By: litaddiction

litaddiction — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 05:17:11 +0000

Comfort Stories “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” — Mary OliverThat question from the epigraph is pertinent to Kate, who was hit hard by breast cancer and, now recovered, is reluctant to accept her daughter’s celebratory challenge to go white-water rafting. But it’s also pertinent to Kate’s circle of close friends, who support her by agreeing that she also issue a challenge to each of them — something that will ease a fear and increase the joy and living in their own lives.I loved Bauermeister’s debut novel (, a collection of linked stories about the students in a series of cooking classes) and remember ending my review by wishing I could read another set of stories about the next year’s class. Happily, JOY FOR BEGINNERS is nearly that, with writing as sensual and lush and stories as tender and hopeful. But here they’re even sweeter, gentle to the point of lacking narrative tension, and they lack SCHOOL’s sympathetic lead character and unifying story premise. Recommended for readers in the mood for comforting stories about women’s friendships.

By: Jennifer Donovan "5minutesforbooks"

Jennifer Donovan "5minutesforbooks" — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 05:15:42 +0000

4.5 stars — lyrical lovely just-right prose Kate challenges a group of her friends to pursue their own joy in ways that each of them need.The women are a loosely connected group who were first put together by Marion to be a “baby-holding” help to help Sara out with her newborn twins (and preschooler son). When Kate was diagnosed with breast cancer, Marion thought it only made sense for the group to morph from helping out Sara to being there for Kate, a divorced empty-nester, in her time of need.When Kate beat breast cancer, she did something that she never thought she would. She agreed to accompany her adult daughter on a raft trip through the Grand Canyon. She figured that she had cheated death once — why not expand her boundaries while pushing her luck a second time? At her celebration dinner, Marion thinks that each of them should make a pact to do something that is “scary or difficult or that we’ve always said we were going to do but haven’t” (ARC page 8). Kate thought it was a great idea but added “I didn’t get to choose mine, so I get to choose yours.”These women were all so different, and so readers will each relate to a different woman’s struggles, which would probably make for a good book club chat.I loved each of them in different ways: *Hadley, a young widow, trying to push through her grief and figure out life on her own *Caroline, bookstore owner (love her already!)recovering from a divorce and navigating life as an empty-nester *Marion, the glue of the group, who needs to be pushed to do something just for her *Daria, Marion’s younger sister, an independent, artistic, free-spirit *Sara, a good mom, wrapped up in the needs of her family, who is challenged to forget all of them for a while *Ava, a friend of Kate’s who couldn’t be there for Kate during her illness and feels like she’s being punished *and Kate, the survivor, brave but not maudlinThis book reminded me a great deal of Erica Bauermeister’s first novel The School of Essential Ingredients. The characters and the plot are entirely different, but the beautiful, lyrical language that jumps off the page is the same, and each book looks at a loosely connected group of people, and devotes a section to each character.

Comments on: Joy For Beginners

By: litaddiction

By: Jennifer Donovan "5minutesforbooks"