The All of It

by Jeannette Haien

Book Overview

"An elegantly written, compact and often subtle tale of morality and passion that gives voice to an age-old concern in a fresh way." -- New York Times Book Review

Jeanette Haien's award-winning novel relates the seemingly simple tale of a parishioner confiding in her priest--revelations that provoke a moral quandary for not only the clergyman, but the reader as well. With a foreword written and narrated by bestselling...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060971479
• ISBN13: 9780060971472
• Release Date: December 1987
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.32 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

A tale of two readers

It's clear that those who commented on this book either absolutely loved it or absolutely hated it. Those who loved it describe it with such words as "touching", "lyrical" and "beautiful". Those who hate it say it is "boring" and "lacking in suspense". This should tell you that whether or not you will like this book depends solely on what you like in books. I agree that there isn't much in the way of suspense. That's not the kind of book it is. Its purpose was more to touch the heart in the way great works of art do. In that, it succeeds. I read "The All of It" three years ago and my memory of it now is more in the emotions it engendered and not in the details of the story. What are you in the mood for? Adventure? Look elsewhere. A look at what is inside people's hearts? You've come to the right place.

Beautiful book for a rainy afternoon!

This is a treasure book...not to be loved by all, but by a few who love humanity. The tender mercies clearly detailed in this book will strike the souls of those who know they could falter along life's road. It is lyrical and simple...beautifully told. I read it several years ago and forgot the title. Tonight I ran into a friend in a bookstore who was looking for it and was delighted to have, at last, found the title again. This is a book to keep and return to when you are sure your sins will never be forgiven, and to learn,at the end of the day,that they will.

Don't be mislead by the few low ratings

The readers who give this book five (and four) stars have the correct take. Indeed, counting the four other people I know personally who have read the book and delighted in it, the total rating for my entry should be 25 stars. The books I've read that come closest to this one in terms of capturing the psychological atmosphere of the protagonists are Ishiguro's "The Remains of the Day" and Bausch's "The Last Good Time," although otherwise they have little substantively in common. How a reader could stop after one third of the book and know that the ending was predictable is paradoxical, to say the least. Similarly, to complain that the ending is not lurid enough surely misses the mark. As for its alleged boringness, with what is it being compared -- a James Bond film? Instead, this is a movingly told tale, with exquisitely gentle language, and two characters whose ordinary and not-so-ordinary lives intersect in a moment of revelation that has its own truth simply because of the author's tenderness in handling the plot. This slender novel is an unusual, touching accomplishment that is not soon forgotten.

A tale of great humanity and love.

This book was recommended to me by a person whose views of literature I respect greatly. He gave me a great gift in introducing me to this powerful little book. I literally could not put it down. I was raised Irish and have visited Ireland many times. This story captures the beauty, tragedy, and intensity, as well as the sometimes breathtaking acceptance of love and pain which marks so many of the Irish. I will read this again and again.