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How to Start a Fire
From a bestselling writer, a story of unexpected friendship-three women thrown together in college who grow to adulthood united and divided by secrets, lies, and a single night that shaped all of them
When UC Santa Cruz roommates Anna and Kate find passed-out Georgiana Leoni on a lawn one night, they wheel her to their dorm in a shopping cart. Twenty years later, they gather around a campfire on the lawn of a New England mansion. What happens in between-the web of wild adventures, unspoken jealousies, and sudden tragedies that alter the course of their lives-is charted with sharp wit and aching sadness in this meticulously constructed novel.
Anna, the de facto leader, is fearless and restless-moving fast to stay one step ahead of her demons. Quirky, contemplative Kate is a natural sidekick but a terrible wingman ("If you go home with him, might I suggest breathing through your mouth"). And then there's George: the most desired woman in any room, and the one most likely to leave with the worst man.
Shot through with the crackling dialogue, irresistible characters, and propulsive narrative drive that make Lutz's books so beloved, How to Start a Fire pulls us deep into Anna, Kate, and George's complicated bond and pays homage to the abiding, irrational love we share with the family we choose.
When UC Santa Cruz roommates Anna and Kate find passed-out Georgiana Leoni on a lawn one night, they wheel her to their dorm in a shopping cart. Twenty years later, they gather around a campfire on the lawn of a New England mansion. What happens in between-the web of wild adventures, unspoken jealousies, and sudden tragedies that alter the course of their lives-is charted with sharp wit and aching sadness in this meticulously constructed novel.
Anna, the de facto leader, is fearless and restless-moving fast to stay one step ahead of her demons. Quirky, contemplative Kate is a natural sidekick but a terrible wingman ("If you go home with him, might I suggest breathing through your mouth"). And then there's George: the most desired woman in any room, and the one most likely to leave with the worst man.
Shot through with the crackling dialogue, irresistible characters, and propulsive narrative drive that make Lutz's books so beloved, How to Start a Fire pulls us deep into Anna, Kate, and George's complicated bond and pays homage to the abiding, irrational love we share with the family we choose.
337 pages, Hardcover
First published May 12, 2015
452 people are currently reading
9006 people want to read
About the author
Lisa Lutz
27 books3,978 followersLisa Lutz is the New York Times bestselling author of the six books in the Spellman series, How to Start a Fire, Heads you Lose (with David Hayward), and the children's book, How to Negotiate Everything (illustrated by Jaime Temairik). Her latest book, The Passenger, a psychological thriller, will be published March 2016 by Simon and Schuster. Lutz has won the Alex award and has been nominated for the Edgar Award for Best Novel.
Although she attended UC Santa Cruz, UC Irvine, the University of Leeds in England, and San Francisco State University, she still does not have a bachelor's degree. Lisa spent most of the 1990s hopping through a string of low-paying odd jobs while writing and rewriting the screenplay Plan B, a mob comedy. After the film was made in 2000, she vowed she would never write another screenplay. Lisa lives in the Hudson Valley, NY.
Although she attended UC Santa Cruz, UC Irvine, the University of Leeds in England, and San Francisco State University, she still does not have a bachelor's degree. Lisa spent most of the 1990s hopping through a string of low-paying odd jobs while writing and rewriting the screenplay Plan B, a mob comedy. After the film was made in 2000, she vowed she would never write another screenplay. Lisa lives in the Hudson Valley, NY.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,266 reviews
June 11, 2015
"All good things are wild and free." Henry David Thoreau
That's pretty much these three girls as young adults in college. Anna and Kate meet George in college after she passed out on their lawn. They throw her in a shopping cart and wheel her into their room.
These three women are written so that you can't help but watch them. You might not always like their characters but they could step off the pages at anytime and probably bitch at you about something.
You have wild Anna. The rich girl with no limits. She drinks, does drugs, and sleeps with too many men.
Malcolm was still staring out the window.
"Your sister's up to something," Malcolm said.
"Always," Colin said.
"Do you worry about her?"
"I worry about anyone who might cross her."
Smart,quirky Kate, who knows when she finishes school that she will be taking over her grandfather's restaurant.
Kate was a lousy wingman. In fact George and Anna had crowned her the worst wingman in the history of wingmen, often quoting and requiting late-night warnings.
"In the morning you will notice his beady eyes."
"Right now, try to remember your last hangover."
"I have a strong feeling this guy has a sexually transmitted disease."
"If you go home with him, might I suggest breathing through your mouth."
And beautiful George. Who thinks she needs a man by her side at all times. Not necessarily the right man either. (I kept imaging her saying this)
Something about this book that did tend to drive me crazy was the time jumps. I suggest if you read this one just ignore the timings on the beginning of the chapters. It jumps around so much that there is no way you can keep up with it. I tried for a bit in the story and finally said "hell with it" and just read the book. I enjoyed it more then.
The story is not a shocking one, it follows these three women through a lifetime of a friendship. Sometimes they have hard times, sometimes they fight. The friendship endures and the story is like real life. No real ending, just stuff happening.
That's pretty much these three girls as young adults in college. Anna and Kate meet George in college after she passed out on their lawn. They throw her in a shopping cart and wheel her into their room.
These three women are written so that you can't help but watch them. You might not always like their characters but they could step off the pages at anytime and probably bitch at you about something.
You have wild Anna. The rich girl with no limits. She drinks, does drugs, and sleeps with too many men.
Malcolm was still staring out the window.
"Your sister's up to something," Malcolm said.
"Always," Colin said.
"Do you worry about her?"
"I worry about anyone who might cross her."
Smart,quirky Kate, who knows when she finishes school that she will be taking over her grandfather's restaurant.
Kate was a lousy wingman. In fact George and Anna had crowned her the worst wingman in the history of wingmen, often quoting and requiting late-night warnings.
"In the morning you will notice his beady eyes."
"Right now, try to remember your last hangover."
"I have a strong feeling this guy has a sexually transmitted disease."
"If you go home with him, might I suggest breathing through your mouth."
And beautiful George. Who thinks she needs a man by her side at all times. Not necessarily the right man either. (I kept imaging her saying this)
Something about this book that did tend to drive me crazy was the time jumps. I suggest if you read this one just ignore the timings on the beginning of the chapters. It jumps around so much that there is no way you can keep up with it. I tried for a bit in the story and finally said "hell with it" and just read the book. I enjoyed it more then.
The story is not a shocking one, it follows these three women through a lifetime of a friendship. Sometimes they have hard times, sometimes they fight. The friendship endures and the story is like real life. No real ending, just stuff happening.
September 24, 2024
Meandering and pointless, this was a real struggle to get through. I was expecting light chick lit or maybe a touching story of female friendship, but this was neither. Each chapter abruptly jumps across time and space in the lives of three women and makes the book feel like a long collection of unconnected episodes that are dry in themselves, yet don't add up to any greater whole. Flat characters. I had no idea what these women were thinking or feeling, and couldn't picture or bring myself to care about their worlds.
Reading this felt like flipping through the channels and watching odd snipets of meaningless sitcoms. Here's one of the women at a party, here they are visiting their newly-married friend, and here's them drunk on a camping trip. If this was all moving towards some worthwhile end, then it moved too slow and I jumped off half-way through.
Reading this felt like flipping through the channels and watching odd snipets of meaningless sitcoms. Here's one of the women at a party, here they are visiting their newly-married friend, and here's them drunk on a camping trip. If this was all moving towards some worthwhile end, then it moved too slow and I jumped off half-way through.
May 14, 2015
Stories of women who meet in college and form fast, lifelong friendships are nothing new.
Except when they're written by Lisa Lutz.
