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3.53 AVERAGE
3.53 AVERAGE
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
"This is Just to Say
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold"
~WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS
I remember when i first encountered this poem~ninth grade Honors English (my all time favorite teacher~most inspirational~props again Mr. Mathis...) I seem to remember one of those painful sessions of analyzation~searching for meaning, symbolism, wondering if there were any right or wrong answers (which brings back nightmares of yet another teacher~this time college and sixteenth century poetry~everything i said and wrote~was WRONG, WRONG, WRONG and somehow i could do better~it was the first time that i really understood what it felt like to be the "picked-upon-'dumb'-student"~absolutely hated it [this same teacher was also my English minor advisor and in advising sessions he was perfectly pleasant~nice even...) Anyway, couldn't this famous poem (and i do love the poem~perhaps just for its lovely simplicity) just be a note left on the kitchen table or the refrigerator door?
Alice Kuipers' first novel, life on the refrigerator door is just that~notes between a mother and daughter left on the refrigerator door (a somewhat refreshing form of communication in this day of cell phones, email, and im-ing). This is a wonderful book; its 220 pages can be easily read in less than a few hours, but the emotions will linger long after the last page is finished.
It is as touching (if not more so) for what is left unsaid as what is said. I have an advanced reader's edition which i picked up because it was there and it looked undaunting. Today while i was cataloging (ever the librarian, i) newly acquired books (unfortunately a few still accumulate though i have tried to curb certain impulses...) i picked it up, started reading and couldn't stop.
I never felt like Kuipers was constrained by her form and what went untold could be sensed through what was told. You know from the blurbs that all will not go well with these characters but it is still a most compelling read: short, sweet, and entirely moving...
I will leave you with one of Claire's notes to her mother:
"When I look at you
I see the woman I want to be
Strong and brave
Beautiful and free
Claire
P.S. I love you"
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold"
~WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS
I remember when i first encountered this poem~ninth grade Honors English (my all time favorite teacher~most inspirational~props again Mr. Mathis...) I seem to remember one of those painful sessions of analyzation~searching for meaning, symbolism, wondering if there were any right or wrong answers (which brings back nightmares of yet another teacher~this time college and sixteenth century poetry~everything i said and wrote~was WRONG, WRONG, WRONG and somehow i could do better~it was the first time that i really understood what it felt like to be the "picked-upon-'dumb'-student"~absolutely hated it [this same teacher was also my English minor advisor and in advising sessions he was perfectly pleasant~nice even...) Anyway, couldn't this famous poem (and i do love the poem~perhaps just for its lovely simplicity) just be a note left on the kitchen table or the refrigerator door?
Alice Kuipers' first novel, life on the refrigerator door is just that~notes between a mother and daughter left on the refrigerator door (a somewhat refreshing form of communication in this day of cell phones, email, and im-ing). This is a wonderful book; its 220 pages can be easily read in less than a few hours, but the emotions will linger long after the last page is finished.
It is as touching (if not more so) for what is left unsaid as what is said. I have an advanced reader's edition which i picked up because it was there and it looked undaunting. Today while i was cataloging (ever the librarian, i) newly acquired books (unfortunately a few still accumulate though i have tried to curb certain impulses...) i picked it up, started reading and couldn't stop.
I never felt like Kuipers was constrained by her form and what went untold could be sensed through what was told. You know from the blurbs that all will not go well with these characters but it is still a most compelling read: short, sweet, and entirely moving...
I will leave you with one of Claire's notes to her mother:
"When I look at you
I see the woman I want to be
Strong and brave
Beautiful and free
Claire
P.S. I love you"
emotional
hopeful
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Love the epistolary format of this but I find it a little disheartening to have a mother-daughter duo discussing hard topics like cancer over refrigerator notes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Death of parent
emotional
hopeful
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Ööm okei vau. Ajattelin saavani jotain helppoa ja hauskaa luettavaa, mutta sainkin ihan jotain muuta. Olipas vaikea lukea aiheesta mikä on vuosien saatossa tullut lähipiirissä tutuksi. Meni kyllä roska silmään.
Very Quick( less than an hour) enjoyable read- not much substance but enough to keep the reader engaged.
I found it hard to like this book because I didn't like the mother at all. My problem with that character was she didn't seem to know much about breast cancer even though she was an ob/gyn, she seemed less mature than her daughter most of the time, and thing the bothered me the most was she didn't have a cell phone. What ob/gyn in this day and age doesn't have a cell phone? (Of course, if she had a cell phone, she could've called her daughter and written fewer notes, which would've been a problem for a book about notes on a refrigerator.) I've got a teenage daughter, and there's just no way I'd do most of my communicating with her with notes, even if it meant I never got any sleep because I had to wait for her to come home from babysitting.
This book reminded me of those emotionally manipulative books by James Patterson (Sam's Letters to Jennifer, for example) that I hate. I wanted to like this book more, but I couldn't.
This book reminded me of those emotionally manipulative books by James Patterson (Sam's Letters to Jennifer, for example) that I hate. I wanted to like this book more, but I couldn't.
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated