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katiebtatton's review
2.0
This book is the story of two women whose friendship is tried when one woman's daughter tries to kill herself. The writing was emotional and believable; the story itself so sad that I had to put the book down for a week before I could finish it. A 'slice of life' story, and not one I will read again.
laila4343's review
5.0
I am so loving this book. I (heart) Ann Packer. This is the kind of story I love. Meaty, real, lovely. It's the story of two life-long best friends, Liz and Sarabeth, and how their friendship changes over the years as they go through marriage, parenthood, affairs, job searches, etc. Mostly it focuses on the aftermath of a tragic event in the life of Liz's daughter. Ann Packer is such a deft, nuanced writer. She doesn't beat around the bush or use lots of extraneous flowery language. She just knows how to tell a good story. I'm sad that this is only her second novel - I want more! But it was well worth the wait.
anniewill's review
2.0
. I enjoyed this book despite the dreary, depressed characters and gloomy story line. The two main characters are friends from childhood- the one, Sarabeth, is the daughter of a woman who committed suicide when she was 16. [b:The other woman|58345|The Awakening|Kate Chopin|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170507247s/58345.jpg|1970518], Liz, was a stable, solid woman until her own teen daughter attempts suicide. The book follows the two as they work through a year of changes- including changes to their friendship as well as their persons.
nuscheda's review
4.0
Not as good as The Dive from Clausen's Pier; the Sarabeth character is too melodramatic and over-the-top to be quite realistic
asurges's review
2.0
I loved the Dive from Clausen's Pier, but you can tell Ann Packer's suffering from a bit of the sophomore slump with this one. I notice that many authors who strike it big with one book (Julia Glass, "The Three Junes," Chitra Divakaruni's "Sister of My Heart") use their second book to get into this really deep, dense, and strangely stilted writing that tells the story from perspectives of several different characters. The story wanders, and you know there's "deep" stuff going on, but you don't really care because the characters are so distant that you don't really care if you get to know them. I look forward to all three of the writers mentioned here getting back to first-person accounts because that's when their writing is most sharp. I'll keep reading this Packer book, but it's mostly out of loyalty.
wsk56's review
3.0
Lacked the depth in the characters that I was hoping for but it is a solid novel about a close friendship and the harrowing story of a teenage girl with severe depression. Enjoyed the familiar setting of the SF Bay area.
colleenpence's review
3.0
Made me hope that I have a better relationship with Delaney when she's a teen than the mom/dad in the book did. Scary how your kids can grow apart from you.
denakg's review
1.0
This book dragged on forever. It took 100 pages for the author to actuallty get to the big "event" and they may have been the longest 100 pages of my life. After reading some other reviews, I have chosen not to finish this one. Too many other good books out there to read rather than waste my time on this one!
heather1999's review against another edition
4.0
This was a wonderful book. It was hard for me to put down. I have nothing better to do besides reading during this quarantine.