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Paying the Price
Maui Realtor Laura McDaniel feels she has finally gotten her life on an even keel after a divorce and the disappearance of her teenage daughter Annie. When her favorite customers want to purchase a glamorous property that is For Sale By Owner, Laura's instincts warn her this will be the most difficult sale of her real estate career...and she's right. When Annie abruptly returns to Maui, distraught and pregnant, Laura faces the daunting possibility of raising her grandchild alone while trying to succeed in an all-consuming profession.
Paying the Price vividly illustrates the daily life of a Realtor in Hawaii. Add a heaping helping of mother-daughter conflict, plus a quirky seller and bossy buyers, and the sum is a lively read on an armchair trip to the Valley Isle. The author was raised in Honolulu and raised her children on Maui, where she was a licensed Realtor and real estate instructor for many years. She wrote it as she lived the good, the bad, and the zany.
The Island setting creates a compelling sub-texture without overwhelming the story. Paying the Price received the coveted Honolulu Advertiser's Ka Palapala Po'okela Reader's Choice Award from the Hawaii Book Publishers Association in 2006 and an Award of Merit from the Colorado Independent Publishers Association in 2005.
Paying the Price vividly illustrates the daily life of a Realtor in Hawaii. Add a heaping helping of mother-daughter conflict, plus a quirky seller and bossy buyers, and the sum is a lively read on an armchair trip to the Valley Isle. The author was raised in Honolulu and raised her children on Maui, where she was a licensed Realtor and real estate instructor for many years. She wrote it as she lived the good, the bad, and the zany.
The Island setting creates a compelling sub-texture without overwhelming the story. Paying the Price received the coveted Honolulu Advertiser's Ka Palapala Po'okela Reader's Choice Award from the Hawaii Book Publishers Association in 2006 and an Award of Merit from the Colorado Independent Publishers Association in 2005.
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First published December 31, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 13, 2013
Madge Walls has written an intense novel in PAYING THE PRICE. By the time I completed it I was totally exhausted and ready for it to be over. I also realized that I had read through it with the need to find out where it was all headed. It wasn’t extraordinarily well written and I snickered over some of the glaring examples of mixed metaphors, but it was so convoluted and full of human frailty that curiosity kept me reading.
The protagonist, realtor Laura McDaniel, has a life that is overflowing with problems. She has a runaway daughter, Annie, who returns home pregnant and with lingering animosity towards her mother. Laura also has a nightmare of a real estate transaction in the works that challenges her sanity and financial well-being. She has a snob for a mother who continually infringes on her life and threatens her tenuous relationship with Annie. And, to further complicate matters, she has a perplexing ex-husband she can’t seem to resist. Give Walls credit; she skillfully juggles all this into an intriguing story.
A sidebar: I have a daughter, now fifty-five years old, who fell into the world of rebellion and drugs at age 14. Fortunately, said daughter has made miraculous changes to her life and is now, strangely enough, a realtor. Walls recreated the anxiety and sheer foreboding that afflict parents with youngsters in this situation so well that my stomachaches returned just from re-experiencing them through Annie’s missteps. I understand Walls has sons and no daughter in real life and I wonder where she got the insight. I suspect this angle to her story was the magnet that grabbed me.
The writing lacks professionalism at times and the book itself could be a primer for non sequiturs and nonsensical asides. Example: During a contentious exchange with a client, Laura has a feeling “like I’d fallen into a kettle of steaming saimin, that fragrant Japanese noodle soup flavored with green onion and ginger.” That’s a little too much information about an unrelated item. Also, one has to wonder if the author is a shill for Hawaiian tourism because of her overuse of glowing descriptions about the scenery, weather, and food. While it’s true that the island environment is magnificent, there are too many glittering generalities mixed in with the unhappy theme of the story.
The author manages to soften the story at times with some rather clever humor and bungled encounters. They are not overdone and add welcome entertainment in just the right spots. It gives the reader the opportunity to stretch the legs, so to speak.
