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Love All
An addictive and moving debut about love, fidelity, sports, and growing up when you least expect it, told through the irresistible voices of three generations
It’s the spring of 1994 in Cooperstown, New York, and Joanie Cole, the beloved matriarch of the Obermeyer family, has unexpectedly died in her sleep. Now, for the first time, three generations are living together under one roof and are quickly encroaching on one another’s fragile orbits. Eighty-six-year-old Bob Cole is adrift in his daughter’s house without his wife. Anne Obermeyer is increasingly suspicious of her husband, Hugh’s, late nights and missed dinners, and Hugh, principal of the town’s preschool, is terrified that a scandal at school will erupt and devastate his life. Fifteen-year-old tennis-team hopeful Julia is caught in a love triangle with Sam and Carl, her would-be teammates and two best friends, while her brother, Teddy, the star pitcher of Cooperstown High, will soon catch sight of something that will change his family forever.
At the heart of the Obermeyers’ present-day tremors is the scandal of The Sex Cure, a thinly veiled roman à clef from the 1960s, which shook the small village of Cooperstown to the core. When Anne discovers a battered copy underneath her parents’ old mattress, the Obermeyers cannot escape the family secrets that come rushing to the surface. With its heartbreaking insight into the messy imperfections of family, love, and growing up, Love All is an irresistible comic story of coming-of-age—at any age.
http://us.macmillan.com/loveall/Calli...
It’s the spring of 1994 in Cooperstown, New York, and Joanie Cole, the beloved matriarch of the Obermeyer family, has unexpectedly died in her sleep. Now, for the first time, three generations are living together under one roof and are quickly encroaching on one another’s fragile orbits. Eighty-six-year-old Bob Cole is adrift in his daughter’s house without his wife. Anne Obermeyer is increasingly suspicious of her husband, Hugh’s, late nights and missed dinners, and Hugh, principal of the town’s preschool, is terrified that a scandal at school will erupt and devastate his life. Fifteen-year-old tennis-team hopeful Julia is caught in a love triangle with Sam and Carl, her would-be teammates and two best friends, while her brother, Teddy, the star pitcher of Cooperstown High, will soon catch sight of something that will change his family forever.
At the heart of the Obermeyers’ present-day tremors is the scandal of The Sex Cure, a thinly veiled roman à clef from the 1960s, which shook the small village of Cooperstown to the core. When Anne discovers a battered copy underneath her parents’ old mattress, the Obermeyers cannot escape the family secrets that come rushing to the surface. With its heartbreaking insight into the messy imperfections of family, love, and growing up, Love All is an irresistible comic story of coming-of-age—at any age.
http://us.macmillan.com/loveall/Calli...
272 pages, Hardcover
First published July 9, 2013
8 people are currently reading
1645 people want to read
About the author
Callie Wright
3 books17 followersCallie Wright is a reporter and researcher at Vanity Fair. She graduated from Yale and earned her MFA at the University of Virginia, where she was a Poe/Faulkner Fellow in Creative Writing and won a Raven Society Fellowship. She is the recipient of a Glimmer Train Short Story Award for New Writers and her short fiction has appeared in Glimmer Train and The Southern Review. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 81 reviews
May 10, 2013
Rating = 3.5 stars
"Marge's nakedness was a sliver of earthbound moonlight."
So begins The Sex Cure, a novel based in truth that rocked the community of Cooperstown, New York back in 1962. Character names and occupations were poorly disguised, and residents lived in fear that their indiscretions were included in the novel for their family and friends to feast upon.
Over thirty years later, repercussions from The Sex Cure are still threatening the foundations of one Cooperstown family. The plot is deceptively simple, being an exploration of marital infidelity and teenage insecurity. Where Callie Wright excels is in illustrating the domestic landscape through the eyes of three generations of the same family. Each of us is more self-absorbed than we like to admit. When a family begins to fracture, each member views the changes from that self-absorbed perspective, too often missing the clues that might have saved the family before it was too late.
The novel alternates among the viewpoints of all the family members. Fifteen-year-old Julia's story is the only one told in the first person, and her chapters were by far my favorite. She and her best friends Sam and Carl have been inseparable since childhood, and they even have a secret language that continues to evolve. Now they've reached that transition age where boy/girl friendships become complicated. Julia knows the threesome cannot remain innocent and inviolate. She has a lot of adjusting to do, with friendships and family dissolving or being re-shaped. But she has the optimism of youth and the knowledge that she is loved, and in the end we know she's going to survive and thrive.
"Marge's nakedness was a sliver of earthbound moonlight."
So begins The Sex Cure, a novel based in truth that rocked the community of Cooperstown, New York back in 1962. Character names and occupations were poorly disguised, and residents lived in fear that their indiscretions were included in the novel for their family and friends to feast upon.
Over thirty years later, repercussions from The Sex Cure are still threatening the foundations of one Cooperstown family. The plot is deceptively simple, being an exploration of marital infidelity and teenage insecurity. Where Callie Wright excels is in illustrating the domestic landscape through the eyes of three generations of the same family. Each of us is more self-absorbed than we like to admit. When a family begins to fracture, each member views the changes from that self-absorbed perspective, too often missing the clues that might have saved the family before it was too late.
The novel alternates among the viewpoints of all the family members. Fifteen-year-old Julia's story is the only one told in the first person, and her chapters were by far my favorite. She and her best friends Sam and Carl have been inseparable since childhood, and they even have a secret language that continues to evolve. Now they've reached that transition age where boy/girl friendships become complicated. Julia knows the threesome cannot remain innocent and inviolate. She has a lot of adjusting to do, with friendships and family dissolving or being re-shaped. But she has the optimism of youth and the knowledge that she is loved, and in the end we know she's going to survive and thrive.
July 15, 2013
Where would we be without relationships, and the difficulties we encounter with them? If I had the answer to that question, I'd be the wisest person alive, but I do know one thing—the literary world is so much richer because the course of love, and relationships, rarely run smoothly.
At the start of Callie Wright's wonderful new novel Love All, Joanie Cole dies in her sleep, leaving her 86-year-old husband, Bob, behind. Bob moves in with his daughter, Anne, with whom he's had a strained relationship since she was a teenager, and her family. Anne is a successful lawyer who is growing suspicious of her preschool principal husband, Hugh, after too many missed phone calls and family dinners, and too many unconvincing explanations. Hugh is starting to wonder what direction his life is taking, and whether pursuing it is worth the destruction of all he has worked for.
