Review
The Year of the Unexpected
by Erica Bauermeister
The
author:
Erica
Bauermeister is the bestselling author of the novel The School of Essential
Ingredients and the upcoming novel Joy For Beginners (June 9, 2011). The School
of Essential Ingredients is currently being published in 22 countries and Joy
For Beginners was recently selected to be performed as part of the New Short
Fiction Series in Los Angeles (June 12, 2011). Erica Bauermeister received a
B.A. from Occidental College and a Ph.D. from the University of Washington.
She is also the co-author of 500 Great Books by Women: A Reader's Guide and
Let's Hear It For the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14. She currently
lives in Seattle, Washington with her family.
source: Goodreads
First
sentences:
Life
came back slowly, Kate realized.
Summary:
Seven women
gather to celebrate their beloved friend Kate’s remission from cancer, only to
discover that she is living in dread over her daughter’s unusual gift to mark
the occasion, a white-water rafting trip to the Grand
Canyon.
Torn between a lifelong fear and the thrill of doing something that terrifies her, Kate gets a little help from her friends. They pledge to help her take the leap with their own ′bucket list′ - to each do the one thing that scares them most before the year is out. The only condition is Kate gets to choose what that will be.
Whether it’s getting a tattoo, finally letting go of a lost love or giving away a collection of treasured books and their memories, each woman discovers the unexpected joy of facing your fears - and knowing that you will always have friends to catch you if you fall.
Torn between a lifelong fear and the thrill of doing something that terrifies her, Kate gets a little help from her friends. They pledge to help her take the leap with their own ′bucket list′ - to each do the one thing that scares them most before the year is out. The only condition is Kate gets to choose what that will be.
Whether it’s getting a tattoo, finally letting go of a lost love or giving away a collection of treasured books and their memories, each woman discovers the unexpected joy of facing your fears - and knowing that you will always have friends to catch you if you fall.
source: Goodreads
My
opinion:
I bought
this book a year ago and it took me quite a while to pick it up. It definitely
wasn’t because I was not interested in it; it was because I need to be in the
right mood for a book.
But when I
picked it up I couldn’t put it down again!
I loved The
Year of the Unexpected so much! The story was brilliantly written, the
characters so well portrayed and the structure of the novel was something you
don’t see very often.
The story
is about seven women in different stages of their lives. Each and every one of
them has something they need to conquer and Kate forced them to face their
fears. Each chapter tells us the challenges each woman faced individually and how/if
they manage to do it.
Sometimes I
was deeply moved by the story, felt the need to start baking and from time to
time I had to laugh out loud.
The Year of
the Unexpected or Joy for Beginners (US title) is available at Amazon in hardback
and for your Kindle too. You can also buy it at Book Depo.
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