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Title: Hapless people make for fruitless reading
Review: I looked forward to reading this book, having heard so many good things about it. However, I found the characters disturbingly self-involved and even rather stupid about the way life works. Alice doesn't lift a finger to help herself, before or after her tragedies; she is a drifter. She "forgives" her husband -- but I don't know for what. The jail scenes were very false, and the black dialect was off-key (i.e., "I be listening" means I'm listening all the time. "I listening" would mean I'm listening right now.) Hamilton says her point is all about forgiveness -- but it is Theresa who has something to forgive. Alice brought her troubles on herself. I am a teacher and there ARE annoying children, and you can lose your temper. But you make it up to the child later, even apologize! You don't go on resenting the kid. He's a KID! A very odd book, and very disappointing.
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