Title: How It’s Done
Author: Christine Kole MacLean
Synopsis: Brought up in a fundamentalist home, 18-year-old Grace feels trapped by her overbearing father and timid mother. When college professor Michael Irving walks into Graces life, they begin an affair. Grace soon discovers that being involved with an older man is not all chardonnay and poetry.
Review:
a.) Characters: 4/5 score. Grace is a strong character, and you are immediately thrown into her life with her overbearing father and timid mother. You feel her frustration and defeat, and her admiration for Michael. You get family with Liv’s family and Tori’s situation- and you see a lot of strength and weakness overall in everyone. Because of all that, these characters felt amazingly real, as if I could call any of them up on the phone right now and have a chat with them.
b.) Plot: 4/5 score. I have conflict with the plot, because even though I liked it I had a hard time believing it. I guess I do believe it, but it felt like it made Grace’s intelligence suffer because of it. On the same note, the infatuation she felt toward Michale was fueled by all the points in her life, so it was believable. I guess my conflict is more of a personal issue about her course of action.
c.) Writing style: 3/5 score. There was nothing dynamic about this style except how much Grace ignored her own values/beliefs for the sake of “love” and “freedom”. I myself, never having grown up with a religious background, am mystifies at how “damaging” it can be to life. If this confuses you (which I bet it does), read the darn book.
Rating: 11/15 total
Author: Christine Kole MacLean
Synopsis: Brought up in a fundamentalist home, 18-year-old Grace feels trapped by her overbearing father and timid mother. When college professor Michael Irving walks into Graces life, they begin an affair. Grace soon discovers that being involved with an older man is not all chardonnay and poetry.
Review:
a.) Characters: 4/5 score. Grace is a strong character, and you are immediately thrown into her life with her overbearing father and timid mother. You feel her frustration and defeat, and her admiration for Michael. You get family with Liv’s family and Tori’s situation- and you see a lot of strength and weakness overall in everyone. Because of all that, these characters felt amazingly real, as if I could call any of them up on the phone right now and have a chat with them.
b.) Plot: 4/5 score. I have conflict with the plot, because even though I liked it I had a hard time believing it. I guess I do believe it, but it felt like it made Grace’s intelligence suffer because of it. On the same note, the infatuation she felt toward Michale was fueled by all the points in her life, so it was believable. I guess my conflict is more of a personal issue about her course of action.
c.) Writing style: 3/5 score. There was nothing dynamic about this style except how much Grace ignored her own values/beliefs for the sake of “love” and “freedom”. I myself, never having grown up with a religious background, am mystifies at how “damaging” it can be to life. If this confuses you (which I bet it does), read the darn book.
Rating: 11/15 total
I really do love this book. It will be added to my reread selection on Goodreads (even though I have already reread some chapters). I think I appreciate books like this because of the fine line between right and wrong, the challenge to her beliefs, and coming-to-age. It is a type of book like this that can have a moral learning inside the writing.
So even if you come away from it now simply enjoying what you read, down the line you might make a different decision all together because of what this taught. There are questions at the end of the book that I am going to post in a different post, once I complete them all. So if you do happen to read it, we can compare notes! :-)
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