The Things We Save

by Joanne E. Zienty

Honored by the Illinois Library Association as the 2104 Soon to be Famous Illinois Author award-winner. Featured on WGN Radio - Bertrand on Books Interviewed on The Big Questions Podcast with Robert K. Elder A broken 45 rpm record held together with adhesive tape, a fading stack of Polaroids, a cobalt blue perfume bottle, and a braid of human hair … these are just some of the things Claire Sokol keeps stashed in an old Marshall Field’s gift box. But how did they get there and what do they signify? If these relics could talk, what stories would they tell? The tale of a child torn between the bitter sermons of a troubled, troublesome mother and the honeyed praise of the beautiful, sophisticated woman who just might be her fairy godmother? Of an innocent girl and boy lost in a dark, forbidding forest of adult lies and deceit? Of a young woman fighting to save a beloved father from his worst enemy – himself? Of a young man's death, a tragedy from which to flee or a mystery to finally solve? The Things We Save tells the story of the ways, both subtle and brutal, that a family falls apart and the intimate struggle to put what remains back together. It asks provocative questions about the nature of love, the corrosive effects of envy and guilt, and the limits of forgiveness. The Things We Save is for anyone who has ever slammed out a door with the vow to never return, only to find his or her way back home again.

Genres: Book Club, Fiction

400 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2011

About the author

Joanne Zienty was the first winner of the Soon to Be Famous Illinois Author Project in 2014.

Born and raised on Chicago's South Side, Joanne Zienty vividly remembers the “glow of industry” that lit the night sky with an orange haze and can still summon the acrid odor of the fumes of coke ovens and blast furnaces, although the steel mills have been shuttered for decades.
Joanne's first success as a writer came in 5th grade, when she completed a 70 page novel, which was, admittedly, highly derivative of the Walter Farley Black Stallion series, and had her first play – a Thanksgiving drama – produced on the stage of her elementary school.
As an undergrad at the University of Chicago, Joanne had the pleasure of dropping, along with half of the other students in the class, a creative writing course taught by Richard Stern, after he threatened on the first day to rip everyone all a new one, metaphorically speaking, and woe unto students concerned about their GPAs. Well, who wasn’t?
But that didn't stop her from continuing to write, because sometimes, if you want to read a story, you have to write it yourself! Joanne has honed her craft in writing classes offered by Molly Ramanujan Daniels through the University of Chicago’s Graham School and her Clothesline School of Fiction. Several pieces written and performed for these classes formed the early chapters of her first novel.
Joanne lives in Wheaton, Illinois with her very supportive husband, and a naughty cat.

Here's a link to the Kirkus Review for her debut novel, The Things We Save:

http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-rev...

And one for her just released dystopian novel, Children of the Revolution:

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-re...

Reviews

[Will · Rating 3 out of 5]

Joanne Zienty was just named the winner of the Soon to Be Famous Illinois Author Project by her fellow Illinois librarians. I was handed a free copy at the recent American Library Assn. conference I was attending. When I started reading, I was afraid it would be amateurish, as I thought I detected a couple of minor solecisms early on, and the printing/font was awful. But these concerns quickly vanished as I got further into the book. The writing is beautiful, and poetic, if perhaps only slightly too dependent on Roget's. But since that's a frequent failure of mine own, I can forgive, and wallow in the pleasure of the writing. The story line is frequently frustrating, as one tends to lose patience with the protagonist, and her family, and their stubborn refusal to face up to their past as well as their present relationships. But ultimately, the book is a satisfying read, and the final plot denouement provides a nice albeit not totally unexpected twist. Definitely recommended to anyone who enjoys a literary style, with lots of personal and family angst.

[Gina Fugate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! This book was amazing! Although I was warned by the author herself that this is "a dark book", I still wasn't prepared for all the dark secrets and events that saturated the lives of these well fleshed out characters. The stories were so raw and so real that I could easily imagine these events as truths in anyone's life. My thanks to Joanne Zienty for generously supplying me with an autographed copy of this book. It was real and riveting and will haunt me for years to come. Joanne, "the reader DOES care" about the gorgeous tapestry you have woven with the story of Claire & her family. Bravo to you! Can't wait to see what you come out with next!

