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528 reviews
The Overdue Life of Amy Byler by Kelly Harms
3.0
There was a lot stacked against me, as far as liking this books goes.
1. I am at a VERY different place in my life than the main character, Amy Byler. As the mostly-divorced librarian with dreams mother of two, slogging through life, we don't have much in common. Not a mother, I definitely feel like I have a lot more in common with Matt, Amy's friend Talia's...assistant and aspiring social media manager (I jest), a young man at the very beginning of his career, trying to get his big break in the...magazine industry, or Cori, Amy's teenage daughter. She certainly seems to be reading YA books from when I was in high school (not that I ever read YA when I was in high school, as I definitely felt like I was Way Too Good For Them). Not that I can't sympathize with Amy, but I didn't have the same connection to this character as many women who DO have kids seem to have had.
2. I DO NOT want to read any more books that are about books. They're alienating if you a) haven't read it, b) if you, perhaps, do not want to spend any time listening to people calling Peeta Mellark a weenie, for example, or just, disagree with their general point being made about the book in questions, and they ALWAYS take me out of the action, and feel extremely forced. Also, Peeta is NOT a weenie, and I cannot STAND for that kind of nonsense.
3. I recently listened to Kelly Harms' audible exclusive novella "You Can Thank Me Later" and hated it. A lot of the problems I had with that novella I had with this novel as well, mainly, some of the characters felt very fake, with very fake problems, with very narrow views on each other and their own problems, but I did feel like Amy made some sort of move towards...something like reconciliation with her husband, because I did have very Fun Time reading this.
4. The geography of this book is driving me crazy. I cannot for the life of me figure out where this woman lives. They name drop Buck's County a couple of times, and she takes a train to NYC, and this is fine. You could take SEPTA from Doylestown to 30th Street and then take Amtrak, but then she says she took the train to and from Allentown, and that includes a bus ride, and it's $90, and ALSO, it turns a 2 1/2 hour train ride (I suggest, if she really was from Buck's County, driving to Trenton and taking the train to Penn Station), into a 5 hour trip MINIMUM, when it takes about two hours to DRIVE there. I know the logistics of driving to New York aren't great, but like...MAN. That, I guess, is the trouble. The geography had me confused from the beginning, since she IMMEDIATELY name dropped Scranton, and waited until like 75% to mention Philadelphia. Buck's County is a Philadelphia suburb. It's big and there are certainly places that are a little more remote, but like, it is just NOT Amish Country. I think, like, genuinely, she's basing this town on some place in Lancaster County (evidence: Amish Country is in Lancaster County, there are TWO Country Day Schools in Lancaster county; there's still no train. I spent HOURS looking this up). But this is a: I live in a Philly suburb and you cannot put one over on me Kelly Problem. I don't know that people who don't live locally would necessarily pick up on how weird the geography and the characterization of the geography is. I'm genuinely shocked that I did. Also, if you say you're a bumpkin and live in Buck's County, we're going to have to throw hands, and that's the end of it.
4. I have some...issues with Amy's literacy program, and it's that it relies on ebooks. As many times as she explained WHY it relied on ebooks, I couldn't understand. I actually really LIKE Flexthology (really terrible name) as an approach to encouraging reluctant readers, and we did a similar unit in eighth grade, but I genuinely don't understand why, if ereaders are an impediment, she is so married to it. Gendered covers? I guess if you're talking Romance and High Fantasy, but...these aren't necessarily going to be books you're assigning anyway. Otherwise, I'd say most book covers are not gendered. Stop kids from obviously knowing what other kids are reading? Uhm, because in the classroom they would be in guided reading groups anyway, they would know to some extent what the other students are reading, and they do, like talk to each other. The only part of the plan that seemed like it would require ereaders is that the pages are locked until they're approved to go ahead, but really determined readers would read ahead anyway, and No Ninth Grader would anyway. They are...reluctant readers and ninth graders aren't they? English majors don't even do their reading, I wouldn't worry about Reluctant Readers Who Are 15. (Not me, of course, I always did my reading...on time...and all of it.......)
That's a lot of things that are against me, but also! I did enjoy it. I thought it was clever (I am a sucker for Letters and Journals, love a good epistolary novel) and simple, and I thought Daniel - Hot Librarian of the Year - was very sweet, and that Amy and Daniel have really good chemistry. I think Amy made really good first steps to coming to an understanding about how to be Fulfilled Career Woman and a Mother and it required her exhusband coming back into the picture to understand how (the secret: asking for help and compromise). She realized the role she played in her marriage falling apart, and finally that it didn't matter because her marriage was over and she and John were moving forward with their lives.