In previous novels, Lutz has proven herself both an astute observer and commentator on the games men and women play. Her dialogue is sharp, insightful and funny. She dreams up characters that come alive, women that you want to emulate and be friends with. In other words, gals who blurt out the shit you wish you'd said but only think of twenty minutes later.
She has created two of the most popular female characters in recent fiction - Izzy and Rae Spellman.
The women who start the fires in this book are not Spellmans, though I think they would all get along. S'mores and vodka would surely be passed around.
Lutz's women are intelligent and quirky. Though they don't always have the best taste in men, you can bet their couplings and subsequent break-ups will provide rich fodder for drama, humor and some damn funny lines.
"Good game," she said, perhaps a little too cheerfully.
Bradford accepted her hand, gripped it a little too hard. He drew her close to him and whispered in her ear, "I'd like to fuck that smile right off your face."
"Is that generally your goal when fucking?" Kate said.
Ya see? I might have thought of that comeback on the way home. Maybe.
Already this seems to be a love it or hate it book. NO - this is not as funny as a Spellman's adventure. YES - it does jump around quite a bit in time, though I honestly can't imagine this story told any other way. And, NO, the characters are not always likable. They have their strengths and weaknesses. There were points in the book where I wanted to slap each of them before hugging them . . . kind of like my real friends.
S'more flavored vodka, anyone?
Except when they're written by Lisa Lutz.
In previous novels, Lutz has proven herself both an astute observer and commentator on the games men and women play. Her dialogue is sharp, insightful and funny. She dreams up characters that come alive, women that you want to emulate and be friends with. In other words, gals who blurt out the shit you wish you'd said but only think of twenty minutes later.
She has created two of the most popular female characters in recent fiction - Izzy and Rae Spellman.
The women who start the fires in this book are not Spellmans, though I think they would all get along. S'mores and vodka would surely be passed around.
Lutz's women are intelligent and quirky. Though they don't always have the best taste in men, you can bet their couplings and subsequent break-ups will provide rich fodder for drama, humor and some damn funny lines.
"Good game," she said, perhaps a little too cheerfully.
Bradford accepted her hand, gripped it a little too hard. He drew her close to him and whispered in her ear, "I'd like to fuck that smile right off your face."
"Is that generally your goal when fucking?" Kate said.
Ya see? I might have thought of that comeback on the way home. Maybe.
Already this seems to be a love it or hate it book. NO - this is not as funny as a Spellman's adventure. YES - it does jump around quite a bit in time, though I honestly can't imagine this story told any other way. And, NO, the characters are not always likable. They have their strengths and weaknesses. There were points in the book where I wanted to slap each of them before hugging them . . . kind of like my real friends.
S'more flavored vodka, anyone?
January 31, 2019
Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
3.5 Stars
“Who would you save in a fire, Keith Richards or Pete Townshend?”
“I don’t know.”
“The answer is Pete Townshend. A fire wouldn’t kill Keith Richards.”
Lisa Lutz – or more specifically, The Spellman Files – had been on my radar for eternity. Same as this one. I have no idea what made me finally pull the trigger. Maybe my recent discovery that I like to do more than just dip my toe in a certain genre . . . .
Or more likely the case, because I liked the cover when this popped up for the hundredth time somewhere in my online life. Because let’s get real. I’m a pretty easy sell . . . .
Whatever the case, How To Start A Fire wound up being one of my library checkouts that I went into with pretty low expectations since it was a mixed bag with my Goodreads friends.
The story here is about three women and their ever-changing friendship from college through middle-age. You have Kate – raised in Santa Cruz by her Czechoslovakian “deda” after her parents died in a car crash when she was 8, Anna – silver spoon sort from Boston by two still-married parents, and George – Chicagoan, only child to an Italian-American father and WASPy mother. All three of them have one thing in common . . . .
The only thing I could compare this to when my husband asked what it was about was . . . .
It’s kind of about nothing at all, but much like the occasional TBS marathon of that old standard, I found myself still sitting there fully invested 14 hours later.
3.5 Stars because the timehops were KILLING ME, SMALLS! Eventually I figured out it was best to read each chapter like its own little vignette instead of trying to piece together some semblance of order and hoped that everything would tie together in the end . . . which it did. If you are a fan of stories about flawed people who you can’t stop hoping will wind up with happy endings, this is a winner.
Note - I actually read the Kindle version, but with the good cover that is only an option for the paperback version. THIS is why I hate all these damn different version options here. Well, that and the fact that NO I HAVE NOT READ EVERY DANG BOOK TWO OR THREE TIMES THANK YOU VERY LITTLE. I just suck at technology so every time I click something I make it look like I did.
3.5 Stars
“Who would you save in a fire, Keith Richards or Pete Townshend?”
“I don’t know.”
“The answer is Pete Townshend. A fire wouldn’t kill Keith Richards.”
Lisa Lutz – or more specifically, The Spellman Files – had been on my radar for eternity. Same as this one. I have no idea what made me finally pull the trigger. Maybe my recent discovery that I like to do more than just dip my toe in a certain genre . . . .
Or more likely the case, because I liked the cover when this popped up for the hundredth time somewhere in my online life. Because let’s get real. I’m a pretty easy sell . . . .
Whatever the case, How To Start A Fire wound up being one of my library checkouts that I went into with pretty low expectations since it was a mixed bag with my Goodreads friends.
The story here is about three women and their ever-changing friendship from college through middle-age. You have Kate – raised in Santa Cruz by her Czechoslovakian “deda” after her parents died in a car crash when she was 8, Anna – silver spoon sort from Boston by two still-married parents, and George – Chicagoan, only child to an Italian-American father and WASPy mother. All three of them have one thing in common . . . .
The only thing I could compare this to when my husband asked what it was about was . . . .
It’s kind of about nothing at all, but much like the occasional TBS marathon of that old standard, I found myself still sitting there fully invested 14 hours later.
3.5 Stars because the timehops were KILLING ME, SMALLS! Eventually I figured out it was best to read each chapter like its own little vignette instead of trying to piece together some semblance of order and hoped that everything would tie together in the end . . . which it did. If you are a fan of stories about flawed people who you can’t stop hoping will wind up with happy endings, this is a winner.
Note - I actually read the Kindle version, but with the good cover that is only an option for the paperback version. THIS is why I hate all these damn different version options here. Well, that and the fact that NO I HAVE NOT READ EVERY DANG BOOK TWO OR THREE TIMES THANK YOU VERY LITTLE. I just suck at technology so every time I click something I make it look like I did.
January 16, 2022
Unlike Lisa Lutz's comic novels about the Spellman family, this novel focuses on three women who become friends in college and remain in each other's lives for decades.
Anna, Kate, and George (short for Georgiana) meet at the University of California at Santa Cruz and become roommates.
Like many college students, these prank-loving girls drink and party almost as much as they study.
In time the girls graduate and go their separate ways, but they remain close, and are usually ready to help when called upon.
*****
Anna Fury comes from a well-to-do, but dysfunctional, Boston family. Her banker father is distant; her socialite mother is controlling; and - when teenage Anna was still living at home - she started hiding out and running away.
After Anna becomes 'an emancipated woman' at college, she acts out in roguish ways that slow down, but don't derail, her plans to become a doctor.
Once Anna enters the medical profession, her access to drugs, continued drinking, and reckless behavior has unfortunate repercussions. Anna has very little conscience, and seems almost oblivious to the harm her behavior does to others.
One night, Anna's careless actions lead to an event that has profound repercussions for everyone involved.
*****
Kate Smirnoff was orphaned at the age of eight, and raised by her Czech grandfather, who runs a diner in Santa Cruz. Kate intends to take over the diner when her grandpa retires, so she takes business and restaurant classes to further that goal.
