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A Map of the World

jane hamilton

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One unremarkable June morning, Alice Goodwin is, as usual, trying to keep in check both her temper and her tendency to blame herself for her family's shortcomings. When the Goodwins took over the last dairy farm in the small Midwestern town of Prairie Center, they envisioned their home a self-made paradise. But these days, as Alice is all too aware, her elder daughter Emma is prone to inexplicable fits of rage, her husband Howard distrusts her maternal competence, and Prairie Center's tight-knit suburban community shows no signs of warming to "those hippies who think they can run a farm."

A loner by nature, Alice is torn between a yearning for solitude coupled with a deep need to be at the center of a perfect family. On this particular day, Emma has started the morning with a violent tantrum, her little sister Claire is eating pennies, and it is Alice's turn to watch her neighbor's two small girls as well as her own. She absentmindedly steals a minute alone that quickly becomes ten: time enough for a devastating accident to occur. Her neighbor's daughter Lizzy drowns in the farm's pond, and Alice - whose own volatility and unmasked directness keep her on the outskirts of acceptance - becomes the perfect scapegoat. At the same time, a seemingly trivial incident from Alice's past resurfaces and takes on gigantic proportions, leading the Goodwins far from Lizzy's death into a maze of guilt and doubt culminating in a harrowing court trial and the family's shattering downfall.

400 pages, Paperback

First published May 1,1992
Places
wisconsin, 

This edition

Format
400 pages, Paperback
Published
December 3, 1999 by Anchor
ISBN
9780385720106
ASIN
0385720106
Language
English

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jane hamilton

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Rating(4 / 5.0, 100 votes)
5 stars
35(35%)
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33(33%)
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XclanOrigin
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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A map of the world is absolutely enthralling. Though many opinionated it a series of misfortune befalling Alice, I would depict it quite the opposite. Alice and Howard living in one of the last dairy farm with their two children did not predict or even prepare for how precarious safety turned their lives. Alice, having to deal with one despair was again snarled with another, which I believe helped her to get through the other. It is a story of how a family recovers and friendship sustains. Every character was narrated with such complicity by Jane Hamilton. Jane, remarkably makes you dance, squirm, twists, tear, and shiver with her words. I love her prose, leaving no minute details behind. Every scene placidly described, every line of hers lingers on your mind. I believe Jane is one of the few writers that are able to pen down a life saga so sensibly that you might find hard to believe that is it just a novel. As for me, it is more than just a book. Jane has become one my most favorite writer. Map of the World is a must read novel for its astounding story unified with Jane’s talent.
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Classic525
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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This book took me a while to read. Parts of it were very beautiful. I didn’t like the characterization of the black characters. It was one of those books that gave me a stomachache because I was nervous, and because I understand, as do all humans, the feeling of wanting so badly to go back in time and make different choices.
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MisaTange
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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The death of her friends child was beautifully written, her description of her depression without calling it depression, amazing. IMHO that's where the story should have ended. Why tack on a child abuse charge, a trial, jail, and her husband cheating?
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maxcherry715
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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I am fascinated by the concept of how a small error or mistake can change your life entirely. It was also why I enjoyed House Of Sand And Fog. The circumstances are tragic in both of these books, yet it does make me wonder how a small misstep or error in judgement can result in so much going wrong. The error in judgement by the main character here is something I have done, yet the results were not tragic by some turn of fate. It has also happened to people around me and makes you so thankful that what could have happened did not. The havoc that the one mistake wreaks for everyone in this book makes your heart ache. I passed this book along to a friend awhile back and she returned it to me, saying that given the subject matter, she couldn't bear to read it. I understand that and yet, found that it irritated me somehow. I find reading about feared/terrible events helps me work them out in my head. I don't read books about horrible things because I want them to happen or even think that they will happen. Terrible things happen to people all the time and I feel that if I can read about it maybe I'll be more prepared when it does. Is that screwed-up thinking? At any rate, I did enjoy the book, enjoyed the writing of Ms. Hamilton and felt for her, her family and the family of the child. The way she writes is also the attraction, the ability of some authors to just beautifully string together words.
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MajiMaestro
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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At times riveting A MAP OF THE WORLD could also be terribly long winded. I enjoyed Howard's voice more than Alice's. I also found the prison commentary a bit tedious.
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JoeDaPotato
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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One day, just for a moment, Alice Goodwin stops watching her best friend's two-year-old daughter and the child drowns in the Goodwin's pond. The tragedy opens a Pandora's box of troubles. Alice is accused of child abuse, thrown in jail, and put on trial. Yet, just as in the ancient myth of Pandora, there is still hope.

The beautiful wording and style was the only saving grace in this book where NOTHING happens! Three events take place: 1. The drowning of Lizzy in Alice's pond, 2. The accusation of child molestation (Alice accused by troubled Robbie Mackessy) and the jailing of Alice, and 3. The trial and release of Alice (not guilty). The rest of the book seemed forced!...Howard and Theresa's pseudo-affair, the selling of the farm, Alice's jail experience. Frankly, it would've been a much better short story or novella.
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takato-sama54
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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I first read this when Emma was four years old, or thereabouts. It gave me nightmares, panic attics, the shakes. It is pretty much every mother's nightmare, every marriage's nightmare, every best friend's nightmare, all rolled into one.

Much later when Emma was old enough to swim (I think she was in high school and on the swim team at the time) I re-read this and was able to separate myself enough from the terror and the loss that it was a much better and less sleep-depriving read.

One of my favorites, now that the girls are all grown up.
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Its_munnan
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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At the time I read this I had small kids and had a close friend with kids the same ages. I could see something like this happening so easily and it scared me, not only about losing a child, but losing a close friendship because of losing a child-- either yours or theirs. And losing that friend just when you need her the most!! OH-- the pain!! A double loss! This was a well-written engrossing book. Deeply moving. I love Jane Hamilton's style.
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