Meanwhile, their daughter, Julia, a smart and sensitive high school sophomore, is in the midst of an emotional upheaval of her own, as she finds herself in an unexpected love triangle with her two best friends, Sam and Carl, and can't quite figure out how to pursue what she wants without displacing the strong bond the trip has. And their son, Teddy, whose confidence on the athletic and romantic fields has always been strong, is getting nervous about his impending departure for college—and then he witnesses something that shakes him emotionally.
All of the relationship trouble in this book is mirrored against a story from the past. When Anne was growing up in the early 1960s, her hometown of Cooperstown, New York was rocked by the publication of The Sex Cure, a Peyton Place-like book that took a swipe at the foibles and infidelities of many of the town's residents at the time. The book cast a pall over Joanie and Bob's marriage, and affected Anne's relationship with her father. When a copy of the book resurfaces in moving Bob to Anne's home, it reopens old wounds and highlights the fact that secrets—particularly those of the heart—rarely remain so.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book from start to finish. Callie Wright did an excellent job at developing her characters and making you feel something—sympathy, frustration, suspicion, even anger—toward them. Like so many books about relationships (and real-life relationships), Love All was as much about the things that we don't say as it was about the things that are said. The characters are not without their idiosyncrasies, but that is what made the book seem more real, and more compelling.
There's no shortage of books out there about love and the troubles it causes. But Callie Wright's Love All is definitely a book worth reading, and a worthy addition to that pantheon of books that explore the quirks of the human heart—and the mind. Excellent.
At the start of Callie Wright's wonderful new novel Love All, Joanie Cole dies in her sleep, leaving her 86-year-old husband, Bob, behind. Bob moves in with his daughter, Anne, with whom he's had a strained relationship since she was a teenager, and her family. Anne is a successful lawyer who is growing suspicious of her preschool principal husband, Hugh, after too many missed phone calls and family dinners, and too many unconvincing explanations. Hugh is starting to wonder what direction his life is taking, and whether pursuing it is worth the destruction of all he has worked for.
Meanwhile, their daughter, Julia, a smart and sensitive high school sophomore, is in the midst of an emotional upheaval of her own, as she finds herself in an unexpected love triangle with her two best friends, Sam and Carl, and can't quite figure out how to pursue what she wants without displacing the strong bond the trip has. And their son, Teddy, whose confidence on the athletic and romantic fields has always been strong, is getting nervous about his impending departure for college—and then he witnesses something that shakes him emotionally.
All of the relationship trouble in this book is mirrored against a story from the past. When Anne was growing up in the early 1960s, her hometown of Cooperstown, New York was rocked by the publication of The Sex Cure, a Peyton Place-like book that took a swipe at the foibles and infidelities of many of the town's residents at the time. The book cast a pall over Joanie and Bob's marriage, and affected Anne's relationship with her father. When a copy of the book resurfaces in moving Bob to Anne's home, it reopens old wounds and highlights the fact that secrets—particularly those of the heart—rarely remain so.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book from start to finish. Callie Wright did an excellent job at developing her characters and making you feel something—sympathy, frustration, suspicion, even anger—toward them. Like so many books about relationships (and real-life relationships), Love All was as much about the things that we don't say as it was about the things that are said. The characters are not without their idiosyncrasies, but that is what made the book seem more real, and more compelling.
There's no shortage of books out there about love and the troubles it causes. But Callie Wright's Love All is definitely a book worth reading, and a worthy addition to that pantheon of books that explore the quirks of the human heart—and the mind. Excellent.
July 7, 2013
I received this novel as an ARC from Henry Holt Publishing, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.
Where to start? OK. I found this novel difficult to read. I didn't give up on it because I kept looking for a hook or an eureka moment that could pull me in, let me spiral into the hearts and minds of the characters that Callie Wright creates.
But, unfortunately, I just couldn't find a point with which to connect None of the characters was finely enough drawn to engage my empathy, and none of the relationships were believable enough to feel the tragedy or the losses.
If Ms Wright wanted to paint a forlorn desert of fractured personalities with no cohesion or connection, then I guess she succeeded. However I'm not convinced nihilism was really her object.
Maybe her next work will have more nuance? Or maybe it was present and I just missed it here.
Where to start? OK. I found this novel difficult to read. I didn't give up on it because I kept looking for a hook or an eureka moment that could pull me in, let me spiral into the hearts and minds of the characters that Callie Wright creates.
But, unfortunately, I just couldn't find a point with which to connect None of the characters was finely enough drawn to engage my empathy, and none of the relationships were believable enough to feel the tragedy or the losses.
If Ms Wright wanted to paint a forlorn desert of fractured personalities with no cohesion or connection, then I guess she succeeded. However I'm not convinced nihilism was really her object.
Maybe her next work will have more nuance? Or maybe it was present and I just missed it here.
February 14, 2013
With the power and grace of a strong forehand swing, Love All introduces one of fiction’s most endearing families—a family as real as your own. How does Callie Wright manage to make falling in love heartbreaking, and losing the love of your life heartwarming? How does a single week manage to feel as full as a lifetime? That’s the magic of this unforgettable debut. If this isn’t a Great American Novel, I don’t know what is.
November 4, 2014
There was this distinct classroom session I had in a class I can’t even remember now where we discussed the theory that men are biologically programmed to cheat. They may love their wives to death, the affair could mean nothing but still, it’s the male nature to have as many sexual partners as possible, not matter his marital status.
There was more, like all these scientific reasons about the evolution of mankind, how back in cave people times, the man was programmed to plant his seed in as many wombs as possible to ensure his lineage continued; the woman, on the other hand, to cling loyally, no matter what, to one man in hopes that he would take care of her and their offspring. Okay, I understand in cave man times, maybe this made psychological sense, but in our times, this is bullshit. Sex for men is no longer about reproduction (in our cases, really, a cheating man would pray NOT to produce a child), and are you kidding me? Married women get the itch to have affairs as well.
In Callie Wright’s Love All, Bob Cole is the type of man that buys into this myth. Men have affairs. Wives understand not to take it personally; this is just men being men. Years later, Bob’s daughter Anne is married to a man having an affair of his own, despite the years spent faithful and the two high-school children they have together. Is cheating really just a programmed male thing?
Bob’s affairs are numerous, unremarkable even to him. One girl is like another, until a “fictional” novel set in his hometown of Copperstown, New York, reveals the entire neighborhood’s dirty laundry. Bob’s secrets threaten to escape, especially if this wise-ass girl’s book catches on nationwide.
