melissakuzma's review against another edition
5.0
This book was incredible. I also loved Michelle Huneven's last novel, Blame, so I was very excited for this one. However, it got off to such a slow start that I almost gave up on it. But thanks to the good reviews here and my faith in the author, I kept going and I'm so glad I did. I came to genuinely care about these characters and what happened to them in a way that very, very few writers can make you do. Even when they (the characters) are being total idiots! The ending of this book was devastating and I doubt I will forget it any time soon.
meganriley's review against another edition
4.0
For the first 100 or so pages, I didn't think the book or the characters were that relatable. But the author has a beautiful way of writing and I liked the episodic style of the plot, so I continued to read and discovered that the main character, Cress, is more relatable than I imagined. It has a heartbreaking ending but given the plot and the circumstances, I'm glad it ended this way as opposed to some alternatives.
It's a quick read, too--I finished in about 3 days.
It's a quick read, too--I finished in about 3 days.
lola425's review against another edition
3.0
Felt very much like Anna Quindlen's Still Life With Bread Crumbs, written with a younger protagonist. I didn't quite buy Cress as a character, but this would be a solid vacation read.
abigaillhuff's review against another edition
3.0
I have no argument for the writing. It was differently a well written book and the author kept the story moving.
The problem I have with the book is the characters. Do people like this actually exist? I mean come on I am 28 and believe me my life has not always been the course I have set but I really wanted to shout OUT LOUD for everyone in the book to move on.
The list of things that characters did in this book that I couldn't get over:
1. Hooking up with a married man for literally years.
2. Cheating on a wife for years
3. Leaving the wife and then going back to her and continuing to cheat.
4. Saying you will marry a married man.
5. Sliding into a depression because the married man decided he wanted to stay married.
6. Dumping a man because he was cheating on you then continue to have sex with him.
7. Lusting over a married man then getting together with his married brother.
8. Continuing to be unhappy because it was the only thing you knew.
The problem I have with the book is the characters. Do people like this actually exist? I mean come on I am 28 and believe me my life has not always been the course I have set but I really wanted to shout OUT LOUD for everyone in the book to move on.
The list of things that characters did in this book that I couldn't get over:
1. Hooking up with a married man for literally years.
2. Cheating on a wife for years
3. Leaving the wife and then going back to her and continuing to cheat.
4. Saying you will marry a married man.
5. Sliding into a depression because the married man decided he wanted to stay married.
6. Dumping a man because he was cheating on you then continue to have sex with him.
7. Lusting over a married man then getting together with his married brother.
8. Continuing to be unhappy because it was the only thing you knew.
michellekmartin's review against another edition
4.0
After reading (and loving) her 2022 release, SEARCH, I read this book. This backlist novel equally delighted me. In it, Cress is stuck at the tail end of her dissertation. So she moves to the mountains to her family's cabin in a community of other mountain dwellers. She hopes to find the peace and quiet she needs to finish her dissertation and decide what will come next for her.
She quickly becomes entangled in messy love affairs and the day-to-day goings on in the community. The story progresses as she carries on a relationship with Quinn.
I loved this novel, and it really reminded me of two other favorites: WRITERS & LOVERS by Lily King and EARLY MORNING RISER by Katherine Heiny. So if you also enjoyed those two, I think you'll enjoy this one, too.
She quickly becomes entangled in messy love affairs and the day-to-day goings on in the community. The story progresses as she carries on a relationship with Quinn.
I loved this novel, and it really reminded me of two other favorites: WRITERS & LOVERS by Lily King and EARLY MORNING RISER by Katherine Heiny. So if you also enjoyed those two, I think you'll enjoy this one, too.
halkid2's review against another edition
3.0
Let me begin by saying the last third of this book is much more engaging than the first two-thirds.
Cressida Hartley heads to her parent's remote vacation cabin to write her dissertation. Looking for any excuse to delay, she gets involved with the locals, including, ultimately, an affair with a married man.
Along the way and through other characters, the author explores the nature of love and passion as it plays out in a small community, full of people with differing values. It also forces you to look at how and when does love become obsession and how much will one person endure to keep it going?
