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sjwomack8981's review against another edition
5.0
Absolutely brilliant writing and engaging and funny, and towards the end a poignant story.
nglofile's review against another edition
5.0
A treasure. I don't even recall adding this to my playlist, but that made the discovery and resulting experience all the sweeter. Effectively mixes the clever with the absurd and the tender with the provocative. Sly commentary on writing, publishing, audience, and media raises the bar without compromising a complex character journey.
audiobook note: Pitch-perfect narration by Amy McFadden. Tone, pacing, characterization, and flow are not only expert in their own right but also entwine to show off this work to best effect.
audiobook note: Pitch-perfect narration by Amy McFadden. Tone, pacing, characterization, and flow are not only expert in their own right but also entwine to show off this work to best effect.
bunnieslikediamonds's review against another edition
5.0
Loved it so. Why isn't everybody talking about Jincy Willett?
literatehedgehog's review against another edition
4.0
Droll and tender contemporary fiction about a writer's accident, fugue-state interview that goes viral, and all that comes after.
This is apparently a sequel to a more dramatic thriller about the writer's creative workshop class...but I didn't feel any lack or confusion for not having read the other book. In fact, I probably won't read the first since the topic seems so different from what I loved about this one.
I loved Amy Gallup. She's reclusive, stubborn, witty, devoted to her dog, and best of all, professes a lot of feelings I also share about writing, readership, and publication. (basically, who cares, write books or don't, read books or don't). I loved her physical and mental journeys. I loved her notebook of lists and titles. I loved her dog. I loved her agent and their relationship. I found this book through another book mentioning it, and it feels like the best kind of bookish scavenger hunt trail.
Recommend to
I can see this read on a sunny vacation, during a creative slump, shared among a book club or writer's group. If you liked the grumpiness of A Man Called Ove , the biting humor of How to Build a Girl (but many years later), and normally don't like books about books or writers, you might give this a go.
This is apparently a sequel to a more dramatic thriller about the writer's creative workshop class...but I didn't feel any lack or confusion for not having read the other book. In fact, I probably won't read the first since the topic seems so different from what I loved about this one.
I loved Amy Gallup. She's reclusive, stubborn, witty, devoted to her dog, and best of all, professes a lot of feelings I also share about writing, readership, and publication. (basically, who cares, write books or don't, read books or don't). I loved her physical and mental journeys. I loved her notebook of lists and titles. I loved her dog. I loved her agent and their relationship. I found this book through another book mentioning it, and it feels like the best kind of bookish scavenger hunt trail.
Recommend to
I can see this read on a sunny vacation, during a creative slump, shared among a book club or writer's group. If you liked the grumpiness of A Man Called Ove , the biting humor of How to Build a Girl (but many years later), and normally don't like books about books or writers, you might give this a go.
nancyinoregon's review against another edition
3.0
It had some funny moments, but I didn't find any of the characters likable, certainly not Amy, and it seemed like a book written for publishing industry insiders.
lorimichelekelley's review against another edition
2.0
This book seemed like the author just had a bunch of story plots and didn't know what to do with them, so she just wrote a book about a writer where she could dump them all into one book without developing them.
As I'm not a writer, I don't really care so much about the process as I do the finished product, so this was of no interest to me. Writers might find it fun, even inspirational. I wanted to know more about Amy and her dog and her life. As it was, this book just bored me. I got halfway through and gave up. Maybe it would have redeemed itself, but there are too many good books out there to waste another 5 hours on this one, and many of the other reviews confirmed my suspicion that it wouldn't come around.
As I'm not a writer, I don't really care so much about the process as I do the finished product, so this was of no interest to me. Writers might find it fun, even inspirational. I wanted to know more about Amy and her dog and her life. As it was, this book just bored me. I got halfway through and gave up. Maybe it would have redeemed itself, but there are too many good books out there to waste another 5 hours on this one, and many of the other reviews confirmed my suspicion that it wouldn't come around.
janicerm79's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed Amy as a character and the story of the year that follows her fall. I almost envy the way she lives her life in the present not worrying about what people think of her or what the future holds until I realized at the end that it's easy not to worry when you have nothing to lose.
melissapalmer404's review against another edition
4.0
Book #50 Read in 2013
Amy Falls Down by Jincy Willett
Amy is a writer...well, she used to be but she hasn't written anything in years. She is more famous for a writing group where one of the members tried to kill people. Then she has an accident in her back yard, hitting her head on a birdbath, and when she comes to, a reporter is leaving her house and Amy has no recollection of what she had said. The article comes out and Amy is made out to be a wonderfully eccentric talent, when in reality she had taken leave of her senses temporarily. That article begins to bring media attention back on Amy and her former agent begins booking Amy for radio shows and speaking engagements. Amy has no filter and takes no prisoners.