When Kates's plans don't work out as she'd hoped, she reacts badly, and her troubles escalate after a tragic event. All this affects Kate's outlook and behavior, and - in time - leads to a unique mission.
Kate is the most immature and self-indulgent of the three women, and needs a real 'kick in the pants' to get going.
*****
George Leoni is a tall athletic beauty who loves the outdoors and majors in forestry.
George is close to her father Bruno- a personable man who sometimes visits George and her friends at school, bringing ingredients for a delicious meal.
After graduation, George becomes a forest ranger, and is happy with her job until she's sidetracked by a handsome man. In fact George's irresistible attraction to sexy men is the driving force in her life, and leads her down paths she didn't anticipate.
Of the trio of friends, George is the most likely to ask for help, though she almost never takes the good advice others offer.
*****
The two decades after college are challenging for all three women, and we learn about their lives in snippets that jump around in time. I think the author chose this scattershot approach to heighten the suspense. For example, when we meet Anna she's a thirtysomething paralegal with a medical degree, and we wonder how she got there. I wasn't overly bothered by the time-hopping, but many reviewers find it confusing and unnecessary.
Secondary characters add interest to the book, and there are some adorable children whose antics made me smile.
I think most people would find it hard to be best friends with these women. Kate and George have bad judgment that affects everyone around them, and Anna is flat out selfish and unlikable. Still, the story is engaging, and the women are interesting to read about.
You can follow my reviews at https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot....
May 4, 2015
I wanted to love this book so, so bad. Here's the thing: I LOVED Lisa Lutz's Spellman Files series. While some were better than others, The Spellman Files never failed to make me feel better about life and made me laugh so hard along the way. I assumed that How to Start a Fire would be just as good as The Spellman Files series...but it wasn't not even a little bit.
I'm starting to feel an intense annoyance for anything but straightforward time lines. Unless you're having one chapter be in the present time period immediately followed by the next one being in the past, for the most part, it's way more trouble than it's worth. This was doubly true in How to Start a Fire. The timeline in this book was so scattershot. Some took place in 1999, some in 2011, some in 199-whatever, and there was no sense of order to it. I kept having to refer back to figure out what had happened in the last chapter where the timeline took place to figure out what was happening in the current chapter. Finally, I said "Screw it!" and stopped paying attention to the dates. I just didn't care. In fact, that "I don't care" mantra, continuously played through my head while I was reading How to Start a Fire.
I didn't care. I didn't care about the annoying main characters. I didn't care about the supporting characters. I didn't care for the ever-loving dull plot. In fact, had this book been written by anyone other than Lisa Lutz (and hadn't been a review book), I would have not bothered to finish. When I finished How to Start a Fire, I didn't feel like my time was well-spent. I just looked at my TBR stack and thought "I should've been reading one of you instead".
However, the absolute criminal thing about How to Start a Fire was how unfunny it was. This is the same author who wrote about the hot ass mess that is Izzy Spellman, who wrote the crazy, manipulative (and always hilarious) Rae...the same author who wrote about this incredible and zany family. And then we got this? A book where boring characters did boring things while leading woefully unfunny lives. And the only thought I'm left with after reading this is "What exactly was the point?" I have yet to find an answer to this question.
I'm starting to feel an intense annoyance for anything but straightforward time lines. Unless you're having one chapter be in the present time period immediately followed by the next one being in the past, for the most part, it's way more trouble than it's worth. This was doubly true in How to Start a Fire. The timeline in this book was so scattershot. Some took place in 1999, some in 2011, some in 199-whatever, and there was no sense of order to it. I kept having to refer back to figure out what had happened in the last chapter where the timeline took place to figure out what was happening in the current chapter. Finally, I said "Screw it!" and stopped paying attention to the dates. I just didn't care. In fact, that "I don't care" mantra, continuously played through my head while I was reading How to Start a Fire.
I didn't care. I didn't care about the annoying main characters. I didn't care about the supporting characters. I didn't care for the ever-loving dull plot. In fact, had this book been written by anyone other than Lisa Lutz (and hadn't been a review book), I would have not bothered to finish. When I finished How to Start a Fire, I didn't feel like my time was well-spent. I just looked at my TBR stack and thought "I should've been reading one of you instead".
However, the absolute criminal thing about How to Start a Fire was how unfunny it was. This is the same author who wrote about the hot ass mess that is Izzy Spellman, who wrote the crazy, manipulative (and always hilarious) Rae...the same author who wrote about this incredible and zany family. And then we got this? A book where boring characters did boring things while leading woefully unfunny lives. And the only thought I'm left with after reading this is "What exactly was the point?" I have yet to find an answer to this question.
July 15, 2015
Title: "How to Start a Fire"
Author: Lisa Lutz
Format: ebook via Samsung Galaxy Nook ereader.
Release info.: newly released, May, 2015.
Genre: fiction, adult fiction, chick-lit, drama, changing POV, female MC's, strong female MC(s), includes swearing, some sexual situations & adult themes.
Read: May 12-13, 2015.
My GR rating: 5 of 5 "WOWSA" stars!
Brief remarks:
Holy Moly!
I'm stingy with that fifth star typically, but I'm THROWING IT MADLY at this latest creation by Ms. Lutz!
I cannot remember now how I found and fell in love with Lisa Lutz's "Spellman" series but, I am super glad I did as not only is that series a HOOT, it led me to reading this book too. "How to Start a Fire" will definitely go down as one of my top 3-5 novels read in 2015. (May even have the winner here.)
I simply devoured this book; I just so totally and completely succumbed to the intense, twisty, REAL storyline and fell arse over tea kettle in love with the three main, or leading, ladies that this book is focused on. I really like characters that are flawed, struggling, bounceback, fall, you know: like we all are! I related to the 3 gals in this book right away; when I wasn't reading about them, I actually found myself thinking about them and the stories that were unfolding as though I knew them; you know, like for REAL! Now that is a damn fine piece of literature IMHO if I'm thinking about it when I'm not reading (and thus hurry up to read again as quickly as possible)!
This is not what I'd call an easy read, despite finishing it quickly. I just invested extra time in reading as it was so un-put-down-able for me. I felt my emotions tugged a lot, but no mind eff's or anything like that. This was just a really, really good novel and deliciously thought provoking.
Heavy but fascinating; a five star worthy work of art!
I hope you enjoy it, too fellow readers!
Cheers,
Lisa ( @NurseLisainOhio)
Author: Lisa Lutz
Format: ebook via Samsung Galaxy Nook ereader.
Release info.: newly released, May, 2015.
Genre: fiction, adult fiction, chick-lit, drama, changing POV, female MC's, strong female MC(s), includes swearing, some sexual situations & adult themes.
Read: May 12-13, 2015.
My GR rating: 5 of 5 "WOWSA" stars!
Brief remarks:
Holy Moly!
I'm stingy with that fifth star typically, but I'm THROWING IT MADLY at this latest creation by Ms. Lutz!
I cannot remember now how I found and fell in love with Lisa Lutz's "Spellman" series but, I am super glad I did as not only is that series a HOOT, it led me to reading this book too. "How to Start a Fire" will definitely go down as one of my top 3-5 novels read in 2015. (May even have the winner here.)
I simply devoured this book; I just so totally and completely succumbed to the intense, twisty, REAL storyline and fell arse over tea kettle in love with the three main, or leading, ladies that this book is focused on. I really like characters that are flawed, struggling, bounceback, fall, you know: like we all are! I related to the 3 gals in this book right away; when I wasn't reading about them, I actually found myself thinking about them and the stories that were unfolding as though I knew them; you know, like for REAL! Now that is a damn fine piece of literature IMHO if I'm thinking about it when I'm not reading (and thus hurry up to read again as quickly as possible)!
