Luanne Oleas
The yearbook might be the best character in this book. It's definitely the best character that never says a word.
Daphne inherits a high school yearbook from her mother. It turns out to be the yearbook on which her mother served as an advisor early in her teaching career. The annual didn't seem overly precious to Daphne, who followed the Marie Condo advice of tossing out what doesn't give you joy when you MUST downsize. A downsize demanded by her divorce to a man who married her to get an inheritance, then dropped her flat.
However, it turned out that yearbook held secrets. No one knew quite what they were. Daphne's mother attended every class reunion of the Pickering High School, Class of ‘68 and made notes in the yearbook about the senior class members. Successful. Fat. Happy. Bald. Divorced.
However, it seemed at least one student, who later became a State Senator, was particularly close to Daphne's mother. Close enough to be a relative to Daphne.
Daphne's life increases in difficulty when her neighbor, Geneva, fishes the old yearbook out of the recycle bin and explores its contents with more scrutiny than Daphne ever gave it. Geneva begins to loosely assemble the puzzle, determined to make a documentary out of the yearbook. In a “finders keepers/losers weepers” enforcement of the law, Daphne is unable to regain possession of the yearbook.
Daphne's across-the-hall neighbors learns of Daphne's plight. Jeremy's an understanding, sympathetic, good lucking minor star in a TV series. (This is probably the most unbelievable aspect of the story. Who gets that kind of neighbor?) Still, he and Daphne become friends with benefits.
I was all in on this story until the very end. I didn't understand why the yearbook ended up the way it did. But the dialogue is so witty and spot on, I'll let that go. Great book.
Harold Fry seems to get more fascinating the more you read about him. I thought, at first, the book would be too much like A MAN CALLED OVE for me to enjoy it, but I was so wrong. I actually think I imagined him getting handsomer as the story went on. And if you read this book and like it, then you must read Rachel Joyce follow on book, THE LOVE SONG OF MISS QUEENIE HENNESY. The Harold Fry book is complete on its own, but if you want the next layer, read Queenie's side of the story.
I've been to England and visited many of the cities that Harold passed through as he walked from Kingsbridge to Berwick-upon-Tweed. It was a lovely refresher of the English countryside. But I guess Harold's growth throughout the story really kept me reading, as well as the very unexpected revelations about his life. Particularly relating to his son.
I'll be reading anything else that Ms. Joyce writes. It's not often that you can say a book makes you a better person, but I think her books have so far. Well done!!
OMG, I loved this book. I'm not really sure if it was the plot or the fact that the main character inherited her uncle's bookshop—always a secret dream of mine.
Though this isn't a typical mystery, it's mysterious just the same. And the mystery deepens as the book progresses, thank to clues provided in literary works. A bookshop and literary references? What could be better?
Not the characters. They were outstanding. From the main character who seems more than lost and for good reason. Miranda, whose name comes from Shakespeare's The Tempest, is from a family that finds it easier to hide the truth than talk. Her current boyfriend, Jay, is a nice enough guy (don't we all know those?) who is a little overly obsessed with sports, his own family, and, of course, himself. But Miranda's nice enough to overlook all his flaws because she's in her first real relationship.
The wrinkle in their relationship starts when Miranda wants to go home for Uncle Billy's funeral. What was supposed to be a 3-day trip (from Philadelphia to Los Angeles) turns into something much longer. Her path is directed by literary clues left by her dead uncle with no help from her loving parents who want to spare her the ugly truth by lying to her or not talking at all. The complexity of Miranda's search for the truth revolves around Evelyn, Uncle Billy's deceased wife and Prospero's, her bookshop, which is also named after a character in The Tempest.
Along the way, Miranda also develops a love/hate relationship with the current manager of Prospero's, named Malcolm. He's instrumental in helping her find the truth, as are an assortment of weird characters who revolve around the bookshop. Lee (the former manager), Evelyn's father, Sheila (an author and friend of Uncle Billy) as well as the other members of Prospero's staff.
