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3.4 AVERAGE
3.4 AVERAGE
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
Enjoyable if a little klutzily written at times. The main character is aggravating (GO TO THERAPY GIRL) but the story will keep you hooked.
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.
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.
Some parts were nicely written, but the characters did not sing! A nice beach read.
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.
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.
Decently written, though sometimes overly long winded in reference to academic and literary study. Was brought emotionally into the plight of Teddy and his Mother, wanting to kill her so there could be a happy ending, sooner rather than later...
This is a good 3.5 book. I think it got better the more the main character developed and matured. There was definite growth for her, which I liked to see. The first 50 or so pages didn't grab me but it definitely improved.