Grace Notes

by Charlotte Vale Allen

Book Overview

Grace Loring, a successful author haunted by the experience of being a battered wife, turned that experience into a non-fiction book on domestic violence, Hit or Miss. The book became an immediate... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1551666677
• Release Date: March 2003
• Publisher: Mira
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.8" x 1.3" x 4.3"

Customer Reviews

A very serious book...

I didn't expect the book to be so serious and thought provoking. From the back cover it sounded like a mystery but in reality it was about the life of an abused woman who escaped and ended up taking care of her beloved crippled brother. I actually enjoyed the book very much and it taught me a lot and made me think. The ending was odd and a little abrupt but I'm glad it had a conclusion. I recommend this book to anyone who has had it rough.

Another Winner For Charlotte Vale Allen

The arrival of a new Charlotte Vale Allen book is always a treat! One following so close on the heels of Parting Gifts makes it a double treat. One cannot get too many of her books and this is another one that is a joy to read. Grace Notes takes us into the 21st Century with computers,the internet and emails playing the major role in this book.I will not reiterate the story line as doing so would only replicate what has preceded this.I will only add that she deals with both rheumatoid arthritis and spousal abuse with great knowledge. Ms. Allen's talent with character development is unsurpassed and she more than excells in this book. Grace Loring,her protagonist,is so real she almost leaves the book and joins you. Her brother,Gus;her daughter,Nicky;her dear friend,Vinnie; even Dolly and Lucia,her salaried help,are so totally dimensional it is difficult to see them as fictional characters. The only shadowy character is Stephanie Baine,but since she is manifested on email - a cyber person - she remains one dimensional. Only close to the end is she developed fully. Ms. Allen has written another fast-paced book that is highly readable. It builds in suspense to an exciting and unexpected conclusion. It is a great book,a great read, and she has done it again! After reading this book you may never fully trust your emails.

A Powerful Tale of a Woman With Too Much Heart

Ms. Allen's books are sometimes considered "women's novels," but I don't see why men shouldn't be interested in these powerful themes and the gripping way she depicts them. Grace Loring is a compelling portrait of a woman who gives so much of herself that she never leaves quite enough for herself. A successful author, she has fled an abusive marriage to live with her sympathetic brother Gus, but she now finds herself nearly overwhelmed as a caretaker as Gus surrenders himself completely to a crippling and financially ruinous rheumatoid arthritis. Grace has little time for her bright 22-year-old daughter Nicky--a convincingly perky depiction--or for the achingly decent man Vinnie who has finally entered her life, or even for her own writing, but the costs and burdens of the disease drive her back to the computer. And into this already stressful mix falls yet another plea for help that Grace, of the tormented heart, simply cannot resist. E-mail arrives from a woman who claims she is the victim of brutal and unremitting abuse. Grace's heart goes out--even as the reader begins to worry more and more that this new correspondent may not be quite what she claims. Grace is almost willfully naïve and trusting and self-denying--which would, of course, be virtues in a better world (a world built by women, perhaps, as opposed to the one built by men where "realistic" souls try to hammer each other into submission.) The tension becomes almost unbearable as all these crises come together at once for Grace--and the e-mail correspondent abruptly shows up in person. Like reporting on any powerful mystery, I cannot reveal any more about the story without spoiling it. But I can say the characters moved me, unnerved me with their flaws (human flaws, not writing flaws), and I desperately wanted to step in and help them out of their predicaments. I will remember them for a long time.And finally, I detect more than a whiff of autobiography making its way into this story, both as abuse survivor and caretaker, and if I were an abused woman, I think I would immediately fly to Ms Allen's door and fall at her feet to worship her for writing so powerfully on a dark subject that deserves much more light thrown on it.

An awesome read to cherish!

Charlotte Vale Allen has written another powerful book titled Grace Notes. The characters are believable. Grace is a writer, but it's not a book about writing. The book shows how things can go wrong, awfully wrong, and the ending will shock you. I love suspense and this book has lots of tension. I found myself reading until the wee hours of the morning. It's a modern day story and there's something for everyone, even a gay character shown in proper light.I don't review the plot as that's really cheating. I guarantee you that you'll want to curl up and enjoy Grace Notes from cover to cover. I did. Once, a chill crawled up my spine. I won't tell you what page. That doesn't matter. There's as much love in the book as everything else as well. I found Grace Notes both rewarding and gripping.Once again, Ms. Allen's characters are true to life. If you want the fantasy world, rent a Walt Disney movie. Ms. Allen tells it how it is in real life with all the elements of day-to-day living.It's interesting to note that in the book Grace is a well known writer that welcomes readers to contact her. On her website (www.charlottevaleallen.com), Ms. Allen declares the same thing.Grace Notes involves the internet and emails and love and pain and much more. The emails become another character and it's interesting to see something not really concrete become a major character. It shows how the internet plays a major role in a lot of people's day to day lives.There's as much seriousness to this book as there is tension (gripping tension!). But there's parts that made me laugh and some parts were very, very sad. Charlotte Vale Allen understands life and in Grace Notes has written a book about real people and a dark situation that could easily happen.My only advice is NOT to take this book to bed with you if you have to get up early. You'll find yourself reading "just more chapter" and then another and then another.Grace Notes is a major treat for Charlotte Vale Allen fans. New readers will enjoy how she spins a web and gets the reader caught up from the opening page. Each book she writes is different. I've read many of her books and enjoy them greatly.I highly recommend Grace Notes in all regards.

Another insightful effort

What is most notable about this author's work is that no two of her books are the same. For that reason alone, I would buy any book of hers without bothering to read the flap copy or the reviews because I know that whatever she has chosen to write about it will have her unique insights and depth of feeling for the characters. Grace Notes is a cautionary tale about the ways in which the internet (email in particular) can be used--sometimes to great disadvantage. It's also a very truthful exploration of the tremendous demands of caregiving and of the long-term effects of domestic abuse. Several clever twists at the end were definitely not foreshadowed. All in all, a gripping and most satisfying reading experience.