From Margie:

As to Absolution, one of the themes I found most powerful involved the precarious and unpredictable results of our individual moral choices. When we try to “do good,” should we be judged by our intentions or by the consequences of our actions? In order to control those consequences, should we limit our activity to small-scale, well-considered situations? Or should we go big — acting the “lady bountiful” while figuring that there will be impacts both good and bad? 

From Deb:

 An insightful and skilled writer, McDermott, I’d still maintain, spent too long setting up the banality of these military women/wives & their garden parties and healing-fixes in the first half of the book (OK, + miscarriages), but yes, the pace picked up, dynamics kicked in: wahoo! There’s much more could be said about  “helpmeets,” “inconsequential good,” what is assumed & what goes unsaid–friendships!  (“she’s yours.”)