As far as Anne’s marriage, her husband Hugh has picked possibly the worst woman to sleep with. Hugh’s a principal at a preschool he’s mostly brought up himself, and it’s going well, enrollment is booming, even though a little boy’s been hurt on the playground which may or may not have been sort of caused by supervisor’s lack of care. Hugh goes to visit the boy in the hospital and ends up have sex with the child’s divorced mother not even yards away from where her son is sleeping. Stupid. They hook up again. So stupid. They kiss in public. Stupid stupid stupid.
What the hell is wrong with these men? Can affairs really be kept secret? Does the wife ALWAYS know? Can love actually last more than like, 4 years?
Really though, this old guys suck. The only hope, the only promise of love, real real intimacy and care is found in Anne and Hugh’s children, the saving grace of this whole unhappy family.
There’s Teddy, the oldest son, a senior in high school. He’s a jock, not much of a thinker, and by no means a “sensitive jock” type on the outside. Teddy’s the one who discovers his father’s affair, and his reaction at cheating is the only one I could relate to: rage, anger, disappointment, disbelief, vomit. Even Anne’s trying to calm the kid down, even though it’s not like his father had the affair on him. But still – it’s this attitude that presents the biggest source of hope, evidence that history doesn’t have to repeat itself, that cheating isn’t programmed into all XY brains.
And then there’s their daughter, Julia, a bright young women with friends thick as thieves and a language all her own. She’s got the wisdom, the intuition, all the brains we could ask of the next generation. She’s still cool about love. In my favorite part of the book, we hear one of Teddy’s best friends talking about how he’s totally falling for Julia, wanting to take her out, but when he calls, Julia so simply thinks about it, doesn’t see it, and essentially tells him nah. And that’s the end. Why did I love this part so much?? I don’t know, in most cases, a girl has to have a REASON not to like a guy. There was nothing seemingly wrong with this boy; Julia just didn’t feel it. It’s empowering in the stupidest simplest way.
Really though, the essence of this book: Everyobody’s lonely in some sense, teens aren’t as fucked as the news says; Grown-ups suck. And knock it off with the affairs, okay?
There was more, like all these scientific reasons about the evolution of mankind, how back in cave people times, the man was programmed to plant his seed in as many wombs as possible to ensure his lineage continued; the woman, on the other hand, to cling loyally, no matter what, to one man in hopes that he would take care of her and their offspring. Okay, I understand in cave man times, maybe this made psychological sense, but in our times, this is bullshit. Sex for men is no longer about reproduction (in our cases, really, a cheating man would pray NOT to produce a child), and are you kidding me? Married women get the itch to have affairs as well.
In Callie Wright’s Love All, Bob Cole is the type of man that buys into this myth. Men have affairs. Wives understand not to take it personally; this is just men being men. Years later, Bob’s daughter Anne is married to a man having an affair of his own, despite the years spent faithful and the two high-school children they have together. Is cheating really just a programmed male thing?
Bob’s affairs are numerous, unremarkable even to him. One girl is like another, until a “fictional” novel set in his hometown of Copperstown, New York, reveals the entire neighborhood’s dirty laundry. Bob’s secrets threaten to escape, especially if this wise-ass girl’s book catches on nationwide.
As far as Anne’s marriage, her husband Hugh has picked possibly the worst woman to sleep with. Hugh’s a principal at a preschool he’s mostly brought up himself, and it’s going well, enrollment is booming, even though a little boy’s been hurt on the playground which may or may not have been sort of caused by supervisor’s lack of care. Hugh goes to visit the boy in the hospital and ends up have sex with the child’s divorced mother not even yards away from where her son is sleeping. Stupid. They hook up again. So stupid. They kiss in public. Stupid stupid stupid.
What the hell is wrong with these men? Can affairs really be kept secret? Does the wife ALWAYS know? Can love actually last more than like, 4 years?
Really though, this old guys suck. The only hope, the only promise of love, real real intimacy and care is found in Anne and Hugh’s children, the saving grace of this whole unhappy family.
There’s Teddy, the oldest son, a senior in high school. He’s a jock, not much of a thinker, and by no means a “sensitive jock” type on the outside. Teddy’s the one who discovers his father’s affair, and his reaction at cheating is the only one I could relate to: rage, anger, disappointment, disbelief, vomit. Even Anne’s trying to calm the kid down, even though it’s not like his father had the affair on him. But still – it’s this attitude that presents the biggest source of hope, evidence that history doesn’t have to repeat itself, that cheating isn’t programmed into all XY brains.
And then there’s their daughter, Julia, a bright young women with friends thick as thieves and a language all her own. She’s got the wisdom, the intuition, all the brains we could ask of the next generation. She’s still cool about love. In my favorite part of the book, we hear one of Teddy’s best friends talking about how he’s totally falling for Julia, wanting to take her out, but when he calls, Julia so simply thinks about it, doesn’t see it, and essentially tells him nah. And that’s the end. Why did I love this part so much?? I don’t know, in most cases, a girl has to have a REASON not to like a guy. There was nothing seemingly wrong with this boy; Julia just didn’t feel it. It’s empowering in the stupidest simplest way.
Really though, the essence of this book: Everyobody’s lonely in some sense, teens aren’t as fucked as the news says; Grown-ups suck. And knock it off with the affairs, okay?
July 4, 2013
Love All is a very intelligent and involving debut novel. It takes place in Cooperstown in 1994, a small town in upstate New York. The town and its people are as much of the story as are the plot and the characters. The story is told back and forth in time, and from the different vantage points of the characters.
Hugh and Anne met in Boston and married, moving to Cooperstown shortly after to be near Anne's mother, Joan. It was always Anne's hope that Joan would move in with them once her husband, Bob, died. However, Joan dies in her sleep one night and Bob moves in with Anne, Hugh and their two children, Teddy and Julia, both high school students. Hugh runs a preschool called Seedlings which he started and Anne is an attorney who works in a nearby town for 80 hour weeks. The two of them are insidiously drifting apart though the drift is not dramatic and is hard to see with their eyes. Teddy is a jock and the most popular boy at school. He plays baseball and has a girlfriend named Kim who he's fond of but not really in love with. Julia is part of a threesome with Sam and Carl. They have their own language and are thought of as weird by others. Julia has a real crush on Sam and Carl has a crush on Julia. The threesome can get sticky at times. They are best friends but each wants something more.
Bob reminisces about his life with Joan. He especially remembers when a book came out in Cooperstown in the 1960's called Sex Cures. It was about all the people in town who were having affairs, being unfaithful, and the like. Bob has not been faithful to Joan and he is afraid he will find himself in the book. He is not in the book but it is a close call. Joan knows about his escapades as he comes home late a lot and sometimes stays out all night. Somehow, however, they stay together and make a peace with each other. Anne has always wanted a marriage that is perfect, unlike her parents' marriage.