I may be naïve, but I was completely caught off-guard by each new revelation that Miranda uncovered, keeping me intrigued for the whole 364 pages of this great book.
What a great story! This could be the story of any neighborhood—as long as all the people who live there are as hysterical as Frances Bloom, the main character. She's the anchor mom of the story and the one with the most kids (3).
What starts as life on a carpool-sharing, typical American block that turns to into a off-balance neighborhood when one wife has an affair. It goes from an “it takes a village” way of raising kids to a secret-spilling calamity of drunk husbands, unfulfilling sex lives, and no one being who they seem.
Is it more important to be the thinnest, the most successful, or just the most tuned in? In the end, this is the story of a group of parents who foremost want to do the best by their kids, but unfortunately, they are only human. So what happens in Other People's Houses really does have an effect on the rest of the block in the most unexpected way.
I'm giving this four stars only because I'm upset that the author was able to write such a coherent book from so many points of view, often in the same paragraph or page. She breaks all the rules so successfully, it gives me hope that authors CAN write in ways are unique and still get picked up by a great publisher. Well done, but frustrating too. Wish I'd thought of it. Probably should be six stars, but there you have it.
What a great, well-woven story about two women in two different centuries who grapple with being writers and with being in love. In some books, quickly shifting timelines can leave the reader wondering where they are. Not the case here. Hauck does a great job of cluing in the reader when there is a time shift.
This was a book that I couldn't wait to know what happened next. And I couldn't guess either, though I enjoyed trying. Tenley Roth, a modern day novelist has had her debut novel hit it big. A century earlier, Birdie Shehorn, born in the Gilded Age, only dreams of writing her own stories. Her family assumes letting her go to college was to liberal enough and, particularly her mother, now insist she marry, have children, and put aside her dreams of being a writer.
Anyone who is a writer can identify with Birdie and understands why giving up on writing is not an option. They can also identify with Tenley, is has a serious case of writer's block and her next book due soon.
It isn't only Birdie who is at odds with her mother. Tenley's absentee mom, in failing health, is requesting Tenley's help though she was never there for Tenley in her childhood. But, Tenley relents, going to her mother's place in Florida instead of going to Paris with her fiancé, Holt, which doesn't help their relationship.
At Tenley's mother's house, she finds an old writing desk that belonged to Birdie. She also finds Jonas, a real hunky distraction she tries to not to be attracted to.
The characters and the storyline are both well drawn in this novel. The angst is real. I didn't realize it was a “Christian” novel until well into the book. It wasn't overdone, thankfully, and it was nice to see spiritual depth in the characters, even if some of the beliefs were a little trite.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves the Gilded Age or loves to write.
At first, this didn't feel like a typical Colleen Hoover book. It took a while for me to warm to it, but boy, when I did, what a great story.
I like the slow reveals of the characters' issues. It was a little like reading a mystery. In fact, I thought I had it all figured out, but I didn't, which made me like it even more.
Auburn and Owen are outcasts. Parts of their history, despite their innate goodness, make them seem like bad guys. They aren't. But that bonds them even more. And their problematic pasts also limit their future options, making their present path narrow and uncomfortable.
They tend to get along from the start which turns out to be a big problem with Auburn's extended family and also for Owen too, who only has a father left. I like the details that Owen only had three contacts in his phone: his father, the local bartender, and a distant cousin he never calls.
Because so may layers are revealed slowly, it almost feels like any details are apt to be spoilers. So, I'll just say, stay with this one to the very end. You won't guess it, though it is very believable.
I couldn't put this book down. I wanted to, but I couldn't. I was tired and needed sleep, but instead, I kept reading.
I don't know if I was more fascinated with the book's main character, Merit, or her bizarre family. To think of a family living in a repurposed church was odd enough. The fact that they kept the crucified Jesus on the wall because it was built-in was even weirder.
