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The Summer of Fall
From the New York Times bestselling author of Lady in the Lake, Dream Girl, and many other noir favorites, a raw-funny personal tale of heartbreak and misfortune, and the surprisingly wonderful things they can lead to.
“Lucky! I’M LUCKY, GODDAMMIT!” So Laura Lippman keeps telling herself throughout the course of a year when she seems everything but. Her marriage crumbles; a beloved friend dies suddenly; her sister’s health fails. Everything and everyone is falling apart. The calamities reach a symbolic climax in the summer of 2022, when she and her mother both suffer bad falls. (Her mom is ninety-one; Lippman herself is merely “exceptionally clumsy.”) Still, she insists, she is lucky.
And in many ways, she is. She has a great kid and a career she loves, and she’s healthy and more or less happy. Yet even a resilient optimist like her can’t deny that life’s catastrophes are indiscriminate and seem always to hit at once.
In this wry and honest memoir of a truly lousy time, she gives an intimate look at her private life — perhaps less hair-raising than her award-winning crime thrillers, but no less engaging. And it’s relatable. Even the most fortunate experience heartache, loss, and physical breakdown of some kind. Lippman’s account of her own hard knocks reminds us that, eventually, adversity comes for everyone.
But she has a more important message: While misfortune might not be a choice, how we respond to it is. Lippman chooses to be a happy warrior. When her friend Terry Teachout, the renowned theater critic for The Wall Street Journal, dies without warning in January 2022, she finds solace in the fact that he’d recently found joy in a new romance. When two friends make the spontaneous decision to marry during a writer’s workshop in Italy, she throws herself into the role of officiant, despite the flatlining of her own marriage. When she ruins her shoulder in a fall, she refuses to swap her fun shoes for something more sensible. She won’t let sorrow and pain get the best of her. Blessings abound, godammit, and there’s still so much to celebrate.
In The Summer of Fall, one of America’s best-loved storytellers tells her own memorable story. Lippman fans will enjoy this rare sneak peek into her life, and new fans are sure to appreciate her humorous, authentic take on the universal themes of marriage, parenting, friendship, and work. As she shows us, hard times are a given, but it’s never too late for a next act.
“Lucky! I’M LUCKY, GODDAMMIT!” So Laura Lippman keeps telling herself throughout the course of a year when she seems everything but. Her marriage crumbles; a beloved friend dies suddenly; her sister’s health fails. Everything and everyone is falling apart. The calamities reach a symbolic climax in the summer of 2022, when she and her mother both suffer bad falls. (Her mom is ninety-one; Lippman herself is merely “exceptionally clumsy.”) Still, she insists, she is lucky.
And in many ways, she is. She has a great kid and a career she loves, and she’s healthy and more or less happy. Yet even a resilient optimist like her can’t deny that life’s catastrophes are indiscriminate and seem always to hit at once.
In this wry and honest memoir of a truly lousy time, she gives an intimate look at her private life — perhaps less hair-raising than her award-winning crime thrillers, but no less engaging. And it’s relatable. Even the most fortunate experience heartache, loss, and physical breakdown of some kind. Lippman’s account of her own hard knocks reminds us that, eventually, adversity comes for everyone.
But she has a more important message: While misfortune might not be a choice, how we respond to it is. Lippman chooses to be a happy warrior. When her friend Terry Teachout, the renowned theater critic for The Wall Street Journal, dies without warning in January 2022, she finds solace in the fact that he’d recently found joy in a new romance. When two friends make the spontaneous decision to marry during a writer’s workshop in Italy, she throws herself into the role of officiant, despite the flatlining of her own marriage. When she ruins her shoulder in a fall, she refuses to swap her fun shoes for something more sensible. She won’t let sorrow and pain get the best of her. Blessings abound, godammit, and there’s still so much to celebrate.
In The Summer of Fall, one of America’s best-loved storytellers tells her own memorable story. Lippman fans will enjoy this rare sneak peek into her life, and new fans are sure to appreciate her humorous, authentic take on the universal themes of marriage, parenting, friendship, and work. As she shows us, hard times are a given, but it’s never too late for a next act.
