Review
cover art
The Way Life Should Be by Christina Baker Kline
This was an enjoyable book and just right for what I needed to read now: Heartfelt, comic at times, thoughtful at other times, enjoyable and satisfying. Not a book requiring much analytical thought, just relax and read along. Girl in mid 30s is itching for something ‘more’, goes online and meets a man in Maine (she’s in NYC), becomes distracted and then blows a big deal at her work thus getting fired, decides to move to Maine, the guy is decidedly not a soul mate, she makes new friends, stays in Maine, lands on her feet and finds exciting possibilities. With Italian food sprinkled throughout. And good dialogue.
Four turned down pages and zero vocabulary words written down (that doesn’t necessarly suggest I knew every word encountered – only that I failed to page-note any…) I might even add that I learned some Italian while reading this! and a lot more about Italian cooking… (I’m debating keeping this book for its recipes OR shipping off to my Mainiac relatives. Decisions, decisions.)
FOUR STARS
page 31: I liked the whole paragraph about feeling
“the insidious embrace of cynicism…. Every decision I make is determined solely by the spark and the limitation of my own perspective.”
page 201: This section lists a few books that the character has read. I enjoyed The Glass Castle but am not familiar with The Liars’ Club nor Anywhere But Here – and now these will be go on my RECOMMENDATIONS page. I enjoy the random selection of books just because I read the title somewhere else. The book Crazy in the Kitchen by Louise DeSalvo is also strongly(?) encouraged; the main character read it ‘…with voracious hunger.’
page 259: This sentence gave me pause: “Close to Worcester I hit rush hour near I-495, but by the time…” I think the better phrasing would have been, “Just past Worcester, I hit rush hour…” Minor? uh, yes. Distracting? probably only to me! Then again, the author/narrator does not tell me which interstate she is driving on - she HAS to be on the Mass Pike at this point, yes? Why didn’t she take I-95 and then I-93 through Boston? – I’m also not a native Massachusettian and I have to look up where what relates to where on the maps all the time. I like maps. And I forget how close to Worcester I-495 is on that swing of the curve west of Boston. Anyway, I turned the page down so I could go look it up!
I have been to Maine’s Mount Desert Island and this is also part of the charm of the book. I enjoy reading about places I (sort of) know. I, too, have laughed at what exactly does the State of Maine’s theme “The Way Life Should Be” mean? How true that to Mainers and anyone who might live anywhere, life in Maine is just life! (I almost have authority to say that since I have a cousin who lives in Maine and their kids were BORN in Maine so that almost makes them native. Plus, I’m almost forgiven for living in Massachusetts ONLY because I’m not a true New Englander. Being born in the midwest has some slight benefit when in Maine – if they can get beyond my MASS license plate on my car.)
Another Reviews: Fizzy Beverage’s Review
*** SPOILER ALERT ***
If Ms. Kline ever reads this, I would love to suggest that IF she ever writes a sequel, that Nonna be the main character. A book that about her traveling back to Italy with Angela in the realtime and flashbacks to her romance with the priest.
This book isn’t quite eccitante! (Italian) = thrilling! (English)
And I might not go so far as to use the words: Tutto bene = all good.
But these will work: it’ niente male di s = it’s pretty good.
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