Merit and Honor are identical twins in their last year of high school, but that's sort of where their similarities end. It doesn't help that Merit is attracted to the guy she thinks is her twin's boyfriend. This is only one of Merit's misperceptions, but it's hardly her fault. No one tells anyone anything in the family. Dad never says why he divorced mom, who still lives in the church/house basement. Or why he married his ex-wife's nurse.
The twins' older brother, Utah, is as confused as everyone else, especially after their step-uncle, Luck moves in. But then, Sagan, who Merit believes to be her sister's boyfriend, has also moved in—not that anyone told Merit. And I won't even try to tell you how the former church's former pastor's dog plays into all this, but he/she/it does.
What starts as a book of a calamity of people turns into a book about the truth about family. Hoover does a masterful job of never leaving us wondering about anyone in a book full of strange motivations.
Needless to say, I had to finish it, just to know if these crazy (but basically nice) people made it through the chaos. Get the large print edition of this book so you can read it when your eyes are tired because putting it down isn't an option.
Do not read this book. . . unless you have the time to read it straight through (all 545 glorious pages), because you won't be able to put it down. Seriously.
I was captivated from the get-go. I've tried to go back and figure out why because I'm an author myself and I want to give my readers this same experience. Maybe it was the time (1974), maybe the main character (Leni, 13)) or maybe her untenable situation (child of an abusive couple.) Truly, every turn and twist in this book was pretty much dictated by the crazed, Vietnam vet dad. Even after he was out of the picture.
Another character that needs to be mentioned is the setting. Alaska. And the quirky folks that state attracts—including a man who married a goose. This goes beyond color. Also, the whole idea of months of darkness and the pressure it applies to human behavior gives twists and turns to the book that couldn't happen anywhere else.
If there was a bad spot, I sort of guessed the ending. But even that was worth reading for the masterful way Kristin Hannah tells a story. On to her next book.
Let me preface this review by saying that historical fiction isn't really my thing. That said, this was an intriguing, but challenging book. I found it confusing at times, and the author's style to be a bit cumbersome, but the overall story is fantastic. I was torn between giving up and dying to know what happened.
Dulcy, (eventually the Widow Nash), has travelled the world with her eccentric father. In fact, she even accepted the marriage proposal of her father's business partner, Victor... a HUGE mistake. After her father's death, she is desperate to get away from her now ex-fiancé. Desperation and fear drives the rest of the book.
Her memories of traveling the world with her father show a huge amount of research by the author. I wondered at times if all the reminiscing was necessary, but it did add a certain flavor to the book. Plus, wanting to know if Dulcy could successfully change her identity made me want to finish the book. It was worth hanging in there. The ending was well-thought out, believable, and satisfying. If you have started this book and are wondering if you should finish it, I would vote yes.
In my (almost) never-ending quest to read all of Hannah's book, I stumbled on this early novel at the second-hand store. How nice.
Both the subject matter and the plot keep me engaged. As a women, and someone who obsessively follows the news, how could the topic of abortion not be engaging?
Angela's desperation to have a child has forced her marriage to shipwreck of the rocks of that obsession. She's a women who is used to accomplishing her goals. She tries to occupy herself by coming home to run the family restaurant, which as a perfectionist, she is adept at doing. But that still doesn't provide her with a baby or with the relationship she needs.
Enter Lauren, a poor teenage girl with an absent mother and no father in the picture. Her adorable, rich, and loyal boyfriend is clueless when it comes to the real world. When Lauren turns up pregnant, David is completely out of his depths. Lauren applies for a job at Angela's restaurant and their friendship turns into more of a mother/daughter relationship.
It was interesting how this book explored the idea of a teenage mother as well as an infertile woman. I'm not sure I agree with how Lauren's thought process over the baby was explained, but it's not an easy topic. Should she keep the baby? Have an abortion? Give the child up for adoption?
However, I thought Angela's experience with needing a child was very realistic. And how she tried to achieve that was also well done. My heart ached for her, maybe because I was faced with the same issue for year, albeit with a different outcome.
The ending was well done, not a pat answer to a huge question. Definitely buy this book!
