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mcmoon's review against another edition
3.0
Quirky and cute. Starts off more promising than it ends. Still, a fun read.
shirleytupperfreeman's review against another edition
Arabella Hicks teaches a fiction writing class and has a very complicated relationship with her mother. The premise of the story is a bit weird but the story is entertaining and the writing exercises which define each meeting of the class/chapter of the book are good exercises for anybody wanting to give fiction writing a shot.
amotisse's review
3.0
Loved the focus on writing with the practical exercises and how the characters and their stories unfolded slowly across the writing. Always a pleasure to discover something a little different.
kdurham2's review against another edition
4.0
A goodwill find that I am excited to pass onto my mom. This was a good read that happily fit into the challenge I am doing on Goodreads - read something about school.
I absolutely loved the layout and how the story unfolded in the book. Wrapped around the class and weekly visits to a nursing home to visit her mom, the main character Arabella is someone I could envision with such clarity.
It was a short little read, but packed inside was a beautiful story of a mother and a daughter learning in their last days how each one coped with the life they were handed. It made me want to make sure I hadn't wasted any moments with my family and to make sure that future ones were hard to forget.
I would pass this book along to all the women in my life - not sure the men would enjoy this one!
I absolutely loved the layout and how the story unfolded in the book. Wrapped around the class and weekly visits to a nursing home to visit her mom, the main character Arabella is someone I could envision with such clarity.
It was a short little read, but packed inside was a beautiful story of a mother and a daughter learning in their last days how each one coped with the life they were handed. It made me want to make sure I hadn't wasted any moments with my family and to make sure that future ones were hard to forget.
I would pass this book along to all the women in my life - not sure the men would enjoy this one!
denakg's review against another edition
1.0
I put this book down halfway through. I didn't like the way it was written. There was a novel within the novel and I didn't get it. I never connected with any of the characters either.
ablotial's review against another edition
3.0
More like 3.5 stars by the end. But didn't quite make it to 4 just because the beginning was so low. Had I rated it halfway (or maybe even 2/3) through, it would have been a solid 2 stars. So it was worth the read after all, and won't end up in my donate pile.
This book started out slowly and pretty "meh". I mean, it was fine for a light summer read, but the characters had no depth and were pretty sterotyped, the writing 'exercises' were not impressive, and one of her parents had MS and the other had Parkinsons?! What are the chances? And I thought for sure that the "plot" was just a romance having to do with the "elegant older man" who whispers too much ... and I wasn't entirely wrong, but thankfully that wasn't the only (or most important) part of the plot.
Early in the book she basically explained that she has zero credentials for teaching this class and has never been published and a student is upset by that.... and the character/author try to make a point that it's not necessary but... I'd definitely be thinking the same way this one student is. Why in the world is this person teaching when she seems to have no credentials? Reminds me of people who say "those who cannot do, teach". Makes me very sad to think of teachers that way.
But, as her relationship with her mother progressed... as we started reading the mother's story (which made me think the mom is a better writer than the fiction teacher)... something happened. The last portion of the book was wonderful, and had me both crying and happy at the end.
This book started out slowly and pretty "meh". I mean, it was fine for a light summer read, but the characters had no depth and were pretty sterotyped, the writing 'exercises' were not impressive, and one of her parents had MS and the other had Parkinsons?! What are the chances? And I thought for sure that the "plot" was just a romance having to do with the "elegant older man" who whispers too much ... and I wasn't entirely wrong, but thankfully that wasn't the only (or most important) part of the plot.
Early in the book she basically explained that she has zero credentials for teaching this class and has never been published and a student is upset by that.... and the character/author try to make a point that it's not necessary but... I'd definitely be thinking the same way this one student is. Why in the world is this person teaching when she seems to have no credentials? Reminds me of people who say "those who cannot do, teach". Makes me very sad to think of teachers that way.
But, as her relationship with her mother progressed... as we started reading the mother's story (which made me think the mom is a better writer than the fiction teacher)... something happened. The last portion of the book was wonderful, and had me both crying and happy at the end.
emkat1997's review against another edition
I've had this on my currently reading shelf for over a year and every time I pick it back up it's fine but I'm obviously not that invested or I would have finished it by now
nglofile's review against another edition
4.0
A distracted teacher guides her mismatched students through the foundations of fiction writing and in the process discovers her own voice. Especially enjoyable are the assignments included for each class.
crystal_reading's review against another edition
3.0
Nice book about a woman finding herself as she teaches a writing class.