The Sabbathday River
by Jean Hanff Korelitz

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Book Reviews of The Sabbathday River

Book Review: "The Scarlet Letter" meets Turow, Grisham, et al.
Summary: 3 Stars

Raised by her grandmother after her own mother abandoned her, Heather's obsession with the pony-tailed Ashley often renders her seemingly simple-minded, her inability to judge her actions with respect to others almost sociopathic. Heather flaunts her affair and openly carries Ashley's child at the same time his own wife is pregnant. A small town is the stage for this drama, Heather the fuel for gossip. When an infant is discovered facedown in the Sabbathday River, all fingers point to Heather. At this point, Naomi, Heather's employer, asks her friend Judith to represent the hapless girl.

But not to worry, all bigotry is laid bare in the courtroom, thanks to Judith's incisive mind and the duplicity of the prosecutor. So many variables are tossed into the ring during the trial, that THE SCARLET LETTER morphs into high courtroom dudgeon. Each mean-spirited and misguided citizen is flayed during the trial by a merciless Judith.

I don't want to spend too much time on a novel that is such a bubbling stew of far too many issues, which actually inhibit its potential. In its fashion, THE SABBATHDAY RIVER is a page-turner, but there are too many problems barely resolved by the last page, which has an improbable and abrupt ending. As well, the premise for Heather's indictment is absurd. A criminal case must meet certain standards to proceed, and this case is ludicrous. SABBATHDAY RIVER is plot-driven, rather than character-driven. I would have enjoyed it more had the author spent some time on character development.

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