This book had a lot of humor in it. I enjoyed the references to books and to the writing process. However, the writing was a bit disjointed and at times the book dragged for me. Overall though, I thought it was a good read.
I received this book from the Amazon Vine program in exchange for a review.
http://melissasbookpicks.blogspot.com
Amy Falls Down by Jincy Willett
Amy is a writer...well, she used to be but she hasn't written anything in years. She is more famous for a writing group where one of the members tried to kill people. Then she has an accident in her back yard, hitting her head on a birdbath, and when she comes to, a reporter is leaving her house and Amy has no recollection of what she had said. The article comes out and Amy is made out to be a wonderfully eccentric talent, when in reality she had taken leave of her senses temporarily. That article begins to bring media attention back on Amy and her former agent begins booking Amy for radio shows and speaking engagements. Amy has no filter and takes no prisoners.
This book had a lot of humor in it. I enjoyed the references to books and to the writing process. However, the writing was a bit disjointed and at times the book dragged for me. Overall though, I thought it was a good read.
I received this book from the Amazon Vine program in exchange for a review.
http://melissasbookpicks.blogspot.com
cook_memorial_public_library's review against another edition
4.0
A 2013 staff fiction favorite recommended by Connie and Mary T.
Check our catalog: http://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/search/C__Samy%20falls%20down%20willett__Orightresult__U?lang=eng&suite=pearl
Check our catalog: http://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/search/C__Samy%20falls%20down%20willett__Orightresult__U?lang=eng&suite=pearl
wordsmithlynn's review against another edition
5.0
Curmudgeonly heroine Amy Gallup returns in Amy Falls Down , the delightful new book from her real-life alter ego, Jincy Willett.
Amy was a literary sensation in her youth, and now gets along by teaching writing classes at the local community college and online. In a previous book, Amy and her class dealt with a murderer in their midst. There's no mystery in the new book, but in its place, there's some brilliant, biting insight into the "instant celebrity" phenomenon of modern society.
After a bad fall in her garden, a mildly concussed Amy gives an interview to a worshipful admirer who works for the local newspaper. The barely coherent article gets circulated around the Internet and voila! Amy, who hasn't written a book in decades, is suddenly hailed as a contemporary philosopher and becomes a literary sensation again. She becomes a regular on NPR, speaks at assorted writers' conferences, and even makes a triumphant appearance on a Rush Limbaugh-like talk radio show. Along the way, Amy rediscovers her love for the written word, works through the lingering grief over the death of her first husband, and ultimately winds up playing second fiddle to an adorable and heroic basset hound named Alphonse.
Amy Falls Down is uproariously funny in places and it moved me to tears in others. Jincy Willett uses an ostensibly funny, lightweight story to sneak in some major truths about pop culture, the writing business, and life as a woman of a "certain age."
I loved it. Go read it now.
Amy was a literary sensation in her youth, and now gets along by teaching writing classes at the local community college and online. In a previous book, Amy and her class dealt with a murderer in their midst. There's no mystery in the new book, but in its place, there's some brilliant, biting insight into the "instant celebrity" phenomenon of modern society.
After a bad fall in her garden, a mildly concussed Amy gives an interview to a worshipful admirer who works for the local newspaper. The barely coherent article gets circulated around the Internet and voila! Amy, who hasn't written a book in decades, is suddenly hailed as a contemporary philosopher and becomes a literary sensation again. She becomes a regular on NPR, speaks at assorted writers' conferences, and even makes a triumphant appearance on a Rush Limbaugh-like talk radio show. Along the way, Amy rediscovers her love for the written word, works through the lingering grief over the death of her first husband, and ultimately winds up playing second fiddle to an adorable and heroic basset hound named Alphonse.
Amy Falls Down is uproariously funny in places and it moved me to tears in others. Jincy Willett uses an ostensibly funny, lightweight story to sneak in some major truths about pop culture, the writing business, and life as a woman of a "certain age."
I loved it. Go read it now.