Book Beginnings quote:
Friday56 quote:
Summary: Lizzie Benson, the book's narrator, lives in Brooklyn with her husband Ben and son Eli. She works as a college librarian, though she got the job through back channels and never did the course work for it, so the book is filled with funny pieces of information she has unearthed on the job. An example is the Book Beginnings quote which she found doing research on the early days of this country. She dropped out of graduate school to look after her drug-addicted brother and her life is filled with a rising sense of anxiety after the 2016 election and the rise of right-wing strongmen and the effects that climate change is having on life. "This potent, appealing little book is about how we weather this sense of doom — with humor, incredulity, panic, disaster preparedness, or, best of all, action" (NPR).
Review: I listened to Weather on audiobook. In the beginning I didn't understand what was happening because I wasn't seeing the spaces on the pages where her thoughts were separated. Finally, at some point, I just settled in and enjoyed the zaniness of Lizzie's thoughts and could appreciate how disjointed most of them were. Don't we all do that? We are thinking about one thing and then we see something, let's say its a cat, and suddenly our thoughts veer off in a new direction related to felines. The whole book of Weather is like that. Lizzie's thought populate the book and most of her thoughts are disjointed and many of them are hilarious.
The book reviewer for NPR describes Offill as a "master of the glancing blow." So many of her lines could be used in a comedy routine. Here are a few examples: Her nosy neighbor slips and falls during jury duty on a case about slipping and falling; she and her brother are nearly run over in the park, when they complain, the offending driver yells "You and your precious lives."; even the Friday56 quote about the family being afraid they'll see their father die on TV. Everything is a potential zinger.
This is what she has to say, for example, about coming down from a flirtation that was "like a wartime romance. Minus the war. Minus the sex": "And then it is another day and another and another but I will not go on about this because no doubt you too have experienced time." (NPR)I really liked this book but recognize that it is probably too quirky for most readers. But if you are one of those folks who likes something a little off kilter, this is the book for you.
-Anne
We talked about it a bit for Book Club, but I read that it was stream of consciousness. I'm not generally a fan of that style.
ReplyDeleteNot sure some of the gals in club would appreciate it but I liked it a lot.
DeleteAt a different time as our current events, I might enjoy this.
ReplyDeleteHappy weekend and here's my https://elzareads.blogspot.com/2020/08/weekend-book-friends-7.html
The humor kept it from being stressful about current situations.
DeleteI felt a connection to the author as she was describing her anxieties after the 2016 election...and in these subsequent years. I hope we are about to move beyond these horrific times!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your weekend, and here's mine: “CLEO MCDOUGAL REGRETS NOTHING”
Amen to the stress around the past and now the current election.
DeleteI'm intrigued by the 56, it sounds very interesting!! Happy weekend!
ReplyDeleteYes, especially when you know that Eli is only in first grade. What parent lets him watch that?
DeleteI haven't ever listened to a poetry book or one written in verse; I realize that how they place the words on a page is intentional. Good for you for sticking with a fun audiobook.
ReplyDeleteThis book wasn't written in verse or in poetry, it was just a bunch of disjointed thoughts on print. There was a plot but it took a while to shape up.
DeleteThanks for sharing with me, Anne.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds interesting.
ReplyDeleteI'm not too sure that this would be one for me. I do enjoy books of short poetry or quotes that I can dip in and out of, but this sounds like the kind of book that anyone of us could write about our daily lives!
ReplyDeleteI'm pleased that you enjoyed the funnier moments from the book, anything which helps to lighten the mood a little right now can't be a bad thing :)
Yvonne xx
I've enjoyed a few off-kilter books ;) I may need to add this one to my TBR list. Thanks for sharing and enjoy your week!
ReplyDeleteSounds like an interesting read. Thanks for sharing! Hope you have a great weekend! :)
ReplyDeleteSounds like an interesting book! I think that's the drawback for certain audiobooks for me, is if there's a lot of jumping because of breaks it's hard for me to follow along. Glad it ended up working out for you, though.
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