Matters of chance : a novel
Record details
- ISBN: 0060170034
-
Physical Description:
439 p. ; 25 cm.
print - Edition: 1st ed.
- Publisher: New York : HarperCollins, 1997.
Content descriptions
Summary, etc.: | When a World War II veteran returns home he struggles with self-doubt as his wife and children have changed, his successful business is gone, and he questions how to face the future. |
Target Audience Note: | Adult |
Search for related items by subject
Subject: | Adopted children Fiction Cleveland (Ohio) Fiction |
Genre: | Love stories. Domestic fiction. Historical fiction. |
Available copies
- 2 of 2 copies available at Bibliomation.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 2 total copies.
Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Babcock Library - Ashford | F Hai (Text) | 3311000057556- | Adult Fiction | Available | - |
Silas Bronson Library - Waterbury | FIC HAIEN, J (Text) | 34005086071833 | Adult Fiction | Available | - |
Library Journal Review
Matters of Chance : A Novel
Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
When she's not giving piano recitals worldwide, Haien is doing things like winning the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction for her work The All of It. Her new novel features a young family's struggles as the father goes off to World War II. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publishers Weekly Review
Matters of Chance : A Novel
Publishers Weekly
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
The word "old-fashioned" becomes a positive term when applied to this meticulously observed, quietly paced and deeply satisfying novel. Haien, the septuagenarian whose first novel, The All of It, earned critical praise a decade ago, here celebrates old-fashioned valuesÂhonor, duty, service, dignity, fidelity, traditionÂin a leisurely, discursive narrative that chronicles lives lived well and destinies achieved. Morgan and Maud Shurtliff come from old Ohio families of high moral standards and decent impulses; they have been schooled since childhood to understand that affluence carries the responsibility of noblesse oblige. Their marriage is passionate, though initially marred by Maud's inability to have children, then blessed by twin girls adopted with the help of eccentric Miss Zenobia Sly. Morgan does the honorable thing and enlists in WWII, serving on a Liberty ship that is torpedoed in the Indian Ocean, where the crew endures several harrowing days in a lifeboat before being rescued. (Haien renders shipboard life, shore visits to exotic ports and the crucible of battle with bedrock credibility.) The war and his brush with death are watershed events for Morgan; he bonds with men from other social classes who liberate him from a cloistered view of the world. He also secretly corresponds with Zenobia Sly; their platonic but intimate friendship is one of the few anomalies in Morgan's ordered life, which is pervaded by domestic tranquillity, parental pride and career success as a highly respected lawyer. Haien deliberately avoids bravura scenes, indulging instead in lengthy (but always interesting) digressions. She thus embroiders a rich tapestry of details, and invests Morgan, Maud, their daughters and their circle of family and friends with emotional complexity and a social and cultural context. MortalityÂinevitable and tragicÂcomes suddenly, with many repercussions. In the end, we understand that chance plays a large part in human events, but choice, and the mysterious workings of fate, are equally powerful in individual lives. Haien's clarity of vision, along with her humane and generous view of character, illuminates this beautiful story of marital love and moral behavior. Author tour. UK, first serial, dramatic rights: Sterling Lord Literistic. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Matters of Chance : A Novel
Kirkus Reviews
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Septuagenarian Haien's second novel (The All of It, 1986) is a simplistic though satisfying and pretty much traditional family chronicle. The word ``saga'' may be too dramatic to describe this history of the Shurtliff clan, since their lives are happily free of long- term suffering, shocking revelations, or mysterious people. Instead, Haien has crafted an old-fashioned tale in which nothing much happens but ordinary life. Beginning with the courtship and subsequent marriage of Maud and Morgan Shurtliff, two upper-crust Ohioans, the novel paints an attractive picture of the young couple, rich, kind, and deeply in love. The only shadow thrown across their lives is Maud's infertility, which leads the pair to the eccentric Miss Zenobia Sly and her Tilden-Herne Adoption Agency. They bring home happiness in the form of twin infant girls, Caroline and Julia. Soon after, WW II erupts, and the reader follows Morgan's ordeal in the Navy. After the war, a more somber Morgan returns home, picks up his law practice, and prospers; the girls grow; and the family buys a large manor house. All the while, Morgan keeps in contact with Miss Sly (against Maud's wishes: the elderly lady is a reminder of their girls' adoption), and the two form a warm, confidential (and platonic) friendship. Time passes, the girls go off to Bryn Mawr, and just as Morgan and Maud are preparing for a long European holiday in celebration of partial parental freedom, Maud dies of a brain hemorrhage. The latter parts of the story are devoted to the ways in which the family puts itself back together, how life moves on, and how love blooms again. Not plot but character creates the charm here: The relationship between Morgan and his charismatic father, his confidences with Miss Sly, and his interactions with his daughters are all depicted in affectionate detail. Far from groundbreaking fiction, but a gratifying, companionable read nonetheless.