- Paperback
- Publisher: Random House Value Publishing (May 11 1999)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0517404982
- ISBN-13: 978-0517404980
- Product Dimensions: 16.8 x 10.4 x 3.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 295 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Judith Guest is an elegant writer capable of highlighting a moment and crystallizing a thought, effortlessly creating a powerful emotional story. Her modest yet moving style gained great exposure with the success of Ordinary People, her account of divorce amid family tragedy. Errands returns to themes of grief and the trials of family life. When Keith Browner succumbs to cancer, his wife Annie faces the challenges of supporting their teenage children while dealing with her own grief and loneliness. The qualities of Guest's style complement this story, which eschews sensationalism in order to describe authentic feelings and believable characters.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Publishers Weekly
The specter and aftermath of death haunt a family, as they did in Ordinary People, Guest's classic of family dysfunction. Here, however, it's the father, not the son, who dies. After a cancerous brain tumor kills Keith Browner, his family reels from the sudden loss. Annie, his wife of 17 years, is so grief-stricken that she appears unable to meet the task of raising and supporting her three children in the Detroit suburbs. Her kids are trapped in a web of mourning and preadolescent angst. Harry, 12, is rebellious and guilt-ridden in his new role as man of the house. Jimmy, 11, is a loner. Nine-year-old Julie keeps a journal, trying desperately to make sense of all that is happening around her. Jess, Annie's sister, tries to help, but she's saddled with problems of her own, including a frustrating relationship with a married man. Annie resists all help as she gradually loses control of her life. Until the end, when some hope of recovery begins, each member of the family parcels out emotions tentatively, as alert as prey, certain that too much commitment will not go unpunished. In an epigraph, Guest writes that she prefers The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary's definition of the word "errand" as a "Journey made for a special purpose; an expedition; a mission." But her novel does not bear out that epic impulse. It never mounts a convincing expedition of the soul into the country beyond death and grief. While Guest has a fine ear for dialogue, especially in the family clashes, she lights no sparks of theme or character that might have propelled this earnest novel out of the realm of one-dimensional suburban melodrama. Major ad/promo; Literary Guild main and Doubleday Book Club alternate selections; author tour.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Very realistic,
By
This review is from: Errands (Audio Cassette)
I liked this book because it was so realistic, and the characters so ordinary (I like plain and ordinary things). I especially liked the ordinary-ness of the adult romantic relationships, such as the portrayal of sex between loving married partners with 3 active kids. However, this book lacked the "oomph" that would make me go back to it again and again. There is no deeper message to it than simple storytelling. It's a good read for passing the time, not for discovering humanity.
2.0 out of 5 stars
Sad, but barely there,
This review is from: Errands (Mass Market Paperback)
I picked up this book because I had been so stunned by the skill Judith Guest exhibited in 'Ordinary People'. But apparently she's grown much more tolerant of flaws in her writing since then.This book reads like it was totally unedited. While normally I am a patient reader, halfway through the book I just put it down and couldn't bring myself to pick it up again. Is it mature? Yes, yes, yes. Kindly refrain from bombarding me with indignant comments to the effect that Guest's writing has *matured* since 'Ordinary People'. Perhaps it has. But it takes more than maturity to make a good book. First of all, take the characters. Is there even a single distinctive or memorable one in the lot? Kenneth draws the most sympathy from the reader, because he is dying, and because the moments within his head when he is trying to sort out the meaning of his own existence are beautifully written. But even so, the fact that he is dying is his most outstanding characteristic. When he dies, the sense of loss is acute, and very well expressed. Unfortunately it is not enough to carry the book. Annie and the kids are, to be honest, rather dull. Their personalities are stereotyped, especially Harry's--another teen-deprived-of-father-figure delinquent for the ages. In general, people in this book seem to be defined by their problems, instead of being defined by genuine personalities. What really turned me off this book was the dialogue. Dialogue has many purposes: to inform the reader about the speaker's character, or to further the plot, to contribute to atmosphere, to set the tone....none of these things are accomplished in the useless lines put forth here. It sounds like the author wrote down everything everybody said at her own family picnic--no matter how boring or pointless--and made a novel out of it. Certainly the mundane is an essential fact of existence. But why dwell on it to the point of insanity? I find it more inspiring to wash dishes than to read dialogue like this, because at least I'm accomplishing something. If it hadn't been for the popularity of 'Ordinary People', I doubt this book would have been published without serious reworking.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Life's Errands,
By Miriam (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Errands (Hardcover)
When so many novels scoot by on waves of glitz and style, Judith Guest's "Errands" moves slowly, deliberately through the daily life of a family in Michigan. There are no movie stars, power brokers or politicians here. The characters are, as her previous novel was titled, "ordinary people" living ordinary lives.The critical event of the novel is the fatal illness of Keith, husband to Annie and father to Harry, Jimmy and Julie. Annie is strong, so strong that she cannot let herself be taken under by the grief and anger that well up inside her. So she holds herself straight, takes a job, snaps at her children, and keeps going. Meanwhile, the children fall apart, each in his or her own way. Annie's sister, Jess, watches the family's ordeal. And she steps in when she is needed, while trying not to push too hard. She has her own problems, emotionally thrown by her intense love affair with a married man. In the hands of another writer, Annie would be a very unsympathetic character - cold and aloof, demanding from her children the same stoic strength she requires of herself. Yet Guest is able to show us the suffering inside Annie, and how she tortures herself more than anyone else as she tries to hold on to sanity in the only way she knows. This book is not a quick read, but a thoughtful, powerful and moving experience. The beauty of Guest's writing lies in her willingness to look at everyday life and accept it, believe in it. She shows that how we face and deal with the real challenges of life is what matters in the end.
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