And Give You Peace

Rating:
Summary: i COULD put this book down
Review: ...and did. it's predictable and boring. a novel anyone could have written.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful
Review: AND GIVE YOU PEACE is the most memorable novel about family that I've read in years. It is full of wisdom, sadness, and truth. I ached for the main character, who seeks redemption in the face of unimaginable loss. The author's generous vision and sumptuous writing make this book a keeper, one to share with others who enjoy the transformative and life-affirming power of great fiction. Wow!

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful
Review: AND GIVE YOU PEACE is the most memorable novel about family that I've read in years. It is full of wisdom, sadness, and truth. I ached for the main character, who seeks redemption in the face of unimaginable loss. The author's generous vision and sumptuous writing make this book a keeper, one to share with others who enjoy the transformative and life-affirming power of great fiction. Wow!

Rating:
Summary: midwestern fiction
Review: Greywolf Press has become known the past few years for publishing the same bland literature over and over again, the kind of literature that doesn't upset its midwestern readership. This novel fits right in to a list that couldn't be blander.

Rating:
Summary: I could not put this book down
Review: I had read Jessica Treadway's fiction before (her collection of stories, Absent Without Leave, published in 1993), and so I was excited to come across her novel, the premise of which comes from a true-to-life event. But that event -- a shocking crime in a small town -- provides only the scaffolding; the author "fleshes it out" by giving us the interior, often painful lives of her characters, the members of a family remaining after two have died a violent, virtually unspeakable death. I had been concerned, at first, that the author might lean too heavily on the sensational nature of her plot, but it becomes clear, very soon, that her aim is to understand -- and perhaps to help readers understand -- how a family can go wrong, and what devastating manifestations of that wrongness might ensue. The best recommendation I can give this book is to say that I have two children, ages 4 and 2, and I hardly ever finish a magazine, let alone a novel. But this kept me riveted. It moved me in a way I did not expect, but for which I felt very grateful. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes to read stories about families and all that is in them -- love, hate, betrayal, pride, jealousy, kindness, fear, and back to love, where it all began for the Dolan family in And Give You Peace.

Rating:
Summary: I couldn't put this book down
Review: I had read Jessica Treadway's short stories before (published in her collection And Give You Peace (1993), and so I was very excited to come across her novel, which is based on a true-life event (although the author has used only the scaffolding of that event -- the circumstantial facts; the rest is emotional speculation about what happens to the remaining members of a family when two of its members die sudden and violent deaths.) At first I worried that the author might lean on her premise too heavily -- that she would count on the tragedy and sensationalism of the story's central crime, to engage readers, without going deep enough into the characters' inner lives. But I was greatly gratified to feel as if the author were addressing me in an intimate voice about the kinds of feelings most people don't like to examine or talk about: jealousy, anger, love laced with hate laced with love, as all families are. The highest recommendation I can give this book is that I have two small children, ages 4 and 2, and I hardly ever make it through a magazine, let alone a novel. This book kept me riveted, and anyone with little children will understand what an unusual book this must have to be. It moved me in ways I had not expected, but in ways I always fervently hope to be moved in the best fiction. I recommend this novel very highly to anyone who likes to read about families and what can happen when they go wrong.

Rating:
Summary: Wealth and Range of Emotion with Anastasia
Review: I read "And Give You Peace" with excruciating wonder. It's a gorgeous amalgamation of pain, humor, tenderness, insanity, vulnerability, strength and finally wisdom. This outstanding sort of fusion is made possible by a remarkable narrator, one that fills the book with a solidly authoritative, yet damaged and world weary voice. The clarity and precision with which Anastasia, the book's narrator, tells her story produced in me a trust that lasted the entirety of the book. There are no "cheap shots" here, nothing comes easy. The relationships within the family are written with a subtlety that charmes: a look here, a glance there, an emotion unsaid. It's refreshing to read into characters with a reader's imagination without the forced focus of overbearing prose. Treadway's style allows your imagination to be an anonymous character in the book, something that allowed me to cherish the book even more. The pages of "And Give You Peace" pulsate with a vitality that Anastasia's voice carries throughout the book, melding with the tragic undercurrents. For me, the book reaffirms the importance of living WITH circumstance, rather than merely living through it. I love the book. My reading of "And Give You Peace" has been time well spent, and I am a better man for having read it. Be prepared for a wealth and range of emotion. Good stuff.

Rating:
Summary: Recommended by Elizabeth Berg
Review: I was happy to be attending a reading by the engaging and fabulous author Elizabeth Berg when I made a wonderful discovery. Someone asked Ms Berg what authors inspired her and she pointed to the woman sitting next to me, Jessica Treadway. I had never heard of Jessica but the combination of my good fortune of sitting next to her and a recommendation by Elizabeth Berg was enough for me to buy this book immediately.

I now join Elizabeth Berg and acknowledge Jessica Treadway as an awe-inspiring author. And give you peace is a moving, engulfing story written in beautiful prose and full of a variety of strong and fascinating characters. Jessica Treadway writes with such precision that I felt like I was living the story with the characters. This is a book that will stay with you long after you finish reading the last word.

Rating:
Summary: An amazing new book from a brilliant writer!
Review: I was so excited to see this title available. It arrived yesterday and I have not been able to put it down. I was fortunate enough to have been a student in one of the classes the author taught at Harvard a few years ago. And her writing is just as wonderful as her teaching skills. I read somewhere that Jessica really prefers the short story format. But she handles this novel with ease. I'm already half-way through this book and just could not put it down last night. The story unfolds in what I like to call a "Citizen Kane" fashion: After a short introduction to the characters, something dramatic and shocking happens and we follow the characters through the aftermath as they try to put the pieces together in a way that the events make sense. What is special about this book is that the author doesn't spoon-feed the reader....major things happen without portent in a way that the shock hits you and puts you in a position that is sympathetic to the characters. I often find myself reading over something that is mentioned so matter of factly (as the narrator herself, the eldest of three daughters relates it to the reader in a way that almost underplays it because she is still coping with it herself) that you have to go back and read the same paragraph again to make sure you read it right. After ingratiating the reader so effortlessly in this small family, we are suddenly in the middle of a great, mysterious tragedy. And we see the survivors dealing with things in their own ways: The mother is in denial, the middle sister fills herself with food to cope with an emptiness, and the narrator finds comfort in a sexual fling. But my favorite thing about this book is that it is not predictable. I'm already finding the assumptions I made about the causes of the tragic centerpiece of this story to be wrong. This is a wonderful, and intriguing story. It is heartbreaking but beautiful at the same time. I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: The human spirit in times of inexplicable tragedies
Review: IMPRESSIONS:
This is a wonderfully written book that illuminates with glaring clarity both the fragility and the strength of the human mind and spirit. We see through the main character's eyes the horrific experience of family tragedy and the subsequent devastation that results. Not only can this book be appreciated for its literary gift and touching use of the English language but the story itself is one that will shake everyone. Do yourself a favor and read this book.

REACTION TO OTHER REVIEWS:
All I can say to people who did not appreciate this book is that they missed out on a novel that is beautifully written and tells the timeless story of grief and tragedy that underlies the human experience.