I identified most with Julia who is struggling with her feelings for Sam and still wanting to maintain her close friendship with Carl. It is hard for her to navigate this situation. She also worries a lot about her parents who are going through difficult times. Teddy is not as fleshed out a personality and is interested in selling his baseball card collection for a car. Anne is inwardly focused and not very expressive and both she and Hugh have trouble communicating with one another.
This is an interesting novel but it didn't have me totally immersed. I found the ending puzzling, considering the focus of the story. Yet, its intelligence and insight carried me to its finish line and I liked reading it. All and all, I think that the author shows a lot of promise and I look forward to her future books.
Hugh and Anne met in Boston and married, moving to Cooperstown shortly after to be near Anne's mother, Joan. It was always Anne's hope that Joan would move in with them once her husband, Bob, died. However, Joan dies in her sleep one night and Bob moves in with Anne, Hugh and their two children, Teddy and Julia, both high school students. Hugh runs a preschool called Seedlings which he started and Anne is an attorney who works in a nearby town for 80 hour weeks. The two of them are insidiously drifting apart though the drift is not dramatic and is hard to see with their eyes. Teddy is a jock and the most popular boy at school. He plays baseball and has a girlfriend named Kim who he's fond of but not really in love with. Julia is part of a threesome with Sam and Carl. They have their own language and are thought of as weird by others. Julia has a real crush on Sam and Carl has a crush on Julia. The threesome can get sticky at times. They are best friends but each wants something more.
Bob reminisces about his life with Joan. He especially remembers when a book came out in Cooperstown in the 1960's called Sex Cures. It was about all the people in town who were having affairs, being unfaithful, and the like. Bob has not been faithful to Joan and he is afraid he will find himself in the book. He is not in the book but it is a close call. Joan knows about his escapades as he comes home late a lot and sometimes stays out all night. Somehow, however, they stay together and make a peace with each other. Anne has always wanted a marriage that is perfect, unlike her parents' marriage.
I identified most with Julia who is struggling with her feelings for Sam and still wanting to maintain her close friendship with Carl. It is hard for her to navigate this situation. She also worries a lot about her parents who are going through difficult times. Teddy is not as fleshed out a personality and is interested in selling his baseball card collection for a car. Anne is inwardly focused and not very expressive and both she and Hugh have trouble communicating with one another.
This is an interesting novel but it didn't have me totally immersed. I found the ending puzzling, considering the focus of the story. Yet, its intelligence and insight carried me to its finish line and I liked reading it. All and all, I think that the author shows a lot of promise and I look forward to her future books.
May 24, 2013
See my full review here: http://booksaremyfavouriteandbest.wor...
I love stories about family dramas. No matter how many times authors throw the standard elements into their novel – love, infidelity, an overbearing parent, an absent parent, a sibling rival – the finished result is always different. If you like family dramas, stop what you’re doing (actually, finish reading this post) and get your hands on the brilliant debut, Love All by Callie Wright.
While 'Love All' might not have the same dry humour as Johnathan Dee’s 'A Thousand Pardons' or Maggie Shipstead’s 'Seating Arrangements'; the same sense of place as Lisa Klaussman’s 'Tigers in Red Weather'; or the same elegant turn of phrase as Chad Harbach’s 'The Art of Fielding', it does have the same carefully and beautifully constructed characters and finely detailed plot.
“The moon was a pancake in the sky. I stood at the curb and looked back at our house, where the white porch rail was offset by the tidy green lawn… Upstairs, my parents’ bedroom was lit up, bright yellow, and I thought it was true that you couldn’t tell much about a family from the outside.”
With three generations in play, Wright cleverly uses a ‘history repeats itself’ theme – overtly with the use of ‘The Sex Cure’ and its meaning for each generation of the Obermeyers but also on a more complex level where each generation examines issues of loyalty, fidelity and reputation. As the small and seemingly isolated decisions and actions of each character unfold, the complexity of the plot is revealed.
“All the narrow lines – between truth and fiction, want and need, friendship and love – seemed suddenly traversable: Elaine Dorian had done it. By the stroke of her pen, she had roiled and rippled the town with one story, a story everyone believed, so much so that she may have made it true. Roman à clef. A novel with a key. I uncapped my pen and wrote…”
Chapters are told from alternating points of view – the best are those told by Julia. In Julia, Wright has created a perfectly likeable self-absorbed teen who quickly discovers how even the strongest friendships are in fact delicate minefields of emotion.
“At the heart of our three-way union was the language we had created, our mother tongue, but with one thousand words at the ready, I still couldn’t tell Sam that I had missed him while we was gone.”
4/5 It’s difficult to say much about a book that you thoroughly enjoyed, short of ‘read it’!
I love stories about family dramas. No matter how many times authors throw the standard elements into their novel – love, infidelity, an overbearing parent, an absent parent, a sibling rival – the finished result is always different. If you like family dramas, stop what you’re doing (actually, finish reading this post) and get your hands on the brilliant debut, Love All by Callie Wright.
While 'Love All' might not have the same dry humour as Johnathan Dee’s 'A Thousand Pardons' or Maggie Shipstead’s 'Seating Arrangements'; the same sense of place as Lisa Klaussman’s 'Tigers in Red Weather'; or the same elegant turn of phrase as Chad Harbach’s 'The Art of Fielding', it does have the same carefully and beautifully constructed characters and finely detailed plot.
“The moon was a pancake in the sky. I stood at the curb and looked back at our house, where the white porch rail was offset by the tidy green lawn… Upstairs, my parents’ bedroom was lit up, bright yellow, and I thought it was true that you couldn’t tell much about a family from the outside.”
With three generations in play, Wright cleverly uses a ‘history repeats itself’ theme – overtly with the use of ‘The Sex Cure’ and its meaning for each generation of the Obermeyers but also on a more complex level where each generation examines issues of loyalty, fidelity and reputation. As the small and seemingly isolated decisions and actions of each character unfold, the complexity of the plot is revealed.
“All the narrow lines – between truth and fiction, want and need, friendship and love – seemed suddenly traversable: Elaine Dorian had done it. By the stroke of her pen, she had roiled and rippled the town with one story, a story everyone believed, so much so that she may have made it true. Roman à clef. A novel with a key. I uncapped my pen and wrote…”
Chapters are told from alternating points of view – the best are those told by Julia. In Julia, Wright has created a perfectly likeable self-absorbed teen who quickly discovers how even the strongest friendships are in fact delicate minefields of emotion.