John needs some serious help and he did not use those three years to like, get it, but it's fine. I do think Amy's final impression of John was uncharitable towards the both of them. She really was like: WoW I can't believe I wasted so much time WORRYING ABOUT WHY HE LEFT ME and HOPING HE WOULD COME BACK? Amy, you were MARRIED to him for fifteen years, and you have two children, and you felt like you could have done more for him (which is like, probably true; obviously, John needs the Man the Fuck Up); but at the end of the day, they were married for a long time and they did love each other for a long time, and trying to white knuckle her way through her divorce isn't giving either of them enough credit. Also, John CLEARLY needs help that he still hasn't gotten, he literally had a nervous breakdown and moved to Hong Kong and then just reappeared in their lives out of the blue, and Amy is like: ah, I see, my husband has ALWAYS BEEN INCAPABLE OF LOVING ME. Woman? No. His behavior is not normal or healthy, and I just didn't like the way they left the relationship.
My issue with John is that the book doesn't want to take a hard line on what his issue is, and it seems to waver between: John had serious mental health issues that he needed to sort out (he didn't sort them out) and John is Typical Man. And I just don't...buy it. I think we're really supposed to believe that Daniel is an aberration in the male species, and that leaves a bad taste in my mouth, because it sort of...absolves John of any responsibility.
Lastly, momspringa leaves a bad taste in my mouth, and it is because it is momspringa and not momcation. I get why it's different - thematicallly and everything - but...like. I think she (Harms) doesn't totally understand rumspringa.
Also I have a potential problem with the lesbian former nun and the subtle conversation around sexuality that is sort of brushed aside in this book. Actually, as far as I can tell there are TWO lesbians in this book. Lena, who was a nun and then stopped being a nun. I have an obvious concern about the implication being: she realized she was a lesbian and then left the church that I probably don't have to get into. The other lesbian is Daniel's ex-wife, and Amy looking at the situation with Daniel's ex-wife as being the same as hers and John's is...very strange. Like, I think we can all appreciate that a woman does some soul searching and realizes that she Can Never Love Her Husband Because She Is A Lesbian might be a world of difference from a man who is a Coward and cannot confront his deteriorating mental health in a way that doesn't disrupt his family's life so he has an affair with one of his employees in HK, right? We don't know the details of Daniel's ex's life, but, like, we can appreciate the nuance, can we not?
I did like it, though.
1. I am at a VERY different place in my life than the main character, Amy Byler. As the mostly-divorced librarian with dreams mother of two, slogging through life, we don't have much in common. Not a mother, I definitely feel like I have a lot more in common with Matt, Amy's friend Talia's...assistant and aspiring social media manager (I jest), a young man at the very beginning of his career, trying to get his big break in the...magazine industry, or Cori, Amy's teenage daughter. She certainly seems to be reading YA books from when I was in high school (not that I ever read YA when I was in high school, as I definitely felt like I was Way Too Good For Them). Not that I can't sympathize with Amy, but I didn't have the same connection to this character as many women who DO have kids seem to have had.
2. I DO NOT want to read any more books that are about books. They're alienating if you a) haven't read it, b) if you, perhaps, do not want to spend any time listening to people calling Peeta Mellark a weenie, for example, or just, disagree with their general point being made about the book in questions, and they ALWAYS take me out of the action, and feel extremely forced. Also, Peeta is NOT a weenie, and I cannot STAND for that kind of nonsense.
3. I recently listened to Kelly Harms' audible exclusive novella "You Can Thank Me Later" and hated it. A lot of the problems I had with that novella I had with this novel as well, mainly, some of the characters felt very fake, with very fake problems, with very narrow views on each other and their own problems, but I did feel like Amy made some sort of move towards...something like reconciliation with her husband, because I did have very Fun Time reading this.
4. The geography of this book is driving me crazy. I cannot for the life of me figure out where this woman lives. They name drop Buck's County a couple of times, and she takes a train to NYC, and this is fine. You could take SEPTA from Doylestown to 30th Street and then take Amtrak, but then she says she took the train to and from Allentown, and that includes a bus ride, and it's $90, and ALSO, it turns a 2 1/2 hour train ride (I suggest, if she really was from Buck's County, driving to Trenton and taking the train to Penn Station), into a 5 hour trip MINIMUM, when it takes about two hours to DRIVE there. I know the logistics of driving to New York aren't great, but like...MAN. That, I guess, is the trouble. The geography had me confused from the beginning, since she IMMEDIATELY name dropped Scranton, and waited until like 75% to mention Philadelphia. Buck's County is a Philadelphia suburb. It's big and there are certainly places that are a little more remote, but like, it is just NOT Amish Country. I think, like, genuinely, she's basing this town on some place in Lancaster County (evidence: Amish Country is in Lancaster County, there are TWO Country Day Schools in Lancaster county; there's still no train. I spent HOURS looking this up). But this is a: I live in a Philly suburb and you cannot put one over on me Kelly Problem. I don't know that people who don't live locally would necessarily pick up on how weird the geography and the characterization of the geography is. I'm genuinely shocked that I did. Also, if you say you're a bumpkin and live in Buck's County, we're going to have to throw hands, and that's the end of it.
4. I have some...issues with Amy's literacy program, and it's that it relies on ebooks. As many times as she explained WHY it relied on ebooks, I couldn't understand. I actually really LIKE Flexthology (really terrible name) as an approach to encouraging reluctant readers, and we did a similar unit in eighth grade, but I genuinely don't understand why, if ereaders are an impediment, she is so married to it. Gendered covers? I guess if you're talking Romance and High Fantasy, but...these aren't necessarily going to be books you're assigning anyway. Otherwise, I'd say most book covers are not gendered. Stop kids from obviously knowing what other kids are reading? Uhm, because in the classroom they would be in guided reading groups anyway, they would know to some extent what the other students are reading, and they do, like talk to each other. The only part of the plan that seemed like it would require ereaders is that the pages are locked until they're approved to go ahead, but really determined readers would read ahead anyway, and No Ninth Grader would anyway. They are...reluctant readers and ninth graders aren't they? English majors don't even do their reading, I wouldn't worry about Reluctant Readers Who Are 15. (Not me, of course, I always did my reading...on time...and all of it.......)
That's a lot of things that are against me, but also! I did enjoy it. I thought it was clever (I am a sucker for Letters and Journals, love a good epistolary novel) and simple, and I thought Daniel - Hot Librarian of the Year - was very sweet, and that Amy and Daniel have really good chemistry. I think Amy made really good first steps to coming to an understanding about how to be Fulfilled Career Woman and a Mother and it required her exhusband coming back into the picture to understand how (the secret: asking for help and compromise). She realized the role she played in her marriage falling apart, and finally that it didn't matter because her marriage was over and she and John were moving forward with their lives.
John needs some serious help and he did not use those three years to like, get it, but it's fine. I do think Amy's final impression of John was uncharitable towards the both of them. She really was like: WoW I can't believe I wasted so much time WORRYING ABOUT WHY HE LEFT ME and HOPING HE WOULD COME BACK? Amy, you were MARRIED to him for fifteen years, and you have two children, and you felt like you could have done more for him (which is like, probably true; obviously, John needs the Man the Fuck Up); but at the end of the day, they were married for a long time and they did love each other for a long time, and trying to white knuckle her way through her divorce isn't giving either of them enough credit. Also, John CLEARLY needs help that he still hasn't gotten, he literally had a nervous breakdown and moved to Hong Kong and then just reappeared in their lives out of the blue, and Amy is like: ah, I see, my husband has ALWAYS BEEN INCAPABLE OF LOVING ME. Woman? No. His behavior is not normal or healthy, and I just didn't like the way they left the relationship.
My issue with John is that the book doesn't want to take a hard line on what his issue is, and it seems to waver between: John had serious mental health issues that he needed to sort out (he didn't sort them out) and John is Typical Man. And I just don't...buy it. I think we're really supposed to believe that Daniel is an aberration in the male species, and that leaves a bad taste in my mouth, because it sort of...absolves John of any responsibility.
Lastly, momspringa leaves a bad taste in my mouth, and it is because it is momspringa and not momcation. I get why it's different - thematicallly and everything - but...like. I think she (Harms) doesn't totally understand rumspringa.
Also I have a potential problem with the lesbian former nun and the subtle conversation around sexuality that is sort of brushed aside in this book. Actually, as far as I can tell there are TWO lesbians in this book. Lena, who was a nun and then stopped being a nun. I have an obvious concern about the implication being: she realized she was a lesbian and then left the church that I probably don't have to get into. The other lesbian is Daniel's ex-wife, and Amy looking at the situation with Daniel's ex-wife as being the same as hers and John's is...very strange. Like, I think we can all appreciate that a woman does some soul searching and realizes that she Can Never Love Her Husband Because She Is A Lesbian might be a world of difference from a man who is a Coward and cannot confront his deteriorating mental health in a way that doesn't disrupt his family's life so he has an affair with one of his employees in HK, right? We don't know the details of Daniel's ex's life, but, like, we can appreciate the nuance, can we not?
