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shirleytupperfreeman's review against another edition
This is about a woman, Joy Harkness, who is a successful, intelligent English professor at Columbia. In spite of her outward success, she has been skimming through life - never getting emotionally involved with anyone or anything. Her life changes dramatically when she takes a new job in a small town at Amherst. She finally allows herself to grow up. Some of the characters feel a bit unrealistic but it was a decent read about second chances.
meme_too2's review against another edition
1.0
I read the average to low reviews on this book and took a chance anyway. Big mistake. I couldn't finish it.
Here's a woman who is so rigid, scholarly (instead of party animal), and boring that when she finally moves out of her New York studio apartment and moves into an old, falling apart, Victorian house in Amherst, Massachusetts, she is goes to every party she's invited to, dates every "coyote" in the town, and sleeps with them. Her character is unpredictable, stupid, and unbelievable.
Here's a woman who is so rigid, scholarly (instead of party animal), and boring that when she finally moves out of her New York studio apartment and moves into an old, falling apart, Victorian house in Amherst, Massachusetts, she is goes to every party she's invited to, dates every "coyote" in the town, and sleeps with them. Her character is unpredictable, stupid, and unbelievable.
emilyisreading2024's review against another edition
3.0
This fell short for me. The main character, Joy, was such a snob in so many ways. People in NY always talk at cocktail parties about things like the make up of DNA whereas people in the country talk about their kids' obsession with Hannah Montana? Come on...
I appreciated how she grew and realized that she should open herself up to relationships with others.
I didn't like the boring parts about the academic program at Amherst, how Joy dealt with Teddy by thinking she knew better than he did what he should do with his life, or the shopping and make up parts at the end, which felt forced.
I appreciated how she grew and realized that she should open herself up to relationships with others.
I didn't like the boring parts about the academic program at Amherst, how Joy dealt with Teddy by thinking she knew better than he did what he should do with his life, or the shopping and make up parts at the end, which felt forced.
mollykwhelan's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-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
3.5
Enjoyable if a little klutzily written at times. The main character is aggravating (GO TO THERAPY GIRL) but the story will keep you hooked.
jothursday's review
2.0
Erica pick June 2015. WTF did I just read? This was the oddest book. Some parts sucked me in and some parts I almost fell asleep. Best part was the dog. Needed more dog.
prof_shoff's review against another edition
4.0
A 40-something acerbic English professor leaves her familiar university for a new position in a new town and discovers that life, despite all the messiness, can start over, too. No, I see no parallels whatsoever.
ozgirl63's review against another edition
3.0
Some parts were nicely written, but the characters did not sing! A nice beach read.
mmz's review against another edition
4.0
This is a sweet book, though it's not without some drama and darkness. At just the right time in her life, Joy Harkness gets an unexpected job offer that takes her from a prestigious but unsatisfying job at Columbia University to an equally prestigious job in the small college town of Amherst, Massachusetts. Leaving behind a life devoid of personal connections, she suddenly finds herself thrust into the social framework of her new home.
Joy’s lack of personal past seems at many points in the narrative to be little more than a plot device to set up the “second chance” that she suddenly has in her new home. After all, if we didn’t know that she was a social outsider at Columbia, it wouldn’t make sense for her to behave in such a socially awkward way at Amherst. Except it still doesn’t make sense, because although she initially rebuffs many social efforts from her colleagues, she seems to have no problem forming a relationship with the handyman who fixes up her new house. That inconsistency undercuts much of the tension that might otherwise be present as she is forced to reconsider her life in social terms.
Fortunately, for both Joy and the reader, her new colleagues are fairly insistent that she not hold herself apart any longer, and the story that unfolds is quite touching. If many of the secondary characters seem flat, it is because their purpose is really to shine a spotlight on Joy and the changes she is experiencing. Meier generally succeeds in giving us a readable and enjoyable story and avoids the saccharine by achieving an ending that is not happy in the usual sense, but is certainly satisfying and hopeful.
Joy’s lack of personal past seems at many points in the narrative to be little more than a plot device to set up the “second chance” that she suddenly has in her new home. After all, if we didn’t know that she was a social outsider at Columbia, it wouldn’t make sense for her to behave in such a socially awkward way at Amherst. Except it still doesn’t make sense, because although she initially rebuffs many social efforts from her colleagues, she seems to have no problem forming a relationship with the handyman who fixes up her new house. That inconsistency undercuts much of the tension that might otherwise be present as she is forced to reconsider her life in social terms.
Fortunately, for both Joy and the reader, her new colleagues are fairly insistent that she not hold herself apart any longer, and the story that unfolds is quite touching. If many of the secondary characters seem flat, it is because their purpose is really to shine a spotlight on Joy and the changes she is experiencing. Meier generally succeeds in giving us a readable and enjoyable story and avoids the saccharine by achieving an ending that is not happy in the usual sense, but is certainly satisfying and hopeful.