“At the heart of our three-way union was the language we had created, our mother tongue, but with one thousand words at the ready, I still couldn’t tell Sam that I had missed him while we was gone.”
4/5 It’s difficult to say much about a book that you thoroughly enjoyed, short of ‘read it’!
June 19, 2021
This novel about a family teetering on the edge of crisis is fine. The Obermeyers live in Cooperstown and one of the more engaging parts of this book is the portrait of small town America and lives lived in a fishbowl. Hugh Obermeyer is the principle of a preschool. A playground accident of one of his students is the catalyst for his affair with that student's mother. His infidelity, the increasing teenage angst of his children, and the recent death of his wife's mother, all come together to bring the novel to its ambiguous ending. I enjoyed it, but it didn't wow me. The characters are well drawn and the writing is good, but nothing about their problems really caught fire. The best part was the subplot of a Peyton Place type book written about the townspeople several years before that illuminates the small town suffocation when everyone knows everyone else's business.
February 15, 2023
Chose this from my to-read list for a Winter Reading Challenge (author's last name starts with a W). Liked the local ties (takes place in a nearby town). Liked the story, hated some of the characters, overall worth the read.
July 12, 2017
I liked the kids. I did not like the cheating. I liked the no-ending.
July 14, 2017
I liked this very much. Great character development, especially Julia.
September 8, 2019
Pretty blah. Characters aren’t very interesting. Story line was pretty dull.
April 22, 2023
The only thing I disliked about this book is it ends on a cliffhanger and I don't like to assume the outcome of books.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 3, 2013
From page one, I realized I would be reading the words of an intelligent author, who would grab my attention without the use of gimmicks.
Callie Wright presents a family drama set in Cooperstown, New York in 1994. Listening to the voices of three generations, Wright transports us through love, overbearing parents, career choices, infidelity, financial problems and a general coming-of-age story presented with superb phrasing and constructed characterizations.
When Joanie Obermeyer unexpectedly dies in her sleep, her 86 year old husband, Bob, moves in with his daughter, Anne, an attorney, her husband Hugh, principal of Seedlings pre-school, and their two teen-age children, Teddy and Julia. With three generations now under one roof and Joanie, the former caretaker and negotiator gone, Wright sets up a probable explosion of interactions.
The plot is more complex than you would believe at the start. Chapters are narrated from alternating points of view, which gives the reader a closer touch and possible allegiance to one family member. Teddy witnesses an act which would change their lives forever, Julia is caught in a love triangle, Anne is suspicious of her husband, Hugh is terrified of a scandal and Bob, well he has his own demons.
Wright provides us with a backdrop of sexual misconduct of Bob and Hugh and how this impacts their lives. Many years prior, an author wrote a book, The Sex Cure, which was their Peyton Place, and it rocked the town. History appears to be repeating itself on a more sophisticated level but the heartache echoes.
Family secrets are the core of this story, which may sound like a familiar plot. However, Wright serves it up with an intellectual foresight. Wright's family members became addictive. I could not put the book down. Her writing is generous. "Upstairs, my parents' bedroom was lit up, bright yellow, and I thought it was true that you couldn't tell much about a family from the outside." Highly recommended Comment | Permalink
Merged review:
From page one, I realized I would be reading the words of an intelligent author, who would grab my attention without the use of gimmicks.
Callie Wright presents a family drama set in Cooperstown, New York in 1994. Listening to the voices of three generations, Wright transports us through love, overbearing parents, career choices, infidelity, financial problems and a general coming-of-age story presented with superb phrasing and constructed characterizations.
When Joanie Obermeyer unexpectedly dies in her sleep, her 86 year old husband, Bob, moves in with his daughter, Anne, an attorney, her husband Hugh, principal of Seedlings pre-school, and their two teen-age children, Teddy and Julia. With three generations now under one roof and Joanie, the former caretaker and negotiator gone, Wright sets up a probable explosion of interactions.
The plot is more complex than you would believe at the start. Chapters are narrated from alternating points of view, which gives the reader a closer touch and possible allegiance to one family member. Teddy witnesses an act which would change their lives forever, Julia is caught in a love triangle, Anne is suspicious of her husband, Hugh is terrified of a scandal and Bob, well he has his own demons.
Wright provides us with a backdrop of sexual misconduct of Bob and Hugh and how this impacts their lives. Many years prior, an author wrote a book, The Sex Cure, which was their Peyton Place, and it rocked the town. History appears to be repeating itself on a more sophisticated level but the heartache echoes.
Family secrets are the core of this story, which may sound like a familiar plot. However, Wright serves it up with an intellectual foresight. Wright's family members became addictive. I could not put the book down. Her writing is generous. "Upstairs, my parents' bedroom was lit up, bright yellow, and I thought it was true that you couldn't tell much about a family from the outside." Highly recommended
Callie Wright presents a family drama set in Cooperstown, New York in 1994. Listening to the voices of three generations, Wright transports us through love, overbearing parents, career choices, infidelity, financial problems and a general coming-of-age story presented with superb phrasing and constructed characterizations.
When Joanie Obermeyer unexpectedly dies in her sleep, her 86 year old husband, Bob, moves in with his daughter, Anne, an attorney, her husband Hugh, principal of Seedlings pre-school, and their two teen-age children, Teddy and Julia. With three generations now under one roof and Joanie, the former caretaker and negotiator gone, Wright sets up a probable explosion of interactions.
The plot is more complex than you would believe at the start. Chapters are narrated from alternating points of view, which gives the reader a closer touch and possible allegiance to one family member. Teddy witnesses an act which would change their lives forever, Julia is caught in a love triangle, Anne is suspicious of her husband, Hugh is terrified of a scandal and Bob, well he has his own demons.
Wright provides us with a backdrop of sexual misconduct of Bob and Hugh and how this impacts their lives. Many years prior, an author wrote a book, The Sex Cure, which was their Peyton Place, and it rocked the town. History appears to be repeating itself on a more sophisticated level but the heartache echoes.
Family secrets are the core of this story, which may sound like a familiar plot. However, Wright serves it up with an intellectual foresight. Wright's family members became addictive. I could not put the book down. Her writing is generous. "Upstairs, my parents' bedroom was lit up, bright yellow, and I thought it was true that you couldn't tell much about a family from the outside." Highly recommended Comment | Permalink
Merged review:
From page one, I realized I would be reading the words of an intelligent author, who would grab my attention without the use of gimmicks.
Callie Wright presents a family drama set in Cooperstown, New York in 1994. Listening to the voices of three generations, Wright transports us through love, overbearing parents, career choices, infidelity, financial problems and a general coming-of-age story presented with superb phrasing and constructed characterizations.
