I really wanted to like this book, but I didn't. I could not connect with the main characters, I thought Tabitha, Jeremy and Kirk were annoying, I thought the members of the church and choir were just silly. I did not chuckle once, I was sick of all the name dropping and pop culture references that won't matter in 30 years. I really liked the whole free book and the charity idea, that is the best thing about this book. Being a Catholic I didn't find any of the situations funny or cute. Although I think this book would appeal to more mainstream readers, those who are into the Catholic faith might not find it appealing. ( )

Leontina Scales, mother of three trying teenagers, is knocked unconscious by a falling statue of the Virgin Mary in the kitchen of a rival church, whilst stealing some milk.

Her mouthy daughter Tabitha, not the brightest spark and generally regarded locally as off the rails, tries, with some help from younger brothers and two rival priests (but no fathers), to take care of a mother discharged from hospital still showing some fairly major behavioural changes (which the hospital refuse to recognise), whilst pining after her boyfriend Caleb, who seems to have gone awol when she could most do with the support.

Jeremy Carr, music director at the Catholic church where Leontina came by her accident, looks for a place with a piano to practice with two friends (both HIV +ve, one dying) for a competition in New York. He hopes that this will be his chance to start again away from the love of his life and his far too understanding wife.

The impending doom of Y2K looms on the horizon...

While I wouldn't say that this is a life changing book, it was an entertaining read. One thing Gregory [[Maguire] is good at, after all, is showing the other side of the story - he shows you some of the inner workings of even the least likable characters, making them much harder to dismiss, even if you don't completely sympathise. The story reads like a farce at times, with several laugh out loud ridiculous scenes (the Christmas Eve Midnight Mass leaps to mind). There are also some very sad moments, although somehow, I didn't find myself as moved by them as I might have expected to be.

This book was free through Concord Free Press (http://www.concordfreepress.com/). The deal is that, in exchange for a free book, you agree to give away money (amount at your discretion) to a local charity, someone who needs it, or a stranger on the street and, when you've finished the novel, pass it on to someone else, who will do the same ( )

While I was reading this, I was really enjoying it, but now that I look back, I can't quite figure out what it was trying to do. There's a lot of humor and a fair bit of tragedy, but not a whole lot of story. A woman goes mad when she gets clonked on the head by a statue of the Virgin Mary. A trio of gay men befriend a gaggle of elderly nuns. A teenage girl is self-righteously angry but also rather hilariously dumb. A man with HIV gets ill. People mistreat each other. A man is hopelessly obsessed with his married ex. But when the story ends, nothing's really all that different from when we started. I guess you can assume that everybody gets over their issues and and turns over a new leaf, but who can tell?

On the bright side, Maguire doesn't trot out the thesaurus quite so often as he does in his fairy tale retellings (Wicked, et al), which made for a less frustrating read. All in all, it's not bad for a free book, but not something I'd want to read again. I like books that tell a story, and I felt like one wasn't really told here. I can deal with the open-endedness, but I finished this feeling more like the plot was simply set up and then left as an exercise for the reader. ( )

This book was published by Concord Free Press. They publish the book for free, the author writes the book for free and you can request the book for free from their website www.concordfreepress.com. The only requirement is that you donate money to someone. Whether it's to a charity or just someone you walk by on the street. Then go to their website to log who you gave to - they've already raised more than $89,000. After you've finished reading - pass the book along to someone else (for free, of course) so that the giving can continue.

The book takes place in 1999 in upstate New York. Leontina Scales gets hit on the head and begins speaking in tongues. It's up to her daughter and two sons to figure out how to help her get back to normal.

I enjoyed this book - it was interesting to see the transformation that the daughter makes while on the journey to get her mother back. I would recommend this book - just be warned that their is quite a bit of harsh language if that's not normally your thing. ( )

Leontina Scales is a thrice-married (and divorced) mother of 3 sullen teenagers. She is a devout member of the Radical Radiant Pentecostals, who share a parking lot with the Roman Catholic church next door. One morning, having forgotten to bring milk for the after-services coffee, she sneaks over to the basement of the Catholic church to borrow some, and is conked on the head by a falling statue of the Virgin Mary. When she wakes up, her behavior and speech have changed dramatically, but since the clinic can find nothing particularly wrong with her, they release her to the care of her children.

Jeremy Carr is the gay music director for the Catholic church, trying to get over the love of his life, to care for Sean, a friend with AIDS, and to find a rehearsal spot with a piano so he can win a competition in New York. Sister Alice offers him the use of the music room in the Motherhouse of the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mysteries, currently used as a retirement home for the nuns.

And the story begins. This is a wild ride, and I alternately laughed hysterically and cried like a baby. It is a small town, and everyone's lives cross back and forth between each other. The Catholics feel responsible, the Pentecostal Pastor worries that they are trying to convert Mrs. Scales while he tries to seduce her 15 year old daughter Tabitha, who goes from being the town brat/slut to having to care for her mother (in spite of her own worries), and there is an absolutely fabulous conversation between the musicians and the retired nuns, comparing the gay life to the cloistered life.

Gregory Maguire is one of those authors that you can't pinpoint, because all of his books are different. This one is great. Each person and each institution is equally lauded and denigrated, and I just came away from it feeling like we all have our own demons to fight, so let's just get along. Highly recommended (although there is some "bad language" if that's offensive to you). ( )