62 pages
First published May 2, 2023
3 people are currently reading
157 people want to read
About the author
Laura Lippman
114 books6,373 followersSince Laura Lippman’s debut, she has been recognized as a distinctive voice in mystery fiction and named one of the “essential” crime writers of the last 100 years. Stephen King called her “special, even extraordinary,” and Gillian Flynn wrote, “She is simply a brilliant novelist.” Her books have won most of the major awards in her field and been translated into more than twenty-five languages. She lives in Baltimore and New Orleans with her teenager.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
May 9, 2023
EXCERPT: When my marriage ended, I formed a team of friends and asked them to make me one promise: If I ever tried to go back to my ex, I wanted Team Separation to stage an intervention. Seven of the eight agreed, and even the tender-hearted eighth knew I was better off out of the relationship. Not that I was invited back, as it turns out. Me worrying about returning to my marriage was like someone boycotting a country that has deported them and has no intention of issuing a visa.
ABOUT 'THE SUMMER OF FALL': “Lucky! I’M LUCKY, GODDAMMIT!” So Laura Lippman keeps telling herself throughout the course of a year when she seems everything but. Her marriage crumbles; a beloved friend dies suddenly; her sister’s health fails. Everything and everyone is falling apart. The calamities reach a symbolic climax in the summer of 2022, when she and her mother both suffer bad falls. (Her mom is ninety-one; Lippman herself is merely “exceptionally clumsy.”) Still, she insists, she is lucky.
And in many ways, she is. She has a great kid and a career she loves, and she’s healthy and more or less happy. Yet even a resilient optimist like her can’t deny that life’s catastrophes are indiscriminate and seem always to hit at once.
In this wry and honest memoir of a truly lousy time, she gives an intimate look at her private life — perhaps less hair-raising than her award-winning crime thrillers, but no less engaging. And it’s relatable. Even the most fortunate experience heartache, loss, and physical breakdown of some kind. Lippman’s account of her own hard knocks reminds us that, eventually, adversity comes for everyone.
But she has a more important message: While misfortune might not be a choice, how we respond to it is. Lippman chooses to be a happy warrior. When her friend Terry Teachout, the renowned theater critic for The Wall Street Journal, dies without warning in January 2022, she finds solace in the fact that he’d recently found joy in a new romance. When two friends make the spontaneous decision to marry during a writer’s workshop in Italy, she throws herself into the role of officiant, despite the flatlining of her own marriage. When she ruins her shoulder in a fall, she refuses to swap her fun shoes for something more sensible. She won’t let sorrow and pain get the best of her. Blessings abound, godammit, and there’s still so much to celebrate.
In The Summer of Fall, one of America’s best-loved storytellers tells her own memorable story. Lippman fans will enjoy this rare sneak peek into her life, and new fans are sure to appreciate her humorous, authentic take on the universal themes of marriage, parenting, friendship, and work. As she shows us, hard times are a given, but it’s never too late for a next act.
MY THOUGHTS: I loved the couple of hours I spent in Laura Lippman's company as she talks about 'a truly lousy time' in her life.
Short, entertaining and honest.
⭐⭐⭐⭐.3
#TheSummerofFall #NetGalley
I: @lauramlippman @scribd
T: @LauraMLippman @Scribd
THE AUTHOR: Laura lives in Baltimore and New Orleans with her daughter.
DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Faber and Faber Ltd via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of Dream Girl by Laura Lippman for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.
ABOUT 'THE SUMMER OF FALL': “Lucky! I’M LUCKY, GODDAMMIT!” So Laura Lippman keeps telling herself throughout the course of a year when she seems everything but. Her marriage crumbles; a beloved friend dies suddenly; her sister’s health fails. Everything and everyone is falling apart. The calamities reach a symbolic climax in the summer of 2022, when she and her mother both suffer bad falls. (Her mom is ninety-one; Lippman herself is merely “exceptionally clumsy.”) Still, she insists, she is lucky.