This is not what I'd call an easy read, despite finishing it quickly. I just invested extra time in reading as it was so un-put-down-able for me. I felt my emotions tugged a lot, but no mind eff's or anything like that. This was just a really, really good novel and deliciously thought provoking.
Heavy but fascinating; a five star worthy work of art!
I hope you enjoy it, too fellow readers!
Cheers,
Lisa ( @NurseLisainOhio)
June 24, 2015
3.5 bumped to 4 because I LOVE Lutz
I’ve read all of Lisa Lutz’s books. I am a big fan of her writing skills. Lutz writes hilarious dialogue and uses that skill in “How to Start a Fire”. This novel is a departure from her previous works, especially the Spellman Files, but not a departure in the witty clever way. “The Spellman Files” were novels that were slapstick, silly and entertaining book candy. This novel is more serious, and told in a nonlinear method that requires the reader needs to pay attention.
In this novel, Lutz explores female relationships forged during the formative university years. The three women maintain contact through their middle-age years, and the story follows the ebb and flow of their relationships.
Lutz has a skill of making her characters jump off the page. As you read, you visualize each moment of the book. This is chick-lit that considers evolving complex relationships. Because it’s told in a nonlinear scheme, the reader is provided clues through the novel of different events. It’s heartbreaking and funny. The three female characters are tragically flawed and interesting. I didn’t want the book to end.
I’ve read all of Lisa Lutz’s books. I am a big fan of her writing skills. Lutz writes hilarious dialogue and uses that skill in “How to Start a Fire”. This novel is a departure from her previous works, especially the Spellman Files, but not a departure in the witty clever way. “The Spellman Files” were novels that were slapstick, silly and entertaining book candy. This novel is more serious, and told in a nonlinear method that requires the reader needs to pay attention.
In this novel, Lutz explores female relationships forged during the formative university years. The three women maintain contact through their middle-age years, and the story follows the ebb and flow of their relationships.
Lutz has a skill of making her characters jump off the page. As you read, you visualize each moment of the book. This is chick-lit that considers evolving complex relationships. Because it’s told in a nonlinear scheme, the reader is provided clues through the novel of different events. It’s heartbreaking and funny. The three female characters are tragically flawed and interesting. I didn’t want the book to end.
March 23, 2015
I loved the Spellman Files, and I think Lutz could have had a lucrative career if she did nothing but those. Obviously she realized she had more in her, and I'm glad she did for a lot of reasons. (One of them being I don't continue on with series that long, and one of them being this book.)
This is the story of the friendship of three women, told over 25 years. It is completely non-linear. Often times I find that when a book is told in this way, it's jarring for me when the timeline changes, but Lutz did this so well that I wasn't disappointed when we changed timelines, I was excited. I couldn't wait to see "when" we were going next.
This isn't a totally unique premise .... the girls meet, and their bond is forged and/or tested by an "event." The success of this book hinges entirely on the storytelling and the characters! Lutz is known for her humor, and it's more subdued in this book but it's definitely still there. The personalities of these characters are great. You can see a bit of the Spellman girls in these women, but they transcend those characteristics. Honestly, I'm not sure if everybody is going to love the characters - but I did.
I finished this in two sittings. There was a suspenseful quality to be sure.
Definitely recommended.
January 28, 2015
I ran out of library books last night and had to go to my rainy day - in this case snowy day - book pile. I always wonder if I'm more apt to give 5 stars to a book I unexpectedly love. That's certainly what happened here - I was actually expecting a fluffy book based on misunderstandings and secrets (which I usually don't like) but instead got a very thoughtful and story about three women whose friendship that evolved over time. Plus addiction! I do love some addiction woven into fiction.
Even the jumping back & forth in time helped the story develop.
I cannot recommend this enough.
Even the jumping back & forth in time helped the story develop.
I cannot recommend this enough.
January 24, 2016
This book is solidly of the genre of literary fiction books that are too well-written to be categorized as chick lit, yet still recount the stories of several dissimilar, quirky, late-blooming, thrown-together-by-chance girlfriends throughout their life trajectories from college to middle age.
As often happens in such books, the story is told from the alternating points of view of the three friends, as well as from the perspectives of various key family members or other associates with whom these women's lives intersect.
And, as also often happens in such books, the story is not told chronologically, but rather cuts rapidly back and forth to different spots on the timeline until at the very end, the story has been completely revealed and all missing pieces have fallen into place. This book lies at the further end of the "screw chronology" spectrum in that it almost reads as though the author cut up the entire manuscript, scrambled it on the floor, and scooped it back up again: it really skips around, and my guess is that this may annoy some readers. It did not bother me, but I was distracted trying to think of how the author kept track of everything, and what to reveal when: did she have a giant spreadsheet, or a wall mural like Faulkner??
I wish I had more to say about this book. It was perfectly competent. The dialogue is fizzy and engaging. The characters were...hm. Let's say they were fine to spend some time with, for the most part. They sort of fall into the three buckets of: The Pretty One, The Messed-Up One, and The Weird/Unconventional, Benevolent Slacker One. That list reflects the progressive degree to which the characters were fleshed out and interesting, with the Pretty One on the Least end and the Weird One on the Most end. Kind of predictable, I guess.
In general, I looked forward to returning to this book, and for the most part, never eyeballed my giant pile of library books and asked myself why I wasn't reading one of those instead. Yet, as I approached the end, I realized there was no There there, and for me the book did not climax in some Big Idea other than that we all collectively muck through our intersecting lives as best we can and that sometimes we Eff things up but sometimes things turn out OK.
It probably sounds like I'm damning this book with faint praise. It's better than I'm making it sound. But I won't be reflecting upon it any further after this. And you know, that's OK. I'm OK, and you're OK - that seems like an ending to this review that is befitting to the worldview reflected in this book.
As often happens in such books, the story is told from the alternating points of view of the three friends, as well as from the perspectives of various key family members or other associates with whom these women's lives intersect.
And, as also often happens in such books, the story is not told chronologically, but rather cuts rapidly back and forth to different spots on the timeline until at the very end, the story has been completely revealed and all missing pieces have fallen into place. This book lies at the further end of the "screw chronology" spectrum in that it almost reads as though the author cut up the entire manuscript, scrambled it on the floor, and scooped it back up again: it really skips around, and my guess is that this may annoy some readers. It did not bother me, but I was distracted trying to think of how the author kept track of everything, and what to reveal when: did she have a giant spreadsheet, or a wall mural like Faulkner??
I wish I had more to say about this book. It was perfectly competent. The dialogue is fizzy and engaging. The characters were...hm. Let's say they were fine to spend some time with, for the most part. They sort of fall into the three buckets of: The Pretty One, The Messed-Up One, and The Weird/Unconventional, Benevolent Slacker One. That list reflects the progressive degree to which the characters were fleshed out and interesting, with the Pretty One on the Least end and the Weird One on the Most end. Kind of predictable, I guess.
In general, I looked forward to returning to this book, and for the most part, never eyeballed my giant pile of library books and asked myself why I wasn't reading one of those instead. Yet, as I approached the end, I realized there was no There there, and for me the book did not climax in some Big Idea other than that we all collectively muck through our intersecting lives as best we can and that sometimes we Eff things up but sometimes things turn out OK.
It probably sounds like I'm damning this book with faint praise. It's better than I'm making it sound. But I won't be reflecting upon it any further after this. And you know, that's OK. I'm OK, and you're OK - that seems like an ending to this review that is befitting to the worldview reflected in this book.
April 14, 2015
RELEASE DATE: May 12, 2015
RATING: 5 Stars Blew off a a three week tropical vacation with Vin Diesel to read this book-AND IT WAS WORTH IT!!
