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jothursday's review against another edition
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.
annie8me's review against another edition
3.0
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...
tgcpa's review against another edition
3.0
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.
jgeisler's review against another edition
5.0
This is a wonderful book. It's about a professor who leaves Columbia for an opportunity in Amherst, Mass and finds the courage to let people into her life, buy and renovate a huge Victorian house and learn to love herself. Funny, heartwarming, and filled with details that will make you want to find your own Victorian and restore it to life!
milkamilka's review
4.0
The reader is introduced to Joy, a 48-year old women from New York. She has built an impressive career and she is successful, but along other people, she do not know how she should act. She got married when she was young, but after couple of years of the marriage, she divorced and moved from St. Louis to New York City. She moved to the city with big dreams. She had always dreamed about her life in New York, but when she got there, she realized that it is nothing like she dreamed about. She goes on years, just by doing her job and not getting to know people. When she is offered a job from Amherst College, Massachusetts, she leaves the city and begins a journey which changes her life.
Without much of a thought, Joy buys a Victorian House, which is on a bad condition. My bad, I really mean bad. Everyone in the city recommend her to call to Teddy Hennessy, a handyman who has specialized on renovating Victorian houses. Teddy renovates the house, and at the same time, makes it feel like home. Sooner or later, Joy notices, that without Teddy, the house does not feel like home. But it is not that easy, even though they both are adults. Teddy is utterly blind when it comes to his possissive mother. Can Teddy start a life of his own or will he be ruled by his mother? What can Joy do to make Teddy choose her?
Even though Joy is a lot older than me, I was somewhat able to identify with her. She is not a very social person. She likes to be on her own, read novels and poetry. She does not know how to act with children, I get the sense that she does not even like them that much. I had to pick this part from the book which was totally hilarious and reminded me of myself:
I was left with four little girls, and I was on my own.
"Okay," I said, searching for suitable subjects to discuss, "who likes Jane Austen?" This was met with complete silence.
Jackie, the oldest and the most sophiscated of the girls, looked at me with furrowed brow, as though she couldn't quite remember. "Who is she?"
When Joy moves to Amherst, her life changes. First she feels that other people are trying to push themselves into her life. She feels like she just wants to be on her own, like she did in NYC. But when she gets to know these people better; Josie and Fran from her work, people from her work project and the other people of the town, she notices that she actually likes them, and eventually she starts to see them as her family.
I really liked this novel. It made a difference to my current reading. I've been mostly reading YA novelsrecently, and this definitely wasn't YA novel. This is one of those books I would love to give to my mother and tell her to read it. Too bad she does not read novels in English. I recommend this novel especially to women at the age of Joy, the narrator of this novel but for others too. If you come by this novel, you definity should give it a try.
I want to thank Jason Liebman from Henry Holt and Company for providing me a review copy of this gorgeous novel.
Without much of a thought, Joy buys a Victorian House, which is on a bad condition. My bad, I really mean bad. Everyone in the city recommend her to call to Teddy Hennessy, a handyman who has specialized on renovating Victorian houses. Teddy renovates the house, and at the same time, makes it feel like home. Sooner or later, Joy notices, that without Teddy, the house does not feel like home. But it is not that easy, even though they both are adults. Teddy is utterly blind when it comes to his possissive mother. Can Teddy start a life of his own or will he be ruled by his mother? What can Joy do to make Teddy choose her?
Even though Joy is a lot older than me, I was somewhat able to identify with her. She is not a very social person. She likes to be on her own, read novels and poetry. She does not know how to act with children, I get the sense that she does not even like them that much. I had to pick this part from the book which was totally hilarious and reminded me of myself:
I was left with four little girls, and I was on my own.
"Okay," I said, searching for suitable subjects to discuss, "who likes Jane Austen?" This was met with complete silence.
Jackie, the oldest and the most sophiscated of the girls, looked at me with furrowed brow, as though she couldn't quite remember. "Who is she?"
When Joy moves to Amherst, her life changes. First she feels that other people are trying to push themselves into her life. She feels like she just wants to be on her own, like she did in NYC. But when she gets to know these people better; Josie and Fran from her work, people from her work project and the other people of the town, she notices that she actually likes them, and eventually she starts to see them as her family.
I really liked this novel. It made a difference to my current reading. I've been mostly reading YA novelsrecently, and this definitely wasn't YA novel. This is one of those books I would love to give to my mother and tell her to read it. Too bad she does not read novels in English. I recommend this novel especially to women at the age of Joy, the narrator of this novel but for others too. If you come by this novel, you definity should give it a try.
I want to thank Jason Liebman from Henry Holt and Company for providing me a review copy of this gorgeous novel.
manogirl's review
I was pleasantly surprised by how substantial this book ended up being. I thought, based on the information I'd read about it, that it would be frothy and light, filled with romance and fun descriptions of an old house. I got the latter part right, but the former rather wrong. Not that there wasn't romance of a sort in the book, but it wasn't frothy and it wasn't necessarily fun. [return][return]I think this books strikes a really good balance between serious and not, and I especially did enjoy the parts about the house (I only wish there had been more). I'm not sure I'd say I loved this book, and I'm not sure how readily I would recommend it, because I'm not sure who the audience for this book is. It's slightly less serious than is required for it to be literary fiction, and it's slightly too serious to be appealing to someone who loves chick lit.[return][return]Nonetheless, it was enjoyable, and I'm very glad I read it.
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