Walls has the background to make the real estate gyrations in the book authentic, interesting, and illuminating. I’m certain that agents and brokers don’t run into many sellers with the difficulties posed by Dr. Entwhistle or the insecurities of the prospective buyers, Jerry and Diana. If the problems they create for Laura in the story were widespread, property agents would be looking for new lines of work by the droves.
Is this a good book? As I mentioned, I was intrigued by the story although not so much by the writing. But, in the end, I know that writing is what makes the story so evidently I was okay with it. “Peyton Place” author, Grace Metalious, somewhat disrespected as a writer, answered her critics with this pungent observation; “If I’m a lousy writer, then an awful lot of people have lousy taste.” I liked this book much more than hers so I’m going to recommend PAYING THE PRICE. I don’t feel my reputation for good taste in books will be threatened by the endorsement.
The protagonist, realtor Laura McDaniel, has a life that is overflowing with problems. She has a runaway daughter, Annie, who returns home pregnant and with lingering animosity towards her mother. Laura also has a nightmare of a real estate transaction in the works that challenges her sanity and financial well-being. She has a snob for a mother who continually infringes on her life and threatens her tenuous relationship with Annie. And, to further complicate matters, she has a perplexing ex-husband she can’t seem to resist. Give Walls credit; she skillfully juggles all this into an intriguing story.
A sidebar: I have a daughter, now fifty-five years old, who fell into the world of rebellion and drugs at age 14. Fortunately, said daughter has made miraculous changes to her life and is now, strangely enough, a realtor. Walls recreated the anxiety and sheer foreboding that afflict parents with youngsters in this situation so well that my stomachaches returned just from re-experiencing them through Annie’s missteps. I understand Walls has sons and no daughter in real life and I wonder where she got the insight. I suspect this angle to her story was the magnet that grabbed me.
The writing lacks professionalism at times and the book itself could be a primer for non sequiturs and nonsensical asides. Example: During a contentious exchange with a client, Laura has a feeling “like I’d fallen into a kettle of steaming saimin, that fragrant Japanese noodle soup flavored with green onion and ginger.” That’s a little too much information about an unrelated item. Also, one has to wonder if the author is a shill for Hawaiian tourism because of her overuse of glowing descriptions about the scenery, weather, and food. While it’s true that the island environment is magnificent, there are too many glittering generalities mixed in with the unhappy theme of the story.
The author manages to soften the story at times with some rather clever humor and bungled encounters. They are not overdone and add welcome entertainment in just the right spots. It gives the reader the opportunity to stretch the legs, so to speak.
Walls has the background to make the real estate gyrations in the book authentic, interesting, and illuminating. I’m certain that agents and brokers don’t run into many sellers with the difficulties posed by Dr. Entwhistle or the insecurities of the prospective buyers, Jerry and Diana. If the problems they create for Laura in the story were widespread, property agents would be looking for new lines of work by the droves.
Is this a good book? As I mentioned, I was intrigued by the story although not so much by the writing. But, in the end, I know that writing is what makes the story so evidently I was okay with it. “Peyton Place” author, Grace Metalious, somewhat disrespected as a writer, answered her critics with this pungent observation; “If I’m a lousy writer, then an awful lot of people have lousy taste.” I liked this book much more than hers so I’m going to recommend PAYING THE PRICE. I don’t feel my reputation for good taste in books will be threatened by the endorsement.
May 12, 2013
I have not had an opportunity to visit our 50th state, and after seeing it through the eyes of someone who grew up there, I'm more anxious than ever to make the trip. But the strength of "Paying the Price" is neither the location nor the protagonist's occupation as a realtor. Two stories coexist—a difficult family drama and a bizarre house sale—both of which Walls populates with complex and utterly human characters facing difficult choices and making surprising decisions. If you're in the market for a page-turner, you've found it.
May 16, 2008
disturbing images left w/me
April 17, 2013
4/07/2013 interesting commentary on classes / society in Hawaii. Mother / daughter relationship realistic and well developed. Depiction of Dr. And roommates far out.
March 31, 2016
Book club book -- DID NOT LIKE!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews