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hmonkeyreads's review
3.0
3.5 overall. Well written and it makes you feel exactly what a 43 year old single woman dying of ovarian cancer feels especially in regards to her six year old son.
But I ask you, do you want to spend your free time feeling how she feels?
Me neither.
The author did a great job but only read if you are in the mood for something like this.
But I ask you, do you want to spend your free time feeling how she feels?
Me neither.
The author did a great job but only read if you are in the mood for something like this.
mindfullibrarian's review against another edition
5.0
Oh, the tears. I spent the last 10% of this book trying to read through the tears dropping onto my Kindle, but I just couldn't stop reading. I inhaled this book in just 2 sittings and it tore at my heart. It gets to the very core of motherhood and womanhood and the very essence of life and just needs to be read. The letter-style makes it incredibly fast reading and impossible to put down. Highly highly recommend.
I received a digital ARC of this book from Net Galley - all opinions are my own.
I received a digital ARC of this book from Net Galley - all opinions are my own.
karieh13's review against another edition
3.0
“In the dark, from her hiding space under the pillow, Allie squeezed my hand, and the old platinum ring on my thumb, and we fell asleep pondering the condition of being mothers, which was, of course, the condition of helping the people you love the most in the world leave you.”
Karen, the main character of “Our Short Story” – is a mother. Her son, Jake, will not have the chance to grow up and leave her, because she is dying. She must leave him, and she writes her story, and their too short story, in order to give him a chance to know her once she is gone. This is a heartbreaking book, about the intensity of a mother’s love, and about a woman trying to do everything she can to prepare to leave the world and everything she holds dear.
She has Stage 4 ovarian cancer, and an undefined but short time to live. A single mother, she is doing all she can to ready her son for a new life without her while fiercely trying to wring out every last experience and memory of her own life. She has planned for Jake to live with her sister Allie, in Seattle…until Jake’s father enters the picture again and she is forced to deal with the unexpected feelings not only of hers, but of Jake’s and the man who never knew he was a father.
There is so much pain in this story – some physical, mostly emotional. As a mother myself, it was impossible for me to not imagine myself in Karen’s place – desperate to stay with a child you love more than life itself while having to plan for your child’s life after you’re gone. The reader experiences Karen’s frustration, exhaustion, denial and final the start to her release & acceptance.
The story starts out about her but evolves into the story of Jake – where his life will lead and how he will grow up with the people Karen has gathered to help raise him. What Jake’s memories and stories will be about the woman who bore him and raised him in the time she had on Earth.
She has done her best for him, and realizes she needs to trust in the other people who love him. “I hope that wherever and whenever this book finds you, it finds you as happy as you were at that moment – as the two of us were, the three of us, even. Eating pizza around the kitchen table, no big deal, a Thursday night. Remember that we loved each other. And that once upon a time it was the two of us, and we were our own magical family.”
As Karen starts to let go, the reader must as well – not with the ending anyone wanted, but with an ending where it belongs – at peace. In the end, it is not about the life that Karen has given her son, but what his life has given her. “And thank you for being eternal, so that when the time comes – whenever it comes – I will find the strength to close my eyes.”
Karen, the main character of “Our Short Story” – is a mother. Her son, Jake, will not have the chance to grow up and leave her, because she is dying. She must leave him, and she writes her story, and their too short story, in order to give him a chance to know her once she is gone. This is a heartbreaking book, about the intensity of a mother’s love, and about a woman trying to do everything she can to prepare to leave the world and everything she holds dear.
She has Stage 4 ovarian cancer, and an undefined but short time to live. A single mother, she is doing all she can to ready her son for a new life without her while fiercely trying to wring out every last experience and memory of her own life. She has planned for Jake to live with her sister Allie, in Seattle…until Jake’s father enters the picture again and she is forced to deal with the unexpected feelings not only of hers, but of Jake’s and the man who never knew he was a father.