GENRE: Literature/Adult Fiction/Chick Lit
AUDIENCE: Fans of previous Lisa Lutz books, readers who enjoy Fannie Flagg will like this book. The subjects touched in this book are too light to be in the Janet Evanovich/Jennifer Crusie range but not as deep as Kristin Hannah. Just read it. You’ll like it.
SERIES: Standalone
REVIEW: I’ve loved Lisa Lutz since her first Spellman book, along with the quirky way she plugs her previous books in future books in the series. She doesn’t take herself too seriously, and her humor jumps off the pages. I want to be Rae Spellman when I grow up.
“How to Start a Fire” is a breakout novel for Lutz. She’s shedding a lot of the immature gags of her previous books and has jumped with both feet into alcoholism, assault, and growing up. None of these subjects are for the faint of heart, and Lutz knocked the ball way out of the ballpark.
The book starts off with how the core of Anna, Kate and George’s relationship cemented itself, and grows from there. I loved how bad ass and ruined Anna was. I felt a kinship with Kate, and how she had her life mapped out until it was pulled out from under her. I liked how George knew she was with the wrong guy, but couldn’t figure out how to make better choices.
The book’s chapters jump between years and characters, so it is kind of difficult to keep up unless a reader is willing to just let go and enjoy how the story unfolds. If you feel better about it, keep a little flow chart. My first three or four chapters were rough because I like a linear storyline, but the writing as well as the characters won me over. I am grateful she gives readers a good ending.
I’m giving “How to Start a Fire” one of my rare 5 star ratings. Lisa Lutz made me laugh. She made me cry. She earned the score.
*Tremendous thanks to Netgalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for an ARC.
FYI: Other books by Lisa Lutz include:
The Spellman Files (Spellman Book 1)
Curse of the Spellmans (Spellman Book 2)
Revenge of the Spellmans (Spellman Book 3)
The Spellmans Strike Again (Spellman Book 4)
Trail of the Spellmans (Spellman Book 5)
The Last Word (Spellman Book 6)
Heads You Lose
RATING: 5 Stars Blew off a a three week tropical vacation with Vin Diesel to read this book-AND IT WAS WORTH IT!!
GENRE: Literature/Adult Fiction/Chick Lit
AUDIENCE: Fans of previous Lisa Lutz books, readers who enjoy Fannie Flagg will like this book. The subjects touched in this book are too light to be in the Janet Evanovich/Jennifer Crusie range but not as deep as Kristin Hannah. Just read it. You’ll like it.
SERIES: Standalone
REVIEW: I’ve loved Lisa Lutz since her first Spellman book, along with the quirky way she plugs her previous books in future books in the series. She doesn’t take herself too seriously, and her humor jumps off the pages. I want to be Rae Spellman when I grow up.
“How to Start a Fire” is a breakout novel for Lutz. She’s shedding a lot of the immature gags of her previous books and has jumped with both feet into alcoholism, assault, and growing up. None of these subjects are for the faint of heart, and Lutz knocked the ball way out of the ballpark.
The book starts off with how the core of Anna, Kate and George’s relationship cemented itself, and grows from there. I loved how bad ass and ruined Anna was. I felt a kinship with Kate, and how she had her life mapped out until it was pulled out from under her. I liked how George knew she was with the wrong guy, but couldn’t figure out how to make better choices.
The book’s chapters jump between years and characters, so it is kind of difficult to keep up unless a reader is willing to just let go and enjoy how the story unfolds. If you feel better about it, keep a little flow chart. My first three or four chapters were rough because I like a linear storyline, but the writing as well as the characters won me over. I am grateful she gives readers a good ending.
I’m giving “How to Start a Fire” one of my rare 5 star ratings. Lisa Lutz made me laugh. She made me cry. She earned the score.
*Tremendous thanks to Netgalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for an ARC.
FYI: Other books by Lisa Lutz include:
The Spellman Files (Spellman Book 1)
Curse of the Spellmans (Spellman Book 2)
Revenge of the Spellmans (Spellman Book 3)
The Spellmans Strike Again (Spellman Book 4)
Trail of the Spellmans (Spellman Book 5)
The Last Word (Spellman Book 6)
Heads You Lose
May 18, 2016
Pretty competent storytelling but is almost drowned in a morass of overly sinuous, unnecessary non-linearity. I.identify with and usually enjoy wanderlust stories, but the constant back-and-forth started making me feel like it was masking...dunno. Insubstantiality, maybe? Four months after reading this, I can barely remember anything about this story of three UC Santa Cruz gal-pals except for the constant leaps in time. Never a good sign. Ms. Lutz sporadically lets the reader of this know why she's a great writer, but it didn't quite start a fire for my ardor of her. I'll keep my eye out for her stuff in the future. Maybe The Passenger?
February 2, 2015
This was the most un-put-down-able book I've read in ages. This weekend, every time I'd try to go off and do something else, I'd find myself being drawn back to the couch and this book (needless to say, not much got done this weekend). It reminded me a bit of Commencement by J. Courtney Sullivan, which I also loved. My only complaint is a minor one: I found the way the story jumped around in time to be a bit confusing. I read tons of books that aren't chronological and I never have a problem with it, but in this case, I think its jumping around was a bit too aggressive. The first few chapters took place in: 2005, 1993, 2011, 2002, 1999, 1990, 2006, 2000, 2010, 1994, and so on, throughout the book. Sometimes it was hard to figure out the order things took place in, or remember when things were happening, or even who certain characters were, so be prepared to flip back and forth a bit as you read. Definitely not a reason to skip this one, though, so don't let it scare you off.
February 24, 2015
I got a preview copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
To be honest with you, I couldn't even finish this book. Though I don't mind when stories are not told in a sequential manner, in this case the time-jumping was extreme, and I found it very difficult to keep the storylines straight. This read could've caught me at a bad time, but after 100 pages, I was tired of trying to keep it all straight in my mind and decided to put it away.
To be honest with you, I couldn't even finish this book. Though I don't mind when stories are not told in a sequential manner, in this case the time-jumping was extreme, and I found it very difficult to keep the storylines straight. This read could've caught me at a bad time, but after 100 pages, I was tired of trying to keep it all straight in my mind and decided to put it away.
May 14, 2015
I was just recently discussing with a friend the lack of books that I feel really, strongly represent female friendships. I would love to read more books about courting and finding and sustaining friends. Too often when I find books with a large focus on friendship they portray either or both of the Hollywood stereotypes of mean girls pretending to be friends but terrorizing each other or girls with the perfect, most wonderful bestest friends ever who eat ice cream and have pillow fights. Now these stereotypes come from somewhere and both elements appear in female friendships in real life - sometimes a single friendship will exhibit both of these multiple times through the life of the friendship. However, they just never ring true for me. They never allow for the deep intimacy that can come with a true friendship, the silliness, the relief of having someone who just gets you, etc. Having had a couple of very serious friendships in my life, I am always sad when these stories don't ring true.
The afore mentioned very intelligent friend pointed out to me that his most successful friendships are drama free - as actualized and self-aware adults we only have to be friends with people we truly care about and who care about us equally, and we tend to seek stable friendships that don't add to the stresses of our daily lives by being drama llama-ful. This type of story just doesn't lend itself to good storytelling. This, of course, is why the few authors who do authentic representations of friendship well tend to hide it in a larger story, i.e. Victoria Dahl. That way the friendships are a support system and the drama is external to the group.
