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A review by _onemorechapter_
Saving Missy by Beth Morrey
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
๐ป.๐พ: Empty Nest Syndrome, abortion, loss of pets, and degenerative disease
๐ญ Bittersweet and Emotional.
A wonderful, heartful story about second chances, and how dogs can be the best and kindest companions and a promising debut novel that stole a place in my heart. This book was a slow build for me, it took a while for me to become fully invested in the story and characters but once I was there it was hard to put down.
The story is an account of the life of Missy Carmichael, a 78-year-old woman living alone in a huge family house haunted by memories of her husband and her children, she spends most of her day alone, thinking about her children and grandchild, getting mesmerized by the time gone by. She has little hope or excitement in her existence and lives a mundane life.
On New Year's Day Missy heads to the park nearby and meets Sylvie and Angela and her son Otis. Little does she know that these women are going to change her life for the better. She suddenly has friends and a reason to leave the house. She even agrees to look after a dog. Her lonely life becomes full and busy. A chance encounter with these 2 women in the local park, sets into motion life-altering events!
The story involves flashbacks from Her past, right from her childhood to adulthood and provides an account of the sacrifices and series of events that shaped her life.
We learn about Missy's eventful life as she reminisces about her family and her life. At 79 she has a lot of stories. In the beginning, Missy was not easy to like. As we get to know her she becomes more likeable and I began to care for her and what happened to her. It is an emotional story so have your tissues ready. Her relationships with these women and especially the dog are lovely to watch flourish.
THE BOOK WAS FULL OF FANTASTIC CHARACTERS with varied lifestyles and stories. This honestly made the book even more interesting! The main character Missy, is an old woman, with secrets, and a drinking problem, and someone who pretty much gave up on life and lifeโs wonderful moments. To all the new friends she made throughout the book. I loved Angela, her Irish brogue and demeanor was just perfect! Boy, Missy and Angela were so opposite and they still mixed so well, their friendship was just wonderful! And then there was little Otis, a boy to whom Missy could be a grandma. But most of all there was Bob(by), a dog that filled Missyโs heart to the brim and I love it anytime an author makes an animal an important part of the story. There is an interesting twist towards the end of the book that I wasn't expecting, and a lot of readers will find this novel very emotional.
A lot of emotions play out in this book, I laughed and cried and adored Missy and her newfound friends. The moral is to be kind and open to new things.
The book on the surface tells a simple story about an old woman who is alone in life. However, once you dive in, you are bound to notice all the hidden themes and details. The story after all is not so simple. Loneliness can never be simple. Neither is trying again in life.
The story is much larger than that, itโs an emotional account of loneliness, regrets friendship, companionship, love and redemption. This book is about finding hope, friendship and purpose when you live the winter times of your life.
It is a contemporary work of fiction and touches upon important topics like Brexit, the suffragette movement and feminism.
Furthermore, there are a lot of glowing reviews for "Saving Missy" and although I did find the book fairly enjoyable, there was still something missing for me that I can't quite put my finger on. Maybe the timing was not right!
Overall, It's a well-written story with some clever moments, but it moved at a glacial pace. I like the bones of the book and the ending too but I wish author Beth Morrey had gotten us there faster.
๐.๐ I didnโt find Missy to be in the same vein as Eleanor Oliphant that she is compared to often.
๐ธ๐ด๐ ๐น๐๐๐๐๐: โญโญโญ.5
๐ธ๐ฎ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐น๐๐๐๐๐: 4.07 (16918)
๐ธ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐:Historical Fiction, Psychological Fiction, and Humorous Fiction
๐ธ๐น๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐: YES!
This book was uplifting, heart-warming, touching, and endearing! This is a slow-burn, heart-wrenching, poignant, and lovely story!
๐ธ ๐ญ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ธ๐๐๐๐๐:
โFriendship always benefits; love sometimes injures.โ
โLove was just love, that was all. Flawed, uneven, complicated, overlapping, but still essentialโ
โThe magic doesn't stop the worst happening. The worst happens all the time, every day. And then life goes on. And you just hang on and hope that you can keep whatever crumbs and tiny white teeth are left.โ
โSometimes the loneliness was overpowering. Not just the immediate loneliness of living in a huge house on my own, with loved ones far away, but a more abstract, galactic isolation, like a leaking boat bobbing in open water, with no anchor or land in sight. I might sink, or just float farther out, and I wasn't sure which was worse.โ
"Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back."
"Children are so beautiful, flawless and shiny, like a conker newly out of its shell. Such a shame they all grow up to be abominable adults. If only we could preserve that giddy-with-possibility wiring, everything greeted with an open embrace."
"If you really want something, you hang on. Donโt give up. Hang on, as if your life depended on it.โ"
"In Japan, the sakura โ the cherry blossom โ represents the transience of life, and they have festivals dedicated to watching it bloom; the bud is fragile and short-lived and thus one must come to terms with the inevitability of oneโs death. How odd, though, to sit under a tree and actively contemplate oneโs own demise."
"Itโll get easier, he said. Things do, donโt they. Most things, anyway."
"The hottest love has the coldest end."
"Thatโs what everyone said about picking sides, that it was a stark choice, yes or no. Hang on, or let go. But it wasnโt that simple. There were other considerations in play; shades of grey where you didnโt necessarily agree or disagree but instead believed that one side summed up your feelings more than the other."
