When I wanted to stop reading this book, I already had read half of it and kept plodding through it, waiting for it to get better. This definitely is not an unlifting book. Each chapter is spent on members and close friends of this Southern Family and their own personal histories up to the time their brother, friend, or father dies--and how they react or don't react to his death. What I found unbelievable is how this dead man's 3 year old son supposedly acts. What three year old thinks in full paragraphs? Can there really people that many dysfunctional people all in one family?

this is not as bad as G. Godwin from Indie, Ind makes it out to be. True, there are some things in it I did not understand, but it rates more than a 1 as does all of G.G.' books do.This is a complex story of a southern family, the Quicks, who live in a mansion, which is a mess. The whole family is a mess, but isn't that fun to read about as we try to be good, upstanding citizens in USA? Snow is a wonderful little lady and someone to be admired. She is uneducated, but determined and a winner. People wind up hating each other and it is not the most tender of books but worth a read

I've read all of Gail Godwin's books, and this is my favorite. She's working with material that seems to mean a great deal to her here --and it shows. The book is basically several character's reactions to a very tragic death. Each character is drawn exquisitely, coming alive through his or her own point-of-view chapters. In fact, this is the only one of Godwin's books to present the point of view of so many complex characters. I saw her in a bookstore seveal years ago and asked her what the origin of the book was, and she said she was working from a similar incident in real life--the death of her half-brother. So in this book she seems to be trying to come to terms with family conflicts by bringing each family member to life on the page. She does a wonderful job, going beyond any kind of therapy for herself into true art, taking her own pain and making it universal. I reread this book every once in a while, and found it especially useful recently because I was going through my own reactions to a death in my family. Yes, to respond to one of the other reviews, there is hatred here, and conflicts are not resolved. It's very, very true to life that way, complex and rich.

Glass People is about a married woman who finds herself falling into depression. Francesca has come to the realization that she has lost her identity, or perhaps, she never had one. She gains the strength to go in search of herself but makes a full circle back to her husband.

This is a book for anyone seeking to know more about themselves or for anyone who is going through the horrors of catatonic depression. It will leave you with questions and answers. It is a book that could be read over and over because there are lines that are there for deep analysis.

I first read this book when I too was a 30ish, unmarried college professor, like its heroine. Fiction which tackles the concerns of professional women was then, as now, rare. I eagerly sought out this book, and what a disappointment it was! The professional concerns received almost no attention, while the heroine's energies were consumed by ill advised romantic and erotic relationships. So what's new? Poorly conceived and not very well written!

Gail Godwin has written some wonderful books; it was the experiences I've had with Ms. Godwin's books that kept me reading this one. I cared very little for the characters or for the story, but kept reading, looking for one of those gems of revalation that sometimes strike when reading Gail Godwin - even those were lacking. Books must be so well written that the words and sentences themselves keep you turning the page; if the words fail the characters and plot must take over. I could not make myself care what happened to Jane Clifford; a professor of literature who refers to George Eliot by the infrequently used Marian Evens (Mary Anne the name used in standard references and biographical notes). At first, I didn't even know who she was referring to, and in the end I found it to be an annoyance. Jane reminded me of one of those people who feel burdened by their intelligence and remove themselves from the world as we know and enjoy it because they are "just a cut above", yet she mourns her lack of close relationships and sticks, from pride rather than love, to a married man who treats her like the sometime mistress of a married man, and a friend who annoys her by looking for friendship.

Father Melancholy's Daughter, its sequel, Evensong, and A Mother and Two Daughters are, for me, vintage Godwin. They set the standard for penetrating characterization and unsettling glimpses into how people really work. I picked up The Odd Woman with high hopes and was not utterly disappointed. Flickers of the good things Godwin will accomplish in later novels are abundant in this rather dense exploration of a "spinster professor's" running inner dialogue. If this is your first go-around with Godwin, however, skip this for the infinitely richer Father Melancholy's Daughter or A Mother and Daughters.