Devining Women

I just finished reading Devining Women by Kaye Gibbons a few days ago. I wanted to take a couple of days to mentally digest what I had read and form a clear opinion before posting to this blog. However, those few days have now passed me by and I am still left with a cloudy impression. I'm somewhat undecided about how to respond to this selection. Technically speaking, the novel was very well-written in a style that was easy to follow. The storyline flowed smoothly with clear, precise transitions. The character descriptions were unique in the fact that the you get more of a sense of who each "person" IS in behavior and manner rather than the typical physical description...which allowed more freedom to "create" your own version of each character in your mind's eye. In other words...you can relish imagining the eccentric grandfather who practices nudism to resemble that little old man who sits in the same spot on the front pew of your church every Sunday - never speaking a word to anyone. And isn't funny how the cruel husband so closely resembles that jerk you dated once (thank God you didn't marry him). As for the story-line itself....it was interesting. As a woman...it made me angry...both for the heroine and at her for not standing up for herself and how dare her husband treat her that way. As a reader...I was glad for the change in Maureen's character...but somehow the end didn't quite satisfy me. My closing thought was ..."hmmm." I wanted something more. The romantic in me was looking for that "happily ever after" ending where Maureen left the jerk...remarried...had a houseful of beautiful children and lived happily ever after. The bitch in me wanted the husband to suffer.