Mar
5

REVIEW: Good Faith by Jane Smiley

By Mike Lawson// Fiction // No Comments

If Rex Pickett had written Sideways about real estate instead of wine, you would have Jane Smiley’s Good Faith.

If you like a slow narrative about a field that you’re not passionate about, read Good Faith. It’s a 400+ page novel that is too involved in the uninteresting.

It’s 1982, and the narrator is a man named Joey Stratford. Stratford is an honest and ethical real estate man who makes an average living. Life changes for the lonely, divorced, restless real estate man when an ex-IRS man turned investment adviser named Marcus Burns rolls into town (a la You’ve Got Trouble Right Here In River City).

Jane Smily can write. I occasionally found myself interested in the boring topic – but this entire story was predictable. I thought at midpoint that I had to finish because surely Smily would twist up and give me an ending that would be a surprise. Sadly, it’s exactly what was predicted in chapter 3.

If you like real estate, this book might be enjoyable.

Paperback: 432 pages
Publisher: Anchor (May 11, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0385721056
Amazon Link

About The Author

Mike Lawson hates writing in the third-person. He has some journalism experience, but spends all of his days now working for a youth-serving non-profit in Tempe, Arizona. He is a Type 1, insulin-dependent diabetic and he likes watching ice-skaters fall. Once upon a time he said that his favorite author was Joan Didion, but he's slowly realizing that he doesn't have a favorite author and just likes all books. Follow Mike on Twitter: @mrmikelawson

Mike Lawson has written 28 articles on iEATbooks.