Initially, someone gave me a copy of [b:Odd Hours 2029927 Odd Hours (Odd Thomas, #4) Dean Koontz https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388204532l/2029927.SY75.jpg 2313023] by [a:Dean Koontz 9355 Dean Koontz https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1581963714p2/9355.jpg]. It's about fourth or fifth in his “Odd” series. I only got 25 pages into it, but it felt as though I was missing information. I went to a 2nd-hand store and purchase a discount copy of [b:Odd Thomas 14995 Odd Thomas (Odd Thomas, #1) Dean Koontz https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388245669l/14995.SY75.jpg 4574034], so I could start the series from the beginning.I'm a Dean Koontz virgin, a little embarrassing to admit since he's a well-known author, I consider myself well-read, and I've never even cracked one of his books.So, Odd Thomas was my first foray into the mind/world of Koontz. It wasn't at all what I expected. I liked some of his asides that show his philosophy of life. Like, when speaking of God, he says:“He'll also cut you some slack if you're astonishingly stupid in an amusing fashion. Granny claimed that this explains why uncountable millions of breathtakingly stupid people get along just fine in life.”I struggled to understand his character, Odd Thomas. The author hinted at his “weird childhood” but waited until 3/4th of the way through the book before exposing what the weirdness was. At that point, Odd Thomas went from being a semi-reliable narrator (well, as reliable as one can be who sees dead people) to a semi-unreliable narrator. I didn't know if what he was searching for throughout the book was even something that would come to fruition. It does.However, in the end, there was a heartbreak I didn't expect. I will have to check out the next book to see if I want to continue.I attended a talk given by Koontz, who explained his authoring style. He simply starts at the beginning of the story, and rewrites as he goes. By the time he reaches the end of the story, it's ready to go to an editor. He doesn't write 1st, 2nd, or 3rd drafts. Just one draft that he modifies along the way. This was interesting to know before reading the book, and somewhat believable.Overall, I think it's worth a read, but I couldn't get emotionally connected to the characters. People were often introduced just to be killed off, a la GAME OF THRONES.
I know why this book has been on the best seller list for SOOOOO long. From the moment you start to read it, you're hooked. I spent all last night wishing I could put it down. Who thinks of this stuff? Who has seven husbands and why?
Evelyn Hugo has a larger than life persona that refuses to apologize for her actions. I think I know why I'm not famous. I'm not cold, aggressive, or calculating enough. I can't put aside what I feel is right in order to do what will help my career. But Evelyn can, and she's not shy about it.
Born in Hell's Kitchen (where else?) and escaping through her first marriage in her teens, she gets her fabulous boobs to Hollywood where that's all she's got. She's never had an acting lesson and she's not well educated. But she is smart and she knows what to do with that chest.
Before you know it, she divorced and remarried to an actor with BIG NAME. Of course. Why not? She accidentally fell in love with him which shocked Evelyn as much as anyone. And so went her remaining relationships. She was rarely alone for a week before stumbling upon another smart (read: career-enhancing or reputation-salvaging) reason to get married again. Of course, she's relaying all this information to a writer who will produce her biography. The true story. And the real question becomes, who was the real love of Evelyn's life?
If you pick up this book, you won't want to put down until you hit the last page.
After reading it, I must admit it made me feel sad, learning Evelyn's secrets and then seeing where they led her. But few books can give you the emotional gut punch that THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO does.
I LOVED THIS BOOK. It had just the right amount of mystery and character development. Eleanor moved from being a quirky character in a book to my best friend. I'm impressed with the author's storytelling chops. The more I read, the more my mouth dropped open, until I finally had to finish the book in one fell swoop, just to know what happened. I thought it all made sense and the writer left just the right amount of clues. Not enough that I could guess the ending, but enough to be believable. I will probably read this again at some point, and I rarely do that. The book deals with some very serious subject matter, but uses humor to keep it an enjoyable read over all.
