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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is the high side of Liked It. Three and a half stars, three and three quarters maybe.
I almost put this book right back down after reading the first sentence, which can be paraphrased to "Girl meets boy." But I was so pleasantly surprised: by a snarky, cynical, funny main character; by a realistic depiction of the hows and whys of falling in love and staying in relationships. The other characters were quirky and entertaining as well.
I would describe this as "lighter fare"--but it is by no means fluffy.
I almost put this book right back down after reading the first sentence, which can be paraphrased to "Girl meets boy." But I was so pleasantly surprised: by a snarky, cynical, funny main character; by a realistic depiction of the hows and whys of falling in love and staying in relationships. The other characters were quirky and entertaining as well.
I would describe this as "lighter fare"--but it is by no means fluffy.
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Jane moves to Boyne City, Michigan, and is immediately smitten with Duncan Ryfield. The thing with Duncan is, though- he seems to be inextricably linked to the entire town. Whether it be that he slept with the sister of the doctor’s secretary, or that he mows the lawn of his ex-wife Aggie, or that his coworker Jimmy lets himself into Duncan’s apartment whenever he feels like it- Jane likes Duncan, but she’s not sure she’s prepared for all of this. And yet, life has a funny way of happening, and after an unexpected turn of events, Jane soon finds herself tied in this web of small-town folks: Duncan, Aggie, Jimmy. Spanning the course of almost two decades, this is a novel about life- not the big things, but how we manage all the little things in between.
[I’m having trouble explaining the plot in a way that doesn’t give it away]
Pros:
·This is one of those books that made me all warm and fuzzy inside. It’s just a delight.
·I loved the characters- each so unique and specific and messy in their own way. While there wasn’t a central plot, none of the details felt pointless to me because everything contributed to our understanding of the characters. I felt like the characters were my friends by the end of the novel. No character was depicted as perfect, and we got to see different sides of most of them, which I really, really liked. I ESPECIALLY adored Jimmy, and my heart grew three sizes whenever he was on the page.
·I loved the way we read Jane’s raw emotions, even when we see her being perfectly kind outwardly. Heiny captures the casual complexity of being a person so well.
Cons:
·none? The age gap between Duncan and Jane is a little big??
Recommendation: Highly recommend to those who like character-driven stories. This is a feel-good, simple but beautiful novel about the messiness of human connection. Avoid if you don’t like books without main driving plots/character-driven books.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy
Minor: Car accident
This was a lovely and quiet book. Jane is an extremely normal woman, surrounded by Interesting Characters, and she handles things a hell of a lot better than I would have. The ending was so sweet and beautiful, and it made me cry in a good way.
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Imagine if the cartoonist George Booth, who draws/writes scraggy, irascible people and houses and dogs, were a Midwestern white woman. She might write such a novel as Early Morning Riser. It's charming, entertaining, sweet/melancholy, and the funniness comes from the straight-forward "this is how it is" nature of human foibles.
This was just the light read I needed after getting rattled to my core from my trip to Nazi German as a German Jew in Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz's The Passenger. Palate cleanser, screamed my soul. Early Morning Riser was perfect.
This was just the light read I needed after getting rattled to my core from my trip to Nazi German as a German Jew in Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz's The Passenger. Palate cleanser, screamed my soul. Early Morning Riser was perfect.
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes