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This is definitely not Weiner’s typical type of book. It’s not light and a beach read. Which is totally fine but I do wish they would change the covers so it doesn’t look like it’s a light and breezy book. I wasn’t expecting the plot to be what it was and while I did like the book, I would have liked to know what I was getting into.
3.5 stars. Somehow this book ended up being different than what I thought it was going to be. It was a lot longer than I thought it needed to be and it was serious with a lot of serious subject matter and yet a romance, sort of, maybe in between genres? I did like it but I somehow didn’t love it. I sort of knew where it was going and lost patience in the middle when it took way too long to get there.
I loved this book. It reminded me of “Plainsong” which was my favorite read from two years ago. I was quiet and sad and also beautiful. Even though it was a “mystery” there wasn’t much mystery to most of the story. It was character driven and each of the characters was textured and layered and i loved them each a little bit. 
I decided I would marry Martin one day because I believed that someone who would spare you from having to watch the world take its course had to be the right person. It took me forever to read this book. I started it and then there were so many characters that I just couldn’t get into it. They were each interesting but none of them were interesting enough to keep my attention for some reason. Maybe because I was distracted and my attention kept wavering. “No, Selma, I mean as a couple,” my mother had insisted. “I mean have you thought of being a couple with the optician?” Selma had looked at my mother as if she were a cocker spaniel and said, “But I already had my couple.” But I wasn’t willing to give up on it. I put it down and then picked it back up many, many times. I grew frustrated with myself. I grew frustrated with the book. Why couldn’t i just read it and enjoy it? He loved Alaska. My father saw him only rarely, which made love much simpler, because those who are absent can’t misbehave. Each of the characters had their own story and then slowly they started intertwining. And slowly I found myself falling in love with each of the quirky characters. Enough that I didn’t want to let them go. “Hello, Luisa,” Frederik said, and because it was so obvious, he understood right away that I didn’t have an opening sentence. In the blink of an eye, he took over and simply pretended he had called me. And the story enveloped me into a lovely cocoon. I was transported into their town, into their lives. I cared about their stories, their pain, their joys. The author had slowly managed to make me fall in love with each of them. You can live for years with a gnawing question, you can let it hollow you out, and then have it disappear in a flash, in a single moment of waking with a start. My mother left my father; the fact that he had left her already some time before didn’t change a thing. My mother was in a different time zone and so, from her point of view, she had left him first. The characters in this story are real. They are quirky and they are real. They have real pain, dreams, joys, and they care about each other deeply. The writing is exquisite. This story has incredible heart. It’s the closest I’ve seen a writer get to Fredrick Backman. So I’m going to tell you now: When the time comes, when the question arises and you can’t find an answer right away, then remember that you made your grandmother and me very happy, you brought us enough happiness for an entire life from beginning to end. The older I get, the more I believe that the two of us were only invented for you. And if there ever was a good reason to be invented, then it’s you. In the end, I loved this book so much. I do wish there was a way for the beginning to be a little less slow but alas it takes time to fall in love with people, even in books. with gratitude to netgalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.  Year of Yes – 151
I am not ready for the week yet. I need more time off. Yes to saying not yet. #yearofyes #karenikayearofyes  Year of Yes – 150
It was 80+ degrees here today. So after my crazy morning of exercising, little boy and I spent the whole day outside in the yard. He worked on his Arduino while I read. It was the perfect, quiet day. I wish there were another four days off before I had to go back to work. Yes to resting outside.in the sunshine. #yearofyes #karenikayearofyes  Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe
 Year of Yes – 149
We have been living in this house all day, every day for the last 15 months. The house is a mess. Every corner I look at needs something from me. The carpets are stained, the kitchen counters are dirty, the entryway is taken over by my older son, the garage is basically storage, and the kids’ bedrooms… I try to mostly stay away. There is so much to do and I am just reminding myself that most of it can wait. All of it is fixable. And it will all get fixed in time. For now, we are just making it through this, together. Yes to doing what I can when I can. #yearofyes #karenikayearofyes  Year of Yes – 148
I woke up exhausted this morning after a double climbing session last night. I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t fall back asleep so I was really tired and my muscles were very sore. I didn’t want to get out of bed and didn’t really think I could exercise today. I felt like I had spent everything I had. Here’s the thing: I absolutely hadn’t. Not only did I get up and ride the bike for my usual daily 15 minutes, do my core and my arms but I also went climbing again later in the day. I told myself I would just take it easy and do all the routes that I knew I could. But once we got there that’s not what I ended up doing. I tried whatever looked fun and ended up climbing several routes that were pretty hard for me. Then about 2 hours in, once I really did feel exhausted, I decided that was enough. This was my third day of climbing in a row. It was a good reminder that even when I think I don’t have anything left, I have plenty left. Yes to finding my own boundaries. #yearofyes #karenikayearofyes  Year of Yes – 147
Finally made it to the 4-day weekend. Bring on the books, climbing, resting and more resting. I am working hard to learn how to ease off on the pressure I put on myself. So when there’s a weekend and I have personal tasks to do, I don’t have to fill the weekend with them. I can do nothing and that’s ok. Yes to less pressure. #yearofyes #karenikayearofyes |
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