That sounds interesting but I didn't find myself caring that much for the main characters, nor believing the strength of their emotions. Then, by the time I did get engaged (the last third of the book), there was an ending that simply tied everything up too neatly in too few pages. So, to me, the book isn't nearly as believable or interesting as it might have been.
I chose this book because I read an article that suggested that OFF COURSE would be a good contemporary choice for MADAME BOVARY fans. Maybe not surprisingly, MB is MUCH richer.
Cressida Hartley heads to her parent's remote vacation cabin to write her dissertation. Looking for any excuse to delay, she gets involved with the locals, including, ultimately, an affair with a married man.
Along the way and through other characters, the author explores the nature of love and passion as it plays out in a small community, full of people with differing values. It also forces you to look at how and when does love become obsession and how much will one person endure to keep it going?
That sounds interesting but I didn't find myself caring that much for the main characters, nor believing the strength of their emotions. Then, by the time I did get engaged (the last third of the book), there was an ending that simply tied everything up too neatly in too few pages. So, to me, the book isn't nearly as believable or interesting as it might have been.
I chose this book because I read an article that suggested that OFF COURSE would be a good contemporary choice for MADAME BOVARY fans. Maybe not surprisingly, MB is MUCH richer.
an_enthusiastic_reader's review against another edition
2.0
Unevenly paced.
_________________
Note about this novel several days after having read it. I'm spoiling it below, so look away if you want to read the book.
1. I read this book in one day and the more I think about it, the more I realize that I'm somewhat mad that I saw it through to the end.
2. All the overweight characters (and there are several) in this book are not especially smart or interesting. In fact, one couple is labeled as "jumbo." Their actual weights are revealed as more of an indictment. The are depicted as constantly eating and/or thinking of what they'll serve at their wedding reception. The protagonist, Cressida, herself has many problems that include obsession with a married lover, a prolonged lack of remorse, and an eating disorder that makes her unable to eat because she's so lovesick for a very underwhelming man. This back and forth with the married boyfriend goes on FOR YEARS while hardly anything else happens in the book, and the fat people look on and wonder why she doesn't move on with her life, applying their scowls and showing their [implied] ignorance and provincialism. If this served the character's development, then sure, I guess I could go along with it. But it's apparent to me that this is the author passing judgment on people with weight control problems. Even though her main character has NO self-control when it comes to her infidelity. But it's more okay [in the universe of this novel] because she is thin.
3. The book starts off with excruciating slowness, then in the last pages, compresses to years, with major life experiences explained away in just a few sentences. What was it all for?
_________________
Note about this novel several days after having read it. I'm spoiling it below, so look away if you want to read the book.
1. I read this book in one day and the more I think about it, the more I realize that I'm somewhat mad that I saw it through to the end.
2. All the overweight characters (and there are several) in this book are not especially smart or interesting. In fact, one couple is labeled as "jumbo." Their actual weights are revealed as more of an indictment. The are depicted as constantly eating and/or thinking of what they'll serve at their wedding reception. The protagonist, Cressida, herself has many problems that include obsession with a married lover, a prolonged lack of remorse, and an eating disorder that makes her unable to eat because she's so lovesick for a very underwhelming man. This back and forth with the married boyfriend goes on FOR YEARS while hardly anything else happens in the book, and the fat people look on and wonder why she doesn't move on with her life, applying their scowls and showing their [implied] ignorance and provincialism. If this served the character's development, then sure, I guess I could go along with it. But it's apparent to me that this is the author passing judgment on people with weight control problems. Even though her main character has NO self-control when it comes to her infidelity. But it's more okay [in the universe of this novel] because she is thin.
3. The book starts off with excruciating slowness, then in the last pages, compresses to years, with major life experiences explained away in just a few sentences. What was it all for?
maedo's review against another edition
4.0
The story arc of Off Course is one that I found painfully familiar, and I suspect many other women will find familiar as well: a woman (Cress) on the verge of achieving some degree of personal success in her late twenties experiences some apathy, allows herself to be superficially distracted by a man (Jakey) who is openly using her. Then while licking her wounds, falls into a pit of years of lost time consumed by obsession with another man (Quinn) who throws her scraps of love to keep her invested while remaining committed elsewhere (his wife).