Like all [a:Elinor Lipman 63681 Elinor Lipman https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1482327276p2/63681.jpg] books, it took me a bit to get into it, but, as always, it was worth it. It has all the charm, classic dialog, and quirky characters that makes each of her books a winner.How strange it would be to grow up in the dorm of a private women's college in Boston. Frederica did that and her parents were just what you would expect: scholarly counselors who used the ‘how does that make you feel' technique like two pros. Frederica goes from favored campus mascot to intellectual, overly mature teen as one might expect. However, the arrival of her father's ex-wife (a little detail her usually open parents forgot to mention) stirs up their up-to-this-point unflappable college life. And what a character Miss Laura Lee French turns out to be. One never quite knows if she is a blatant liar or just the most open person that ever existed. She manages to turn the campus upside down in a matter of months, taking Frederica, her parents, and the entire population of Dewing College for a wild ride.For me, it wasn't so much what happened, but how the characters reacted that tickled me and kept me reading. From Laura Lee's best friend priest (and what's really going on there?) to the illicit affair that leads to Frederica's father almost losing his job, it's a total romp.
Just when I thought I would never find [a:Kristin Hannah 54493 Kristin Hannah https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1517255843p2/54493.jpg]'s first book, I found it. [b:A Handful of Heaven 297131 A Handful of Heaven Kristin Hannah https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1215891073l/297131.SY75.jpg 1098533] is a remarkable first book for a now accomplished and beloved author. As a writer, it's great to see her evolution (she's much better) and yet discover that she always had the magical quality of being a great, emotional storyteller.Sure it's easy for me to say she wasn't as slick in her writing as she is today. Still, she knew the importance of getting under her characters' skins and keep us wondering (and turning pages) about how they would work out their issues, if they would get together both emotionally and intellectually, and if they would even survive. How can a reader stop reading when it's all on the line for Devon, the gutsy protagonist, and the big obstruction in her life, Stone Man MacKenna?And what a great nickname. Stone Man! It says it all. A man forced to harden his heart to keep going in life. It's only fair he should run smack dab into Devon, whose life has taught her to never, never give up. Hannah returns to the frozen north in another book, [b:The Great Alone 34912895 The Great Alone Kristin Hannah https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1501852423l/34912895.SY75.jpg 56275107] where we learn more about how to survive in that harsh environment. Still, we definitely get the picture in this book too. Devon has to wait months for the river to thaw to have a way to leave Dawson City, Alaska. By then, she's become a Yukonite, not something most women from St. Louis, MO achieve.A fun romp of a read if you can get your hands on a copy. No, you can't borrow mine.
I've never read a Kristin Hannah book before. This is my first—but certainly not my last. I used to have a dream about being washed ashore on as a stranger, so when I saw it was the premise for this book, I bought it. But this story took me places my dream never did. The clear cut characters and the sense of place and time were well done. And the story, oh the story was wonderful, never once taking the expected turn. Thanks you, KH, for such a engrossing novel. On to reading the rest of your gazillion books.
You gotta be a born romantic to love this book. I am, so I had no problem with it. While some of the details don't jive, overall, this is a story about overcoming emotional stress.
Mariah is devastated by her past and resolves her issues by going back home and hiding from life. “Mad Dog” Stone runs as far as he can from home and avoids his issues by moving often enough that they can't catch up. How these two connect in Washington state in 1894 and what happens after they do, takes the reader on a relationship roller coaster. Add in an orphan and a dying father's last wish, and you have all the ingredients for a heart-wrenching story.
I did occasionally wonder how a women who never went to town had groceries or how a professor could run an apple farm, but those weren't details that kept me from believing the interplay between a women and a man who both denied they were lonely. Or how their past mistakes could come back to haunt them. For one, it makes falling in love a solution. For the other, falling in love is the “heart” of the problem.
Visit the old west and enjoy this story.
If you, like me, are in the market to buy a house, DON'T READ THIS BOOK.