When Joanie Obermeyer unexpectedly dies in her sleep, her 86 year old husband, Bob, moves in with his daughter, Anne, an attorney, her husband Hugh, principal of Seedlings pre-school, and their two teen-age children, Teddy and Julia. With three generations now under one roof and Joanie, the former caretaker and negotiator gone, Wright sets up a probable explosion of interactions.
The plot is more complex than you would believe at the start. Chapters are narrated from alternating points of view, which gives the reader a closer touch and possible allegiance to one family member. Teddy witnesses an act which would change their lives forever, Julia is caught in a love triangle, Anne is suspicious of her husband, Hugh is terrified of a scandal and Bob, well he has his own demons.
Wright provides us with a backdrop of sexual misconduct of Bob and Hugh and how this impacts their lives. Many years prior, an author wrote a book, The Sex Cure, which was their Peyton Place, and it rocked the town. History appears to be repeating itself on a more sophisticated level but the heartache echoes.
Family secrets are the core of this story, which may sound like a familiar plot. However, Wright serves it up with an intellectual foresight. Wright's family members became addictive. I could not put the book down. Her writing is generous. "Upstairs, my parents' bedroom was lit up, bright yellow, and I thought it was true that you couldn't tell much about a family from the outside." Highly recommended
April 19, 2014
Ambientato nella provincia americana negli anni ’90, L’amore in gioco è un romanzo corale la cui protagonista è una famiglia che inizia a crollare su se stessa nel momento in cui il perno che l’aveva tenuta unita fino a quel momento, Joanie – ‘Nonz’ per la nipote Julia – muore all’improvviso nel sonno. Tutti credevano che se ne sarebbe andato prima suo marito Bob, molto più anziano e malandato, ma alla fine, con un tradimento di cui non deve neanche chiedere scusa, è Joanie ad abbandonare per prima questa terra, lasciando il marito come, al contrario, non aveva mai voluto fare a causa dei continui tradimenti.
Mentre lui sognava uno dei tanti tradimenti coniugali che aveva perpetrato, Joanie lo aveva tradito a modo suo. Non divorziato ma vedovo: sua moglie, alla fine, lo aveva lasciato.
L’evento della morte della nonna e il conseguente trasferimento di Bob ‘Poppy’ a casa degli Obermeyer innesca una serie di reazioni nella famiglia. Soprattutto, la ricomparsa in casa del romanzo La cura del sesso di Elaine Dorian, un libro ritrovato sotto il materasso di Joanie che negli anni ’60 fece scalpore, trasformando Cooperstown in una novella Peyton Place, e che riporta alla luce dei ricordi sopiti per Bob e sua figlia Anne, memorie che sono alla base del loro rapporto conflittuale.
L’amore in gioco è un romanzo che affronta il tema del tradimento. Non solo di tradimento coniugale e di come esso venisse inghiottito come un rospo e, tuttavia, accettato molto più facilmente nella società degli anni ’60, ma anche di tradimento di se stessi e dei propri ideali e del tradimento reciproco nel rapporto genitori-figli. E, chissà come mai, quando si parla di tradimento gli uomini ne escono alla fine sempre più vili, più deboli e incoscienti di fronte alle donne forti e coraggiose che sono loro accanto e che non hanno timore di fare le loro scelte.
L’amore in gioco è anche un romanzo di formazione per Julia e Teddy, i figli di Anne e Hugh, ma anche per la stessa Anne che, sebbene sia un avvocato di grido con uno stipendio a sei zeri, in fondo è ancora la ragazzina tredicenne che leggeva La cura del sesso ostentandolo davanti al padre per farlo infuriare; quella stessa Anne che aveva giurato che non avrebbe mai accettato il tradimento dal marito, ma che poi, quando c’è l’amore in gioco, una famiglia e due figli, sente la sua sicurezza vacillare.
Il romanzo ha una narratrice interna, Julia, e quattro narratori esterni, concentrati su ciascuno degli altri protagonisti della storia. Il libro che fa da fil rouge, The Sex Cure, è stato davvero pubblicato nel 1962 da Isabel Moore con lo pseudonimo di Elaine Dorian ed era ambientato proprio a Cooperstown, la città della Wright, svelando tresche, tradimenti e debolezze dei suoi cittadini, i cui nomi vennero modificati, ma non tanto da non riuscire a individuarli uno a uno. Impossibile, dunque, ambientare una storia nella piccola cittadina di provincia così segnata, senza che gli effetti del libro-scandalo si ripercuotessero sui suoi personaggi. E, due generazioni dopo, la giovane Julia de L’amore in gioco studia il romanzo quasi come un testo di storia, un monumento importante della sua città da visitare con curiosità quasi morbosa. La Wright specifica che «i personaggi e gli accadimenti descritti in La cura del sesso sono usati in modo fittizio» perché ha voluto praticamente ribaltare la situazione, utilizzando l’ambientazione reale di Cooperstown con personaggi totalmente inventati per restituirle così una dignità che forse il libro della Dorian le aveva tolto.
Una storia incentrata sui segreti di tre generazioni e sulle imperfette relazioni sentimentali dei suoi protagonisti sia all’interno che all’esterno della famiglia, per uno spaccato realistico della vita in una cittadina della provincia americana.
Potete trovare la recensione completa QUI
Mentre lui sognava uno dei tanti tradimenti coniugali che aveva perpetrato, Joanie lo aveva tradito a modo suo. Non divorziato ma vedovo: sua moglie, alla fine, lo aveva lasciato.
L’evento della morte della nonna e il conseguente trasferimento di Bob ‘Poppy’ a casa degli Obermeyer innesca una serie di reazioni nella famiglia. Soprattutto, la ricomparsa in casa del romanzo La cura del sesso di Elaine Dorian, un libro ritrovato sotto il materasso di Joanie che negli anni ’60 fece scalpore, trasformando Cooperstown in una novella Peyton Place, e che riporta alla luce dei ricordi sopiti per Bob e sua figlia Anne, memorie che sono alla base del loro rapporto conflittuale.
L’amore in gioco è un romanzo che affronta il tema del tradimento. Non solo di tradimento coniugale e di come esso venisse inghiottito come un rospo e, tuttavia, accettato molto più facilmente nella società degli anni ’60, ma anche di tradimento di se stessi e dei propri ideali e del tradimento reciproco nel rapporto genitori-figli. E, chissà come mai, quando si parla di tradimento gli uomini ne escono alla fine sempre più vili, più deboli e incoscienti di fronte alle donne forti e coraggiose che sono loro accanto e che non hanno timore di fare le loro scelte.
