What do readers think of A Thousand Pardons by Jonathan Dee? Write your own review.

I was engrossed in this book and the characters from paragraph one, not only because the characters were so authentic, but because the author so adeptly guides us through this compelling story, while masterfully exploring his themes. This book explores the public and private "stories" we construct of ourselves and the rebuilding of them after the deceptions have been shattered. Its about redemptive possibilities. I want more from Jonathan Dee!

I enjoyed this book. I felt it was well written, and actually could not put it down. However, I felt much of it was implausible, in particular since apologizing for PR purposes can have legal consequences, this aspect of the book did not make much sense to me. More importantly, I was not sure what the author was trying to say about, pardons, apologies, and forgiveness, though clearly this was the meme of the book. I wished the apology theme had been more developed.

The title of this book gives the impression that it's a story of forgiveness and redemption, but what it mostly seems to be about is people behaving badly and not really learning anything from their mistakes. Populated by underdeveloped and largely unlikable characters, this stunted storyline leaves a lot to be desired. I kept waiting to feel invested in the characters and story and never really did.

I really wanted to like this book, however, even though it was barely 200 pages long, I plodded through it. The storyline was rambling and disjointed, the characters unbelievable, and the ending unsatisfying. It is hard to understand how the author could have been a Pulitzer Prize finalist. I have seen better writing by authors with fewer credentials than his. The author should ask the readers for a thousand pardons for subjecting us to such a poorly written, unfinished work.

I was overjoyed at receiving this book to review, so I opened the cover with breath being held and dove right in. I wanted to be able to rave about this book, and for me, this book simply fell short. I was nonplussed by the big "event" that unravels this family. I kept thinking: THAT is it? I had difficulty identifying with Helen (the wife) because I was expecting these mind-blowing PR decisions, and again, I was let down. Were my expectations the cause of this? I'm not sure, but all my fervent hopes that the author could turn this story around, weren't answered. I couldn't identify with the two main characters and I truly am sorry that I can't tell you that this is a good book. A bad book? Not at all. A terrific book? Not at all. Give it a try yourself, maybe you will have a better time than I did. I sincerely hope you do... isn't that why we read?!

This book is filled with accessible and flawed characters, true to life, diverse and utterly relatable. That said, this book reached it's peak quite late in the story and ended rather abruptly. The plot ultimately was not as robust as the characters, and I wanted more for them.

A Thousand Pardons is the first book I have ever read by Jonathan Dee. I thoroughly enjoyed his style of writing as well as his excellent descriptions of his characters. They are all people we know. However,I did not enjoy the story line as much - I felt that the storyline was weak and trite and that the ending was totally predictable before I was even halfway through the book. This is not a book that I could reccommend for my book club.

This is the first of Jonathan Dee's books I've read, and I was looking forward to it. Initially the book caught my interest, but somewhere around the middle it seemed to start wandering. It is superbly written, but the plot doesn't rise to the level of the writing and the characters didn't make me love them, hate them or care what happened to them. Some of the events are so unlikely as to be ludicrous, and the book ends without resolution of the major issues. I feel as though I've read a book about nothing.