The Woman Who Lost Her Soul

I spent about a month weaving through this complex novel that spans 50 years and multiple locations. It was quite a ride. It's a bit about espionage, America's undercurrent of power trying to fight the war against terrorism, but at its heart it is about a women. The title character, whose name changes throughout the novel, from Dottie to Jackie to Renee, has been groomed by her father, Steven Chambers, to join his world of undercover operations. He even uses her to seek revenge against the man that murdered his father during Tito's revolution against Communism. The novel skips in time from the late 1990's in Haiti, to the end of WWII in Croatia, to Dottie's teenage years in Istanbul and then back to Bosnia for a funeral and the show more conclusion of this tangled story. The story of a Women Who Lost Her Soul. Besides her father there are two men in her life and in the tread of the narrative. Tom Harrington, a human rights attorney who is obsessed with the beautiful Jackie he met in Haiti, and Evette Burnette, a Delta force, green beret who follows the orders of her father regardless whether it jives with his idea of patriotism. I enjoyed Googling the various events in Haiti, Croatia, Istanbul, getting better insight into the background of the story and I enjoyed how this came together in the end. I look forward to picking up some of Shacochis' earlier works. show less

The first part of this long novel just reminded me of Graham Greene's "The Comedians" so strongly that I almost put it down. I am glad I did not, because this novel owes debts to many more writers than Greene. Intricately plotted and beautifully written, my only complaint is that Shacochis overloads what is essentially a novel of war, espionage and romance with layers of implied nuance. The death of the title character, while clearly required, comes in an offhand, off-stage manner that felt unsatisfying on one levell and profoundly appropriate on another.

Absolutely stunning book (though what's up with that title?). Every sentence is a gem, which is saying a lot, because there are so many of them. A quite dark look at pre-9/11 US geopolitical machinations, told through the lens of a fraught father-daughter relationship.

This is an epic tale of America and the moral dilemmas it faces trying to remain safe from terrorists. One has to ask just who lost their soul in this story--was it really Dottie/Renee/Jackie, Steven Chamberlain or America? Chambers is a truly remarkable creation--one that is all too familiar to most Americans today. He is truly despicable, but is comfortable with a self image of being a patriot and devout Christian. In act, Eville seems to be the true patriot in the novel but submits to being manipulated by Chambers. Of course, the most outrageous manipulation by Chambers has to be his own daughter, Dottie. He stops at nothing to feed an agenda that is driven by hatred, fear and revenge caused by an unspeakable boyhood trauma.
The show more story is riveting, although there a few slow patches (Eville and Dottie's vacation on the Outer Banks springs to mind). The story might have been told without losing much of its punch if some of those sections had been trimmed. Shacochis is a master at controlling the narrative pacing, always leaving just a few loose ends and questions to be solved later. However, there were some places in the novel that were truly confusing. All I can say is, you have to stick with it through all 700 pages--all will be revealed. show less

Wow. I feel like I have really accomplished something in finishing this book. I had no doubt that I would, but still it was a bit of a battle to get to the end. This is a long story. I enjoyed it, but it confused and conflicted me. I'm not sure that there was a point to it, and yet it seems like too important of a book to not have a purpose. If you like long convoluted and complex drama, then this will probably appeal to you. I found myself enjoying parts of the story and feeling completely uninterested in others. Having been to Haiti, I found the descriptions of it astoundingly accurate. The book gives the reader a clear picture of this country and its conflicts. I was also intrigued by some of the characters, who all suffered from show more many flaws. The length of the story combined with the movement back and forth in time from present to past was a real challenge for a reader to keep straight. I would also have liked the story better if there were less political and military minutiae and more character and historic development. This might be the deciding factor between loving or only appreciating this book. Either way, I am thankful to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this title. show less

The woman who lost her soul was a fascinating character with as many different faces as she had names. Whether she was Jackie, Dottie, or Renee. She was always fascinating. The novel was made up of five different books, all quite interesting. But for me, it was in book three, when she was a teenage girl living in Turkey, as the daughter of an American diplomat, that I really saw how she, in her own mind, came to loose her soul. All the blame has to go to her father who was a ruthless SOB. And in books 4 and 5 the reader sees how she tries to cope with and deal with the emotional scars her twisted father placed upon her.

Ambitious, this novel begins in Haiti after the American forces have left Haiti, begins as the story of a human rights lawyer, Tom Harrington, who is sent to Haiti to investigate the death of the wife of an American. The story turns into a multi-layered story of the woman and her various identities. Going back to post-World War II Bosnia and the escape of Jackie’s father to America the story shows how her father a US spy has so influenced her. During her childhood spend in Turkey, her father basically groomed her to become a spy, and her first official espionage at her father’s behest was not pretty. Add a Special Forces soldier to the mix, and you have a story filled with military and espionage jargon which was too much for me. show more Even so I enjoyed this story much more than I expected because it gave me a look at what has brought us to current American foreign policy. show less