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whatiswhatwas's review
4.0
I picked this book up from the "Express Collection" at the library on a whim. It's not the type of book I'd normally read. But you know, I actually quite enjoyed it.
Yeah, a little bit of cliche stuff... but set in an interesting, turbulent time. I think there could have been a bit more depth in pretty much every store line, but there was still enough to keep me interested. Add in a little bit of romance, at least at the end, and a bit of a plot twist that I didn't see coming, and it's a pretty good book.
Yeah, a little bit of cliche stuff... but set in an interesting, turbulent time. I think there could have been a bit more depth in pretty much every store line, but there was still enough to keep me interested. Add in a little bit of romance, at least at the end, and a bit of a plot twist that I didn't see coming, and it's a pretty good book.
cook_memorial_public_library's review
3.0
Recommended by Jane T. Check our catalog: http://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/search/C__Sloss%20of%20innocence%20patterson__Orightresult__U?lang=eng&suite=pearl
gr8reader's review
4.0
Just when you think you have it figured out........RNP shows you that you don't!
ashak's review
2.0
prequel to fall from grace. Interesting plot considering patterson is known more for his legal thriller. This is a thriller of sorts with all sorts of twists but read more like a romance. Ok story but good writing made it possible for me to stick through.
gifflesnooks's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
eatonaly's review against another edition
3.0
A very quick read for me. I've read so many Martha's Vineyard/Nantucket/etc. books, maybe too many, considering I don't really "get it." A good look into a young woman's coming of age, though, plus good 1968 context.
sjdoyle12's review against another edition
3.0
More like 3.5 A little slow in the middle but still a good read.
booksuperpower's review against another edition
4.0
Loss of Innocence by Richard North Patterson is a Quercus publication. This book is slated for an early October,2013 release.
Our story starts out in Martha's Vineyard in 2011. Carla is pregnant with her lover's child. She's an actress, recovering alcoholic, and hiding out from the media. She is staying in the guest house of Whitney Dane, a woman that shared a history with Carla's now deceased lover and father of her unborn child. Whitney is now in her mid sixties, was a WASP, and now a successful novelist.
As she and Carla meet for a get to know you chat, Whitney begins to tell Carla about her past with Ben. This takes us back to Martha's Vineyard in the landmark year of 1968.
Whitney's life was going according to plan. She as engaged to be married. Her father liked her fiancé enough to give him a job and keep him out of the draft. Whitney and her best friend Clarice have the summer to spend together and plan a wedding. The only dark clouds in the sky have to do with Whitney's sister Janine. Whitney was not her mother's favorite daughter. Janine was model material and Whitney's mother lived vicariously through her. If her relationship with her mother was strained, it was made up a little bit by her father. Whitney held her father in the highest regard.
While Whitney harbors the usual doubts about marriage and her fear of becoming like her mother, for the most part she is content. Until she meets Ben.
Ben and his brother Jack are from a violent background. Their father was an abusive man and a heavy drinker. The boys worked for caterers for the wealthy on Martha's Vineyard.
Ben is like no one Whitney has ever met. He was enrolled at Yale, but had dropped out to work for Bobby Kennedy. He was still raw from Bobby's death and now fears that he will be drafted. His politics and resentment toward those of privilege, causes Whitney to take stock of her life. She realizes that her life has been sheltered and isolated. There was more she could do and be besides someone's wife or someone's mother. For the first time Whitney begins to see things from another perfective and this worries her parents a great deal. They do not like her new friendship with Ben.
Ben stirs up things between Whitney and her fiancé, Peter as well. As Whitney grapples with her sudden restlessness regarding her future and feelings for Ben, dark family secrets come to the surface. For Whitney things may never be the same again.
The bulk of the story is set in 1968. This particular year was just mind blowing. Going back and remembering all the events of that year, it was hard to believe so much happened is such a short space of time.
The setting of Martha's Vineyard was perfect. This location was so far removed from the violence and drugs and rock festivals and all the other trappings of that year. It was like being on another planet. The upper classes were still holding on the old value system. The wife lurking in the background, while her husband provides for the family. The prejudices against race and religion, the conservative politics and the power at the finger tips of those with wealth.
Whitney was not unlike a lot of girls in that time, raised in the type of family she was. There was certain amount of innocence that really is naïvete. These girls didn't march in Washington or protest openly, or any of the other things going on in that era. Whitney did defy tradition in some ways, but for the most part she did what was expected of her. It was particularly disturbing to read some to the conversations between Whitney and her mother. The expectations of wives that she felt Whitney should adhere to in her upcoming marriage.