And in many ways, she is. She has a great kid and a career she loves, and she’s healthy and more or less happy. Yet even a resilient optimist like her can’t deny that life’s catastrophes are indiscriminate and seem always to hit at once.
In this wry and honest memoir of a truly lousy time, she gives an intimate look at her private life — perhaps less hair-raising than her award-winning crime thrillers, but no less engaging. And it’s relatable. Even the most fortunate experience heartache, loss, and physical breakdown of some kind. Lippman’s account of her own hard knocks reminds us that, eventually, adversity comes for everyone.
But she has a more important message: While misfortune might not be a choice, how we respond to it is. Lippman chooses to be a happy warrior. When her friend Terry Teachout, the renowned theater critic for The Wall Street Journal, dies without warning in January 2022, she finds solace in the fact that he’d recently found joy in a new romance. When two friends make the spontaneous decision to marry during a writer’s workshop in Italy, she throws herself into the role of officiant, despite the flatlining of her own marriage. When she ruins her shoulder in a fall, she refuses to swap her fun shoes for something more sensible. She won’t let sorrow and pain get the best of her. Blessings abound, godammit, and there’s still so much to celebrate.
In The Summer of Fall, one of America’s best-loved storytellers tells her own memorable story. Lippman fans will enjoy this rare sneak peek into her life, and new fans are sure to appreciate her humorous, authentic take on the universal themes of marriage, parenting, friendship, and work. As she shows us, hard times are a given, but it’s never too late for a next act.
MY THOUGHTS: I loved the couple of hours I spent in Laura Lippman's company as she talks about 'a truly lousy time' in her life.
Short, entertaining and honest.
⭐⭐⭐⭐.3
#TheSummerofFall #NetGalley
I: @lauramlippman @scribd
T: @LauraMLippman @Scribd
THE AUTHOR: Laura lives in Baltimore and New Orleans with her daughter.
DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Faber and Faber Ltd via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of Dream Girl by Laura Lippman for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.
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August 16, 2023I really loved this essay about the trials and tribulations of women in midlife. Laura Lippman writes about all the challenges she's facing as a member of the "sandwich generation," as they used to call it, otherwise known as women in middle age who are parenst, spouses, the caregivers of aging family members, all while trying to carve out something for themselves.
Lippman has a mother in her 90s. A younger sister, also with serious health issues. A teenager, whom she is co-parenting after being unceremoniously dumped by her famous husband. Her own aches and pains of middle age. Her writing, which is clearly a welcome escape from all the chaos.
I admire her honesty and, in this age of fakeness, her willingness to tell the world that, at that moment, her life is falling apart (hence the title.)
I see that some reviewers are commenting on her lack of acknowledgment that many people deal with stuff like this all their lives with very limited resources. Yes, Lippman is immensely privileged and has a staff of paid physical therapists, trainers, beautifiers of all sorts, plus friends and hangers-on, to help her. I don't see a lack of awareness of her privilege as much as the bemusement of a person who has led a charmed life (which she admits as part of the essay) and then suddenly is hit smack in the face with things that she can't fix or outsource. And, to her credit, she is dealing with all of it, using the resources she has, and doing it with pragmatism and a sense of humor.
I mean, she wrote a book of essays called My Life as a Villainess so I do think she has some self-awareness. Plenty of famous writers from Anne Morrow Lindbergh to Joan Didion to Nora Ephron to Anne Lamott have written personal essays about their struggles and I always enjoy them.
Lippman has a mother in her 90s. A younger sister, also with serious health issues. A teenager, whom she is co-parenting after being unceremoniously dumped by her famous husband. Her own aches and pains of middle age. Her writing, which is clearly a welcome escape from all the chaos.
I admire her honesty and, in this age of fakeness, her willingness to tell the world that, at that moment, her life is falling apart (hence the title.)
