This novel Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan tells the story of the Kellehers who own beach front property in Maine. Is there more to the property then meets the eye? Synopsis:Alice and Daniel Kelleher win a piece of land in a high stakes poker game. They decide to keep the property and summer up in Maine. As the years go by the family continues to grow. The motivations of the family for visiting Maine changes over time. Their son Patrick and his wife Ann Marie create a schedule for when each member of the family can come. Could there be more to his motivation? His sisters Claire and Kathleen certainly think so! His mother Alice just wants her family together. What could Alice’s perception mean for the beach house over time? Is there something from the past that could change everything?My Thoughts: This was my first J. Courtney Sullivan novel. I listened to the narration of the novel, and it was excellent! This narrator did a great job of capturing each character. I just didn’t enjoy this novel as much as I thought it would. The novel is told from three different points of view: Alice the matriarch, Anne-Marie her daughter-in-law, Kathleen her daughter and Maggie her grand-daughter. I am familiar with this style of storytelling. Some other authors use this style of storytelling Elin Hilderbrand, Catherine McKenzie, and Jennifer Weiner. I am not a fan of this style of storytelling. I wish the story would be told straight out. When you read the blurb it mentions a horrible accident. You don’t find out about this horrible accident until the climax. I had hoped the ending would be better. There are so many things I have in common with this book: I'm Catholic, I'm Irish, I have a beach house, I come from a large family. This book sort of made me wish that I was from Boston also!I identified with all four main characters at different parts of the book: Maggie, who really has it all but wishes she were born into a simpler time when all that was expected of her was to become a wife and mother;Ann Marie, (I know a few Ann Maries) who works so hard to maintain the image that her family is perfect when actually, as Kathleen puts it, her son is a douche and her daughter is lesbian (not that anything is wrong with that--AM doesn't want to accept it though);Kathleen, whose life I liked the most, but who had such a need to get away from her family that she moved to the other side of the country;Alice, who is just plain mean, and was mean even before the fire. I didn't get why she was so mean. I guess it was because she gave up her dream of being a painter in Paris to instead get married and raise a family, whom she didn't seem to like all that much. I think the reason Alice and Ann Marie are such compatible friends is because they both do things for others that they don't really want to do, and then resent them.I think the author nails the gossip that happens in a family: We learn that Kathleen paid $5k for an operation to save her elderly dog "for just one more year". Later, Alice and Ann Marie talk about how Kathleen paid $10k for chemo to save the dog--exaggerating the amount and getting the details wrong, and not at all empathizing with how much the dog means to Kathleen.I also like how the narrative allowed the reader to see the same event from two perspectives: Alice was rankled when Maggie, years ago, brought friends to the beach house and they all went to lunch and didn't include her. Maggie remembered the same event but recalled how Alice gave Maggie and her friends short shrift, refusing to join them when Maggie invited her.There were so many Irish-isms that I recognized: For example, the obits being the Irish sports page.The accounting of the Coconut Grove fire was difficult to read. It read so honestly that I could almost smell the smoke and feel the panic. The visual of the priest standing on the sidewalk reading last rites to those who were trapped inside, pressed up against a window and burning alive, was almost too hard to read. I had to stop reading "Maine" and look up details of the fire; it was that compelling and horrific.Lastly, I thought the author had a strong feel for what a beach house means to a family: it's not solely about a place for a vacation. It's a physical retreat that also fills a psychological space. I could see why they were all so broken up when Alice decided to give it to the Church. Alice felt that it was the Church that had been her truest companion, not her family. It's as though Alice was punishing them and being spiteful. The author had a good, distinct narrative for each of her characters. The story bogged down sometimes as she tried to set up some of it, though. But it was satisfying overall. I liked the last page, how she ended it.
What do You think about Maine (2011)?
After reading all the glowing reviews of Maine when it first came out a couple of years ago, I finally got around to reading (listening to) it. I'm so glad I did. Sullivan shows herself to be an expert at character development. The characters are richly and carefully written. Things that happened to Alice as a girl have a major impact on her life as a mother and grandmother and we are shown clearly how she came to be the person she is now, in her 80s. Other characters are written the same way.I liked how Sullivan showed how differently people interpret other's actions. Someone thinks that someone else prefers to eat alone and therefore doesn't invite them to dinner while the uninvited person wonders why she was snubbed. Sullivan is able to weave these kinds of misunderstandings in expertly, and sometimes unexpectedly.Another thing I liked was that historical events were included and accurately described. I can't say too much about that without giving up a major plot point.This book was real life through and through. Although I'm usually a fan of tidy endings, I loved how in this case, some things were left hanging. Because in real life, not everything wraps up at the same time.Maine is definitely a must read.Note on the audio book: I found the narration pleasant and the different characters each had their own distinct voice. The only concern that I had was that the narrator used a Boston accent for Alice's dialogue. I checked with a friend who has a print copy and Alice's accent is not written phonetically in the book. In the audio I found it distracting because I didn't think the narrator's accent was that great. I also wondered why Alice had the accent but her children, who had been born and raised in Boston did not.
—purplemonkey
Vier Frauen aus drei Generationen - Matriarchin Alice sowie ihre Tochter, Schwiegertochter und Enkelin - verbringen mehr oder weniger unfreiwillig einige gemeinsame Tage im Sommerhaus der Familie in Maine. Jede der Frauen hat ihre eigenen Probleme und Geheimnisse und es kommt schnell zu Spannungen und Reibereien. -- So das Setting wie es der Klappentext verspricht. Leider konnte das Buch meine Erwartungen nicht erfüllen. Es dauert 400 Seiten bis endlich alle Frauen gemeinsam im Sommerhaus versammelt sind. Bis dahin wird überwiegend im Rückblick aus dem Leben der Protagonistinnen erzählt und obwohl vor allem im Leben des weiblichen Familienoberhaupts Alice viel passiert ist hat man durch diese Erzählweise das Gefühl, das eigentlich gar nichts passiert. Und auch als schließlich alle versammelt sind ergibet sich eigentlich keine wesentliche Entwicklung der Story. Die Erzählperspektive wechselt Kapitelweise zwischen den vier Frauen aber eine ist unsympathischer als die andere. Insbesondere an Alice kann ich keine einzige positive Charaktereigenschaft oder Handlingsweise finden. Am Ende frage ich mich, worum es in diesem Buch eigentlich gehen soll. Schade.
—nabiha
This just whined on and on. I felt no affection for any of the characters.
—ladyarelindol