I did like it, though.
A New Hope by Alan Dean Foster
2.0
:( the ladies want to know why we would ever read this novelization when a perfectly good movie exists, or HOW anyone made anything semi-coherent out of stars wars at all. seriously, the naming-convention of DROIDS is all over the place in this single novel, there is, retrospectively in fairness, uncomfortable emphasis on the romance between luke and leia, and i do not even want to talk about the prose.
on the other hand: lots of sad about obi-wan...that wasn’t even fully intentional.
on the other hand: lots of sad about obi-wan...that wasn’t even fully intentional.
The Empire Strikes Back: Star Wars: Episode V by Donald F. Glut
2.0
I'm thinking NOTHING will ever live up to my first star wars read, Matthew Stover's Revenge of the Sith. That shit is crazy and in comparison EVERY Star Wars novel sort of falls flat on its face.
I guess this shouldn't be too much of a surprise because of the following pieces of information: what I am looking for in a novelization (in particular, but also ALL star wars novels) is Darth Vader/Anakin nonsense (re: sadness) or information about the Jedi order. I am the prequels' BITCH, and it's very possible that this novelization, which reads very much like a prose-ified or even in places like a transcript of esb itself, was there to fill the void between seeing and reliving the movie to the best of your ability until a) return of the jedi came out or b) they replayed esb on tv and you were around to catch it. The prose is nothing special and it doesn't add anything to my understanding of the characters. Honestly, because it's been 40 years since this movie came out, and star wars has in a lot of ways grown beyond the original trilogy, I (and also you, and pretty much everyone with more than a passing interesting, and also some people with only a passing interest, in star wars) have a better understanding of the characters than this book has. I'm not giving it two stars for that reason, just...the lackluster prose.
On the other hand! I will say I think modern star wars fans are really missing out on the impish nature of Yoda's original concept which he never really lost, which means I am now walking away from this novel with an increased Love for Yoda. I've been diagnosed with Loving Yoda disease and you all can fight me.
Oh, also, I can't believe how distracted I was by the revelation that tauntauns are giant lizards with hair and blubber. This was so upsetting to me, because it rocked my understanding of life itself. I spent about two hours on Friday googling whether or not reptiles could live in cold climates, thinking that was stupid, stop trying to apply science to star wars, there's nothing to say that reptiles COULDN'T adapt like tauntauns, but then going bACK and being like: why AREN'T THEY MAMMALS? This is such a small thing, not the fault of this book at all (it could have been retconned at any time and hasn't been; they've retconned so much! they will retcon their own retcon! Lucasfilsm, PLEASE), and like, literally just a fact about tauntauns but it is STILL upsetting me.
I guess this shouldn't be too much of a surprise because of the following pieces of information: what I am looking for in a novelization (in particular, but also ALL star wars novels) is Darth Vader/Anakin nonsense (re: sadness) or information about the Jedi order. I am the prequels' BITCH, and it's very possible that this novelization, which reads very much like a prose-ified or even in places like a transcript of esb itself, was there to fill the void between seeing and reliving the movie to the best of your ability until a) return of the jedi came out or b) they replayed esb on tv and you were around to catch it. The prose is nothing special and it doesn't add anything to my understanding of the characters. Honestly, because it's been 40 years since this movie came out, and star wars has in a lot of ways grown beyond the original trilogy, I (and also you, and pretty much everyone with more than a passing interesting, and also some people with only a passing interest, in star wars) have a better understanding of the characters than this book has. I'm not giving it two stars for that reason, just...the lackluster prose.
On the other hand! I will say I think modern star wars fans are really missing out on the impish nature of Yoda's original concept which he never really lost, which means I am now walking away from this novel with an increased Love for Yoda. I've been diagnosed with Loving Yoda disease and you all can fight me.
Oh, also, I can't believe how distracted I was by the revelation that tauntauns are giant lizards with hair and blubber. This was so upsetting to me, because it rocked my understanding of life itself. I spent about two hours on Friday googling whether or not reptiles could live in cold climates, thinking that was stupid, stop trying to apply science to star wars, there's nothing to say that reptiles COULDN'T adapt like tauntauns, but then going bACK and being like: why AREN'T THEY MAMMALS? This is such a small thing, not the fault of this book at all (it could have been retconned at any time and hasn't been; they've retconned so much! they will retcon their own retcon! Lucasfilsm, PLEASE), and like, literally just a fact about tauntauns but it is STILL upsetting me.