[Doreen Fritz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started out loving this book, and ended up loving it, too, but unfortunately was able to set it aside several times to read other books, so I can't give it all five stars. The descriptions were lovely -- there were many paragraphs that I re-read to appreciate the beauty of the phrasing. But the pacing was too slow, especially right after Claire returned to Chicago to attend her grandmother's funeral and to help her long-estranged father (20 years!) clean out her grandmother's house. Both she and her dad had dealt with a lot of tragedy in their past, and a lot of those memories are resurrected as they sort through her grandmother's belongings. We readers are slowly --- ever so slowly -- introduced to those memories and to the slowly evolving relationships Claire the child had with her cousin Jamie and his mother, Peach. I guess I was surprised at the depth of pain and anguish that Claire has held onto for all these years -- and since she has buried those memories for so long, it is somewhat surprising that she can deal with them now. But if not now, when? And being "back home" makes it possible, I guess. But I would have thought a therapist might have been necessary to help her approach such painful stuff.

I love that the author lives nearby, and that the setting is familiar: Hyde Park, and other Chicago areas. As they drive south on Lake Shore Drive from a wedding in a northern suburb, I can picture their view, and the visits to the Dunes are full of familiar details that are fun to remember from my own visits there.

In short, a recommendation with qualifications. LOVED the book, loved the writing. But I'm too impatient, and this DID take me a long time to read. But it was worth it.

[R.G. Ziemer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joanne Zienty knows her hometown Chicago, and she’s not afraid to use it. So she does put it to good use as the setting for The Things We Save. In this novel, the narrator Claire returns to her childhood home on the East Side of Chicago to confront the ghosts that haunt her. Memories , family secrets, hidden history have kept the middle-aged unmarried mother from moving on with her life and fully committing to love and family.
The death of her grandmother is the event that brings her back and prompts Claire to unearth that box of relics hidden in the back of a dresser drawer. The things she has saved – mementos of her dead family members -- trigger flashbacks from which the reader -- and Claire – gain insight into those events of the past that have shaped Claire’s present.
A very nicely written book, The Things We Save is rich in descriptive detail , populated by well-drawn characters, and treated this reader with a nostalgic return to the Chicago of the 1970’s. The plot is suspenseful, hiding the family secrets right up to the end, where we hope poor Claire will find some resolution.

[Kelda Giavaras · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! I felt like I could paint the imagery of the South Side of Chicago perfectly in my mind, as the details of the text unfolded before me. The characters had a depth and real emotion and it was easy to become emotionally connected to their conflict. Perhaps it's my age, but I really enjoyed all the schema tied into the decades of the 60's and 70's, from the Rolling Stones "I Can't Get No Satisfaction," to the high school girls dousing themselves with Jovan Musk. A must read.

[Liz T · Rating 5 out of 5]

This could possibly be the best book I'll read this year. The story progresses at a good pace, characters feel like people you know, and the authors use of Chicago's Southeast Side gives the book an imagery I've not seen in most contemporary fiction today. An excellent exploration of family, secrets and how the first relationship we have, the one with our parents, shapes how we engage with others.

[Joanne Zienty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shameless self-promotion.

[Julie Moehring · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story is very interesting but I could not get past the overly descriptive everything. I kept wanting the author to just get to the point!!! Had to put it down after trying to read it for several months.

[Nancy Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE THINGS WE SAVE WORTH SAVINGS. Childhood memories stick to our ribs like honey and remain ingrained in our soul no matter our age; Claire Sokol is no exception. Through a turn of events that involves, among other things, the tragic drowning of her older brother, a new found friend in the image of a cousin and the painful ringside seat for her mother's slow mental disappearing act, she has collected more than her fair share of memories and not all pleasant ones. Subconsciously, the abandonment she experienced with the loss of her brother and the fading of her mother, left a protective covering on Claire's heart that refused to fully trust again. The fear of being left is too great and her brave facade too fragile to risk breaking. She is estranged from those whose very image opens wounds but at the news of her grandmother's passing Claire is forced to return to her childhood home and open her memory box -- or is it a Pandora's box? As the story states -- everyone has a box - that object that contains subtle links to the past. It might be an old-fashioned steamer trunk, a heart-shaped box or just a manilla envelope - but we all have one and what's inside varies with the owner. And maybe it's not even the contents that are important -- but more how they got there, who they belonged to, why they were saved instead of discarded or why they were put in the box in the first place. The Things We Save is a story of humility and removing blinders, an eye-opening journey of forgiveness and seeking the truth. It is a quest to bring light to the forefront and leave the darkness behind. The author did a beautiful job of creating characters whose feelings and emotions felt as raw and touchable as a pile of sawdust. The scent of fresh cut wood permeates through the pages as you experience the ghosts from the past being whittled away to expose the core of Claire's soul. A masterfully written story from which no reader can walk away unscathed. The Things We Save was a lengthy story but, in this reader's opinion, worth every step.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you GoodReads First Reads and Joanne Zienty for this book.

