serenaac's review against another edition
4.0
The Sinner's Guide to Confession follows longtime friends Kaye and Barbara, who are now in their fifties. Kaye and Barbara soon make friends with Ellen, who is several years younger, but their friendship solidifies and becomes close-knit. The three women are inseparable, but each nurtures a secret.
The alternating narrators for the chapters keeps the reader guessing as to when the friends will break down all of the walls between them and share their deepest secrets. From a romance novelist hiding her alternate career as an erotica writer to a married woman having a long-term, passionate affair. Readers will appreciate the perspective Justine, Barbara's daughter, provides to Kaye and Barbara's relationship. The friendship between these women is long standing and much of the story focuses on their relationships with one another as well as their relationships with the men in their lives. The novel may be considered an older woman's chicklit book, but it has more substance.
Of the three women, Ellen's story was the most heart-wrenching and deeply moving. Readers learn early on about Ellen's secret, but as her chapters unfold, the devastation of one decision she makes early on in her life has significant impact on how her life unfolds. Ellen's decision establishes her reactions and interactions with others, her husband, and her friends. It's amazing how a decision not completely in her control molded her into the woman readers see in the beginning pages of this novel. Ellen is afraid of making decisions, hides behind the confidence brought by her false eyelashes, and holds deep grudges against her parents.
The intricate relationships between these characters are intense, and the relationships with each family member provides a realistic glimpse into the dynamics of family. Each member plays a specific role in how the family operates, and these women are central to those families.
The alternating narrators for the chapters keeps the reader guessing as to when the friends will break down all of the walls between them and share their deepest secrets. From a romance novelist hiding her alternate career as an erotica writer to a married woman having a long-term, passionate affair. Readers will appreciate the perspective Justine, Barbara's daughter, provides to Kaye and Barbara's relationship. The friendship between these women is long standing and much of the story focuses on their relationships with one another as well as their relationships with the men in their lives. The novel may be considered an older woman's chicklit book, but it has more substance.
Of the three women, Ellen's story was the most heart-wrenching and deeply moving. Readers learn early on about Ellen's secret, but as her chapters unfold, the devastation of one decision she makes early on in her life has significant impact on how her life unfolds. Ellen's decision establishes her reactions and interactions with others, her husband, and her friends. It's amazing how a decision not completely in her control molded her into the woman readers see in the beginning pages of this novel. Ellen is afraid of making decisions, hides behind the confidence brought by her false eyelashes, and holds deep grudges against her parents.
The intricate relationships between these characters are intense, and the relationships with each family member provides a realistic glimpse into the dynamics of family. Each member plays a specific role in how the family operates, and these women are central to those families.
josiemae's review
4.0
The Sinners Guide to Confession by Phyllis Schieber is well-done chic literature, taking chic literature beyond the beach book of the younger set to a story of three friends in their 50’s who are keeping… shhh… secrets. Each friend, all middle aged, likable but fallible white women, relatively secure of their places in the world as middle class, find themselves upon a precipice of sorts. Ellen’s beloved husband of many years has left her for a younger woman, and she must decide how to define herself after this, as well as reconciling with her family who she long-ago left behind due to a traumatic experience she isn’t quite ready to share, even with her closest friends. Must she forever suffer? Kaye finds herself falling hard for a man who isn’t her staid and comfortable husband, father of her children, and at first, unable to tell her friends, she must decide how to move forward. Is there a “right” choice in a situation like this? And finally, Barbara, a widow, with lovely grown children, is discovering a side of herself that she never knew, now that her gambling and hastily married husband has passed, and she must decide whether to keep her new found delights under-wraps, or delight in the freedom it brings. How much do our children really know about who we are, and how do we define our true friendships? This book is about how these women learn about who they are, how they define themselves, and come to terms with telling the full truth to the people they care about the most.
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