Judith Guest
Author of Ordinary People
About the Author
Judith Guest was born in Detroit in 1936. She earned a degree in Education from the University of Michigan. She has been a schoolteacher in Detroit. With no formal training in fiction writing, novelist Judith Guest began to write fiction and poetry when her youngest son started school. Her highly show more acclaimed first novel, Ordinary People, was published in 1976 and has since been published in 13 languages. It was made into a film, directed by Robert Redford, which received the Academy Award for best picture in 1980. Guest's subsequent works include Second Heaven (1982), Killing Time in St. Cloud (1988), Errands (1997) and The Tarnished Eye (2004). (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Works by Judith Guest
Associated Works
The Silence of the Loons: Thirteen Tales of Mystery by Minnesota's Premier Crime Writers (2005) — Contributor — 54 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1936-03-29
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- USA
- Places of residence
- Detroit, Michigan, USA
Royal Oak, Michigan, USA
Edina, Minnesota, USA
Garden City, Michigan, USA - Education
- University of Michigan
- Occupations
- teacher
Members
Reviews
Lists
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 10
- Also by
- 4
- Members
- 2,846
- Popularity
- #9,017
- Rating
- 3.8
- Reviews
- 47
- ISBNs
- 82
- Languages
- 6
- Favorited
- 2
Richly drawn, each of the characters feels real and three-dimensional. Conrad is, by turn, a typical, sarcastic teenager, a kid wracked with guilt over his brother's death, and a little boy who doesn't know where to go from here. His grief can be heartbreaking to read, but his desperate attempts to hide it are even more so.
The true stand-out, however, is the mother. Beth is a mystery. While Guest often allows us into Cal's and Conrad's minds, we never see Beth's thoughts; only the perceptions are filtered through others' eyes. Much of what she does is up to interpretation: is she truly cold and emotionally unavailable? Or is she simply coping with her loss by trying to ignore it?
If you have ever seen the equally astounding film directed by Robert Redford and starring Timothy Hutton, then you'll find that the screenplay was remarkably faithful to the book; however, the book has slightly more nuances about Beth's character.
I am not usually a fan of dramas, but this is one of the most fascinating, often painful, books I have ever.… (more)