It isn't even easy to read this story, let alone live one like it. Couched in the cozy language of forested California cabins and community meatloaf dinners, there is still the sharp ugliness of vulnerability being exploited.
Because I can't help but relate to books at a personal level, I will share what I learned from my own experience with this sort of relationship: it doesn't matter if your one-time love was knowingly manipulating you all along, or if they were a flawed human who intended to act consciously then wound up treating you badly, because, life. Who cares. The same result -- no use sugar-coating it -- is that you need to get yourself together, grow up, and move on.
To those who haven't lived like Cress, this book will likely be somewhat annoying, as you wonder why she as a smart woman can't just get over these men. To those who have lived like Cress, this book feels sort of like a friend who has seen you through your less flattering times and still believes in you. There is a matter of factness about the story, an acknowledgement that this is a thing that sometimes women go through -- even smart women at the top of their professional field. Eventually, we come out on the other side, even if it takes a long way to get there.
It isn't even easy to read this story, let alone live one like it. Couched in the cozy language of forested California cabins and community meatloaf dinners, there is still the sharp ugliness of vulnerability being exploited.
Spoiler
Come the end of the relationship, where Cress and Quinn don't end up together, but Quinn's wife does eventually leave him and he doesn't bother to seek Cress out to rekindle a relationship and instead marries someone new, Cress wonders if Quinn was just using her all along. That it wasn't as real for him as it was for her.Because I can't help but relate to books at a personal level, I will share what I learned from my own experience with this sort of relationship: it doesn't matter if your one-time love was knowingly manipulating you all along, or if they were a flawed human who intended to act consciously then wound up treating you badly, because, life. Who cares. The same result -- no use sugar-coating it -- is that you need to get yourself together, grow up, and move on.
To those who haven't lived like Cress, this book will likely be somewhat annoying, as you wonder why she as a smart woman can't just get over these men. To those who have lived like Cress, this book feels sort of like a friend who has seen you through your less flattering times and still believes in you. There is a matter of factness about the story, an acknowledgement that this is a thing that sometimes women go through -- even smart women at the top of their professional field. Eventually, we come out on the other side, even if it takes a long way to get there.
lindseymarkel's review against another edition
4.0
Conflicted about this one. Cozy and beautiful -I love the landscapes especially - but Cress never quite bloomed on the page enough for me.
melanie_page's review against another edition
5.0
“She wasn’t making specific plans, but that hairline crack, she knew, could widen instantly to accommodate her, and day by day, its thin blackness grew less frightening, more logical and familiar, as if she could now walk right up, touch it with her fingertips, and, with a quick last smile over her shoulder at the fading world, slip right in. She was sorry. If she ever did, he’d mistake it for the meanest thing imaginable. But the natural outcome of abandonment was a failure to thrive, to survive.”
28-year-old Cressida “Cress” Hartley is nearly done with her economics PhD program; only that pesky “diss” remains in her way. To avoid distractions, Cress gets permission from her parents to use their weekend cabin as a writing sanctuary. The parents bought the house when Cress and her sister were girls, effectively keeping the children from friends and boys during the girls’ high school years and thus making them miserable. Cress’s father was raised during the depression, so he’s a rather stingy man and wants Cress out as soon as possible (especially since she can’t respect his wishes that she write down the temperature twice a day and keep the phone bill reasonable). The parents aren’t staying in the cabin because a new one is being constructed behind the old one. Having Cress there to keep an eye on things is a bonus.
