FAITHFUL by Alice Hoffman

Shelby was driving on an icy road when the car spun out, putting her best friend Helene in a permanent coma.  Shelby is emotionally dead herself with guilt and spends some time in a mental facility where an orderly routinely rapes her.  The rapes may seem quite unnecessary to the plot, but they serve as an impetus to get her out of there when she is nowhere near healed.  When she returns home, she shaves her head and spends a lot of time with Ben, her pot supplier.  Anonymous postcards start arriving that urge her to Do Something, See Something, Believe Something, etc.  She and Ben eventually move in together, and he adores her, but she is restless and cheats on him with a handsome veterinarian.  I thought the affair was a little out of character, but basically I guess she’s looking for approval and perhaps even proving to herself that she’s not worthy of Ben’s affection.  In penance for what she did to Helene, she rescues every abused dog that she sees and becomes somewhat of an all-around good Samaritan.  Except for the unwise affair, she’s a very appealing character and even proves that she has the knack for parenting when she babysits a co-worker’s children.  I cheered her on throughout the book, and I think this is my favorite Alice Hoffman novel, even though it’s pretty much your standard redemption novel.  I am not a fan of her historical fiction, but this one does not fall into that category, and her signature magical realism is mostly absent as well.  Even without the magical realism, the book’s credibility is stretched at times, and it’s certainly not a literary masterpiece, but so what?