L’amore in gioco è anche un romanzo di formazione per Julia e Teddy, i figli di Anne e Hugh, ma anche per la stessa Anne che, sebbene sia un avvocato di grido con uno stipendio a sei zeri, in fondo è ancora la ragazzina tredicenne che leggeva La cura del sesso ostentandolo davanti al padre per farlo infuriare; quella stessa Anne che aveva giurato che non avrebbe mai accettato il tradimento dal marito, ma che poi, quando c’è l’amore in gioco, una famiglia e due figli, sente la sua sicurezza vacillare.
Il romanzo ha una narratrice interna, Julia, e quattro narratori esterni, concentrati su ciascuno degli altri protagonisti della storia. Il libro che fa da fil rouge, The Sex Cure, è stato davvero pubblicato nel 1962 da Isabel Moore con lo pseudonimo di Elaine Dorian ed era ambientato proprio a Cooperstown, la città della Wright, svelando tresche, tradimenti e debolezze dei suoi cittadini, i cui nomi vennero modificati, ma non tanto da non riuscire a individuarli uno a uno. Impossibile, dunque, ambientare una storia nella piccola cittadina di provincia così segnata, senza che gli effetti del libro-scandalo si ripercuotessero sui suoi personaggi. E, due generazioni dopo, la giovane Julia de L’amore in gioco studia il romanzo quasi come un testo di storia, un monumento importante della sua città da visitare con curiosità quasi morbosa. La Wright specifica che «i personaggi e gli accadimenti descritti in La cura del sesso sono usati in modo fittizio» perché ha voluto praticamente ribaltare la situazione, utilizzando l’ambientazione reale di Cooperstown con personaggi totalmente inventati per restituirle così una dignità che forse il libro della Dorian le aveva tolto.
Una storia incentrata sui segreti di tre generazioni e sulle imperfette relazioni sentimentali dei suoi protagonisti sia all’interno che all’esterno della famiglia, per uno spaccato realistico della vita in una cittadina della provincia americana.
Potete trovare la recensione completa QUI
May 14, 2014
Ambientato nella provincia americana negli anni ’90, L’amore in gioco è un romanzo corale la cui protagonista è una famiglia che inizia a crollare su se stessa nel momento in cui il perno che l’aveva tenuta unita fino a quel momento, Joanie – ‘Nonz’ per la nipote Julia – muore all’improvviso nel sonno. Tutti credevano che se ne sarebbe andato prima suo marito Bob, molto più anziano e malandato, ma alla fine, con un tradimento di cui non deve neanche chiedere scusa, è Joanie ad abbandonare per prima questa terra, lasciando il marito come, al contrario, non aveva mai voluto fare a causa dei continui tradimenti.
L’amore in gioco è un romanzo che affronta il tema del tradimento. Non solo di tradimento coniugale e di come esso venisse inghiottito come un rospo e, tuttavia, accettato molto più facilmente nella società degli anni ’60, ma anche di tradimento di se stessi e dei propri ideali e del tradimento reciproco nel rapporto genitori-figli. E, chissà come mai, quando si parla di tradimento gli uomini ne escono alla fine sempre più vili, più deboli e incoscienti di fronte alle donne forti e coraggiose che sono loro accanto e che non hanno timore di fare le loro scelte.
L’amore in gioco è anche un romanzo di formazione per... http://bit.ly/1mqv0EX
Mentre lui sognava uno dei tanti tradimenti coniugali che aveva perpetrato, Joanie lo aveva tradito a modo suo. Non divorziato ma vedovo: sua moglie, alla fine, lo aveva lasciato.L’evento della morte della nonna e il conseguente trasferimento di Bob ‘Poppy’ a casa degli Obermeyer innesca una serie di reazioni nella famiglia. Soprattutto, la ricomparsa in casa del romanzo La cura del sesso di Elaine Dorian, un libro ritrovato sotto il materasso di Joanie che negli anni ’60 fece scalpore, trasformando Cooperstown in una novella Peyton Place, e che riporta alla luce dei ricordi sopiti per Bob e sua figlia Anne, memorie che sono alla base del loro rapporto conflittuale.
L’amore in gioco è un romanzo che affronta il tema del tradimento. Non solo di tradimento coniugale e di come esso venisse inghiottito come un rospo e, tuttavia, accettato molto più facilmente nella società degli anni ’60, ma anche di tradimento di se stessi e dei propri ideali e del tradimento reciproco nel rapporto genitori-figli. E, chissà come mai, quando si parla di tradimento gli uomini ne escono alla fine sempre più vili, più deboli e incoscienti di fronte alle donne forti e coraggiose che sono loro accanto e che non hanno timore di fare le loro scelte.
L’amore in gioco è anche un romanzo di formazione per... http://bit.ly/1mqv0EX
June 5, 2013
I was enjoying this novel set in Cooperstown, NY before I knew that The Sex Cure, a novel published in the early 60’s that out Peyton Place’s Peyton Place is real and also takes place in Cooperstown. My neighbor Roberta who owns a used bookstore offered to sell me the rare book for $200. Bob, an insurance man, who has affairs in Oneonta, is afraid he’ll find himself in the pages of the novel, but he finds his friends and the people at the golf course. A Utica paper describes Cooperstown as “the sick town that loved to hate.” (91) This novel is set in 1994. Bob and Joanie’s teenage granddaughter reads the book without knowing how incendiary it was when it came out. Meanwhile, she’s got two best friends Sam and Carl and she wants to be more than friends with Sam, but doesn’t know how to say so. Her mom Anne, who swore her marriage and life would be different from her Mom’s, is a lawyer in Oneonta. Her husband Hugh runs a preschool in the Village and he’s having a dalliance with one of his student’s mom in Cherry Valley.
“There weren’t many towns where the death of one resident could downshift the overall head count, but last Bob had checked, the population of Cooperstown was hovering around two thousand, with more people leaving than coming, and the new ones that did arrive – like his son-in-law – were frighteningly enthusiastic about the place. They acted like they’d discovered Shangri-La, like there could be no problems in a village with only one stoplight. But Cooperstown had had its share of problems, just like anywhere else.” (74)
Actually fictional Bob, there are towns and Villages like this all over Upstate New York and probably the world! I read this for its setting and Callie Wright nails it! I got this ARC from Amazon in return for an honest review.