There is so much pain in this story – some physical, mostly emotional. As a mother myself, it was impossible for me to not imagine myself in Karen’s place – desperate to stay with a child you love more than life itself while having to plan for your child’s life after you’re gone. The reader experiences Karen’s frustration, exhaustion, denial and final the start to her release & acceptance.
The story starts out about her but evolves into the story of Jake – where his life will lead and how he will grow up with the people Karen has gathered to help raise him. What Jake’s memories and stories will be about the woman who bore him and raised him in the time she had on Earth.
She has done her best for him, and realizes she needs to trust in the other people who love him. “I hope that wherever and whenever this book finds you, it finds you as happy as you were at that moment – as the two of us were, the three of us, even. Eating pizza around the kitchen table, no big deal, a Thursday night. Remember that we loved each other. And that once upon a time it was the two of us, and we were our own magical family.”
As Karen starts to let go, the reader must as well – not with the ending anyone wanted, but with an ending where it belongs – at peace. In the end, it is not about the life that Karen has given her son, but what his life has given her. “And thank you for being eternal, so that when the time comes – whenever it comes – I will find the strength to close my eyes.”
jenmat1197's review against another edition
This is a story about a woman named Karen Neulander. 2 years ago she was diagnosed with Stage IV ovarian cancer and was given 3-5 years to live. She is a single mother living in NYC with a six year old son, Jacob. Jacob has never met his father and his father doesn't know he exists. When Karen told Jacob's father she was pregnant all those years ago, he told her he didn't want to be a father. Karen left the relationship never revealing that she had a son.
Now she is dying and Jacob wants to meet him. So Karen calls Jacob's father - Dave - and tells him about Jacob. Dave is overwhelmed and wants to be part of Jacob's life. Karen is stunned - she didn't think he would want to be involved.
Dave and Jacob meet and have an instant connection. Dave is now married and settled and wants to be a part of Jacob's life. Karen fears that Dave will try and take Jacob from her, and she makes her sister promise that won't happen after she is gone. Her sister encourages her to let Dave and Jacob have this relationship, but Karen lets past hurt feelings get in the way.
This book was....fine. Not great, and not terrible. I read it quickly. I liked parts of the story, but it moved kind of quickly, and none of the characters were ever developed much. Honestly - Karen seemed like an irrational crazy person most of the time. Her feelings about Dave and Jacob's relationship didn't make any sense. She was overly mad at Dave even though he never knew she kept the baby. It was HER fault he wasn't part of Jacob's life, yet she kept playing the victim in the relationship. It just was ridiculous. And Jacob - not a likable little kid. Hard to get attached to him at all - he was just a brat the entire book.
I don't recommend it. It was fine, but kind of a waste. It ended abruptly with no real direction, so I say skip it.
Now she is dying and Jacob wants to meet him. So Karen calls Jacob's father - Dave - and tells him about Jacob. Dave is overwhelmed and wants to be part of Jacob's life. Karen is stunned - she didn't think he would want to be involved.
Dave and Jacob meet and have an instant connection. Dave is now married and settled and wants to be a part of Jacob's life. Karen fears that Dave will try and take Jacob from her, and she makes her sister promise that won't happen after she is gone. Her sister encourages her to let Dave and Jacob have this relationship, but Karen lets past hurt feelings get in the way.
This book was....fine. Not great, and not terrible. I read it quickly. I liked parts of the story, but it moved kind of quickly, and none of the characters were ever developed much. Honestly - Karen seemed like an irrational crazy person most of the time. Her feelings about Dave and Jacob's relationship didn't make any sense. She was overly mad at Dave even though he never knew she kept the baby. It was HER fault he wasn't part of Jacob's life, yet she kept playing the victim in the relationship. It just was ridiculous. And Jacob - not a likable little kid. Hard to get attached to him at all - he was just a brat the entire book.
