The Worst Thing I've Done

I'm not sure why this book gets such terrible reviews. I found the writing alone, lyrical and mesmerizing, worth the reading. The characters are sharply drawn and vivid, with the nearly titular Mason looming the largest. I liked the tension that Hegi managed in making Mason's relationship with Annie both warm and nostalgic and terrifying and abusive.

The meditative first quarter, with talk radio hosts intermingling with imagination and contemplation was by far the strongest and the last quarter, with political protests tacked on in weak parallels dimmed by comparison, but on the whole, I enjoyed it and I'll seek out Hegi's other works.

Finally, I can't help saying this: the inability of modern writers to write deep, intense and platonic show more relationships never fails to disappoint me. show less

Categorising books as Feminist or Women’s Literature makes many potential readers shy away, while unarguably sexist and sometimes tedious tales for males are called Classics, and anyone with pretentions to an education is expected to be familiar with them.

The Worst Thing I’ve Done is Chick Lit, but exquisitely written, a verbal work of art. The main character Sarah is a collage artist, and that art form is the blueprint for this book as the characters and story slowly emerge, built up and revealed in layer after careful layer, until we see the truth.

And the truth comprises tragedy and triumph, and everything in-between. A multi-layered, multi-textured, mixed medium mosaic, created from sherds of love, jealousy, friendship, loss, show more idealism, despair and hope – in short, every aspect of the human condition. An artistic masterpiece show less

Tonight, as she has done so many times before, Annabelle is driving between the North Sea and Montauk and back again. She is listening to talk radio and eating junk food; stifling her own rage and pain as she listens to the anonymous callers pour out their various tales of woe. This has been a part of Annie’s nightly routine - her own personal ritual - one that she has done ever since her husband Mason challenged everything that she once believed about herself and about their marriage. However no matter what she does, Annie can never seem to silence Mason’s urgent voice within her - it’s as desperate as some of the callers who confess their misery to the radio psychologists.

To so many of the people who know them, Annie, Jake, and show more Mason have always had a tremendously close friendship. Since early childhood, the three of them have had such a special bond with each other, and those ties have only strengthened for them over time. However on a day that should mark the happiest time of their lives, the initially tight friendship begins to warp into something else entirely. Something so emotionally charged and dangerous that nobody knows what to expect.

Their friendship begins to take a turn for the worse on of all days - Annie and Mason’s wedding day. Unfortunately that same night, Annie’s parents are killed in a tragic automobile accident, leaving their newborn daughter Opal an orphan. Although Annie is devastated by the loss of her parents, she must somehow find a way to put aside her own grief and tend to her newborn sister’s needs. So she and Mason take custody of Opal, and invite Jake to move in with them to help raise the child together.

Annie struggles to find a proper balance between all the responsibilities and relationships in her life and family: she is both a sister and a mother to Opal, a wife to Mason, and a friend to Jake. Perhaps inevitably, this already unique relationship grows increasingly more intense - becoming almost smotheringly close and dangerously entangled. Until that fateful night, when these three friends miss the precise moment in time that could have helped them all to take a step back from a crumbling precipice.

Instead, they continue goading each other to step across a line which ultimately leads to a series of shocking and unforeseen consequences. Set on the East End of Long Island, The Worst Thing I’ve Done is an incandescent novel of love, friendship, and marriage; of joy and betrayal; of an artist’s struggle to reconnect with her work; and of how we can sometimes choose our mothers, our families. This is a beautifully written story, brilliantly vivid and tremendously poignant; a stunning exploration of resilience and courage in the face of uncertainty.

To be perfectly honest, I’m not quite sure what to say about this book. Actually, I can’t really pinpoint what it was that disturbed me specifically, but I definitely found this to be extremely difficult reading for me. Having said that, I thoroughly enjoyed the plot and the premise of the story; I found it to be very intriguing and well-written. I found myself wavering slightly on how to rate this book, but eventually settled on giving it an A! show less

This is a sad and sombre novel and it was difficult to find anything cheering in it at all. Three friends growing up together, Annie, Jake and Mason. Annie's parents died on her wedding day and Annie and Mason raise Opal, Annie's sister born that day.
Annie and Mason's relationship is complicated, with Jake playing a role too and it is not surprising that they do the worst thing they could, as the title suggests.
The novel is beautifully written, as I would expect from Ursula Hegi and well put together. We hear different voices throughout the novel, which is good. The hippy aunty is a nice character and her boyfriend Pete, give a bit of happiness to the story.

I found parts of this book to be a bit vague and confusing. What exactly was the worst thing? And who is the I? Perhaps both of those questions are meant to be left unanswered, which is fine.

But there's a lot of other distracting stuff in this book, including the commentary of radio psychologists and the fact that the confession (for lack of a better word) of one of the characters is cut off in the middle of a sentence every time. Some of these narrative devices take away from the story, which is, overall, a good one. I definitely wanted more of the story, and less of the fancy writing.

Sometimes even the closest of friendships carry the darkest of secrets. Annie, Mason, and Jake have been friends since childhood, with Annie as the glue that holds the friends together. Mason’s suicide devastates the two remaining friends who struggle with their grief and guilt. Annie and Jake know what finally pushed their friend over the edge, and they both blame themselves for having a part in it.

Mason and Annie were married on the day Annie’s parents died in a car crash, leaving behind a newborn baby, Opal, making the newlyweds an instant family of three. The three friends pull together to get through their grief at the loss of Annie and Opal’s parents and to create a stable and good life for the young Opal.

With Mason’s show more death eight years later, Annie must go on for Opal’s sake. She works through her grief as she struggles to help her sister through hers. The friendship between the once three best friends is hanging by a thread just barely for the two that remain alive.

Ursula Hegi’s novel takes the reader into the hearts and minds of the three friends and their little charge, Opal. We are also introduced to Aunt Stormy, a close family friend of Annie’s mother who stands by Annie and Opal through the worst of it. The perfect friendship was not so perfect after all, and as the story unfolds, the characters are unmasked through their grief and suffering.

I never came to like Mason or even really sympathize with him as a character. He was selfish and manipulative. He acted out his insecurities his entire life, playing the victim or wounded one to gain sympathy and attention. I never did see exactly why it was that Annie and Jake were so protective of him or why they were drawn to him. They both loved him in their own ways and at the same time despised him.

Setting that aside, the grief and internal struggle of having lost someone to suicide described in the book is very real. The process of working through the grief and anger, coming to terms with the past and grabbing hold of the present, and moving forward is very much alive in Ursula Hegi’s latest novel.

The story itself is convoluted and not overly exciting. There are no surprises, even as the more secretive aspects of the story come to light. Yet Ursula Hegi’s beautiful writing brings to life the essence of the story and carries it from beginning to end. This is not the author's best effort, but I am still glad I took the time to read it. show less

Review: The Worst Things I’ve Done by Ursula Hegi. 3* 05/22/2022

I thought the author’s writing was strong but the story itself was somewhat bland and in places sad. I knew all along that Jake was in love with Hegi. I kept reading but knew that there was something weird about Mason. Somehow I felt from the beginning like I couldn’t connect with the characters.

With all the political propaganda within the story is what made me unsettled on how to rate this book. There were some interesting issues the characters went through but I felt a lot of it was predictable. It wasn’t really a story that uplifted my interest. I have read other works by Ursula Hegi and liked her writing and subject matter.