Although Whitney was college educated, she was mostly surrounded by others like herself. Meeting Ben was the best and worst thing that happened to Whitney. He was the first person that shook her out of her own little world. Even Whitney's best friend's only ambition was to achieve status quo.
It was no wonder Ben had such an effect on Whitney.
We watch with interest as Whitney comes out of her shell and then we watch in absolute horror as she discovers horrible truths about her own family. Things don't turn out like you might expect. But for Whitney, a young girl that grows into womanhood in one summer, she takes control of her life in a way she never would have imagined herself doing.
This is a poignant story. Nostalgic , but also melancholy. It was tragic, but ironic, and ultimately Whitney wins my approval and respect. I would like to have been given a little information about Ben and Carla and the circumstances that brought Carla to this point. Maybe someday we will read about that portion of Ben's life.
This was an absorbing story. I have read Richard North Patterson's novels for many years. I always liked his style. This one is a departure from the type of books I've read by him previously. The style I like was still present, and I really enjoyed the novel. Over all a B+
Our story starts out in Martha's Vineyard in 2011. Carla is pregnant with her lover's child. She's an actress, recovering alcoholic, and hiding out from the media. She is staying in the guest house of Whitney Dane, a woman that shared a history with Carla's now deceased lover and father of her unborn child. Whitney is now in her mid sixties, was a WASP, and now a successful novelist.
As she and Carla meet for a get to know you chat, Whitney begins to tell Carla about her past with Ben. This takes us back to Martha's Vineyard in the landmark year of 1968.
Whitney's life was going according to plan. She as engaged to be married. Her father liked her fiancé enough to give him a job and keep him out of the draft. Whitney and her best friend Clarice have the summer to spend together and plan a wedding. The only dark clouds in the sky have to do with Whitney's sister Janine. Whitney was not her mother's favorite daughter. Janine was model material and Whitney's mother lived vicariously through her. If her relationship with her mother was strained, it was made up a little bit by her father. Whitney held her father in the highest regard.
While Whitney harbors the usual doubts about marriage and her fear of becoming like her mother, for the most part she is content. Until she meets Ben.
Ben and his brother Jack are from a violent background. Their father was an abusive man and a heavy drinker. The boys worked for caterers for the wealthy on Martha's Vineyard.
Ben is like no one Whitney has ever met. He was enrolled at Yale, but had dropped out to work for Bobby Kennedy. He was still raw from Bobby's death and now fears that he will be drafted. His politics and resentment toward those of privilege, causes Whitney to take stock of her life. She realizes that her life has been sheltered and isolated. There was more she could do and be besides someone's wife or someone's mother. For the first time Whitney begins to see things from another perfective and this worries her parents a great deal. They do not like her new friendship with Ben.
Ben stirs up things between Whitney and her fiancé, Peter as well. As Whitney grapples with her sudden restlessness regarding her future and feelings for Ben, dark family secrets come to the surface. For Whitney things may never be the same again.
The bulk of the story is set in 1968. This particular year was just mind blowing. Going back and remembering all the events of that year, it was hard to believe so much happened is such a short space of time.
The setting of Martha's Vineyard was perfect. This location was so far removed from the violence and drugs and rock festivals and all the other trappings of that year. It was like being on another planet. The upper classes were still holding on the old value system. The wife lurking in the background, while her husband provides for the family. The prejudices against race and religion, the conservative politics and the power at the finger tips of those with wealth.
Whitney was not unlike a lot of girls in that time, raised in the type of family she was. There was certain amount of innocence that really is naïvete. These girls didn't march in Washington or protest openly, or any of the other things going on in that era. Whitney did defy tradition in some ways, but for the most part she did what was expected of her. It was particularly disturbing to read some to the conversations between Whitney and her mother. The expectations of wives that she felt Whitney should adhere to in her upcoming marriage.
Although Whitney was college educated, she was mostly surrounded by others like herself. Meeting Ben was the best and worst thing that happened to Whitney. He was the first person that shook her out of her own little world. Even Whitney's best friend's only ambition was to achieve status quo.
It was no wonder Ben had such an effect on Whitney.
We watch with interest as Whitney comes out of her shell and then we watch in absolute horror as she discovers horrible truths about her own family. Things don't turn out like you might expect. But for Whitney, a young girl that grows into womanhood in one summer, she takes control of her life in a way she never would have imagined herself doing.
This is a poignant story. Nostalgic , but also melancholy. It was tragic, but ironic, and ultimately Whitney wins my approval and respect. I would like to have been given a little information about Ben and Carla and the circumstances that brought Carla to this point. Maybe someday we will read about that portion of Ben's life.
