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| Plot Summary of Happenstance |
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"This book has the unusual format of containing two books in one: from front to back reads "The Wife's story" and from back to front "The Husband's story." The latter was written first, but the two are written such that either can be read first.
The wife, Brenda Bowman, is a housewife who has recently gained commercial success and cultural renown as a quiltmaker. As the novel opens, she is leaving her Chicago home to attend a quiltmaker's conference in Philadelphia. Over the course of a week, she attends workshops on various aspects of quiltmaking, makes friends, and becomes increasingly intimate with a man she meets. On the first night at the conference, she visits him in his room and leaves there her brand new red raincoat, which she purchased at an exorbitant price, and finds it missing when she returns. She reflects much on her relationship with her husband Jack and with the two teenage children she has left at home.
Meanwhile, Jack remains at home. His half of the story covers the same timespan but essentially none of the same events. Jack is a historian who has been working for years at the same book and is beginning to doubt himself and his subject matter. He reads in a journal that an ex-girlfriend, the girl he left for Brenda, has just published a book on ostensibly the same topic. While pondering the future of his career, Jack is overwhelmed by crises: his best friend separates from his wife and comes to stay at the Bowman house; the next door neighbor attempts suicide. All the while, Jack ponders his own role in history and the way that the recorded versions of events often leave out the most significant points."
Melissa Rachiele, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Happenstance |
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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
Tone of book?
- very sensitive (sigh)
Time/era of story
- 1980's-1999
Romance/Romance Problems
Yes
Kind of romance:
- marriage/relationship going to pieces
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Main Character
Gender
- Female
Profession/status:
- artist
Age:
- 40's-50's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 40's-50's
Profession/status:
- writer
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- a substantial amount
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 5 ()
United States
Yes
The US:
- Northeast
- Midwest
Style
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- no torture/death
Unusual Style:
- a lot of flashback and forwards
- No single main character?
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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