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| Plot Summary of Second Chances |
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"Jan Franklin will always remember 1967, it was the year her mother died and left her and her brother Kevin to be brought up by their strict minister father in the small Maine coastal town of Stark Harbor. When Jan gets pregnant, her father is so ashamed that he sends her off to a home for unmarried mothers and doesn't tell anyone where she has gone or why.
Her younger brother thinks she has run away, Tom Croft, the father of her baby doesn't know why she left, he knows nothing of their baby. He punches Jan's father when Bill Franklin won't tell him where Jan is and has a choice of either going to reform school or joining the army. He joins the army. Jan thinks he heard that she was pregnant and has deserted her, so she refuses to return to Stark Harbor and instead lives with her aunt and finishes school there.
Seduced by one of the teachers, she gets pregnant again, but he marries her. Her happiness is short lived, her new husband loses his job for sleeping with a student and he blames Jan for his lot in life, taking everything out on her with his fists.
Years later, Jan, Tom and Kevin return to Stark Harbor and discover some of the secrets that had been harbored there for so may years, secrets that will ultimately end in betrayal and murder…
This a well written novel of small town life, not everything is as calm as it appears on the surface. The characters are well drawn. Some of the issues in the book such as suicide, incest and homosexuality are explored graphically, which may be a bit close to the bone for some, but I think Ms. Barron has done an admirable job at dealing with them. Nothing is hidden under the carpet here with her writing, and I do personally think that the book wouldn't have been as strong without those scenes.
A highly enjoyable read.
reviewed by Annette Gisby, author of Silent Screams."
Annette Gisby, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Second Chances |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Romance/Romance Problems
Yes
Family, struggle with
Yes
Struggle with:
- Father (or standin)
Internal struggle/realization?
Yes
Struggle over
- vague finding self/purpose in life (i.e. no plot to book)
Kind of sex:
- incest
- rape
- molestation
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Pregnancy/Child rearing
Yes
Major part of story:
- to abort or not abort
- general child raising
Coping with loss of loved one(s)
Yes
Loss of...
- mother
Battle with a psychiatrist
Yes
Taboo sex story?
Yes
Brain/Body disability?
- mental illness
Main Character
Gender
- Female
Profession/status:
- journalist
Age:
- 40's-50's
Eccentric/Mental
Yes
Eccentric:
- emotionally unstable
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- soggy whimpering jelly muffin
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Main Adversary
Identity:
- society
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- an above average amount
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 7 ()
United States
Yes
The US:
- Northeast
Water?
Yes
Water:
- drowning
- sail boat
Small town?
Yes
Small town people:
- hostile, like Gomer Pyle on steroids
Style
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
Sex in book?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- vague references
- descript of kissing
- impregnation/reproduction
- actual description of hetero sex
- descript. of female anat. (the big B's)
- male homosexuals doing their thing
- rape/molest (yeech!)
Unusual Style:
- a lot of flashback and forwards
Amount of dialog
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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