ANA TURNS was a beautiful, delightful surprise. I went into it knowing nothing except it had good reviews, and was not familiar with the author. I'm so happy I did, because the book is a gorgeous meditation on aging, parenthood, marriages, and tense family relationships. Taking place within one day, Ana's 60th birthday, we hear most of the story from Ana's perspective, but every now and again, we get a chapter from the perspective of someone important to Ana's life.

As we look back over Ana's 60 years, secrets are revealed, history is dug up, and the fact that people don't stop growing and changing once they reach the age of 50 was extremely touching. Some of it is infuriating. I especially couldn't stand Ana's terrible mother who seemed to spent her whole life resenting the fact that Ana was her daughter, and that part was very hard. However, Ana's relationship with her son who is about to start a journey to become a woman, was revealing and handled with card. Overall, this is a simple, beautiful book about life and aging (with a great New York setting). I want to read more from Lisa Gornick now!

Ana is approaching sixty but her life is still complicated. She’s having an affair with Lance as the distance between her and her husband Henry grows. Her mother tells her exactly how much money it cost to raise her, and her brother is a mansplainer. This story is told in a series of flowing vignettes rather than having a classical narrative structure. I really loved the author’s astute and compassionate observations about getting older, how our relationships change with ageing parents, different types of marriages and how they endure, infidelity and family bonds. The protagonist has a trans child and I thought this was sensitively handled as well. It was also great to read a novel with an older woman protagonist showing her wisdom and flaws. Thanks to NetGalley and Turner publishing for my ARC copy.

I really liked this. You finish the sentence of the title by saying Ana turns 60 - and it turns out to be a pivotal day in her life. As the day progresses toward her culminating birthday dinner, we watch Ana interact with her family members, friends, client and man she is having an affair with - and then we get lots of backstory on the relationships, usually from the other person’s point of view. I heard this is inspired by Mrs. Galloway but it’s been too long since I read that book to say for sure - but I can say that the book was mentioned throughout. I didn’t love the narration of the audiobook and at times some of the dialogue felt unnatural but other than those small quibbles, really happy to have read this.

This is a wonderful book where we spend one day in the life of Ana nearing in on her sixtieth birthday. In one day we learn the life of our protagonist, her traumatic childhood and the joys and mistakes along the way. Not only is it told from Ana’s viewpoint but we also hear from several members of her family to get a well rounded prospective.

Ana Turns is both a tender and wounded examination of the complexity of the family relationships and friendships of a woman as she reaches her 60th birthday. Unfortunately, I found it overly repetitive on its remembrances of the past and too heavy on gender wokism but overall it was an enjoyable and easy read. 3*

I received a drc from the publisher via NetGalley.

Thank you to the author Lisa Gornick, publishers Keylight Books and Turner Publishing, and NetGalley, for an advance digital copy of ANA TURNS. All views are mine.

Opening Quote: ‘I feel sad for you, love,’ Fiona said. ‘To grow up with a parent without wisdom is like navigating without a map. You can find your way, but it’s so much harder . . .’ Loc.1798

Three (or more) things I loved:

1. This book reads like a memoir, which is a genre I quite love. The detail feels so close and authentic. I especially enjoy and believe the passages describing Ana's adolescence and young adulthood. She was a real mess, and Gornick really commits to the character's self-awareness and wry acceptance of her tragedy. It makes for a moving and wonderful read.

2. The characters in this book express remarkable empathy about subjects that people find hard to connect to, like early childhood stress. It's really beautiful: ‘I feel sad for you, love,’ Fiona said. ‘To grow up with a parent without wisdom is like navigating without a map. You can find your way, but it’s so much harder.' Loc.1789

3. This book delicately navigates many difficult topics, but my favorite of these is the story thread about the character Ana struggling to forgive her mother for neglecting her terribly. Forgiveness is such a powerful game piece in any story or relationship and I am pleased with the care Gornick took with this storyline.

Three (or less) things I didn't love:

This section isn't only for criticisms. It's merely for items that I felt something for other than "love" or some interpretation thereof.

1. This narrative is relayed through the loosely connected stories of multiple powerfully connected characters. While I think the form is clever and fresh, I once again struggled to follow the narrative thread through the experiences of so many perspectives.

