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3.32 AVERAGE
3.32 AVERAGE
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I want to share this book with every mother my age damn did it speak to me. Hard core hags unite!
This book is adorable. It's basically about a middle age woman named Sam, that makes the decision to buy a rundown, charming craftsman house to remodel and leave her husband after a long unsatisfying marriage. Her daughter wants to stay with her dad at the suburban family home, so our protagonist finds herself living alone for the first time in decades. She is facing her climacteric symptoms (and demons) while trying to fin her old self and to reconnect with her passions and interests. Unhappy with the social, cultural and political current affairs (the storyline takes place around the 2016 election) she becomes aware of the hypocrisy that surrounds her former life. By trying to make a change she meets a group of engaged women and begins her self-fulfillment journey.
The book is a meditation, a critic, a love letter, a raw manifesto. Dana Spiotta's writing is honest and beautiful. The characters, dialogues and situations are credible and amusing. Her precocious daughter Ally, (some of the chapters are written from her point of view) is in her own self discovery journey. Sam is trying to make sense of the new dynamic regarding their relationship and of what life will look like without her own mother that is terminally ill. The relationship between the three generations is so endearing and heartfelt.
What prevents me from giving this book five stars is that I felt the ending a little abrupt or precipitated. Maybe it's just because I didn't want it to finish at all. Overall was an extremely pleasant
and enriching reading experience.
The book is a meditation, a critic, a love letter, a raw manifesto. Dana Spiotta's writing is honest and beautiful. The characters, dialogues and situations are credible and amusing. Her precocious daughter Ally, (some of the chapters are written from her point of view) is in her own self discovery journey. Sam is trying to make sense of the new dynamic regarding their relationship and of what life will look like without her own mother that is terminally ill. The relationship between the three generations is so endearing and heartfelt.
What prevents me from giving this book five stars is that I felt the ending a little abrupt or precipitated. Maybe it's just because I didn't want it to finish at all. Overall was an extremely pleasant
and enriching reading experience.
DNF. I’m giving up not quite halfway through. It’s too angry for me and I don’t like Sam. Not finishing.
I usually live this author so I'm a little disappointed. Started out very compelling, but just seemed like she didn't know what to do with the story and it didn't really go anywhere.
I really loved this book. Could not put it down. It examines the onset of menopause in a larger context of women’s autonomy and what it means to be a daughter, a mother, a person in the world. It somehow connects 21st century tech bros to 19th century utopian visions and shows the impact of both on women’s lives and experience. Sam is difficult, frustrating at times, but also relatable. The grandmother-mother-daughter triad is at the center of this moving and thought provoking narrative. Unexpected and wonderful.
This is not a fast-paced book. Rather, it is a contemplation of life, what it means to grow up, to grow old, and to come closer to death. The three main female characters captured my attention and I felt I could relate to all of them in different ways:
- Sam, a 50-year-old women questioning her life as she is dealing with the effects of perimenopause and the aftermath of the 2016 election
- Ally, her 16-year-old daughter who feels smothered by her mother's concern and advice and stops communicating with Sam because she is angry with her mother's choices. Ally begins a relationship with a much older man and I just loved her ponderings of love, sex, freedom, capitalism and greed (her essay "Why I'm not a Libertarian" is a hilarious highlight in the book for me)
- Lily, Sam's mother who faces her own mortality
There were sudden storylines that felt out of place in the plot, yet the lessons they offered justified their somewhat jarring presence for me. If you are paying attention, this is a book you'll look up from and see things in your own life differently. Well done.
- Sam, a 50-year-old women questioning her life as she is dealing with the effects of perimenopause and the aftermath of the 2016 election
- Ally, her 16-year-old daughter who feels smothered by her mother's concern and advice and stops communicating with Sam because she is angry with her mother's choices. Ally begins a relationship with a much older man and I just loved her ponderings of love, sex, freedom, capitalism and greed (her essay "Why I'm not a Libertarian" is a hilarious highlight in the book for me)
- Lily, Sam's mother who faces her own mortality
There were sudden storylines that felt out of place in the plot, yet the lessons they offered justified their somewhat jarring presence for me. If you are paying attention, this is a book you'll look up from and see things in your own life differently. Well done.
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
This book was engaging, but also a bit anxiety inducing, of which I am not super prone toward. Though a fairly accurate reflection of many people's general feelings during the time after the 2016 election. Sam wasn't a very likeable protagonist, mostly due to the fact that we were witness to every thought in her head. There was a lot going on in the story, not all of which got resolved, or seemed pertinent.