Shattering Glass - Hardcover

Rotstein, Nancy-Gay

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0374262233 ISBN 13: 9780374262235

Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1996

Synopsis

"Rotstein vividly outlines the lives of three successful women who reminisce about what they have sacrificed--traditional family values for career and vice versa--to get what they want.... She brings her three protagonists to life with sympathy."
--Publishers Weekly

"In ways tragic, lonely and heroic this novel shimmers with contemporary hopes and fears. Recommended for its dramatic plotting and riveting dialogue." Rating: Excellent
--The Readers Review

"What is the price of career success for women? The author takes us through the lives of three successful women, and in the inevitable juggling of home, family and career, sacrifices are made. The plot is well-crafted, the dialogue realistic and the characters well-drawn.
--New Books: The magazine for readers and reading groups (U.K.)

Novel holds a mirror to today's woman trying to balance family, career and fulfillment.

Three talented and determined women reach the pinnacle of success and find themselves thrown together at a critical moment that will change each of their lives forever.

In her powerful novel SHATTERING GLASS, Nancy-Gay Rotstein masterfully weaves the tales of three women, who, like so many, find themselves caught between career and family, trying to maintain a precarious balance between success, independence and motherhood. With compelling realism, SHATTERING GLASS confronts these issues that remain unresolved as it follows the women through their challenges, pain, joy and triumphs. Rotstein creates three very different women, each of whom in their own way shatter the "glass ceiling" and must cope with the inner turmoil brought on by being pulled in opposite directions by her desire for career success and striving to be a good mother.

About this title

About the Author

Nancy-Gay Rotstein has been internationally praised for her poetry, which includes her most recent collection, This Horizon and Beyond: Poems Selected and New. Shattering Glass, her first novel, has been published to date in twelve major countries, most recently in the United Kingdom. Visit Nancy-Gay Rotstein on the web at nancygayrotstein.ca.

Reviews

Canadian author Rotstein's debut novel (after three books of poetry, including China: Shockwaves) vividly outlines the lives of three successful women who reminisce about what they have sacrificed?traditional family values for career and vice versa?to get what they want. Divorced Judy, 32, struggles to raise a son and pledges her house and savings to get a bank loan. She puts herself through law school and lands a job with a prestigious Washington law firm, after which she's hired as a corporate executive by a client. Her success, however, is overshadowed by her failure to stop her neglected son from turning into a juvenile delinquent. In contrast, wealthy Dede, the wife of a member of Canada's parliament, remains close to her sons but makes the tragic error of hiring a college student to be their male role model in the absence of her campaigning husband. Of all three women, Barbara, a battered housewife turned popular novelist, is the best-developed character, struggling to keep her family together while writing. The women eventually meet at an Italian spa. Despite the schematic structure (four parts, one devoted to each of the women and a final section in Italy), Rotstein's writing nicely transcends the commercial fiction genre, and she brings her three protagonists to life with sympathy.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Rotstein, a lawyer and poet, offers a gloomy, improbable look at the miserable lives of three contemporary "successful" women whose personal lives are in shambles. Judy gets a bad deal in her divorce, but despite little money and a surly son, she claws her way through law school and becomes a hard-driving international dealmaker. Dede's wealthy background leads her to marry a rising star in Canadian politics, but she's lonely and unhappy, and her two sons are neglected and disturbed. Barbara escapes her violent marriage to a New York lawyer and becomes a famous novelist, but her daughter is suffering after a riding accident. All three meet in a contrived ending at a fancy Italian spa, where they have gone to renew themselves. The men are all dogs, the women are all miserable and ill-treated, the kids are all troubled, and the novel is a mess. Not recommended.?Ann H. Fisher, Radford P.L., Va.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This grim soap opera follows three successful women as they cope with various misfortunes. In dire financial straits after her husband leaves her for a younger woman, Judy struggles to care for her young son but then lands a high-powered job in corporate finance. Barbara, unhappily married to an insecure ne'er-do-well, toils at her writing in secret until her first novel is a surprise smash. Dede subordinates her own interests while raising her children and helping her husband attain his political ambitions. They all meet at the luxurious Italian spa of Itaro, but their idyll is shattered by a telegram reporting the drug-related death of one of their children. Unclear at first about who the telegram is addressed to, the three women all reflect on the way their success has caused them to neglect their children. Readers who appreciate strong female protagonists won't like this quirky melodrama's antifeminist message, and those looking for lightweight escape will find it heavy going. Still, Rotstein is a capable writer, and her engaging plot plays on a very contemporary form of guilt. Joanne Wilkinson

Edition details

• Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0374262233
• ISBN 13: 9780374262235
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 373