Readers have to wonder how dedicated Cress is to her PhD program, as she spends all day hiking, drawing, painting, and keeping up with the local mountain men. First, it’s Jakey, the older man who resembles a grizzly bear. Jakey owns a lodge where people drink and congregate. He’s also known for his broken heart, the one he got when his wife decided to leave him on the day their youngest child graduated. As a salve, Jakey becomes a womanizer, but Cress is aware of the stakes. She enjoys his body heat and presence, but also knows that he’s going to quickly move on. Weirdly enough, everyone on the mountain seems excited about the possibility of Jakey and Cress getting married–they think he just needs to fuck his way into happiness to forget his wife–though it’s clear to the reader that it isn’t a desire of either person.
After Jakey, Cress meets Quinn, a married man with a daughter about to graduate high school and a younger son. When Cress and Quinn engage in sex, everyone is appalled; news travels fast, and here we have a genuine home wrecker! To understand the double standard of the mountain community, you have to know the individual’s histories. Most of the women in this community have been cheated on. These are the worst at slut shaming. They feel the need to have “words” with Cress (sparing Quinn, of course), and Cress loses friends who have been the victims of bad marriages made unbearable by a mistress. The female characters are suspicious and controlling of their boyfriends and husbands, but what can you expect when they’ve all been deceived, left with nothing, abandoned with children, forced to hold jobs as aging waitresses? Even the contractors working on Cress’s parents’ house, Julie and Rick Garsh, talk to Cress about her behavior despite the couple having met while Rick was married. Cress doesn’t let anyone bother her, nor is she unrealistic about what an affair can result in. She doesn’t expect Quinn to leave his wife, she doesn’t believe they’ll continue their romance forever (just gotta finish the dissertation!), and she can’t believe her heart will be broken. She handled Jakey just fine, didn’t she?
I really liked Huneven’s treatment of gender bias. She gives readers what’s real in a certain kind of place. Let’s face it, the mountain communities and cities of California are going to be different based just on culture, let alone money and education. In example, Quinn is in his 40s and struggling to get work. His wife, also in her 40s, is a waitress. Quinn started college, but never finished. He and his wife were high school sweethearts and married at 18, an uncommon practice in urban communities. Quinn doesn’t feel right about his wife working, but is attracted to Cress’s brains. He thinks she makes all of them a little bit less hillbilly. The gender bias isn’t only seen in the mountains, though; in her PhD program, Cress is the only woman and is shunned when she does better than her male peers. Because she is a woman in a male-dominated field, she is praised for her work (though Huneven makes sure we know she’s talented, too). We’re reminded that prejudice takes place everywhere.
Based on the title, readers might expect this novel would have more to do with school. For the first hundred or so pages, it’s barely a factor. Cress is jealous that her friends move on in their lives–“She could join them, once the damn diss was done”–but she is her worst saboteur. For a large chunk of the novel, I never considered Cress “off course.” It was more like she was living rent-free and looking for basic happiness. I can see how she’ll be unlikable to many readers, but there is an interesting connection to contemporary late-twenties and early-thirties readers: we understand Cress. The setting of Off Course is the Reagan-era recession, but how is that different from the 2010s? People study and work hard, and as the end of that schooling nears, reality becomes an abstract thing, a toothless monster that makes moving forward seem impossible and bends adulthood into an undesirable shape.
Cress’s decisions regarding Quinn may also become problematic for many; just how many times will this confident woman go back to a man who has told her she is the most important person in his entire life (this includes wife and kids), but leave her to go play family? Ask yourself honestly, though: has it ever been so easy as one time and then separate? Isn’t life one big messy pile of feelings and decisions that are made quickly, and, we hope, rationally? Huneven captures reality in her novel, which might be why it takes so long. We are led gradually to understand the characters. She doesn’t rush us.
The closer you get to the middle of the novel, the more you’ll notice mentions of how that particular moment will be remembered, or poorly remembered, in the future. Huneven starts giving us signs of how the end will be. These aren’t spoilers, but drops of ideas planted in our brains that make the ending reasonable. How many times have you read a long novel only to be angry with an unexpected ending? Because Off Course is so long (and the pages are densely packed), there is so much for each reader to take from this book. I only hope that people who don’t agree with the choices of the characters will have patience to try to understand them.
This review was originally published at Grab the Lapels!