"People who truly liked themselves seemed to have a greater capacity for friendship, for letting people in."
๐ญ Bittersweet and Emotional.
A wonderful, heartful story about second chances, and how dogs can be the best and kindest companions and a promising debut novel that stole a place in my heart. This book was a slow build for me, it took a while for me to become fully invested in the story and characters but once I was there it was hard to put down.
The story is an account of the life of Missy Carmichael, a 78-year-old woman living alone in a huge family house haunted by memories of her husband and her children, she spends most of her day alone, thinking about her children and grandchild, getting mesmerized by the time gone by. She has little hope or excitement in her existence and lives a mundane life.
On New Year's Day Missy heads to the park nearby and meets Sylvie and Angela and her son Otis. Little does she know that these women are going to change her life for the better. She suddenly has friends and a reason to leave the house. She even agrees to look after a dog. Her lonely life becomes full and busy. A chance encounter with these 2 women in the local park, sets into motion life-altering events!
The story involves flashbacks from Her past, right from her childhood to adulthood and provides an account of the sacrifices and series of events that shaped her life.
We learn about Missy's eventful life as she reminisces about her family and her life. At 79 she has a lot of stories. In the beginning, Missy was not easy to like. As we get to know her she becomes more likeable and I began to care for her and what happened to her. It is an emotional story so have your tissues ready. Her relationships with these women and especially the dog are lovely to watch flourish.
THE BOOK WAS FULL OF FANTASTIC CHARACTERS with varied lifestyles and stories. This honestly made the book even more interesting! The main character Missy, is an old woman, with secrets, and a drinking problem, and someone who pretty much gave up on life and lifeโs wonderful moments. To all the new friends she made throughout the book. I loved Angela, her Irish brogue and demeanor was just perfect! Boy, Missy and Angela were so opposite and they still mixed so well, their friendship was just wonderful! And then there was little Otis, a boy to whom Missy could be a grandma. But most of all there was Bob(by), a dog that filled Missyโs heart to the brim and I love it anytime an author makes an animal an important part of the story. There is an interesting twist towards the end of the book that I wasn't expecting, and a lot of readers will find this novel very emotional.
A lot of emotions play out in this book, I laughed and cried and adored Missy and her newfound friends. The moral is to be kind and open to new things.
The book on the surface tells a simple story about an old woman who is alone in life. However, once you dive in, you are bound to notice all the hidden themes and details. The story after all is not so simple. Loneliness can never be simple. Neither is trying again in life.
The story is much larger than that, itโs an emotional account of loneliness, regrets friendship, companionship, love and redemption. This book is about finding hope, friendship and purpose when you live the winter times of your life.
It is a contemporary work of fiction and touches upon important topics like Brexit, the suffragette movement and feminism.
Furthermore, there are a lot of glowing reviews for "Saving Missy" and although I did find the book fairly enjoyable, there was still something missing for me that I can't quite put my finger on. Maybe the timing was not right!
Overall, It's a well-written story with some clever moments, but it moved at a glacial pace. I like the bones of the book and the ending too but I wish author Beth Morrey had gotten us there faster.
๐.๐ I didnโt find Missy to be in the same vein as Eleanor Oliphant that she is compared to often.
๐ธ๐ด๐ ๐น๐๐๐๐๐: โญโญโญ.5
๐ธ๐ฎ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐น๐๐๐๐๐: 4.07 (16918)
๐ธ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐:Historical Fiction, Psychological Fiction, and Humorous Fiction
๐ธ๐น๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐: YES!
This book was uplifting, heart-warming, touching, and endearing! This is a slow-burn, heart-wrenching, poignant, and lovely story!
๐ธ ๐ญ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ธ๐๐๐๐๐:
โFriendship always benefits; love sometimes injures.โ
โLove was just love, that was all. Flawed, uneven, complicated, overlapping, but still essentialโ
โThe magic doesn't stop the worst happening. The worst happens all the time, every day. And then life goes on. And you just hang on and hope that you can keep whatever crumbs and tiny white teeth are left.โ
โSometimes the loneliness was overpowering. Not just the immediate loneliness of living in a huge house on my own, with loved ones far away, but a more abstract, galactic isolation, like a leaking boat bobbing in open water, with no anchor or land in sight. I might sink, or just float farther out, and I wasn't sure which was worse.โ
"Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back."
"Children are so beautiful, flawless and shiny, like a conker newly out of its shell. Such a shame they all grow up to be abominable adults. If only we could preserve that giddy-with-possibility wiring, everything greeted with an open embrace."
"If you really want something, you hang on. Donโt give up. Hang on, as if your life depended on it.โ"
"In Japan, the sakura โ the cherry blossom โ represents the transience of life, and they have festivals dedicated to watching it bloom; the bud is fragile and short-lived and thus one must come to terms with the inevitability of oneโs death. How odd, though, to sit under a tree and actively contemplate oneโs own demise."
"Itโll get easier, he said. Things do, donโt they. Most things, anyway."
"The hottest love has the coldest end."
"Thatโs what everyone said about picking sides, that it was a stark choice, yes or no. Hang on, or let go. But it wasnโt that simple. There were other considerations in play; shades of grey where you didnโt necessarily agree or disagree but instead believed that one side summed up your feelings more than the other."
"People who truly liked themselves seemed to have a greater capacity for friendship, for letting people in."