Sure, you can get taken in by that cute, cottage-y look, but the next thing you know, your workmate moves in and the police are digging up your basement.
I love how Elinor Lipman tells her stories. They usually feature (like this one) the messes folks get themselves into. Normal everyday people with believable quirks end up in the weirdest situations. Take the main character, Faith Frankel's dad. A typical father telling typical dad jokes until one day he moves out of the family home, starts painting Chagall knock-offs, and moves in with Tracy and her two teenage daughters. Happens all the time.
That's just a lovely side story in this well-paced, dialog-driven tale about a 32-year-old Jewish woman who initially puts up with her vagabond boyfriend until he starts posting pics of himself and other women he encounters on his journey across country to find himself.
I like the role (undertow?) that family plays in this book. Faith's family does their best to help one another even when it's sporadic and not all that beneficial. The point is, they try.
Great read for anyone who wants to know that weird stuff happens to everyone.
One might not think a main character in a coma for 3/4ths of the book could be interesting. That would be because one does not know the author, Kristin Hannah, very well.
Any story containing this quote must be thought provoking:
“Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forward.” -Søren Kierkegaard
What would you do if you could only remember the first half of your life? Though the main character is Mikaela, her husband, Liam, drives the plot. As a doctor, he is well aware what a coma can mean, particularly the longer it lasts. His journey, where he feels love slipping away, is nearly as compelling and his wife's.
I actually think Mikaela's mother, Rosa, brings more spiritual depth to this story than anyone, despite her own inability to overcome her past. And her daughter's.
Overall, read this book! If nothing else, you'll learn what it might be like to marry a movie star. Or have a first love you can't overcome.
It didn't really take me a month to read this book. It took me about 4 days. Life interrupted.
This is probably the earliest Elinor Lipman books that I have read (though I did see the movie made from her first book.) All the classic Lipman skills are evident, just not as sharp. The dialogue is there, the quick wit, and the ever-surging plotline, but none quite as honed as her later books.
Somehow, I like it better. That there is a bit more description. A few side trips. How it takes her more time to explore the depth and changes of her characters. I'm up for the slower, weightier Lipman.
Times change. The svelte dialogue and rushed plots of her more recent works fit our world now. But this book came out in 1998 and was set almost 30 years earlier. It was a slower time. No computers. No smart phones. No internet. Just people meeting people where they were.
In this case, the impetus for the story was a letter, stating Gentiles were preferred at the title's namesake inn. Imagine my surprise when the back of the book acknowledgements mentioned the author's mother. It said “Julia Lipman, who remembered after thirty-five years the exact working of the letter from the hotel on the lake.”
Art inspired by real life is always the best.
Wow! Just wow! This book really knocked me for a loop. Because my daughter works with victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, I thought I wouldn't learn anything new . That was not the case.
Not many authors can take us behind the scenes of an abusive marriage. It relies on a life experience and Colleen Hoover had that experience. I'm so glad she was willing to take her personal experience, put it out there for all to see, and let the chips fall where they may.
The main character, Lily's, relationships with both Ryle and Atlas are breathtaking. Either seems like a man any woman would want to have a relationship with. Good-looking, charming, successful, and over the moon in love with her. But, as this book shows, love isn't like a romance novel.
The trajectory of both relationships is believable. The one with Atlas was derailed by circumstance, and the one with Ryle progressed too quickly and too dangerously.
I'm wondering if victims of domestic violence should read this book when they are grappling with how to leave their relationship. Maybe those who have a friend or loved one in such a relationship would understand the quandary a little better after reading this novel. It does give insight into why women stay with abusive men and why they can't stop loving them. I won't give away the ending, but I will say it was spot on.
I loved this big, fat book about two foster sisters, Cecilia a rock star (single) and Robin a lapsed photojournalist with a family. I love the depth of characters in this book, showing how each dealt with childhood abandonment in their own way. The walk through the past and the unveiling of experiences really brings home the importance of a stable family life in a childhood development. Cecilia and Robin struggled to cope in their own ways, showing how the same experience can be handled in multiple ways. Each experienced relationship issues in distinct ways, both tending to shield themselves from undue harm. I found the ending satisfying and would definitely recommend this book to those who like well-developed characters and stories.