What do the things we save say about us? What story would they tell if asked? Claire Sokol's story of loss, grief and the corrosive effects of anger and regret is told through a box keepsakes. Wonderfully written, heartbreaking and thought provoking. The reader finds themselves alternately rooting for then wanting shake Claire. She's invested so much of herself in anger, regret and grief that she has cut herself off from her family. She even keeps her partner and their daughter at arms length, maintaining her own home and living with them only when she wishes to. Her grandmother's death forces her back into her father's life and home and a confrontation with her history.

Secondary to how much I enjoyed the journey Clair takes, was how much I enjoyed revisiting my childhood. The world of Claire's childhood was my own growing up in the sixties and seventies in the Chicago suburbs. Trips to the dunes, WLS on the radio, 45's, doll houses, Candies shoes and those beautiful white gift boxes from Marshall Fields that we all filled with mementos and letters and souvenirs of our childhoods. Fathers who came back from wars to women who stayed home with the kids and the housekeeping. Big family holidays where the kids ate first while the men watched a ball game and the women congregated in the kitchen. Huge nostalgia generator.

A good read on many levels.

[Linda Reminger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great writing style by Zienty. Interestingly enough, the author is a Wheaton neighbor. Can't wait to discuss the book with her this week at book club.

The story is about Claire, a middle aged woman, who grows up in the 60's & 70's in the suburbs of Chicago's south side. Claire is a very complex character, with many deep and dark demons in her past, and an extreme anger towards her father. After her grandmother's death she goes back to Chicago to help her father, whom she's been estranged from since college, go through her belongings and get her home ready to sell. Going through her grandmother's things evokes many painful memories from her childhood, including several tragic family deaths, her father's infidelity, and the destruction of her family.

Claire comes to realize, towards the end of the story that people have faults, and she needs to learn to forgive. Her stubbornness was very frustrating for me. As a reader, you see the missed opportunity for her to have a loving relationship with her father, and share him with her daughter. Sadly, when their relationship does blossom, Claire realizes that her father is terminally ill.

The final paragraph really got me, "Occasionally, when the angle of the sun is just so or when the clouds pass over its face at a certain time of day, I see him walking toward me on the street, his smile grinning from another man's face. And I grin back and make an old man's day. This is what it means to be haunted".

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I probably wouldn't have finished this book if I wasn't leading a book discussion on it, but I'm so glad I did! Despite quality writing, it was very slow at the beginning and there was not a lot of white space on the page which made it feel even slower. Once I switched over to an ebook where I could adjust font size and line spacing it became much easier to read. Although the book is probably about 100 pages too long, the writing is wonderful with complicated characters and a strong sense of place. If you can stick with it to the halfway mark, you won't be disappointed. This book will especially resonate with readers who grew up in the Chicago area. I would definitely recommend this for book clubs - especially for members who aren't intimidated by long books. There's a lot to discuss!

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dramatic stories about family issues are not usually my fiction plot of choice, but I was compelled to read this book at the recommendations of some fantastic and trusted librarians. I'm certainly glad I did. I think it took me about two or three days to finish. It was that good. The characters felt real, warts and all. While some of them were unlikable, they were still lifelike. The family history could have seemed melodramatic in another writer's hands, but Joanne made it feel authentic. The tragic twist was like a bad accident on the highway -- you know it's coming, but you just cannot look away. Joanne's prose was beautifully written and her story left an imprint on my memory. I've definitely recommended it to several friends and coworkers.

