GOOD INTENTIONS

by Joy Fielding ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 24, 1989

Divorce is the subject of this novel by the author of Kiss Mommy Goodbye (1981) and others; it hits its high point when Renee Bower, the victim of six years of ""soft abuse"" by her husband, finally shrieks, ""What I feel is anger. What I think is that you are a coldhearted, manipulative son of a bitch."" Which says it well, since handsome Philip has been catting around with, among others, Renee's suicidal sister, and doing his best to undermine his wife's law career. (Philip likes to tell mean jokes about lawyers at parties given by Renee's partners.) They live in sunny Florida, and are visited by Philip's daughter from his first marriage, Debbie, who could have taught the vicious kiddies in The Children's Hour a trick or two. While Renee continues to turn a deaf ear to the high-decibel bad vibes in the Bower condo, she assists Lynn Schuster in a divorce settlement. Lynn's husband of 15 years walked out for a woman named Suzette, but it comes as a surprise when Suzette's husband appears on Lynn's doorstep. The abandoned spouses fall in love, which has ill effects on Lynn's settlement; but Renee pulls it out of the fire, and Lynn reciprocates--by talking Renee's sister out of shooting herself. Happily, Fielding's women aren't whiners and her villains are suitably awful--not to mention invariably male. Don't look for moral uplift here, only a tonic tumble on the righteous anger wheel.

Pub Date: July 24, 1989

ISBN: 0767917839

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1989

Categories: FICTION