WHEN WILL THERE BE GOOD NEWS?: REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

GIVEAWAY ENDED
WHEN WILL THERE BE
GOOD NEWS?
BY KATE ATKINSON

ABOUT THE BOOK:

On a hot summer day, Joanna Mason's family slowly wanders home along a country lane. A moment later, Joanna's life is changed forever...

On a dark night thirty years later, ex-detective Jackson Brodie finds himself on a train that is both crowded and late. Lost in his thoughts, he suddenly hears a shocking sound...

At the end of a long day, 16-year-old Reggie is looking forward to watching a little TV. Then a terrifying noise shatters her peaceful evening. Luckily, Reggie makes it a point to be prepared for an emergency...

These three lives come together in unexpected and deeply thrilling ways in the latest novel from Kate Atkinson, the critically acclaimed author who Harlan Coben calls "an absolute must-read."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:


Kate Atkinson lives in Edinburgh. Her first novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum, was named Whitbread Book of the Year in the U.K. in 1995, and was followed by Human Croquet, Emotionally Weird, Not the End of the World, Case Histories and One Good Turn.

READING GROUP GUIDE:

1. Many of the characters in When Will There Be Good News? have lost family members: Joanna loses her mother, sister, and baby brother in the novel’s opening pages; Reggie’s mother has recently drowned; and Jackson lost his mother, brother, and sister in the course of a year when he was twelve. In view of these tragedies, compare Joanna’s, Reggie’s, and Jackson’s respective outlooks on life with those of the other characters in the novel.

2. The question of Nathan’s paternity haunts Jackson Brodie. Why? How might Jackson’s life change if he discovered he was Nathan’s father? Is Jackson a good father to Marlee?

3. With When Will There Be Good News?—and previously also in Case Histories and One Good Turn—Kate Atkinson introduced elements of the traditional crime novel into her fiction. Other than the “crime,” what elements make up a crime novel? What crime-fiction conventions can you discern in this book?

4. When Will There Be Good News? has three central female characters: Joanna, Louise, and Reggie. Discuss the ways in which these three central characters are similar. Which of the three would you most like to encounter again in a subsequent novel by Kate Atkinson?

5. Of Jackson Brodie, Atkinson writes, “How ironic that both Julia and Louise, the two women he’d felt closest to in his recent past, had both unexpectedly got married, and neither of them to him” (page 90). What are the chances that Jackson will ever have a successful romantic relationship? Why do you think he has been unlucky so far, even though he is such an appealing character?

6. Discuss the idea of “good” characters and “evil” characters in When Will There Be Good News? Do you think the novel’s central characters are either essentially “good” or essentially “evil,” or are they a combination of both? How do Louise, Reggie, and Jackson—each of whom breaks the law to achieve the “right” result—figure into your viewpoint? What is the moral code at work in the novel?

7. Death, violence, and hardship seem to stalk Reggie, yet she remains remarkably resilient. What do you think sustains her?

8. Discuss the institution of marriage as it is portrayed in the novel. Consider Louise’s marriage, Joanna’s marriage, Jackson’s marriage, and Julia’s marriage. Are there any characters in the novel who are happily married?

9. Jackson Brodie believes that “a coincidence is just an explanation waiting to happen” (page 319). Discuss some of the coincidences in When Will There Be Good News? Do they make the story seem more real? Or less real?

10. Despite the novel’s title and the early statement that “everything was bad. There was no question about it” (page 10), there are many instances of humor in the story. Do you think When Will There Be Good News? is essentially a humorous novel with tragic events or a tragic novel with moments of levity?

REVIEW:

My book club read this book recently and there were mixed reviews. An author once told me that if her books create dialogue and discussion, then that is what is important and this one certainly did. We used some of the discussion questions and many liked it and some found it hard to keep track of the different character stories since it jumped around. Here is what I thought about WHEN WILL THERE BE GOOD NEWS? in my review:

WHEN WILL THERE BE GOOD NEWS? takes place in England with the story told through three main characters. The book starts off with a powerful first chapter about a chilling murder. This interested me immediately and I was eager to read on. Then the author back tracked to share the story of the three main characters. Although I enjoyed two of the characters quite a bit, Joanna and Reggie, I couldn’t connect with the third, Jackson Brodie. Atkinson’s writing was well done but the changing of characters and time periods after a while made me wish I had a score card to keep track.

In the beginning, we meet Joanna Hunter who is a doctor and she was the child in the first chapter that was not murdered and left to live with the memories of the rest of her family‘s demise. She seemed to have done very well with it after much therapy but after his 30 year prison sentence, the murderer was about to be paroled and fear strikes Joanna as she wonders what publicity or what he might do to her finally normal, so she thinks, life. Joanna is married to Neil, who is involved in some questionable kind of business and although she feels her marriage and husband are good, readers quickly realize there is more to him then you first see. Hunter is a new mom and hires a child care helper by the name of Reggie and that’s how the second character enters the story.

Reggie, that is Regina, is 16-years old and she was my favorite character. She is a sharp, but very needy, teenager whose mother has died over a year ago and all she has is an older brother, Billy, who isn’t worth talking about. Reggie finds her job as a mommy’s helper to be just the thing to fill her life. She adopts Joanna Hunter as her mom in her mind as she never tells Joanna her real mom is dead. The lies that Reggie tells are justified by her need for survival and it is she who becomes upset when Joanna disappears one day. She doesn’t know what to do and is certainly more on top of it and worrying more than husband, Neil! This brings in a secondary character but really I think she is an important one, and that is Chief Inspector Louise Monroe. Monroe is investigating a suspicious fire at one of Neil’s businesses when Reggie is able to connect with her about Louise.

The third main character is Jackson Brodie whose story part is the one that just threw me as I was not only confused as to what he was doing, but didn’t really feel a connection with him. I don’t think he was that well developed and maybe that is why. I wanted to continue with Joanna and Reggie when he “interrupted”. Reggie meets him by accident when a terrible train wreck occurs and he is serious injured. At this point the story and characters began to come together somewhat. I had to read on to find out what happened to Joanna and how Reggie’s story played out but it was tough as it didn’t meld for me. I had to go back and look up certain things to try and understand parts of what I was reading and that was too tedious for me.

I don’t like having to work too hard for my reading enjoyment. I do want to point out that the book is well done when it comes to the female characters and perhaps if the story had stayed with them alone, I would have found it much more satisfying. Some of my book club members agreed while others found no problem at all and were totally caught up in the intertwined mystery. So you see, you must read for yourself to find out how YOU would take this book and if YOU want to wait to see WHEN THERE WILL BE GOOD NEWS?

GIVEAWAY

THANKS TO VALERIE AND THE
HACHETTE BOOK GROUP, I HAVE
3 COPIES OF THIS INTERESTING
BOOK TO GIVEAWAY!


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