The Hardest Part of Love
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Product Description
Review
The reader closes the book with a quiet sense of elation... A heroic, superbly crafted novel worth reading again and again --The Denver Post
Book Description
In the tradition of Jodi Picoult, a powerful, thought-provoking story from this bestselling Richard and Judy Book Club author. Originally published as Electric God in 2001.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Catherine Ryan Hyde's mastery of taut, sustained prose is a pleasure to behold. She has an affinity for the struggler, the down-and-outer, whom she portrays with depth and precision as was seen in Pay It Forward. However, Pay It Forward was buoyed by a Promethean idea for making the world better, while Electric God lacks such an undergirding leaving readers with an unregenerate, self-destructive protagonist who appears heedless of the pain his actions bring to others. Home for fifty-year-old Hayden Reese is a simple cabin on the outskirts of a remote Northern California town, where he makes do with a series of menial jobs. His life is presented as a contemporary Job story, yet Job was a "blameless and upright" man who did nothing to deserve the ills that befell him. Upright, blameless fellow is not a sobriquet that even the most charitable would apply to Hayden. He is described by a friend as "a man with a flame inside." We learn in flashback form what might have kindled that flame. Raised by a stern, unyielding father and a submissive mother, he is sent to a Sunday School where the fire and brimstone teacher fixates on the biblical stories of Job and Jonah. Daniel, a younger brother and his father's favorite dies in a senseless accident. Hayden blames himself, believing he could have prevented the tragedy had he been with Daniel. Later, when Hayden is married to Judith, they have a daughter, Allegra, and learn they are going to have a second child, a boy, whom they name Daniel. The baby dies at birth. Allegra's first date is a disaster as the boy makes a pass and then abandons her. Hayden takes revenge by going to the high school parking lot, trashing the boy's car with a tire iron and then brutally beating the 16-year-old to the point of brain damage. For this, he is sent to jail, leaving Judith and Allegra financially strapped and needing to fend for themselves. Upon his release from prison Hayden retreats to a small town where he tells people that he is a widower, having lost his wife and daughter in an auto accident. Once there, he breaks a veterinarian's jaw when the vet does not save a possum Hayden has tried to rescue. He is incarcerated again. He also falls in love and embarks on an affair with a married woman, Laurel, who reciprocates his feelings but nonetheless returns to her husband. Hayden settles the score with the cuckolded spouse in his usual manner - he flattens him. Back to jail. The beleaguered husband does not press charges, but he does eventually press the trigger to shoot Hayden. Now, as in the biblical story even after Job has endured what seem to be countless vicissitudes, God is not finished with him - nor is Ms. Hyde finished with Hayden Reese. Not nearly finished. A series of unexpected events and changes of heart converge to alter Hayden's life and the lives of those he loves. Contrived? I'm afraid so. But thought provoking nonetheless.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
At the start of the book I did not find it easy to emphathise with the characters, but I persevered and this book was definately worth the initial effort. As the story unravels you begin to understand the behaviour of the main character and the legacy of his relationship with his father. A good read overall.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
22 reviews
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Try and put it down !
6 Dec 2000
Format:Hardcover
I almost took a day off work just so I could read ! Catherine Ryan Hyde does it again with this reader friendly story of a man who hides his emotions throughout his childhood and never cries - even when it is appropriate to do so. Only to have those emotions resurface during adulthood in ways that are definately not appropriate and have to live with the harsh consequences of his actions. Despite his angry, violent outbursts Hayden is immensly likable and you can't help melting a little when he reveals his soft underbelly to the people moving in and out of the orbit of his life. This book is like a bowl of jello - easy to consume, easy to love, and leaves you wanting more.
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
What a Wonderful Surprise
12 Nov 2000
Format:Hardcover
The Jacket Blurb reads...a contemporary reinterpretation of the Book of Job...Believe me, if you come to this novel (or stay away from it)because of that expectation you are in for quite a surprise. This book is so much more than that. Funny, wry, believable characters and plot and at times so sharply moving I read it in six hours the day I got it. The highest praise I can give this novel is that now I can't decide if Catherine Ryan Hyde's Electric God or her earlier Funerals for Horses is the best I've ever read.
If you want a Gem, bright & literary writing, Get this book and read all her others.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
earned optimism.
30 May 2001
Format:Hardcover
I liked this book, but then I read all of Ms.Hyde's books: something is happening in them, and she's worth watching. The review from above chosen by the ... site, from Booklist by Carolyn Kubisz says it all for me. As uncomfortable as I was with her main character, Hayden Reese, the question of what is forgiveable comes into sharp play. The least you can say is Reese's optimism is earned.
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