A carefully written domestic drama about a marriage, infidelity, and the interior lives of its central characters. Well observed worth flashes of poetic language, brilliant sex scenes and narrative drive.

I found this book to be rather boring.  I didn't relate to the characters and the story was ho-hum.  The writing isn't bad, the story just didn't appeal to me.

I thought the description sounded enticing, and the plot held my attention, but I'm clearly not the right audience for this particular sense of humor, which felt awkward and a little cringe-inducing.

I found Private Means, by Cree LeFavour, to be a bit boring at times.  The characters were hard to connect with and the story never really drew me in.  I put the book aside a few times but did complete it in order to give it a fair review. Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for an ARC of Private Means in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the style of writing but the story didn't keep my attention and it fell flat.
Not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

This is the story of Peter, a psychotherapist, and his spouse Alice, a scientist, parents of twin daughters who left NY for CA to continue their studies. The story evolves over a full summer: are they experiencing empty-nest syndrome? Have they grown out of love with each other? Is there just something missing in their couple and will they be able to reconnect?

What I enjoyed most about this book is the extensive psychoanalysis of both characters, due to Peter's profession. It is also interesting to see the dynamics and the contradictory feelings. Why a partner is acting a certain way, how it is perceived by the other, and yet the partner is feeling the exact opposite of the perception given.

If you enjoy marital stories, psychology, cheating, wealthy lifestyles, you will enjoy this one. 

My only objection: the lack of the quotation marks in dialogues. It was not always clear whether the writing was an oral statement or a thought.

Thank you Net Galley and the publisher for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Interesting idea about a couple that started out with specific aggressive live goals. Those goals change as the woman let's go of her career to raise their twins. Now the children are gone form the home and the couple must redetermine there bond, if there is any. The tensions are heightened by the loss of the family dog, to which the woman is very attached, and the husband's inappropriate behavior in his psychiatry practice.

The use of language, while at times pretty and engaging, it lacks any emotional connection. it does well to bring the reader into the details of the story, in a very specific way, but it lacks emotion. four sentences about a bottle rolling around on the floor of the passenger seat in the 2011 Toyota while driving in traffic is several sentences too long. the story and the characters, feel like doctors taking a clinical look at their own lives and all that's wrong with them. their behaviors are relatable and real, raw, but the use of language distracts and slows the pacing to a detrimental point. 

who is this book for: a love of language literary, about a marriage, about a middle class and commonly unhappy couple trying to figure out what's next after the kids are gone.

Lovely prose, I really enjoyed the writing. The plot however grew dull. I read the first third or so, then skipped to the end and read the last 20%.

This story was interesting and told about a tired marriage.  However I never engaged with the characters and that is important to me.  I really did not like either one of them and did not care if they worked things out. However I feel that this was intended by the author.  Interesting 
Many thanks to Grove Atlantic and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

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

A long married couple goes through challenges in their marriage and their individual lives.

I really enjoyed this interesting novel about a mid-life intellectual couple in the Upper West Side of New York that takes place over the course of a summer.

Alice and Peter, married for over twenty years, are estranged emotionally from each other and the recent departure of their twin daughters to college in California, plus the loss of Alice's beloved little dog, affects them both. However, we mostly see Alice's inner workings about how she is affected, while Peter seems to mostly be affected by Alice's responses. Neither of them talk about it, or anything else very deep, with each other.

Infidelities, both real and imagined, occur. What I loved most about this book is the detailed interior insight into both people, as they reflected on their relationship and their selves.

The only part that seemed to bog down a bit was towards the middle when I felt a bit impatient at the continual rehashing of inner doubts by both Alice (a biochemist who had left the field to be a mother and is now contemplating return) and Peter, a psychoanalyst who debates his effectiveness while also dealing with a fierce attraction to a troubled young patient.

The author illustrates the settings in the book (NY city and several destinations to visit wealthy friends in the Hamptons, the Berkshires and Cape Cod) magnificently. I could feel myself inhabiting the stifling heat and gritty of summer in New York as well as the sandy seashores and lush vegetation outside of it.

While we don't find any crystal-clear resolutions at the end of this story, I think that's real life and in spite of the absence of any huge 'break-through' moments, I was left with a sense of hopefulness. Life goes on and tomorrow is a new day.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book. I will be posting my review on Amazon,  Goodreads, Instagram, and B&N.

This book was just ok for me I was able to finish it but found it  boring and bit hard a to follow and can't really recommend it

I really enjoyed this interesting novel about a mid-life intellectual couple in the Upper West Side of New York that takes place over the course of a summer. 

Alice and Peter, married for over twenty years, are estranged emotionally from each other and the recent departure of their twin daughters to college in California, plus the loss of Alice's beloved little dog, affects them both. However, we mostly see Alice's inner workings about how she is affected, while Peter seems to mostly be affected by Alice's responses. Neither of them talk about it, or anything else very deep, with each other.

Infidelities, both real and imagined, occur. What I loved most about this book is the detailed interior insight into both people, as they reflected on their relationship and their selves.

The only part that seemed to bog down a bit was towards the middle when I felt a bit impatient at the continual rehashing of inner doubts by both Alice (a biochemist who had left the field to be a mother and is now contemplating return) and Peter, a psychoanalyst who debates his effectiveness while also dealing with a fierce attraction to a troubled young patient.

The author illustrates the settings in the book (NY city and several destinations to visit wealthy friends in the Hamptons, the Berkshires and Cape Cod) magnificently. I could feel myself inhabiting the stifling heat and gritty of summer in New York as well as the sandy seashores and lush vegetation outside of it.

