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3.32 AVERAGE
3.32 AVERAGE
These four women are definitely from a messed up family. I like how the author makes me really see the point of view of each woman, even though most of them are in direct conflict with the other family members. Wowza!
I really enjoyed Sullivan's debut novel, "Commencement," but this one felt like a novel written by someone who'd thought about it far too much. I kept wanting to write, in red ink, "show, don't tell." Also, usually I don't think it's the job of a reader to "like" the characters, but in this case, I found some of them so distasteful that they felt overdrawn and unrealistic. I hope her third novel is much better.
This was truly one of the best books I've read recently. That's not to say it's easy, or an uplifting read. However, the dynamics of the family - with all the hurtful, damaging ways that we can treat those who are supposed to be closest to us, rang so true that there were points I had to walk away from the book. Ultimately, it centers around the women in one family. The matriarch (oh, how I hate that word, but it is the best descriptor in this case) Alice is a hard woman for her family. By turns charming with those outside, she reserves her most cutting self for her family. I had a Nana like this and reading Alice's portion of the book was like being in the same room with her all over again. The other women (Kathleen, her daughter, Ann Marie, her daughter in law and Maggie, her granddaughter) all react to Alice's venom and capriciousness in various ways - from fleeing to trying to court her approval.
The book essentially takes place over one summer and centers on the summer home on the coast of Maine, but there is plenty of flashbacks and really this is not a plot driven story as a character study. If you need an ending that is tied up in a nice neat bow, this is probably not the book for you. But if you are looking for a character examination, then this is a great read.
The book essentially takes place over one summer and centers on the summer home on the coast of Maine, but there is plenty of flashbacks and really this is not a plot driven story as a character study. If you need an ending that is tied up in a nice neat bow, this is probably not the book for you. But if you are looking for a character examination, then this is a great read.
I ended up skipping the last few chapters and reading the ending.
medium-paced
Talk about a disappointing sophomore release from Sullivan. I adored "Commencement," but this book was impossible to get through. The characters, save for Maggie, were pretty unlikable and two-dimensional. And the ending? What the hell was that? I'm glad to be done with this book.
Maine is told from four different points of views. Family matriarch Alice Kelleher, her daughter Kathleen, her daughter-in-law Ann Marie, and granddaughter Maggie. Although Alice does have another daughter Clare and a son Patrick. Their voices aren't heard, except in conversation with the main characters or flashbacks. Three of those characters aren't very likeable. At times they seem downright cruel (with the exception of Ann Marie who has a martyr complex). That doesn't stop the book from being a very good read.The Kellehers are an Irish family from Boston. Every summer they go to their summer house in Maine. Lately though, Alice's children and grandchildren have been coming at different times,in shifts. Alice's parts are told in memories and in the present. The family really doesn't get along. In fact, Kathleen hasn't been to the house in the ten years since the family patriarch Daniel died. But, she does come. When all three generations converge on the house one last time. Maine is about family secrets, addiction, dysfunction, generation gaps and much more. The ending was a surprise.
Maine by Jay Courtney Sullivan
Family beach house in Maine where over the years the family members
have assembled. Three generations of females descent upon the house
one summer. Story starts out with how they were first married, and he
had won the land when another couldn't pay their card debt.
Alice remained and Daniel had passed away. Each of the kids and their
families would come to the house a different month for each child and
their family.
Very confusing as each person gets their own chapter and you struggle to
figure out who it is they are even talking about. Goes from the present
to the past.
It is a very good book, the setting especially.
Family beach house in Maine where over the years the family members
have assembled. Three generations of females descent upon the house
one summer. Story starts out with how they were first married, and he
had won the land when another couldn't pay their card debt.
Alice remained and Daniel had passed away. Each of the kids and their
families would come to the house a different month for each child and
their family.
Very confusing as each person gets their own chapter and you struggle to
figure out who it is they are even talking about. Goes from the present
to the past.
It is a very good book, the setting especially.
I"m not sure I can add much to some of the reviews I agree with that have already been written. All the main characters are women and all of their negatives are shown but few of their positives. What few male characters are in the book add little to the story. I also felt like the ending was a non ending and lacked closure. I kept waiting for something to be resolved and someone to step up and be the bigger character or for someone to actually talk about how they really felt, but maybe that was the point of this book. To show how a family can exist without anyone really knowing anyone else. If that was the point, then this is a sad, sad book.