I rarely read autobiographies, but this is a novel that masquerades as one. It begins by asking the question I suspect every woman has asked, probablyI rarely read autobiographies, but this is a novel that masquerades as one. It begins by asking the question I suspect every woman has asked, probably more than once through her life: how did I get here? Is it where I want to be?
Then, in the course of going back through her memories of her life after she graduates from college and takes a job in banking--hey, did I make a mistake setting aside my music? didn't Mom want me to go to law school?--and thus sets in motion a series of decisions that weren't what she thought she would face. This becomes particularly acute when Amy meets Nick, a not-yet-divorced guy who plays baseball when he's not farming.
Set in Iowa and Nebraska, an area of the country I am intimately familiar with, it felt comfortable when the author described the setting. Threading musical references, both classical and rock and pop, throughout the story rendered the female protagonist more real. Aren't we all a combination of disparate sounds and shapes?
Finally, we learn that the last pages of the book bring us full circle to where we began this journey--in the present day. This time, however, the questions that plagued the main character (and us?) have been answered. More importantly, they have been accepted. That's what life is: acceptance of the journey that became us....more
Not the usual novel I can get into, but this new adult, part of a trilogy, pulled me in from the first chapter, pitting Nadia Conrad, studying to be aNot the usual novel I can get into, but this new adult, part of a trilogy, pulled me in from the first chapter, pitting Nadia Conrad, studying to be a teacher, and her downstairs neighbor, Ty (with a precious 4-year-old son, Sam). She's attracted to both from the start, but he's still hurting from his wife's desertion shortly after Sam's birth, and intent on staying single while he puts himself through school, spending all his time devoting himself to Sam and his well-being.
Nadia's roommates complete an ensemble cast of characters whose own foibles rout out Nadia's character, showing her to be a true friend in the midst of her own angst when Ty rejects her love in a misguided attempt to save her from hurt--and only compounds it for the two of them.
How things turn out requires a new roommate and the support of Ty's parents and Nadia's, too....more