in this part of xenophobic, judgmental, small town New Hampshire -- Joel and Judith Friedman. What unites the two women is determination to see justice done to young, naive Heather Pratt, accused on flimsy grounds of a double infanticide. Heather has entrusted the temporary care of her young illegitimate daughter Polly to Naomi and Judith is Heather's defense lawyer. Chapter 41 contrasts certain Jewish and non-Jewish attitudes and values regarding abuse of power and killing the innocent, taking as a starting point Biblical Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his innocent son at God's command. Also present at the passover ceremony are David, an expert witness for the defense, Judith's sister Rachel and her daughter Hannah and Judith's husband Joel. And 18 month old Polly. The adults speak of assimilated and non-assimilated American Jews (p. 428f). They discuss Rachel's other child, Simon, at home with Rachel's husband. Simon has an incurable degenerative illness. A Talmud tale is told of the angel Gabriel taking a newborn Jewish child maimed by Egyptian officials to show God and remind Him to be merciful. Naomi finds "this God of ours" so cruel (p. 432). Joel replies, God told Moses that He was a jealous God. But remember that He did choose us Jews as His people. After the seder ceremonies, conversation moves on to why the Messiah keeps putting off coming. Why do American Jews abandon their God by assimilating? (p. 432) Why doesn't an omnipotent, all good God at least prevent the suffering of children? Perhaps suffering helps us to understand and value suffering's opposite. Naomi does not believe in God but would like to. David tells of attending a movie about the Rapture with a born again Christian friend (p. 434). The film's main character is an agnostic who watches all her born-again friends suddenly disappear. The atheist Naomi considers herself Jewish by virtue of the DNA of generations of sheer "survivors." David notes that survival is the theme of the seder. The theme of post- 1945 seders is pointedly defiant: "We're still here" (p. 435). OK, God ended the holocaust, but what was He doing when it started, Naomi wonders? (p. 436). Christians can handle sorrow; for they believe God won't send them suffering so dreadful they can't bear it. But what do we Jews have? No after-life. A God very detached from us but nonetheless constantly testing us. Rachel, bitter about her afflicted child, says that on the Jewish theory, we never pass the test (p. 437) Joel comments that Abraham at least passed the test. Rachel says that God did wrong to test Abraham and thereby condemn Isaac to a life of remembering his father with a knife poised over him. Joel: God knew that Abraham would pass; perhaps He just wanted Abraham to learn how great was his own devotion. Naomi is troubled about a God asking us to kill anyone for any reason at all (p. 438). David welcomes her viewpoint. For the Talmud says that "when the debate is in the service of heaven, both sides are sustained" (p. 438). Naomi presses on: the murder of a child can never be justified (p. 439). The second baby killed in the novel had been born alive. Naomi says nothing could justify its killing, its being stabbed. Judith says that circumstances matter and "It was morphine" (439). Joel: we know this: that Abraham did the right thing and "we were chosen by God as a result of his choice" (p. 439). Naomi thinks that Abraham probably failed the test. "Maybe God wanted to see that Abraham's humanity was greater than his faith" (p. 439) Maybe God then singled out Abraham's descendants "for an eternity of torments"(p. 440). The other adults react with obvious distaste. Naomi can't decide what she has done wrong? Why had Judith glared at her and left the table? (p. 441) Judith said that her husband Joel does not believe but is trying to believe by a sheer act of his will. Judith says that if there is a God, she does not want Him in her house. My comment: The ideas of Chapter 41 may perhaps be unoriginal or even trite, expressed countless times by intelligent, active participants in America's rich Jewish oral culture. But to me, a mere fly on the wall at this conversation, much was new and worth pondering. It is a rare pleasure to overhear such good talk by people not afraid to be passionately concerned about their religion. -OOO-
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