Allegra Goodman is an author I admire, respect, adore, and look forward to reading her books.
Other novels I’ve read and loved by Allegra Goodman were:
“Intuition”, “The Cookbook Collector”, “Kaaterskill Falls”, “The Family Markowitz”, and “The Chalk Artist”.

It was a great treat to attend a book reading by Allegra years ago at Kepler’s Books store in Menlo Park.
I loved listening to her share about writing, her family, and life.
Such a doll of a person….and a skillful talented writer.

“Sam” is a ‘coming-of-age’ story. Her mother, Courtney, and her father, Mitchel are divorced…..making this a complicated family story as well ….
Mitchell lives about ten minutes away.
At the start of the book Sam is seven years of age, and Mitchel (Sam’s hero at this age) is picking her up for an afternoon together. They are going to “Topsfield”….an amusement park…..a day of rides, cotton candy, kettle corn, and a little car trouble to boot.
We feel the tension between Courtney and Mitchell right —worried how divorce is affecting Sam—who is an active monkey-moving climbing type of girl. Sitting still for too long is almost torture to Sam.
Sam also has a little two year old brother, named Noah.
Mitchell is not Noah’s father— as I said….”Sam” includes family complexities. Noah’s father is Jack. We learn of many factors in Sam’s life — at home and at school - for the possible reasons why Sam grapples with insecurities- fears - rage - sadness.

The central focus in this complex family story is the coming-of age-Sam…..from little girl, to the young teen years ….to around age nineteen.

What I admire about this novel is the inquiry, curiosity, and purpose Allegra had ‘for’ this story.
Allegra’s inspiration came from her parenting experiences.
Her three sons were content to sit still.
Allegra got a rude awakening - her youngest, a girl, hated to sit still. Makes a mother curious to notice vast differences between her children.
Allegra drew inspiration for this story from her own daughter.
Not all kids are the same. Her daughter needed to move…a lot.
I could relate —
….as a child, sitting still was as torturous for me, as it was for Sam. Interesting…I didn’t have a father around much either.
Actually, not at all. He died when I was four (as I’ve shared much too many times in book reviews)….
Climbing and constantly in motion were my survivor methods too. I wish I had turned to books as a child as so many of my friends in similar situations— but I was a very late bloomer reader. Thankfully I ‘eventually’ found reading - the comfort - a community of readers and people who helped me grow…
and ultimately I found my own voice. As Sam does too.

If I wasn’t outside playing in the creek or climbing trees or jumping off apartment buildings into sand dunes… then I was in the house standing on my head.
The point being….Allegra was interested to understand what happens to eager-active -rambunctious little girls as they age. “What happens to the girl who wants to climb?”

I was hoping to love this story more….
Unfortunately…..as it turned out, the plot felt a little weak for me — and I struggled with the narrative. I began to think the appropriate audience might be more suiting to young adult readers.

I usually love Allegra Goodman‘s novels more.
Perhaps I’m just too out of touch with parenting young daughters, teen daughters, or even college age daughters.
I know they grew up. They haven’t lived home in over twenty years.
However…..overall, the great message, I took away was….
…..little girls who like to climb….
….grow up still wanting to climb…
…….they may struggle in expressing their own voice - their own desires, passions, and goals….but they ‘are’ still climbing.

Our ‘monkey-climbing’ souls are always climbing — committed to learning, growing and being more fully who we are each year….at every age.

Thank you Random House, Netgalley, and Allegra Goodman.
This book will be published in stores in January, 2023

3 Stars.

This is my first Allegra Goodman book. In the preface, she says that this is just a story about a girl growing up, there's no frills or plot twists. This intrigued me, but after finishing, I'm feeling a bit underwhelmed.

Sam's growing up in Beverly, MA. Her mom got pregnant during college and dropped out. She also has a little brother who has a different father. You're taken through the struggles of growing up poor. The only thing Sam really enjoys is climbing and spending time with her father, when he's around.

Honestly, I hate giving less than stellar reviews, but this book just didn't spark anything in me. It made me sad/depressed to live through Sam's eyes. The ending was a bit of an uptick, but I expected more from Sam.

A special thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group - Random House, and Allegra Goodman for providing me with an ARC.

Did not finish. Did not find the characters or the premise interesting. Characters and plot were not engaging and did not hold my interest.