Let me say, Amy Tan wasn't a writer I enjoyed reading. . . until I read THE BONESETTER'S DAUGHTER. Her writing style continually lured me in, as well as her plot. I found the mother's story most intriguing, accidentally learning a lot about Chinese history & culture in the process. I live close to the US setting in this book, which made it seem familiar, but that's not a necessity. If you are looking for a book to live in with authentic, imperfect characters dealing with their authentic, imperfect families, this is the book to read. I found the JOY LUCK CLUB taxing to read, but I couldn't put down THE BONESETTER'S DAUGHTER.
I really loved [b:The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend 25573977 The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend Katarina Bivald https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1452107441l/25573977.SX50.jpg 25758335]. If you love books and you're a romantic, this is the book for you. I'll admit that it took me a bit to get into it, but I never considered putting it down. It was always intriguing. It just wasn't a fast read for me. (This could be me more than the author.)It's supposed to be Sara's story about how she comes from Sweden to Broken Wheel, Iowa to visit a pen pal, another book lover, who sadly dies before Sara arrives. But the town steps in to play host and it becomes the story of how Sara affects every other living person in Broken Wheel as much as what happens to her. Anyone can tell you the plot, but I'll mention a few things I found fascinating.There's a section of the novel that describes when Penguin first began mass-producing paperbacks in 1935 and the publisher started the Armed Forces Book Club.“Best of all was the fact that the smaller paperback format fit easily into their uniform pockets. “It was especially prized in prison camps,” Penguin's official history claimed. Which Sara had always thought was a particularly sad sentence.But, still, it said something about the power of books. Not that they would somehow lessen the pain of war when someone beloved had died or create world peace or anything like that. But Sara couldn't help thinking that in war, as in life, boredom was one of the greatest problems, a slow, relentless wearing down. Nothing dramatic, just a gradual erosion of a person's energy and lust for life.So what could be better than a book? And a book that you could fit in your jacket pocket at that.” Of course, this is the book all librarians should read. And if you really love books, you'll love some of the ways Sara thinks about them.”. . .Tom thought she preferred [books] because they were happier than life, but even within their pages, people were dumped and broke up and lost those they cared about. And in life, just as in books, people eventually moved on to new loves. There was no difference between books and life there. Both involved happy and unhappy love stories.Of course, with books, you could have greater confidence that it would all end well. You worked through the disappointments and the complications, always conscious, deep down, that Elizabeth would get her Mr. Darcy in the end. With life, you couldn't have the same faith. But sooner or later, she reminded herself, surely someone you could imagine was your Mr. Darcy would turn up.” If you get the chance to read this book, don' t pass it up.
I had seen the movie (with Robert Redford and Jane Fonda) before I read the book. I was struck by the sparse style of writing that conveyed such deep emotions. Maybe it's my age. . .
For such a short book, it really packs a wallop. In this Mayberry-like town, Addie Moore, a lonely widow connects with Louis Waters, a lonely widower down the block, by asking him to talk and sleep with her at night because “The nights are the worst. Don't you think?”
So begins the tale that shifts not just the lives of Addie and Louis, but their relatives, friends, and nosey inhabitants of their small town.
I guess the most surprising part of the book was that people, some strangers, thought their opinion about the relationship should matter. Why??? It didn't matter to Addie and, eventually, Louis who began the relationship more reluctantly. However, when Addie's son objected to “People your age meeting in the dark like you do,” it threatens to rip Addie's family apart.
This especially touching looks at how our emotional needs can change as we grow older (and grow as individuals) struck a chord with me. I liked the way Addie and Louis came to know each other by talking and spending time together. I enjoyed the secrets they shared with each other, and how they looked at life and viewed their past relationships. I think it's an important book and needs to be shared and considered widely.