“Count Your Ways”.....
The prose is deceptively simple, but Joyce Maynard’s insights are always complex. She knows how to build a story, develop characters with utterly lifelike quality, and keep both the pages and our minds turning until the very end.
I WAS SOOOO INVOLVED in this novel...it’s deeply felt, compelling, ....with an portrait of a women at its center [Eleanor] whose struggles and demands of loyalty were moving and realistic.
Eleanor — a primary protagonist —is an unforgettable female character. I admired her profoundly. Wife, mother, artist, writer....
She taught by example, took inspired actions, strived for harmony, loved wholeheartedly, was incredibly resourceful, (in good and hard times), a great friend, and her ability to shift from anger to forgiveness wasn’t a quick panacea... but it was real...( natural as in the process of living).
Eleanor was wise enough to trust that sorrows had its own timetable for healing. I love this woman. I want to be friends with her.

The nostalgic memories that embedded our lives in the 1970’s .....80’s will come flooding back — MY GOD....JOYCE DID THIS SOOOO GOOD!!!.....music, foods, days before technology, filled with our experiences- our relationships - our sorrows - our joys.....
SERIOUSLY....my heart was aching and singing at the same time.

As for the history we all remember.....and are reminded with short references....The death of Princess Diana ,The death of Michael Jackson, The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster,
the AIDS epidemic, Watergate hearings, Yellow Ribbons around trees.

The themes are strong - relevant -with emotional energy and generosity.
This is a family story. There’s a marriage. There’s kids. There’s divorce.
love, playful days, kids playing on the grass, goldfish crackers and boxes of juice, horseshoe, ice cream, creative family traditions, (putting on plays, sailing boats with their homemade cork people, Valentines, and winter snow forts), foods, Labor Day community gatherings, ( piña colada‘s, casseroles, chicken wings, cakes, etc.), swimming in pond, arts & crafts, The Yellow Jackets local softball games, compromises, distinct seasons: summer, winter, spring, and fall, full moon summers/roasting marshmallows, more falling in love, college, financial concerns, plenty of things to worry about, (and grow from), betrayal, publishing, wood making, music, art, yoga, dogs, rocks, tragedy, identity, loss, secrets, death, abuse, abortion, sickness, understanding, forgiveness, and joy.

***BASICALLY THE BEST FAMILY STORY IN RECENT YEARS***

SKIP THIS NEXT SECTION ‘unless’ you want more tidbits of the main & supporting characters: NO DIRECT SPOILERS....( only tidbits)
The Akersville, New Hampshire farm-family
Eleanor....talented, [professional-successful -artist, writer], wife, mother.
Cam, ( Tall-handsome, easy going, Fire Red hair, husband, father, wood craftsman/ made burl bowls sold at craft faires/ turned yoga devotee/physical therapist)...
Their kids: Alison, ( Ali, Al), Ursula, Toby. Each child has unique qualities.
Other characters ....Patty, ( she was Eleanor’s college roommate),
Matt Hallinan, ( Patty’s older brother), Coco, (babysitter turned wife & mother-worked in the healing arts, vegan), Phyllis, ( helped with the children), Timmy Pouliot, (blue eye heartthrob), Walt, (one of my favorite characters) & his with Edith were neighbors,
Peggy & Bob Olim...and their little daughters Gina, and Kimmie, Bonnie Henderson ( she loved to talk to the wives - while sitting on the bleachers at the softball games - watching their husbands play - sharing about her sex life), Evan & Betsy, Simon & Tilda, Sal & Lucinda Petrine,
Charlie & Sally ( dogs), Darla ( Eleanor’s best friend), married to Bobby, etc....etc.

NOTE....
....IT WAS NOT HARD TO KEEP TRACK OF -who’s who-in this novel: I PROMISE!....
Joyce simply made it easy for us to want to know the subtle and juicy details, of everyone she included.

MUSIC....
OH MY GOSH....I LOVED THE weaving of music references....
Here’s a few mentioned.....Joni Mitchell, Simon and Garfunkel, Michael Jackson, Leroy Brown, Bruce Springsteen, Rolling Stones, Van Morrison, Crosby stills and Nash, the Beatles, Hank Williams, Vince Hill, The Commodores, Cat Stevens, Guns N’ Roses, The doors, The Fifth dimensions, Bob Dylan ( whom I share the same triple Gemini birthday).....and I’m sure I’m forgetting.

“The Times They Are a-Changin” 🎶
.....Bob Dylan

“The seasons they go round and round
And The painted ponies go up and down
We’re captive on the carousel of time
We can’t return we can only look
Behind from where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game” 🎶
.....Joni Mitchell

“River” 🎶
“I wish I had a river I could skate away on”.....


SMALL EXCERPTS THAT SPOKE TO ME....( only a few), but the ones I’ve included either feel sooo truthful to me ...inspire a lasting feeling in me, or I relate to the emotion deeply.

......A little laugh moment ....( taken out of context)...
....”That’s probably why Edith and I stay together all these years. If I try to leave she might have got her hands on my truck”. ( words of Walt)

.......”There was this feeling, on softball nights—palpable as the crackling of landing on the bug zapper— of sex in the air: Men performing as heroically as they could for their women. Their own, or somebody else’s. Some nights, you could almost feel the heat coming off the field, of the women watching other men, or watching the other women”.

........”I don’t ever have to write one more sappy line for some anniversary card”—

.......”For Eleanor, the distance that existed now between herself and her daughters was a grief greater than anything she’d known, including the deaths of her parents, and in her worst moments, she had pointed this out to them, not that they needed reminders”.

.......”Do you know what’s good things about rocks? They don’t break”.

If anyone has read this review—THANK YOU—I’m not a writer. I’m a reader. But I loved reading this book so very much .....
My goal.....in writing as much as I did,.....
is with sincere hope that I might offer a little bit of justice......without giving spoilers. Highly recommended to those who enjoy sinking your teeth into a delicious family drama.....filled with substance....

It goes without saying..... I thoroughly love and enjoyed this book.
WORLDS ARE CONTAINED in a single page....
.....intelligent storytelling & sparkly-Tree-hugging human.

I loved this book! A family and its struggle beautifully described in a small New England town. The characters are superbly developed., I felt so much for the main characters Parents) facing life as their circumstances change following a tragic accident involving their son. A book to be read and discussed., I strongly recommend.