While we don't find any crystal-clear resolutions at the end of this story, I think that's real life and in spite of the absence of any huge 'break-through' moments, I was left with a sense of hopefulness. Life goes on and tomorrow is a new day.

Thanks to NetGalley, Grove Atlantic and Cree LaFavour for providing me with an eArc of this wonderful book. It was a well-written delight.

2.5 stars

I was initially intrigued by the blurb presented on netgalley of this story. It was presented as a book about a marriage where both parties are looking to bring some well-needed oomph back to their marriage. The actual writing was insightful an interesting. The narrative was well done. But I felt as if the main characters were detached from their marriage, speaking almost clinically as if they were analyzing it from afar and not being personally involved. It didn't feel emotionally charged. Therefore I myself didn't feel attached to the story. I finished it, but it left me feeling meh.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

There's a lot to like in this highly original novel...but that is undermined by the characters' uninvolving self-obsession. It's difficult to connect emotionally with these protagonists--but you might find yourself turning pages to find out if the dog is recovered!

I simply could not relate to the characters, their obsessions or their lifestyle choices. After several starts and stops I could not relate or become involved. 

Thank you Netgalley for this opportunity.

FOCUS ON Private Means by Cree LeFavour

LeFavour, Cree. Private Means. Grove Press, New York, NY. May 2020.
[ISBN: 9780802148889 (hardcover)].

I’m not a professional dog-walker. But I walk regularly for exercise and I always seem to have a canine companion to accompany me. When I lived in California, I walked a German shepherd named Babe who belonged to a vet with disabilities; she actually ran circles around and kept an eye on me. Then there was the Yocca family’s dog, Sadie, an Australian shepherd who enjoyed long walks around the neighborhood, curiously sniffing nearly every little thing; she quickly learned to walk continuously without stopping except to do her business. And the University professor’s  service dog, a golden retriever by the name of Bojangles, a natural-born, people-magnet, introduced me to more human beings on our walks around the lake than I met working there. Consequently, when Alice in Private Means puts up flyers around the Upper West Side of Manhattan for her lost dog, Maebelle, a “Dachshund-Chihuahua mutt,” my heart goes out to the woman!

Drs. Alice Foster and Peter Nutterly are married. She’s a PhD biophysicist who studies starling murmurations and he’s a psychiatrist. They have twins. On Memorial weekend, they are facing a crisis: their four-legged family member is missing. But that’s not the beginning; the ennui has been brewing beneath the surface for some time.

Perhaps it was about the waning sense of self-worth:

“Now, the lost dog distraction, she [Alice] was behind; she needed to complete the application [for the “Earth Institute Grant at Columbia”] this year, to rush herself to the market before her insights and data drew stale and irrelevant.” (p. 14)

Or maybe the money?

“It was such an old-fashioned way to think of the purpose of his work, but it was accurate. He [Peter] worked to supply his family with housing, food, wine, education, clothes, and, yes, even a $400 duvet cover and a $36 bottle of pinot.” (page 22-23)

When they’re not searching for Maebelle, second-guessing themselves or each other, or coming undone, they hang with their fat-cat friends in sumptuous weekend getaways from NYC:

“It was a point of pride to enter cold water. He and Alice always made the girls join them for the first swim of the season just as they insisted on entering Maine’s icy waters in August. Avoiding cold water indicated character weakness. Submitting to the anticipated discomfort and then discovering its pleasures was a life lesson worth reinforcing.” (p. 32)

And on Labor Day weekend:

“The lemony goldenrod and gaudy purple vetch turned the country painterly. Trespassing with enviable abandon, the colors splattered backyards, fields, medians, and roadsides. Equally ruthless and efficient, pokeweed appeared out of place, towering over the restrained politeness of the native undergrowth with rows of jammy berries, juicy central stalks, and elephantine leaves. On the skyline, the maple and poplar trees threatened to give up their relentlessly monochromatic verdure but as yet showed no real sign of retreat, while the birch leaves made them appear plain by shimmering silver in the breeze.” (p. 213)

Astonishingly, this tale is murky and funny at the same time, drawing us into the Murphy’s law of relationships. Will Alice and Peter find their precious pooch or are they forever doomed now that their role model for affection, unconditional love, and acceptance is missing?

#PrivateMeans #NetGalley

Additional Books by Cree LeFavour
Lights On, Rats Out: A Memoir (2017)
Fish (nominated for James Beard Award; 2013)
Additional Cookbooks

Peggy McGibney is a performance enhancement consultant, professional and personal development coach, and published author of numerous articles about healthcare, education, and business. She also served as chair and member of Writers’ Bloc.  This organization provided information about writers and writing in the Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach counties in Florida, and sponsored lectures and workshops. PM has a master’s degree in educational psychology and in systemic studies with expertise in cognitive, behavioral, systemic, and linguistic fields and was a previous faculty member in health sciences, communications, and faculty development disciplines. She is a NetGalley member and professional reader. Her interviews and reviews may be found at Peggy McGibney Authors and Books on Facebook.

Although the book was well written, the only thing I kept thinking was how self absorb these people were and how little they were willing to do for each other. Maybe that’s marriage, but with both intelligent people you would think they would know that talking about what’s going on in there heads would help.  I also thought with all the money they have, they weren’t happy, but just did the same thing every day and ever season.
I definitely didn’t understand the ending, was it trying to say that they were trying something new or letting themselves have fun. I don’t know.