I sometimes didn't quite know what to make of this novel but in the end I think he did capture the life of a woman born in 1930 living in a small community really rather well as understated as it was. The novel just sort of "is" without a lot of fuss....kind of like Hope herself. One reviewer said he was trying to "channel Alice Munro and failed". No, I don't think so and the novel is successful on its own terms.