So, with all that said, I was a bit worried about tackling a women's fiction novel (a genre that often doesn't work for me as a reader) that puts a lens on a long term friendship between three women. I expected full drama all the time. And this story does have some of that - it's really the story of these three women as they grow up and face their own addictions and neuroses and some of that means hurting each other. They face drug and alcohol addiction, terrible men, violence, child-rearing, and on. What sets this book apart, though, is that through all of this they remain a support system for each other. Even when they are at their lowest or are facing a betrayal within the group, they still reach out to each other and show up when it's important. Anna and Kate especially seem like very real people - people I could be friends with and people I could care about even at their lowest. And the dialogue is fabulous - I swear that Lutz mined the on-going three-way text between me and two of my closest and wackiest friends. It's funny and sweet and poignant and heartbreaking.
My one complaint is that the third friend - George - didn't strike me as a fully realized person like Anna and Kate did. She seemed somehow less and I was a bit sad to find her so flat. Still, I blew through this book in a single day and if I find more women writing this type of women's fiction I may become a convert.
The afore mentioned very intelligent friend pointed out to me that his most successful friendships are drama free - as actualized and self-aware adults we only have to be friends with people we truly care about and who care about us equally, and we tend to seek stable friendships that don't add to the stresses of our daily lives by being drama llama-ful. This type of story just doesn't lend itself to good storytelling. This, of course, is why the few authors who do authentic representations of friendship well tend to hide it in a larger story, i.e. Victoria Dahl. That way the friendships are a support system and the drama is external to the group.
So, with all that said, I was a bit worried about tackling a women's fiction novel (a genre that often doesn't work for me as a reader) that puts a lens on a long term friendship between three women. I expected full drama all the time. And this story does have some of that - it's really the story of these three women as they grow up and face their own addictions and neuroses and some of that means hurting each other. They face drug and alcohol addiction, terrible men, violence, child-rearing, and on. What sets this book apart, though, is that through all of this they remain a support system for each other. Even when they are at their lowest or are facing a betrayal within the group, they still reach out to each other and show up when it's important. Anna and Kate especially seem like very real people - people I could be friends with and people I could care about even at their lowest. And the dialogue is fabulous - I swear that Lutz mined the on-going three-way text between me and two of my closest and wackiest friends. It's funny and sweet and poignant and heartbreaking.
My one complaint is that the third friend - George - didn't strike me as a fully realized person like Anna and Kate did. She seemed somehow less and I was a bit sad to find her so flat. Still, I blew through this book in a single day and if I find more women writing this type of women's fiction I may become a convert.
April 22, 2015
I've been wanting to read Lisa Lutz for awhile, because I have so many friends who are into the Spellman Files, but I just haven't been ready to commit to another series. Et voilà, a stand-alone. Perfect!
The more I read, the more I wanted to read. I did a lot of putting off other things because I'd set the book down and then decide I just had to get back to it immediately. Lutz clearly has a gift for characterization and plot. She follows three women over the course of twenty years, but she jumps around in time and events have a profound effect on the women, yet Lutz somehow remains consistent in characterization. (I wonder if she wrote it chronologically and then jumbled it up?) I've noticed a lot of authors using non-linear timelines lately, and I love the idea, but it's not always executed that well. Here, it worked perfectly. The slow unraveling of plot threads on the reader's part echoed how the characters must feel as they discovered long-kept secrets. The large cast of supporting players, particularly family members, were fleshed out with equal care.
I really don't want to give any plot elements away, so I won't say too much more. There is a lot of food for thought within these pages about the families we're born into versus the families we choose; nature versus nurture; truth, lies, lies of omission, and the reason we choose one or the other; punishment and penance; innocence and guilt; and all kinds of other big ideas swirling around the subject of friendship. Through it all runs Lutz's subtle fire metaphor, never overdone and tying up the ending perfectly. Not that everything ends tidily-ever-after. I finished the book and wished for some flames I could stare into while I digested all I'd read. Extraordinary.
The fine print: received ARC from Edelweiss.
The more I read, the more I wanted to read. I did a lot of putting off other things because I'd set the book down and then decide I just had to get back to it immediately. Lutz clearly has a gift for characterization and plot. She follows three women over the course of twenty years, but she jumps around in time and events have a profound effect on the women, yet Lutz somehow remains consistent in characterization. (I wonder if she wrote it chronologically and then jumbled it up?) I've noticed a lot of authors using non-linear timelines lately, and I love the idea, but it's not always executed that well. Here, it worked perfectly. The slow unraveling of plot threads on the reader's part echoed how the characters must feel as they discovered long-kept secrets. The large cast of supporting players, particularly family members, were fleshed out with equal care.
I really don't want to give any plot elements away, so I won't say too much more. There is a lot of food for thought within these pages about the families we're born into versus the families we choose; nature versus nurture; truth, lies, lies of omission, and the reason we choose one or the other; punishment and penance; innocence and guilt; and all kinds of other big ideas swirling around the subject of friendship. Through it all runs Lutz's subtle fire metaphor, never overdone and tying up the ending perfectly. Not that everything ends tidily-ever-after. I finished the book and wished for some flames I could stare into while I digested all I'd read. Extraordinary.
The fine print: received ARC from Edelweiss.
May 25, 2015
3.5 star rating. The structure of the book (each chapter jumped around in time hinting how things would end, and where the character's lives would intersect) made a not-so-interesting plot more interesting. Again (as most of my reviews tend to state), none of the female characters were that loveable. I understand all women are flawed, but would it be so terrible to write a female-protagonist led book with female characters that you'd actually want to be friends with? Still, a solid enough read.
June 1, 2015
It took me a while to find my reading groove - the story frequently shifts between various locations and dates over a 20 year span - but man! does it come together nicely at the end. Appreciated what this story offered - the power and love of friendships rooted in understanding, forgiveness and acceptance.
June 19, 2015
Mon avis en Français
My English review
I always have a great pleasure while reading Lisa Lutz’s books, she has an undeniable talent to draw us into her stories. The Spellmans was one of my favorite series and it’s true that the release of a new novel could only intrigue me. In addition, while the author is known for her humorous and ultimately a little chick-lit novels, we can find here something very different. Yes, here we follow three young women, their hopes, their demons, their life and their mistakes.
Lisa Lutz often presents her novels in different formats and that is how we find emails, conversations theater play like and others and it’s true that I always find it very interesting. But that’s not all, and I think this may be the most unsettling point for readers, each chapter happens to be a different year. It is true that it is sometimes difficult to really understand these leaps in time, we don’t have a real logical sequence and we pass from past to future while following the three young women during their lives. It is therefore in this kind of story that we need to be really careful not to miss anything and so ignore a bit the years to really appreciate everything. I enjoyed this change even if sometimes it is true that we must be concentrated not to be too lost in the course of events.
As I said it before, we follow three very different women here. Anna is the leader of the group, a young rich girl who drift in life because of drugs, alcohol and men. This is a young woman living in excess and who does not necessarily think of the consequences of her actions on her friends. A young woman well in every respect, destroying her life without her having any problems about that. It is also true that she is going through a lot of trials and on some points, we understand how after a childhood such as hers, she feels free to the point of acting as she desires. Then there is Kate. I think that she is the character that I prefered. Kate does not come from a big family like Anna, she does not have big dreams of freedom and wealth, no, she wants only to take care of the bar of her grandfather. Yet this dream will never come true … Driven by her friends, she will follow them, assist them, and keep secrets of each and eventually evolve keeping everything to herself. This is not necessarily something simple and although Anna and George are there for her, they do not necessarily have the skills to understand her. And even if they are still present in difficult times, they also add a lot to her life. Yes Kate is a young woman we can easily understand, this means her regrets, desires and even her feeling of being lost in this life that seems to want to conform her into something she does not want to be. And finally we have George … Oh Georgianna is a complicated young woman. They’re all different the one from the other, it must be said. No, George needs a man to move on and live. And yet, although she is very beautiful and always attracts many boys, it seems that this woman does not really know how to choose a good and loving man. Oh no, because she always finds a terrible husband who uses her and throws her thereafter. Georgianna could be so much better if she could stay alone, but it appears that this condition does not suit her. And even if her friends are always there when she needs them, it is something quite difficult.