Rating: 🪢🪢🪢🪢 family ties
Recommend? Yes!
Finished: Dec 31 '23
Format: Digital arc, Kindle, NetGalley
Read this book if you like:
🧩 experimental form
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 family stories, family drama
🩹 multigenerational trauma healing
💇‍♀️ women's coming of age
👩🏻‍❤️‍👨🏽 stories about marriage

Wow! So much happens in such a short time in this wild-ride of a story. Many colorful characters are introduced as Ana reflects on her life. Ana shares her a life in a day, a twist on a day in the life. I wonder, perhaps, if too many stories and characters were weaved into this short read. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

I do not know what I was expecting with this book but it was fantastic. Such a compelling novel, This will definitely be on my list of gifts to give this year.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of Ana Turns by Lisa Gornick. This story takes place over the course of a day but spans various events and people surrounding the main character, Ana. As Ana turns sixty, she reflects on life with her husband, her lover, her adult children, and her mother. At first, while I loved the premise of the story, I was sure of I was going to enjoy the book, but I absolutely did, and I highly recommend it. Great writing.

Lisa Gornick's ANA TURNS is that beautifully wrought fiction that feels more real than real life, with Ana contemplating her life through relationships with a surprising candor, sharp wit, and piercing insight to what makes up a life and now, life contemplated and reflected upon, what you do with what you know now. This could be a fantastic book club read, with so much rich discussion about the distant mother, the romances, the twists and turns of a fully-lived, consciously deliberated life. I received a copy of this book and these opinions are my own, unbiased thoughts.

I really don’t remember why I asked for this book, but I am glad that I did. I don’t know Gornick, and the blurb actually pointed to things about which I wouldn’t care much. However, it could be that the idea of a female protagonist turning 60 was what drew me to this novel. Obviously, I do like to read about women in my own age group, since I figure I can identify with them or their lives, or both. So, other than that, I really don’t remember why I asked for the book.

Now, what I found interesting here is that the skeleton of this story is the day of Ana’s 60th birthday. However, the meat is very Tardis-like, since it is far, far bigger on the inside, than what we have on the outside. Essentially, as the day wears on, we actually get to know not only practically all of Ana’s life (well, the juicy bits, at least), but also the lives of many people who have populated her world over the past 60 years. We see her as a child, we see her as a teenager, a young adult, a wife, a mother, a daughter, an aunt, and as the professional woman she’s become and continues to be. We also see her husband, her child, her mother, her father, her step mothers, her brother, her nieces, her sister-in-law, her closest friends, some of her clients, and even the man she’s been having an affair with, as well as his wife. We also get a glimpse into her grandparents’ lives before she was born.

And yet, this book isn’t massively long, which is saying a whole lot here. I mean, to squeeze all of this, and to still feel like we have been living next door to all of these characters for years, into less than 300 pages is quite a feat, if you ask me. Okay, there were times in this book where I was a little bit unsure of where we were, since the scenery and bits of her backstory seemed to be somewhat fluid at times. However, for the most part, this didn’t detract from the overall understanding of what we were delving into, and who Ana was, with all her faults and strengths. It also seemed like that one day was pretty frenetic for our main protagonist, and that she was being pulled from one person to another with both her own and their problems.

It isn’t easy to review this novel, because although it seems on the surface that this is a family saga, but it is far more complex than that. It is also a character study, which has bunches of different plot/story lines to keep the story going. But most of all, it really is a coming-of-age story, where Ana not only gets to know herself better, but starts to understand her connections to everyone around her, even if some of them are scary or hard to swallow. All told, I really have to admire how carefully constructed this book is, and must praise Gornick for what she’s achieved here, even if some of this made me slightly dislike Ana, and therefore not totally sympathize with her. But I can truly recommend this book and I think it deserves four out of five stars.

This book was well written, with nuanced characters and an interesting structure, which was both a strength and a weakness. We got a first person's POV from Ana and then the stories of her lover and her husband and others in third person. In the hand of a less skilled author this could have been confusing, but Gornick kept it clear. What she didn't always manage was to keep it interesting, and some of it began to feel a little repetitious. The same story from different points of view is still the same story. Still, it was well told, with a satisfying conclusion.

Thanks to NetGalley annd the publisher for the free e-Arc in exchange for an honest review.

What a great book about getting older with grace. Ana is turning 60 and still feels young, she has a career she enjoys, she's married to a decent man that supports her, a loving son and nieces that feel like her own daughters, and despite all, a mother that is alive and well. Most of this book is from Ana's POV, but there are other tellings from people close to her. I found the majority of this book to be very interesting because it covers a wide range of topics, I enjoyed being inside Ana's brain, it truly felt like she was a real woman I very much wanted to meet. The writing was outstanding, I will definitely check out the author's other work. I knocked off a star because there were some POVs I did not care for at all, for example, George's, Ana's brother. I cannot care less about that piece of shit. Give me more Ana. Go get this book!!!

Thank you so much to netgalley and the publishers for the eARC.

