Read it and judge for yourself., Jul 14 2004

Worthington's murder remains the talk of the Outer Cape, even several years after the fact, probably because humans dislike the unknown and most of us long to feel safe, which we can't so long as murderers remain at large among us. As far as I know, no one has been arrested for the crime, although the father of Worthington's child seems to no longer be a suspect. It's hard to imagine what sort of threat this befuddled woman presented to her killer, so I tend to go along with Flook's contention that this was a crime of passion, perhaps even committed on the spur of the moment.

In any case, Flook has thoroughly documented events leading up to the murder, as well as the subsequent investigation by small town law enforcement. I found it to be an interesting study and encourage readers who like "true crime" books to check it out for themselves.

Not Just for Scholars, Jul 14 2004

The text is deep, but not difficult, and the author's conclusions are based on evidence, rather than personal opinion. I have seen several books in the last few years that bemoan the impacts of recent gentrification by gays and lesbians in P'town, but none of those were properly researched, nor were they in any sense objective. This study goes much farther in presenting a balanced picture of a town that many of us love, but don't quite know what to make of its changing social landscape.

Strong characters, good plot twists, Jun 22 2004

The source of Etna's power -- perhaps the very power itself -- is her ability to hold a part of herself back from her husband and family. She keeps secrets, both of fact and of feeling, so that her integrity as a person can't be breached by a husband who feels entitled to know and own her totally. I identified deeply with Etna's need to do this, as I believe many women will who have been married to men who at first seemed innocuous but after a few years of marriage are revealed to be unbearably possessive. In self defense, Etna must keep her true self contained and hidden from her husband's impulse toward emotional rape.

While that may sound a bit strong, it seems very legitimate to me. I found the fact that Etna creates a personal studio space for herself -- and keeps it secret from her husband -- a natural response to his overwhelming intrusiveness. It's a testament to Shreve's ability to finely draw her characters that a reader such as myself can so thoroughly identify with the heroine's emotions, as well as feel stifled by a fictional character such as the husband.

Overall, this is a very good novel with enough depth and action to entertain readers without being shallow.

Worth the Effort, April 29 2004

This novel reminded me of some other great works about madness, such as Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar. The "heroine" Judith, if she can be called that, documents her descent into ever-deeper madness in her journal, which takes up the middle portion of the book. I found this section highly compelling, as the journal entries have an inexorable quality that made me understand early on that there would be no redemption for Judith.

I also enjoyed the way Martha Cooley applies passages of T. S. Eliot to the lives of the main characters. While I have always loved Eliot, reading Cooley's interpretation of his work deepened my appreciation for this great poet and led me to re-read The Waste Land, which I am doing now.

And near the end, when Matt comes to believe that he mishandled Judith and her mental illness, I found myself identifying with something quite unrelated from my own life, which tells me that the feelings Cooley describes are universal, and not tied only to her characters and their situations.

I'm struck by the level of sophistication and nuance that Cooley serves up in her first (and apparently, only) novel and hope that we see more entries from her in the near future. While it is true, as another reviewer has observed, that this novel is likely to appeal to "bookworms," I don't believe that we are the only critters who will find it worthwhile. All serious thinkers, particularly those who are interested in Eliot, will enjoy this novel.

An Inspiring Heroine, April 16 2004

If you are not familiar with Jane Austen's work, don't be put off by the comments of others. Start with one of her more well-known novels, such as Pride and Prejudice or Emma, and then work up to Mansfield Park after you've come to love Austen.

If you are one of those women who, like me, devoured Austen's more well-known novels and are now searching for the lesser known work, will enjoy Mansfield Park as well. I give it five stars just for the simple fact that it was written by Austen, arguably one of the greatest writers in the English language, male or female.

High romance, not yet perfected, April 13 2004

Some reviewers have asserted that this novel lacks adequate character development. I have a contrarian point of view in that I think Shreve deliberately omits describing the internal moral struggles of her characters because they really don't experience much moral struggle. I see them as being caught up in the powerful flow of emotion, of a love that they believe was destined to occur, and suspect that what drives other reviewers' antipathy toward this novel is not lack of character development, but the characters' lack of self-recrimination.

In any case, I rather enjoyed this book and, as a big Shreve fan, fancy that I can see the budding of her considerable talents in this early example of her work. It is also a refreshing change to read about middle-aged characters who are coping with the effects of aging on their bodies, and the awkward feelings that arise when one engages in a romantic relationship at an age where physical beauty is on the wane. These are challenging issues for many people that are not often addressed in popular fiction.

So while I do not recommend this novel without reservation, I do recommend it to those who have enjoyed the more sophisticated Shreve books and are now down to reading her earlier works while awaiting a new book from her.

Beautifully Written, Highly Evocative, April 4 2004

While the daughter does end up learning the identity of her biological father, that is not her true quest in this novel. Rather, she is searching for the *meaning* of what took place in her childhood, not merely trying to uncover the facts. I always enjoy stories where the author gives me tidbits of a story and I have to use my wit and intuition to figure out what really happened, pulling information from the narratives of the main characters to find objective reality beneath the characters' subjective experiences. This is one of those books, and I quite enjoyed unraveling the mystery as I savored Martin's beautiful prose. I highly recommend this book for readers who appreciate a good story, well told.

Good reference for managers and useful as a course text., Mar 29 2004

While this book provides a solid grounding in the basics, I found that I still needed supplemental materials in order to provide students will the full picture of nonprofit marketing, specifically readings and case studies about social marketing, on which this book is rather light. An good companion volume is Marketing the Public Sector, by Seymour Fine, which is (sadly) out of print, but worth tracking down. The conscientious instructor will need to do some customized updating of the Fine book, since by now it is quite old and much has changed. Nevertheless, it is a useful resource, for which I have not been able to find an adequate replacement.

One asset of the Sargeant book is its price, which is considerably less than the standard text used in nonprofit marketing courses -- Alan Andreason's Marketing in Nonprofit Organizations. In good conscience, I just can't require my students to puchase a text that costs $120., especially since many of them are working for modest salaries in charitable organizations. On the whole, the Sargeant book is one of the best I've found for providing a sound overview of nonprofit marketing concepts at a reasonable price.