auntblh's review against another edition
2.0
I probably would have quit reading this one but I had quit reading the two previous books that I started and figured I would tough it out. The book was okay but Miss Harper was definitely a whiny butt which grated on my nerves. The last 30 pages or so was better than the first part.
bethreadsandnaps's review against another edition
3.0
Annie Harper's boyfriend leaves for the war in 2003. She decides to document her time without him in a memoir.
From my perspective, The Good: Set in Tacoma (where I live). The author uses a ramble-y, stream-of-consciousness writing style that I tend to take to. There's lots of detail that people like me enjoy reading. Engaging.
From my perspective, The Bad: A little TOO stream-of-consciousness. There's lots of footnotes with even more ramble. The main character is 24, but she seems about 12 years old emotionally. You can figure out what's going to happen from the first 50 pages.
It probably deserves 2.5 stars, but I really enjoyed the writing style so am rounding up to 3 stars.
From my perspective, The Good: Set in Tacoma (where I live). The author uses a ramble-y, stream-of-consciousness writing style that I tend to take to. There's lots of detail that people like me enjoy reading. Engaging.
From my perspective, The Bad: A little TOO stream-of-consciousness. There's lots of footnotes with even more ramble. The main character is 24, but she seems about 12 years old emotionally. You can figure out what's going to happen from the first 50 pages.
It probably deserves 2.5 stars, but I really enjoyed the writing style so am rounding up to 3 stars.
georgiaonyrmnd's review against another edition
4.0
Maybe not quite a full four stars, but I did really enjoy this read. Annie Harper is a snappy, quirky third grade teacher who decides to write a memoir of the year her boyfriend David is deployed to Iraq.
Over the course of the year she struggles with missing David and then with not missing him enough and trying to figure out what it means to keep the home fires burning and keep moving forward with life. For Annie, that means teaching an adorable and active bunch of third graders, adopting a pet chicken, befriending an elderly woman, and spending time with her equally quirky best friend Gus.
Sometimes the writing was little too slick and witty but mostly I enjoyed Annie’s voice. She goes through a lot in a year —love, guilt, self-loathing, grief, simple joy...the gamut. And the story is hilarious, heartbreaking, and honest. It’s definitely a book of the early oughts (at one point a character asks if Annie has a VCR), which was kind of great.
Over the course of the year she struggles with missing David and then with not missing him enough and trying to figure out what it means to keep the home fires burning and keep moving forward with life. For Annie, that means teaching an adorable and active bunch of third graders, adopting a pet chicken, befriending an elderly woman, and spending time with her equally quirky best friend Gus.
Sometimes the writing was little too slick and witty but mostly I enjoyed Annie’s voice. She goes through a lot in a year —love, guilt, self-loathing, grief, simple joy...the gamut. And the story is hilarious, heartbreaking, and honest. It’s definitely a book of the early oughts (at one point a character asks if Annie has a VCR), which was kind of great.
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