There was a lot to like about this book, which built itself around Ana’s 60th birthday. The characters were so well developed I had a hard time remembering they were fictional, as though the author had a whole world of families and backstories in her pocket - even for people who might have seemed inconsequential. This meant that the characters were flawed, like real life humans, and not always likeable. The story was wide ranging which on one hand fleshed the characters out more but on the other felt sometimes irrelevant to the story or too far removed. This made the middle of the book a slight slog for me. Overall not a favourite but the characters will stay with me.

As Ana goes into her sixtieth birthday, she begins reminiscing about her life, in this contemporary fiction novel. She remembers childhood summers spent with her absent father, coming of age with her best friend LuAnn, the early years of her marriage, and the more recent strained years. She thinks about her mistakes, fears, triumphs... a portrait of a life. Certain chapters are also from the pov's of others in Ana's life, to help flesh out the story.

These kind of serious dramas are not usually my preferred reads, but I did get some enjoyment out of Ana's story. She's pretty insightful, so it was interesting to watch her think through her life. I was fascinated by Ana's job; she's basically a counselor for authors who are struggling with their works. An interesting profession. The social sciences can be used in so many fields. A lot of the relationships were hard to read about though. The high points were her relationship with her child Simon, as well as her relationship with her nieces. Ana's relationships with her mother and with her brother however, were very fraught, and depressing to read. Plus, I really dislike reading about characters who cheat on their partners, and there was quite a bit of that in this novel. I have trouble rooting for cheaters. The novel is well written and feels true to life... just not the most fun to read.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

On her sixtieth birthday, Ana’s mother sent her an email stating it was “appropriate” to inform her of the exact cost of raising her, adjusted for the current dollar value, and how, if she had invested the money, it would have been a quarter of a million dollars. “Being a parent is a great sacrifice,” she concludes.

Ana’s mother was a beautiful teenage model when she became pregnant with Ana. The father married her, but was unfaithful, and the marriage didn’t last. Ana was a disappointment to her mother, but she doted on her son.

Ana is married to a doctor, a good man, but addicted to pot after an accident left him him continual pain; their intimacy came to an end. For seven years, Ana has been involved with another man, a gorgeous hunk. Her best friend, Fiona, knows all Ana’s secrets.

Over the course of the day, Ana meets with a client, her lover, a niece, her mother, her friend, and the day concludes with a family gathering. Over the course of the day we learn about Ana and her family through her memories and those of her family.

Ana’s self-centered family has never been there for her, and the hurt remains. Her mother is bitter, her ‘ruined’ by a man and pregnancy. Ana’s father grew up in her father’ Swiss hotel, his father collaborating with Nazis to survive. Her cold brother George has never offered help or support when she needed it. With her husband withdrawn since his accident, they live separate lives. Ana’s only child has announced they are trans, throwing Ana off balance. She has her work, the nieces who love her, her best friend, and her lover.

At the end of the day, Ana acknowledges that her family is still family, to see them as they are, and to understand she alone is responsible for her happiness.

Ana turns sixty, and become wise, she turns to the future.

Lisa Gornick’s novel is rich in psychological insight, bringing her characters into sharp focus, allowing readers to be transformed with Ana. It is refreshing to read about a character who has reached the end of her middle years, still young enough to alter the shape of her future. There are so many things that could be discussed by a book club.

Thanks to the publisher for a free book.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A family of flawed people who truly love each other are struggling through their convoluted feelings and misconceptions about each other. I love the novel. The characters are real and raw.

Ana Turns takes place over 24 hours - and a lifetime - as the title character gets ready to turn 60. Ana has lived an interesting life, from her 'broken home' childhood to her happy marriage, and sideline long-term affair. Her story is a look back at how she got where she is, and a bit of a look forward to where she may go next. Ana is a very compelling character, but in some ways I learned more about the characters around her than the woman herself. But then, maybe she's still learning who she truly is! I very much enjoyed her story, though there were a lot of people mixed up in it and a couple of the side stories probably weren't really necessary. Especially good novel for woman of a certain age who are continuing the work of coming into their own.

Could NOT put this book down. Absolutely loved it! Ana's "one day in the life" story was rich, compelling, and so well written.

What a brilliant read. I’m still left thinking about it several days later. Ana is celebrating her 60th birthday and reflecting on past friendships, her extra marital affair of several years, the fact her beloved son Simon wants to transition into a woman and be called Simona but most importantly she is grappling with a tense mother daughter relationship which has forever left her feeling short changed.

The interwoven threads of literature such as Mrs Dalloway really adds to the story and the writing is sublime. Many thought provoking quotes I have highlighted and keep finding myself going back to. Overall a five star read for me that I will enjoy re reading time and again.