You can surely understand that, we discover three completely different persons and yet who can not live without each other. It is an intense and touching friendship that is fun to read. They pass through many things together, but always get up and move forward as best as they can. But nothing is ever simple. The story touched me and it allowed me to discover these girls with a fiery temperament. The author has perfectly managed to share the feelings of each and to make us understand their lives since they met. A very good book to discover!
My English review
I always have a great pleasure while reading Lisa Lutz’s books, she has an undeniable talent to draw us into her stories. The Spellmans was one of my favorite series and it’s true that the release of a new novel could only intrigue me. In addition, while the author is known for her humorous and ultimately a little chick-lit novels, we can find here something very different. Yes, here we follow three young women, their hopes, their demons, their life and their mistakes.
Lisa Lutz often presents her novels in different formats and that is how we find emails, conversations theater play like and others and it’s true that I always find it very interesting. But that’s not all, and I think this may be the most unsettling point for readers, each chapter happens to be a different year. It is true that it is sometimes difficult to really understand these leaps in time, we don’t have a real logical sequence and we pass from past to future while following the three young women during their lives. It is therefore in this kind of story that we need to be really careful not to miss anything and so ignore a bit the years to really appreciate everything. I enjoyed this change even if sometimes it is true that we must be concentrated not to be too lost in the course of events.
As I said it before, we follow three very different women here. Anna is the leader of the group, a young rich girl who drift in life because of drugs, alcohol and men. This is a young woman living in excess and who does not necessarily think of the consequences of her actions on her friends. A young woman well in every respect, destroying her life without her having any problems about that. It is also true that she is going through a lot of trials and on some points, we understand how after a childhood such as hers, she feels free to the point of acting as she desires. Then there is Kate. I think that she is the character that I prefered. Kate does not come from a big family like Anna, she does not have big dreams of freedom and wealth, no, she wants only to take care of the bar of her grandfather. Yet this dream will never come true … Driven by her friends, she will follow them, assist them, and keep secrets of each and eventually evolve keeping everything to herself. This is not necessarily something simple and although Anna and George are there for her, they do not necessarily have the skills to understand her. And even if they are still present in difficult times, they also add a lot to her life. Yes Kate is a young woman we can easily understand, this means her regrets, desires and even her feeling of being lost in this life that seems to want to conform her into something she does not want to be. And finally we have George … Oh Georgianna is a complicated young woman. They’re all different the one from the other, it must be said. No, George needs a man to move on and live. And yet, although she is very beautiful and always attracts many boys, it seems that this woman does not really know how to choose a good and loving man. Oh no, because she always finds a terrible husband who uses her and throws her thereafter. Georgianna could be so much better if she could stay alone, but it appears that this condition does not suit her. And even if her friends are always there when she needs them, it is something quite difficult.
You can surely understand that, we discover three completely different persons and yet who can not live without each other. It is an intense and touching friendship that is fun to read. They pass through many things together, but always get up and move forward as best as they can. But nothing is ever simple. The story touched me and it allowed me to discover these girls with a fiery temperament. The author has perfectly managed to share the feelings of each and to make us understand their lives since they met. A very good book to discover!
July 3, 2015
I have never read any of the Spellman books simply because I do not read mystery series. They're not my thing. I found this book somewhere on some list of recommended reading for the year, though, and decided to give it a shot. Books about female friendships always have excellent potential.
This is about three women -- Kate, George, and Anna -- who meet in their freshman year of college at UC Santa Cruz and remain friends for the next thirty years. The narrative bounces back and forth across the years, filling in the gaps to demonstrate how their became such different things from what their college selves wanted and expected.
Anna is from Boston, but couldn't wait to run away from her domineering, WASPy family and dreams of med school. Kate was raised by her grandfather, a Czech immigrant who runs a diner not far from the college. She's never left California, and her entire life plan is to take over the diner one day. And George is an insecure Midwestern girl who loves nature and isn't sure how to be around people, but feels incomplete without a man in the room.
We start with them in college in the 80s, then jump to the almost-present day when it's clear that each woman's life has fallen off track: Anna is a recovering alcoholic and definitely not a doctor. Kate is wandering across the US on what seems to be an aimless roadtrip, looking for something she's not willing to talk about. And George gave up her burgeoning career as a park ranger for a marriage that's ended in divorce. As did the next two.
Lutz slowly pieces together the big picture, dropping clues about how each character's path has unspooled and how the cross over each other.
I might be more enthusiastic about this book if 1) I could more easily tell the characters apart and 2) the narration was just a smidge more linear. The women rarely rose above archetypes, and the bouncing back and forth sometimes made it hard to distinguish which one was the rich one and which one immigrant's granddaughter. Trying to remember their backstory so that I could understand the present-day was a constant struggle for me. That consequently made it harder sometimes to keep track of the clues being dropped over the years -- wait, who was the one who went to St Louis? Who was the one with the crush on the neighbor? And was that at 25 or 30? . Overall, the whole thing could have been streamlined a bit and it would have had a lot more clarity.
All that being said, I do think that Lutz did an excellent job describing the complex nature of female friendships. The women grew hot and cold with each other over the years, but maintained some element of contact even when they grew distant from each other. I also thought she did a great job writing the individual scenes with warmth and humor, even if I struggled to remember the way each scene fit into the bigger picture.
I bumped this book up to four stars ultimately because I liked the way she brought everything full-circle in the end, showing just how the characters' decisions affected each other. Once it was all out on the table, something just clicked and I said to myself, Ohhhhh. So I do recommend this book, but with the reminder that you have to be patient. Maybe other readers will have fewer troubles following all the many strings coursing throughout. Even if you struggle, I do think that Lutz brings it all to a satisfying conclusion.
This is about three women -- Kate, George, and Anna -- who meet in their freshman year of college at UC Santa Cruz and remain friends for the next thirty years. The narrative bounces back and forth across the years, filling in the gaps to demonstrate how their became such different things from what their college selves wanted and expected.
Anna is from Boston, but couldn't wait to run away from her domineering, WASPy family and dreams of med school. Kate was raised by her grandfather, a Czech immigrant who runs a diner not far from the college. She's never left California, and her entire life plan is to take over the diner one day. And George is an insecure Midwestern girl who loves nature and isn't sure how to be around people, but feels incomplete without a man in the room.
We start with them in college in the 80s, then jump to the almost-present day when it's clear that each woman's life has fallen off track: Anna is a recovering alcoholic and definitely not a doctor. Kate is wandering across the US on what seems to be an aimless roadtrip, looking for something she's not willing to talk about. And George gave up her burgeoning career as a park ranger for a marriage that's ended in divorce. As did the next two.
Lutz slowly pieces together the big picture, dropping clues about how each character's path has unspooled and how the cross over each other.
I might be more enthusiastic about this book if 1) I could more easily tell the characters apart and 2) the narration was just a smidge more linear. The women rarely rose above archetypes, and the bouncing back and forth sometimes made it hard to distinguish which one was the rich one and which one immigrant's granddaughter. Trying to remember their backstory so that I could understand the present-day was a constant struggle for me. That consequently made it harder sometimes to keep track of the clues being dropped over the years -- wait, who was the one who went to St Louis? Who was the one with the crush on the neighbor? And was that at 25 or 30? . Overall, the whole thing could have been streamlined a bit and it would have had a lot more clarity.
