I'm not sure why this book gets such terrible reviews. I found the writing alone, lyrical and mesmerizing, worth the reading. The characters are sharply drawn and vivid, with the nearly titular Mason looming the largest. I liked the tension that Hegi managed in making Mason's relationship with Annie both warm and nostalgic and terrifying and abusive.

The meditative first quarter, with talk radio hosts intermingling with imagination and contemplation was by far the strongest and the last quarter, with political protests tacked on in weak parallels dimmed by comparison, but on the whole, I enjoyed it and I'll seek out Hegi's other works.

Finally, I can't help saying this: the inability of modern writers to write deep, intense and platonic relationships never fails to disappoint me. ( )

Review: The Worst Things I’ve Done by Ursula Hegi. 3* 05/22/2022

I thought the author’s writing was strong but the story itself was somewhat bland and in places sad. I knew all along that Jake was in love with Hegi. I kept reading but knew that there was something weird about Mason. Somehow I felt from the beginning like I couldn’t connect with the characters.

With all the political propaganda within the story is what made me unsettled on how to rate this book. There were some interesting issues the characters went through but I felt a lot of it was predictable. It wasn’t really a story that uplifted my interest. I have read other works by Ursula Hegi and liked her writing and subject matter. ( )

Tonight, as she has done so many times before, Annabelle is driving between the North Sea and Montauk and back again. She is listening to talk radio and eating junk food; stifling her own rage and pain as she listens to the anonymous callers pour out their various tales of woe. This has been a part of Annie’s nightly routine - her own personal ritual - one that she has done ever since her husband Mason challenged everything that she once believed about herself and about their marriage. However no matter what she does, Annie can never seem to silence Mason’s urgent voice within her - it’s as desperate as some of the callers who confess their misery to the radio psychologists.

To so many of the people who know them, Annie, Jake, and Mason have always had a tremendously close friendship. Since early childhood, the three of them have had such a special bond with each other, and those ties have only strengthened for them over time. However on a day that should mark the happiest time of their lives, the initially tight friendship begins to warp into something else entirely. Something so emotionally charged and dangerous that nobody knows what to expect.

Their friendship begins to take a turn for the worse on of all days - Annie and Mason’s wedding day. Unfortunately that same night, Annie’s parents are killed in a tragic automobile accident, leaving their newborn daughter Opal an orphan. Although Annie is devastated by the loss of her parents, she must somehow find a way to put aside her own grief and tend to her newborn sister’s needs. So she and Mason take custody of Opal, and invite Jake to move in with them to help raise the child together.

Annie struggles to find a proper balance between all the responsibilities and relationships in her life and family: she is both a sister and a mother to Opal, a wife to Mason, and a friend to Jake. Perhaps inevitably, this already unique relationship grows increasingly more intense - becoming almost smotheringly close and dangerously entangled. Until that fateful night, when these three friends miss the precise moment in time that could have helped them all to take a step back from a crumbling precipice.

Instead, they continue goading each other to step across a line which ultimately leads to a series of shocking and unforeseen consequences. Set on the East End of Long Island, The Worst Thing I’ve Done is an incandescent novel of love, friendship, and marriage; of joy and betrayal; of an artist’s struggle to reconnect with her work; and of how we can sometimes choose our mothers, our families. This is a beautifully written story, brilliantly vivid and tremendously poignant; a stunning exploration of resilience and courage in the face of uncertainty.

To be perfectly honest, I’m not quite sure what to say about this book. Actually, I can’t really pinpoint what it was that disturbed me specifically, but I definitely found this to be extremely difficult reading for me. Having said that, I thoroughly enjoyed the plot and the premise of the story; I found it to be very intriguing and well-written. I found myself wavering slightly on how to rate this book, but eventually settled on giving it an A! ( )

This is a sad and sombre novel and it was difficult to find anything cheering in it at all. Three friends growing up together, Annie, Jake and Mason. Annie's parents died on her wedding day and Annie and Mason raise Opal, Annie's sister born that day.
Annie and Mason's relationship is complicated, with Jake playing a role too and it is not surprising that they do the worst thing they could, as the title suggests.
The novel is beautifully written, as I would expect from Ursula Hegi and well put together. We hear different voices throughout the novel, which is good. The hippy aunty is a nice character and her boyfriend Pete, give a bit of happiness to the story. ( )

An overly dramatic, fictional memoir, filled with confused passages, disturbed grief, self-importance and over indulgence. Not worth the time to read it. ( )