Ann Bauer (1)

Ann Bauer takes her readers into the heart of a marriage and allows them to experience the frustrations and challenges of dealing with a child who is "different." The fact that their son cannot be classified adds to the frustration and also to the hope that his parents have. I am now an Ann Bauer fan because she made me feel what it was like to be Eddie's mother and Jack's wife. She did in this novel what other author hope to do, and she did it was empathy and grace.

An interesting take on the ancient question of guilt and the yearning to be forgiven. We all have made errors, or perhaps in the jargon of the Catholic Church, we all have sinned in our lives. How do we deal with the aftermath? Sometimes the hardest person to forgive is ourself.

I read this book for my bookclub and I'm sure it will generate a lively discussion.

The style of this book is generally straight-forward, but clues are gradually strewn throughout about the main character's act which show more sustains suspense. The full revelation comes very appropriately near the conclusion of the book. show less

The title baffles me: It seems as if the main character Carmen just believes her marriage goes on forever and ever and ever (yawn). Most of the time she disdains her husband Jobe's looks, his touch, his lovemaking, his personality...but she loves their three children (the first with Down Syndrome) and especially his mother Olive. When Jobe dies, then she realizes - too late - how much she COULD have loved Jobe.

I found this book to be a compelling and poignant story about a family's journey into neurofibromatosis (if I remember or surmised the dx correctly.) It was well written, well paced and I found myself to be quite sympathetic to it. At the time, I certainly could identify with the Mom in the book and her quest to understand her son's difficult behaviour, and therein lay the appeal for me.