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|  | |  | | | The Odd Woman: A Novel | | | | | SKU:
ACAMP_book_usedgood_0345389913 | | In Stock | | Availability:
Usually ships in 1 business days | | Only 3 left in stock, order soon! | | | | | | "HER BEST BOOK SO FAR....[It is] one of the most literate, intelligent and powerful novels I have ever read."
--Eugenia Thornton
The Cleveland Plain Dealer
Professor Jane Clifford is in her early thirties, smart, and attractive. A popular teacher at a midwestern college, she appears to be going somewhere. But Jane knows better. After a lifetime habit of looking to books for the answers to life's mysteries, she seems to be finding only more questions.
Then her beloved grandmother suddenly dies, and Jane returns home for the funeral, where she is faced with the little dramas and fictions of both the past she has lived and the past she has only been told about. In the midst of it all, she is considering breaking off a long-term, long-distance affair, but like the family stories she tries to make sense of, she cannot seem to find a reason to claim a life of her own....
"PROVOCATIVE...The Odd Woman is an ambitious and intricately developed novel....One of the most realistic, intelligent and skillful character studies of a contemporary woman to date....Godwin is an extraordinarily good writer....She is a shrewd observer of human sensibilities and shortcomings--particularly those of women--and she explores them in depth with sensitivity, wit and an uncanny eye for the truth."
--Chicago Sun-Times
"EXCITING AND AFFIRMATIVE...It is a privilege to watch the unfolding of her impressive talent."
--Minneapolis Tribune | | | |
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| | Product Details | | Author: | Gail Godwin | | Paperback: | 464 pages | | Publisher: | Ballantine Books | | Publication Date: | November 29, 2005 | | Language: | English | | ISBN: | 0345389913 | | Product Length: | 5.2 inches | | Product Width: | 1.0 inches | | Product Height: | 8.01 inches | | Product Weight: | 0.49 pounds | | Package Length: | 8.46 inches | | Package Width: | 5.49 inches | | Package Height: | 1.1 inches | | Package Weight: | 1.47 pounds | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 5 reviews |
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| | Customer Reviews | Average Customer Review: ( 5 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 15 found the following review helpful:
 Not Godwin's best, but... Sep 16, 2000
Father Melancholy's Daughter, its sequel, Evensong, and A Mother and Two Daughters are, for me, vintage Godwin. They set the standard for penetrating characterization and unsettling glimpses into how people really work. I picked up The Odd Woman with high hopes and was not utterly disappointed. Flickers of the good things Godwin will accomplish in later novels are abundant in this rather dense exploration of a "spinster professor's" running inner dialogue. If this is your first go-around with Godwin, however, skip this for the infinitely richer Father Melancholy's Daughter or A Mother and Daughters.
7 of 8 found the following review helpful:
An interesting character study;not so interesting character. Apr 18, 1999
Gail Godwin has written some wonderful books; it was the experiences I've had with Ms. Godwin's books that kept me reading this one. I cared very little for the characters or for the story, but kept reading, looking for one of those gems of revalation that sometimes strike when reading Gail Godwin - even those were lacking. Books must be so well written that the words and sentences themselves keep you turning the page; if the words fail the characters and plot must take over. I could not make myself care what happened to Jane Clifford; a professor of literature who refers to George Eliot by the infrequently used Marian Evens (Mary Anne the name used in standard references and biographical notes). At first, I didn't even know who she was referring to, and in the end I found it to be an annoyance. Jane reminded me of one of those people who feel burdened by their intelligence and remove themselves from the world as we know and enjoy it because they are "just a cut above", yet she mourns her lack of close relationships and sticks, from pride rather than love, to a married man who treats her like the sometime mistress of a married man, and a friend who annoys her by looking for friendship.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
well-written but delves too deeply into too many issues Aug 24, 1998
This is the first time I've read a book by Gail Godwin. As it relates to real-life issues, it is not action-packed, nor is it fast paced. It is a bit difficult getting through the 423 pages. It is an accurate portrayal of a thirtysomething, single woman struggling with past decisions. Analyzing her present situation, a two-year affair with an older, married man, she looks to her family (mother, grandmother, half-sister, great aunt) for clues on which direction to take. So much research, so much reflecting, etc., are certainly believable but tedious to read. Interesting characters are introduced (the previously mentioned family members, friends, step father, etc.) but some of them seem extraneous to the central story. A little more focus might have made this more compelling. And, frankly, I am not sure that I ever fully cared for the main character enough to care about her decision. Just when I felt a kinship with her, her thoughts took her someplace else and lost me. Her relationship with her grandmother might have been explored in a separate book. Or, even a tale of the three generations of women and their development over a couple of decades. This book included some of that plus outside friendships plus the affair which was just too much for one volume.
2 of 3 found the following review helpful:
 A disappointment! May 23, 1999
By Allene Phy-Olsen
"phyolsena"
I first read this book when I too was a 30ish, unmarried college professor, like its heroine. Fiction which tackles the concerns of professional women was then, as now, rare. I eagerly sought out this book, and what a disappointment it was! The professional concerns received almost no attention, while the heroine's energies were consumed by ill advised romantic and erotic relationships. So what's new? Poorly conceived and not very well written!
2 of 11 found the following review helpful:
Wonderful book! Jun 27, 1996
Gail Godwin is one of my favorite authors. Single women will
appreciate this book immensely. Godwin weaves a convincing story
of a 30+ single woman who examines her relationships when her beloved
Grandmother dies. While this story might seem like a familiar
one for readers of southern fiction, Godwin adds new depth by creating the
most convincing portrait I have ever read of the "internal dialogue"
that plagues all of us. Jane Clifford, the book's protagonist, is one of the
most convincing characters I've ever had the pleasure to know! Enjoy!
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