Reviews for The Worst Thing I've Done: A Novel

The average rating for The Worst Thing I've Done: A Novel based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-09-07 00:00:00 Brandon Barrow Nine and a half miles into a hike, I was still buzzing….. walking happily…. listening to "The Worse Thing I've Done"….my first book by Ursula Hegi. I couldn't wait to get back to it after a break. Every reader says "Stones From The River", is Hegi's best book. Great news ' because I already liked 'this one' ... VERY MUCH... 5 stars worth!!! I bought the ebook to "Stones of the River" yesterday. I read low reviews on this book, but I'm definitely not one of them. This book opens with a suicide - looks at dark issues -with likable and unlikable characters. It 'commanded' my attention!!! It's filled with anguish and touches on every emotion we encounter in life. Hegi's immense writing skills are clearly apparent. She writes about meaty things - domestic realism - (a collage of personal moments that make up a life ' including thoughts about the Iraq war), with spare old fashion grace. Love, tragedy, grief, beauty, humor, betrayal, sadness, marriage, friendship, (including a triangle relationship), Art, (wonderful collage work), parenting, jealousy, guilt, death, depression, suicide, anti-war, suspense, and forgiveness…. are themes/ topics that run throughout. There is also a radio-psychologist. The main characters are Annie, Mason, Jake, Opal, and Aunt Stormy Hegi tells this tale from multiple points of view….(present time and flashbacks) It was the morning of 'One Year' anniversaries: 1-Annie and Mason's 'one year' wedding anniversary… 2- Opal's first-year's birthday…(the child was born minutes after Annie's pregnant mother died) 3- Annie's parents death…(they died in a car accident the same day Annie & Mason got married) HOW DOES ALL THAT HAPPEN in ONE DAY??? Crazy! And… 4 - Best friend Jake (since childhood), with both Mason & Annie, moves-in with Mason & Annie '(each co-parenting Opal 'taking turns going to classes). Secrets and regrets run deep between them -threatening their bonds. Aunt Smoky is a wise middle age wonderful character to spend time with too... The morning of this 'odd' celebration/mourning day….. The 'One Year' anniversaries ' (emotional-and-unforgettable) ' the day begins with Annie waking up from a bad dream -'screaming'. A sad presage for the day! That continues and continues….. "The Worse Thing I've Done" 'asks us to look inside a person and discover the essence of his or her humanity. Hegi vividly takes us on a harrowing journey 'contemplating the things that swallow us whole. 5 stars from me ' looking forward to more books by Hegi!

Review # 2 was written on 2008-02-22 00:00:00 Michael George I wanted very much to like this book. I loved the main character Annie and her friend Jake, and Annie's sister Opal. However, I could not relate to the characters in any way - and I should have, because there were a lot of personal similarities - and I found the premise to be unbelievable, perhaps uncomfortable. Mason, Annie's husband, was a very disturbing character who kills himself essentially to make Annie and Jake feel as bad as he does. As the story goes on it becomes clear that he has always been the center of this friendship and makes it very disfunctional. Wading through the relationship, as a reader, became torturous and I didn't understand why Annie and Jake hadn't dumped him back in preK and created a healthy, two-person lifelong relationship. There is a strong anti-war, anti-Bush subtext in this novel, and while I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment, it just didn't work here. I am more forgiving than other reviewers in that I saw parallels that could have made it work, but Hegi didn't pull it off. It often came out of nowhere, and the tone of the writing and the personalities of the characters seemed to change. It felt thrown in as an afterthought and seemed clumsy and foolish. Hegi's Stones is one of my favorite books, so when I saw this work and was immediately pulled in by the title, I expected a lot. Unfortunately, this is the sort of book that I will not even be able to remember reading in a few months. It is completely forgettable.