All that being said, I do think that Lutz did an excellent job describing the complex nature of female friendships. The women grew hot and cold with each other over the years, but maintained some element of contact even when they grew distant from each other. I also thought she did a great job writing the individual scenes with warmth and humor, even if I struggled to remember the way each scene fit into the bigger picture.
I bumped this book up to four stars ultimately because I liked the way she brought everything full-circle in the end, showing just how the characters' decisions affected each other. Once it was all out on the table, something just clicked and I said to myself, Ohhhhh. So I do recommend this book, but with the reminder that you have to be patient. Maybe other readers will have fewer troubles following all the many strings coursing throughout. Even if you struggle, I do think that Lutz brings it all to a satisfying conclusion.
November 14, 2014
I loved this book! Ms Lutz is one of my favorite authors, one who I can count on to write at least one character with deadpan humor, unpredictable behavior, or one with a mystery to solve. Lucky for me, she puts all of those characters in this book. They might not be a family of detectives, constantly spying on each other, but the three main characters Kate, Anna and George, are quirky and have their own problems to deal with, including each other. In addition, the story is told in mixed up chronological order, which furthers the mystery of what happened to these three women and their friendship over the course of twenty years. This is not as funny as the Spellman books, but any fan of those will quickly fall for the characters that inhabit this new universe. This book personally resonated with me in a big way, since I am lucky enough to have two wonderful friends from college who have weathered the ups and downs of life since then and are like sisters to me. Highly recommended!
August 23, 2015
An uninspiring look at friendship between friends. Mediocre and unlikeable characters, awkward prose and a constantly shifting timeline made this book tough for me to finish. Chapters jump around over a period of 15-20 or so years in a way that makes it very hard to follow what is going on.The author relies too heavily on stereotypes (ex. Rebel girl without a care, strong/athletic jock girl, etc) and that all of the characters felt very flat. Plot events felt contrived. Disappointed as I had heard such great things - would recommend Maggie Shipstead's "Seating Arrangements" or Pamela Moses' "The Appetites of Girls" over this by far.
July 27, 2015
Loved it! I normally don't read this kind of book, but my library rarely has the newest books and there it was! I had just seen shelves of it at B&N, sooo glad I picked this up!!! Finished in 2 days, rare for me, loved the characters, such a good story!!
July 18, 2015
A full-bodied, hilarious, heartfelt, honest tale of three friends who meet in college and what happens over the next twenty years. Sounds like something you've read before, but this book is a fresh take in nearly every way. Whether it's the spectacular time-hopping feat of construction or just Lutz's considerable talents as a crafter of characters and situations, it's easy to find something special about this story. And it proves that Lutz's talents extend far beyond her mystery novels: she's a great writer, no matter the genre.
(PS if you haven't read any of Lisa Lutz's tremendous The Spellman Files series, stop what you're doing and go pick up the first one (which happens to just be called The Spellman Files). You'll thank me later.)
More to come in August
(PS if you haven't read any of Lisa Lutz's tremendous The Spellman Files series, stop what you're doing and go pick up the first one (which happens to just be called The Spellman Files). You'll thank me later.)
More to come in August
January 18, 2015
I loved this book. Different from her Spellman series but the characters are just as fantastic and the"family" dynamics are perfectly intertwined. Three girls meet in college , Anna, Kate and Georgiana. The three become sisters of the heart and as the story progresses over the years we watch them become closer, drift away, marry, divorce, change careers and grow. The book jumps around time wise but the date for each chapter does help keep you oriented. I was sorry to see this story end, I wanted to spend a lot more time with these wonderful ladies.
May 16, 2015
This is one of those books I can't tell you why I liked it but I did. A quirky story about 3 friends and 20 years of their lives in flashbacks and flash forwards. It sounds confusing but it wasn't and I liked the characters enough to want to know how it ended. I recommend to those who don't mind a little quirky.
December 30, 2017
I do not like the end (at the same time there is none). The "jumping around in time" structure of the book made the plot more interesting than it really is. Still, I couldn't put the book down.
August 5, 2015
so...
possibly because of my attachment to lutz's other work, i kept waiting for this one to turn into a sinister murder mystery where kate was anna or anna was kate and one of them killed a guy in college just to see him bleed.
or something.
i mean, the premise had "girls gone wild and homicidal" written all over it...two friends meet a girl who is passed out half naked outside their house in college...then the story started swapping years like kardashians swap cellphones and i felt for certain one would be dead and the others would meet up to resolve old conflicts.
or something.
but that wasn't this novel.
instead, it was sort of a coming-of-age/anne of green gables in hell type thing...or if lisa lutz wrote "commencement". it wasn't bad but it didn't seem to hit its stride until about 3/5 of the book had gone by (and that's a lot of page-age to feel directionless and plotless). lutz had some clever juxtaposition going for her...and that was about it.
the characters aren't particularly likable (of the trio, i liked kate the most but she reads a little like the younger spellman daughter in her almost clinical approach to...everything). george was the weakest - sort of play on george from nancy drew with the athleticism of a 40s female sidekick but the poor taste in men of a modern day millennial who's been able to coast by on her good looks instead of anything else for far too long.
the message here isn't particularly feminist in structure and the end seems content to devolve into a "let's partner these bitches up and make sure everyone is "happy"), even as the world burns around them.
don't even get me started on the fire metaphors.
still, not a terrible read. 3 stars - enjoyable summer fluff with a bit of edge to keep it straight.
possibly because of my attachment to lutz's other work, i kept waiting for this one to turn into a sinister murder mystery where kate was anna or anna was kate and one of them killed a guy in college just to see him bleed.
or something.
i mean, the premise had "girls gone wild and homicidal" written all over it...two friends meet a girl who is passed out half naked outside their house in college...then the story started swapping years like kardashians swap cellphones and i felt for certain one would be dead and the others would meet up to resolve old conflicts.
or something.
but that wasn't this novel.
instead, it was sort of a coming-of-age/anne of green gables in hell type thing...or if lisa lutz wrote "commencement". it wasn't bad but it didn't seem to hit its stride until about 3/5 of the book had gone by (and that's a lot of page-age to feel directionless and plotless). lutz had some clever juxtaposition going for her...and that was about it.
the characters aren't particularly likable (of the trio, i liked kate the most but she reads a little like the younger spellman daughter in her almost clinical approach to...everything). george was the weakest - sort of play on george from nancy drew with the athleticism of a 40s female sidekick but the poor taste in men of a modern day millennial who's been able to coast by on her good looks instead of anything else for far too long.
the message here isn't particularly feminist in structure and the end seems content to devolve into a "let's partner these bitches up and make sure everyone is "happy"), even as the world burns around them.
don't even get me started on the fire metaphors.
still, not a terrible read. 3 stars - enjoyable summer fluff with a bit of edge to keep it straight.
May 24, 2015
Neither an arson tutorial nor a campfire handbook, it is actually a quirky novel about three women who met in college. We will however find out one way to start a fire but probably won't want to try it ourselves. There are plenty of things in the book that we won't want to try ourselves, but they make for a great story of the many misadventures of the three as they live their post college lives. Their friendship had an inauspicious beginning when two college roommates rescued a girl passed out on the grass by loading her into a shopping cart and taking her back to their dorm, no easy task since she had a tall athletic body befitting her role as a basketball player. The friends are quite different from each other and each have interesting quirks and foibles. The chapters are headed by a year and a location and are seemingly arranged in no particular order. Although I usually prefer to experience a story sequentially, it seems to work for this book and I was often delighted to have details of earlier chapters filled in later, often unexpectedly. I imagine the author did have a plan for the chapter sequence but, hey, this smorgasbord is to be enjoyed as it is presented. I really enjoyed the book and interesting, quirky viewpoints of each of our heroines.
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