This was an absorbing story. I have read Richard North Patterson's novels for many years. I always liked his style. This one is a departure from the type of books I've read by him previously. The style I like was still present, and I really enjoyed the novel. Over all a B+
canada_matt's review against another edition
4.0
Patterson returns with the second Martha's Vineyard trilogy, pushing the reader back to the summer of '68, where Whitney Dane is coming into her own. After her engagement to a social acceptable young man, her summer of revelations begins, which will change life as she knows it. The novel outlines Whitney's struggles with these revelations and the toll it takes on her entire family of rich, New England Republicans. When Whitney encounters a young Ben Blaine, Yale drop-out and aspiring writer, her life takes a major turn, leaving her to ponder the pre-determined path her life should take. While others around her are threatened by the young Blaine, Whitney discovers kindred friendship with him, forcing her to realise that stability is no guarantee, no matter one's class. As the country witnesses a political upheaval, where divisions within the Democrats paves the way for a united GOP to crown Nixon and keep the war in Vietnam going strong, lines are drawn, with Whitney in the middle. Both Whitney and Ben suffer their own loss of innocence as they see life around them metamorphosise, not always for the better. Patterson adds layers to his trilogy and enriches both the story and its characters with this instalment that seeks to offer a complete different spin on Ben Blaine from his depiction in the pages of FALL FROM GRACE.
Patterson again aptly titles the novel, as 1968 was surely a loss of innocence for many. Assassinations of King and Kennedy, riots in Chicago, and the build-up of Vietnam, to name but a few. Patterson tackles these events through the lens of the New England rich and their stuffy-shirt interpretations. While fans of the series will know that Ben Blaine played a pivotal role in FALL FROM GRACE (through flashbacks at his funeral), the Blaine character emerges in this novel, giving more of a first-hand look at the man who was strongly vilified. A powerful story filled with the politics of the time helps Patterson lay the foundation with some of the older generation of characters made popular in the opening book. Fabulous insight into this series, a complete reinvention of Patterson's norm.
Kudos, Mr. Patterson for this intelligent novel, seeking to open the reader's eyes and minds to another means of analysis of this fiery year. I am eager to see how you will tie off the trilogy in short order.
Patterson again aptly titles the novel, as 1968 was surely a loss of innocence for many. Assassinations of King and Kennedy, riots in Chicago, and the build-up of Vietnam, to name but a few. Patterson tackles these events through the lens of the New England rich and their stuffy-shirt interpretations. While fans of the series will know that Ben Blaine played a pivotal role in FALL FROM GRACE (through flashbacks at his funeral), the Blaine character emerges in this novel, giving more of a first-hand look at the man who was strongly vilified. A powerful story filled with the politics of the time helps Patterson lay the foundation with some of the older generation of characters made popular in the opening book. Fabulous insight into this series, a complete reinvention of Patterson's norm.
Kudos, Mr. Patterson for this intelligent novel, seeking to open the reader's eyes and minds to another means of analysis of this fiery year. I am eager to see how you will tie off the trilogy in short order.
canadianbookworm's review
3.0
Hadn't read this author in a while and was looking for an audiobook so grabbed this one. The story is framed as the reminiscences of an older woman to a younger one, looking back at the summer of 1968 when Whitney Dane had finished university and was planning her wedding, to take place at the end of the summer. Whitney is a daughter of privilege, and she spends the summer at her parents' summer home on Martha's Vineyard. Her fiance has been given a job in her father's investment firm and comes back and forth, staying in the guest house on weekends. Her parents have bought the couple an apartment in New York City in the same building they started their own married life. Whitney feels that her life is planned to be a replica of her parents, and isn't entirely sure that is what she wants.
Lots is going on in the world, the assassination of Robert Kennedy, the Vietnam war and the draft, civil unrest, particularly from black Americans, and even internationally with the Russian smothering of rebellion in Czechoslovakia. Whitney is also worried about her older sister, "the pretty one", and whether her life is really what it is what she claims. She is befriended by a local young man, a man with his own baggage, but who listens to her and values her intellect, encouraging her to think of new possibilities. As Whitney observes those around her and struggles to figure out what she really wants, she learns more about those close to her than she wants to know. A very engaging novel.
Lots is going on in the world, the assassination of Robert Kennedy, the Vietnam war and the draft, civil unrest, particularly from black Americans, and even internationally with the Russian smothering of rebellion in Czechoslovakia. Whitney is also worried about her older sister, "the pretty one", and whether her life is really what it is what she claims. She is befriended by a local young man, a man with his own baggage, but who listens to her and values her intellect, encouraging her to think of new possibilities. As Whitney observes those around her and struggles to figure out what she really wants, she learns more about those close to her than she wants to know. A very engaging novel.