I see that some reviewers are commenting on her lack of acknowledgment that many people deal with stuff like this all their lives with very limited resources. Yes, Lippman is immensely privileged and has a staff of paid physical therapists, trainers, beautifiers of all sorts, plus friends and hangers-on, to help her. I don't see a lack of awareness of her privilege as much as the bemusement of a person who has led a charmed life (which she admits as part of the essay) and then suddenly is hit smack in the face with things that she can't fix or outsource. And, to her credit, she is dealing with all of it, using the resources she has, and doing it with pragmatism and a sense of humor.
I mean, she wrote a book of essays called My Life as a Villainess so I do think she has some self-awareness. Plenty of famous writers from Anne Morrow Lindbergh to Joan Didion to Nora Ephron to Anne Lamott have written personal essays about their struggles and I always enjoy them.
May 4, 2023
Too short!
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March 22, 2024I really didn't enjoy this. There was nothing wrong with it, but I think you have to really love this author to be interested in what she has to say here.
May 28, 2023
Laura Lippman's novels are a hit-or-miss with me and this one was a hit. I loved her voice and how she tells about private facts in a very honest way.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine
September 19, 2023
This was just a short little audiobook memoir of a specific moment in time for Laura Lippman. It is a time in her life when she comes face to face with her own (and mother and sibling) mortality as she suffers a series of falls in her 60's. Having been through that it struck a chord as she muses on what a pain it is but also how one has to survive and move forward. Part pep talk, part exposition regarding getting older and some humor involved as well. Falling is hard but maybe the getting up is the more important (and sometimes harder) part. Nice mini-memoir and subject matter contained worked well in short form.
November 26, 2023
A little snapshot into Laura Lippman’s life. She writes books I enjoy and this little look into things she wants to share is extraordinarily well done.
I started laughing out loud when I read that her husband left her saying “I love you but I’m not in love with you!” That’s just nasty and cruel. But people use that line like they are being kind. Well, they are not.
She has a great sense of humor, loads of love and a lot of dedication to her craft. I smiled the entire time I was listening to this.
I started laughing out loud when I read that her husband left her saying “I love you but I’m not in love with you!” That’s just nasty and cruel. But people use that line like they are being kind. Well, they are not.
She has a great sense of humor, loads of love and a lot of dedication to her craft. I smiled the entire time I was listening to this.
May 15, 2023
A very funny essay memoir
Detailing one summer in Laura Lippman's life in which quite a lot of falling is involved, mostly although not exclusively by her. She also articulates the pain of leaving and grieving a long term relationship and the difficulties of caring for elderly and sick parents.
Detailing one summer in Laura Lippman's life in which quite a lot of falling is involved, mostly although not exclusively by her. She also articulates the pain of leaving and grieving a long term relationship and the difficulties of caring for elderly and sick parents.
June 3, 2024
This was very much a “I’m a writer so what can I write about my life in short story form and quickly publish”
I know that’s a harsh thing to say but this was like reading someone’s published diary.
I know that’s a harsh thing to say but this was like reading someone’s published diary.
May 22, 2023
It's really hard to take seriously someone who jokes about being privileged but never honestly understands just how privileged she is.
June 16, 2023
This book is just okay.
I like that it was short and easy to listen to.
However, I found it a bit lacking in plot and a bit pretentious in content.
Not my favourite.
I like that it was short and easy to listen to.
However, I found it a bit lacking in plot and a bit pretentious in content.
Not my favourite.
June 26, 2023
Listening to the audio was fun, I caught myself smiling at what she was saying a couple times.
March 23, 2024
Ummmm 🤨 I don’t know. It’s her story.
March 25, 2024
2.5 I loved the message and how short and to the point it was. A light hearted way to look at getting through tough times.
April 16, 2024
3.5⭐️
May 2, 2024
3.5 stars
Listened to the audiobook of this while I was cooking and it was surprisingly relatable and easy to read.
Listened to the audiobook of this while I was cooking and it was surprisingly relatable and easy to read.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews