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cpoole's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
A short #memoir written in an interesting way: the author layers past + present from one sentence to the next + back again. I was right there with her as she remembered her son’s early years, then flashed back to the present moment of going to dinner w/ her husband. I am delighted by this style, as it is the way I think (possibly we all do?), which made this #audiobook that much more intimate. I should say-the entire book is not written like this.
francescamoroney's review against another edition
4.0
I finished this In one evening, with my newly-returned-from-the-East-Coast son watching a movie in the basement, his sisters and their friends singing Taylor Swift and JuiceWrld and making Tiktok videos, and the two dogs sleeping at my feet on a furry rug - one on his side, his lips twitching as he dreamt, belly softly rising and falling. The other one flat on her stomach, her chin on two folded paws. She is not sleeping. Her eyes are open, and occasionally she glances me, “You’re still reading?” Reading someone else talk about her 18-year marriage while you’re in the throes of your 23rd year is an exercise in saying to yourself, “yes, and.” Yes to all of what she wrote, and also.... so much more. I guess that’s why it has inspired so many writers. In spite of all the things that long-term marriages share, each of them, like each of us, is unique in a zillion different ways.
hopemathslow's review against another edition
4.0
Vulnerable, thoughtful, and lovely. I had a hard time putting this down and it has continued to ring in my mind even after finishing.
egoenner's review against another edition
2.0
A book of images and impressions rather than a story or plot. Meditative and understated.
factandfables's review against another edition
4.0
I don't know how I felt about this. Shapiro's emotional writing is extraordinary, and I found this book terrifyingly honest, but I wasn't terribly moved.
roniloren's review against another edition
4.0
I took my time with this book because it's writing to be savored. Each morning, I'd read a few passages and it was a wonderful way to start the day. This is one of those books that is hard to summarize, but it's about life and love and the passing of time. It's about the quiet, intense, and everything-in-between moments of spending your life with someone. I used so many book darts marking passages or lines I liked that the book probably weighs an extra pound now. : ) I wouldn't have been ready to read this book when I was younger, but coming up on my 16th wedding anniversary, much of this resonated.
karenpcheng's review against another edition
3.0
I just finished this book, yet I could not tell you what it was about. What I can tell you is that it felt meditative, like I had stepped inside Dani Shapiro’s mind as it meandered and reflected on the vignettes of her life. The book’s subtitle says it’s about “memory”, and in many ways she wrote it as we experience memories - non-linearly, yet layered and connected. She bounces around between the early days of her marriage to the present day, back and forth across various points in her career and throughout motherhood. I’m not sure it resulted in a terribly strong narrative, but it was definitely experiential, in a good way. On the heels of Shapiro’s Inheritance, which had a stellar narrative, this was just okay for me.
eralon's review against another edition
3.0
Some good writing. Interesting. She does the Joan Didion repeat repeat repeat again later thing. Doesn't give me much insight into her marriage or marriage in general. Is an interesting meditation on time and memory. Does the repeat repeat repeat thing.
livingpalm1's review against another edition
3.0
I wish I'd started reading her work with an earlier memoir because so much of this book references her earlier life, particularly the prayer practices she observed growing up with an Orthodox Jewish father. The book skims across the surface of the author's eighteen years (at that time) of marriage, dipping in deeper here and there to share harder parts of their story. Added bonus: the author lives in a charming part of Connecticut that we love to visit. It was fun to picture the area as she wrote about er life there with her husband and son.