[Ladybug Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Women’s fiction readers and book discussion groups would thoroughly enjoy this book. Claire is a strong character who has had to deal with many tragedies including the loss of her beloved brother, cousin and mother. There is even a mystery element to the book as Claire works to discover the truth behind her cousin Jamie’s death all those years ago. There is a strong sense of place in this novel as the sights and sound of the working class south side Chicago neighborhood come to life. The book is very well written and, while Claire’s stubbornness and anger can make her unlikable at time, the reader is given ample evidence for why she is that way. A wonderful read and highly recommended!

[Elaina · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are looking for a book with characters that you can love and hate, with wonderful, lyrical writing that at times borders on poetry, and with situations that we can all identify with, then try The Things We Save. This is a great read for book clubs because there is plenty to discuss: emotional entanglements between family members, a central mystery (or two), engaging characters (my favorites were the moody, mercurial Claire and the captivating but devious Peach) and a plot that pulls you in as it goes.

[Marissa Broyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author really pulled me into this story. So much of family life is laid bare here. There will be characters that you recognize from your own experience, characters that you will empathize with, characters that you will despise, and characters that will make you feel both emotions at once!. I particularly enjoyed the descriptions of Chicago and of the time periods from the late 60s to the turn of the millenium. (Remember that? 1999? Y2K, etc.?) By the middle of the book, I found it hard to put down, because I wanted to stay with Claire and her journey.

[Lynnette · Rating 5 out of 5]

*I received a free copy of this book through Godreads First Readers *

There are few books that draw you in from the first sentence..... and if you are lucky enough to read this book, you can add it to the list.

This is an emotional meaty stew, that has you craving the next bite. The realistic pain is both off-putting and dynamic....forcing the reader to confront personal demons.

I am wrung out.....invested....seeking the answers to my own box! This is a rollercoaster ride you won't want to miss!

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is much to like about this book. The emotional life of the main characters is well developed and the sense of 1970's Chicago is good. The theme of keeping and throwing away is well enough developed. Parts of the book are over written and the main character is not likable, which is a complaint about the character, not the book. Also the character and motivations of some secondary characters whose actions are key to the plot are not well enough developed for the reader to get any kind of "take" on them.

[Araceli Felix · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like your literacy fiction laced with juicy family scandals and secrets... or if you like your family and adolescent drama written in a beautiful literary style, then this book will appeal to you. It's like two books-two books in one! I enjoyed the descriptive language, the psychological drama, the first person narrative. The author does a great job of describing Chicago - I used to live there, so I know - and really plumbs the depths of her characters. Loved it. Well worth the time spent!

[Carol Carlson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dark book that needs A LOT of editing. The metaphors and descriptions impede the narrative. I read it to find out what happened to Jaime, although some parts were predictable. I did enjoy the references to the time period and Chicago. Aside from Aaron, Tally, and Sophia (characters who aren't in much of the plot), none of the characters are likable.

[Lisa]

I just received this book yesterday, so I'm only a few pages in, but I already love the language. Thank you so much for sending me this book in First Reads, and I'll be back when I've had a little more time!

[Heaether · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a complicated and emotional book. The author clearly spent a lot of time developing her characters. The Things We Save was honest and raw and I honestly cried at the end. Very engaging, very darkly beautiful.

[Joanne Rinembach · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book grabbed me from the first paragraph. I couldn't put it down and when I was forced to, it went with me in my head everywhere. The characters were so well developed that I felt like I knew them personally. The book has stayed with me long after I have finished it. I loved this book!

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Opening a box of memories for Claire is a trip back to her tumultuous life on the South Side of Chicago. Family secrets, scandals, heart breaks and truths are all uncovered in this very emotional story....4.5 stars

[Bayneeta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too long; could have benefited from a good editor. That said, the character of Claire is fully realized, not likeable but very human. Wish some of the other characters had been more developed, and some of the lyrical musings shortened.

[Cheryl Crum · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the book Kept me turning pages. It is a very interesting story and I could picture myself there with the great detail.looking forward to Joanne Zienty's next book

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very well written. I looked forward to reading it every chance I had in order to find out more family secrets. I enjoyed the Chicago references.

[Dana Hybl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. Great characters with twists and turns. Didn't want it to end!

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I give this book 4.5 stars because I was taken in by the beginning of the book, and LOVED the ending, but spent a lot of time in the middle wishing the book moved faster.