I don't recommend it. It was fine, but kind of a waste. It ended abruptly with no real direction, so I say skip it.
kerisreads's review against another edition
2.0
Despite my low rating, this novel was actually very well written, I thought. The action and characters never broke believability and remained incredibly realistic the entire plot. You really got to know the major characters deeply, and it's even a fascinating POV: a mother dying of cancer, writing her last days in semi-journalistic format to her young son.
It just wasn't my cup of tea. For one, far too much profanity (which got increasingly more frequent as the novel progressed, else I may not have read it at all.) Without spoilers, it also had a lot of dark / heavy / traumatic material - too much for me to enjoy the story. There is one scene in particular at the climax of the book that I ended up skimming because it was a little.... well, traumatic.
I read for fun, and this was definitely not that: a bit depressing actually. I wish Karen's journey was a bit more heart-warming and humorous to lighten the mood a bit... But I suppose, doesn't everyone when they battle stage IV cancer?
Overall: Did not enjoy and would not recommend. But kudos to Grodstein for pulling off a fantastically real-feeling cancer journey.
It just wasn't my cup of tea. For one, far too much profanity (which got increasingly more frequent as the novel progressed, else I may not have read it at all.) Without spoilers, it also had a lot of dark / heavy / traumatic material - too much for me to enjoy the story. There is one scene in particular at the climax of the book that I ended up skimming because it was a little.... well, traumatic.
I read for fun, and this was definitely not that: a bit depressing actually. I wish Karen's journey was a bit more heart-warming and humorous to lighten the mood a bit... But I suppose, doesn't everyone when they battle stage IV cancer?
Overall: Did not enjoy and would not recommend. But kudos to Grodstein for pulling off a fantastically real-feeling cancer journey.
devyngian's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
lisaeirene's review against another edition
4.0
is a single mother in Manhattan, working as a political consultant. This book is written in part story-form and part memoir. It reads like a true story, but I don't think it was. 6 years ago, Karen was dating a man she thought was the one and accidentally got pregnant. He said he never wanted kids. They split up. She raised Jake on her own.
This book is about a love story--a love between a mother and child--about loss and motherhood.
"...we fell asleep pondering the condition of being mothers, which was, of course, the condition of helping the people you love most in the world leave you. [pg 207]"
A few years before the book begins, Karen finds out she has ovarian cancer--Stage IV. She's given treatment and has the support of her sister and her family and Jake. But she only has a few years.
"I want them to be your soft place to land. This is, I think, the best thing a family can be. [pg 6]"
She spends half her time in New York and the other half in Seattle with her sister, so that Jake can get close to her sister and his cousins, basically preparing him for when she dies and her sister takes him in. Jake starts asking about his father and reluctantly she reaches out to Dave, who had no idea she had kept the baby. Suddenly, he wants to be very much involved in Jake's life.
This makes Karen uncomfortable and rightly freaked out that Dave is going to try and take Jake from her because she's dying. But in the end, everybody kind of makes peace with the past and she lets that go.
"Jake, there will always be days in your life, even if you can't remember me, that you will miss me. That you'll need me. A person never stops needing his mother. [pg 63]"
The book is about the story of cancer, treatment, preparing to die, and writing a book for her son telling him her story. She also gives him advice.
"When people are mean to you, remember something is probably lacking in their lives, not yours. Check for lumps. Try to get eight hours of sleep at a stretch as often as possible. Be thoughtful about money, fall in love with the right person, read a lot. Know that your family--they think of you as one of theirs. [pg 138]"
The book was good. There were parts that seemed a little unnecessary (like the stuff about her job that went on a little too long to hold my interest) but overall it was a good read. It sounds like it would be a tear-jerker type of a story, but it honestly wasn't. There was some hope and closure.
This book is about a love story--a love between a mother and child--about loss and motherhood.
"...we fell asleep pondering the condition of being mothers, which was, of course, the condition of helping the people you love most in the world leave you. [pg 207]"
A few years before the book begins, Karen finds out she has ovarian cancer--Stage IV. She's given treatment and has the support of her sister and her family and Jake. But she only has a few years.
"I want them to be your soft place to land. This is, I think, the best thing a family can be. [pg 6]"
She spends half her time in New York and the other half in Seattle with her sister, so that Jake can get close to her sister and his cousins, basically preparing him for when she dies and her sister takes him in. Jake starts asking about his father and reluctantly she reaches out to Dave, who had no idea she had kept the baby. Suddenly, he wants to be very much involved in Jake's life.
This makes Karen uncomfortable and rightly freaked out that Dave is going to try and take Jake from her because she's dying. But in the end, everybody kind of makes peace with the past and she lets that go.
"Jake, there will always be days in your life, even if you can't remember me, that you will miss me. That you'll need me. A person never stops needing his mother. [pg 63]"
The book is about the story of cancer, treatment, preparing to die, and writing a book for her son telling him her story. She also gives him advice.
"When people are mean to you, remember something is probably lacking in their lives, not yours. Check for lumps. Try to get eight hours of sleep at a stretch as often as possible. Be thoughtful about money, fall in love with the right person, read a lot. Know that your family--they think of you as one of theirs. [pg 138]"
The book was good. There were parts that seemed a little unnecessary (like the stuff about her job that went on a little too long to hold my interest) but overall it was a good read. It sounds like it would be a tear-jerker type of a story, but it honestly wasn't. There was some hope and closure.
steph_davidson's review against another edition
4.0
Gut-wrenching at times, very focused on a mother's hopes and wishes for her son as she lives with terminal cancer.
cemsreadingcorner's review against another edition
3.0
This book was okay. It could have been better. What I didn’t like about it was that it was written as a book that was written to the main character, Karen’s son. I wish the author wrote it like a regular book. I’m not the son. It was a little weird to read it as if I was the son. The idea is cool, but it’s not so great. The other thing I didn’t like about the book was the way Karen treated her ex in the story. She didn’t want him to be a part of her son’s life. I understand that Karen’s ex said that he didn’t want kids at the time they were still together, but that was no reason for Karen to keep her son a secret for six years and then keep him from seeing his dad after they finally met. That was messed up. That was uncalled for. Karen should have had a conversation with her ex when they were still together. She should have communicated with him. And she should have told him about their son when she had him. What she did to her ex wasn’t fair. It really wasn’t though.
Now what I did like about this book was that Karen was resilient. She was dying from ovarian cancer, but has stayed strong. She stayed strong to the end. I think that’s awesome. Also, I could see how much she really loved her son. She really cared for him. That was really cool to see.
I recommend this book to anyone who’s interested in reading a fiction novel that has some drama and is a bit depressing. The story is a bit depressing, but it’s not that bad. It ends on a sweet note. To those who read the book, I hope you enjoy it.
Now what I did like about this book was that Karen was resilient. She was dying from ovarian cancer, but has stayed strong. She stayed strong to the end. I think that’s awesome. Also, I could see how much she really loved her son. She really cared for him. That was really cool to see.
I recommend this book to anyone who’s interested in reading a fiction novel that has some drama and is a bit depressing. The story is a bit depressing, but it’s not that bad. It ends on a sweet note. To those who read the book, I hope you enjoy it.
caitgiam's review against another edition
1.0
This book was hard for me. I loved the idea of it and I think it could have been a really bittersweet, lovely story...but I couldn't stand the main character. This is honestly a perfect example for me of book that is intriguing, well written, and falls apart because of truly unlikeable characters. I found myself rooting for the one person she was against, frustrated with her selfishness, and annoyed with her son.
There were some really beautiful parts, but mostly I found myself trying to push through her stubbornness and struggling to connect with her which felt like a crucial part to enjoying this book.
There were some really beautiful parts, but mostly I found myself trying to push through her stubbornness and struggling to connect with her which felt like a crucial part to enjoying this book.