“There weren’t many towns where the death of one resident could downshift the overall head count, but last Bob had checked, the population of Cooperstown was hovering around two thousand, with more people leaving than coming, and the new ones that did arrive – like his son-in-law – were frighteningly enthusiastic about the place. They acted like they’d discovered Shangri-La, like there could be no problems in a village with only one stoplight. But Cooperstown had had its share of problems, just like anywhere else.” (74)
Actually fictional Bob, there are towns and Villages like this all over Upstate New York and probably the world! I read this for its setting and Callie Wright nails it! I got this ARC from Amazon in return for an honest review.
November 24, 2015
I'm going to echo Caitlin_D's sentiments regarding Love All: it could have been 5 stars if Callie Wright had finished the damn thing. Instead, it drops off suddenly with nothing really resolved. This caused me to spend the last 50 pages going, "How is she going to wrap everything up in time?", then thinking, "Oh, I guess she's just not going to?". Maybe she's going to write a sequel, but I somehow doubt it (no teasers on Goodreads, for one). Very frustrating for a novel with such great potential!
Love All focuses on a family in a small town after the grandmother dies suddenly. She leaves behind a husband, the other half of her rather rocky marriage; a career-drive daughter (Anne) and a cheating son-in-law; and two grandchildren: Teddy (a high school star who's terrified to go to college) and Julia (completely involved in a love triangle that she's only partly aware of). Their family has been tainted by scandal ever since 1962, when a neighbor published a novel called The Sex Cure, which revealed all of the town's dirty secrets through thinly veiled pseudonyms. The book rocks the whole town in 1962, and when Julia uncovers it again after her grandmother dies, things change all over again.
Wright had a lot going on in this novel: affairs, unrequited love, family fights, teenage angst. She spent a lot of time setting up plotlines and developing well-written characters, only to suddenly end it with no real resolution. I would have been much less frustrated with the ending had the build up not been so great!
Love All focuses on a family in a small town after the grandmother dies suddenly. She leaves behind a husband, the other half of her rather rocky marriage; a career-drive daughter (Anne) and a cheating son-in-law; and two grandchildren: Teddy (a high school star who's terrified to go to college) and Julia (completely involved in a love triangle that she's only partly aware of). Their family has been tainted by scandal ever since 1962, when a neighbor published a novel called The Sex Cure, which revealed all of the town's dirty secrets through thinly veiled pseudonyms. The book rocks the whole town in 1962, and when Julia uncovers it again after her grandmother dies, things change all over again.
Wright had a lot going on in this novel: affairs, unrequited love, family fights, teenage angst. She spent a lot of time setting up plotlines and developing well-written characters, only to suddenly end it with no real resolution. I would have been much less frustrated with the ending had the build up not been so great!
June 6, 2013
By: Callie Wright
Published By Henry Holt & Company
Age Recommended: Adult
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Rating: 4
Review:
"Love All" by Callie Wright was one read that had a lots going on and once you started reading it was hard to put down because you know there will be more family drama around the corner. A Matriarch from Cooperstown, New York in 1994, has died leaving three generations to find themselves all living under the same roof. Now, you know there will be much drama coming from just that with each family member having to deal with their own issues this novel will be very interesting. There will be "love overbearing parents, career choices, infidelity, financial problems" to the general everyday problems that come from this 'general coming of age story' that has been well written by this author. Now, this is where I say you must pick up the good read to see where this author will take the reader. Be ready for an interesting story with a complex plot and some characters that you will find well developed, with some being quite colorful and well portrayed. There will also be some family secrets that will be at the core of this storyline.
So, if you are into a lots of family drama I would recommend to you Love All by Callie Wright.
Published By Henry Holt & Company
Age Recommended: Adult
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Rating: 4
Review:
"Love All" by Callie Wright was one read that had a lots going on and once you started reading it was hard to put down because you know there will be more family drama around the corner. A Matriarch from Cooperstown, New York in 1994, has died leaving three generations to find themselves all living under the same roof. Now, you know there will be much drama coming from just that with each family member having to deal with their own issues this novel will be very interesting. There will be "love overbearing parents, career choices, infidelity, financial problems" to the general everyday problems that come from this 'general coming of age story' that has been well written by this author. Now, this is where I say you must pick up the good read to see where this author will take the reader. Be ready for an interesting story with a complex plot and some characters that you will find well developed, with some being quite colorful and well portrayed. There will also be some family secrets that will be at the core of this storyline.
So, if you are into a lots of family drama I would recommend to you Love All by Callie Wright.
July 11, 2013
My Thoughts
I thought this was a very busy story as it weaves in and out of the lives of five main characters. The Obermeyers are one of those families whose lives look normal from the outside, but in all actuality, everything is falling apart.
I absolutely loved Julia, aka Jules. At fifteen, she is absolutely laugh out loud funny. She is right on the cusp of changing from sweet and innocent childhood to one where the realities of growing up are starting to appear. The time in life when we discover our parents are not infallible, a grandparent can be down right weird, and childhood friendships don’t always stay the same.
I must say that I ended up liking this story. While I had to read the very end twice to see if I missed something, the more I thought about it, the more I decided it was pretty smart.
This is a debut by Ms. Wright. I thought her writing was quite intriguing and she is someone that I would definitely like to read again.
My thanks to Henry Holt and Co., via Netgalley, for allowing me to read this in exchange for an unbiased review.
Publish date: June 25, 2013.
I thought this was a very busy story as it weaves in and out of the lives of five main characters. The Obermeyers are one of those families whose lives look normal from the outside, but in all actuality, everything is falling apart.
I absolutely loved Julia, aka Jules. At fifteen, she is absolutely laugh out loud funny. She is right on the cusp of changing from sweet and innocent childhood to one where the realities of growing up are starting to appear. The time in life when we discover our parents are not infallible, a grandparent can be down right weird, and childhood friendships don’t always stay the same.
I must say that I ended up liking this story. While I had to read the very end twice to see if I missed something, the more I thought about it, the more I decided it was pretty smart.
This is a debut by Ms. Wright. I thought her writing was quite intriguing and she is someone that I would definitely like to read again.
My thanks to Henry Holt and Co., via Netgalley, for allowing me to read this in exchange for an unbiased review.
Publish date: June 25, 2013.
March 1, 2016
Love All is the debut novel of Callie Wright. Set in Cooperstown in the 1990s, the story follows 3 generations of a family. Many life changes and self revelations occur during a brief period, some of which are tied to a book written in Cooperstown many years prior, The Sex Cure. It is my understanding that this book actually exists and that it created a scandal at the time of its publication.
The author does a fine job depicting the emotions of the characters and their responses to the events and revelations that occur. I felt the author did a better job when she didn't bring The Sex Cure into the storyline. I also thought the climax deserved a stronger ending; I was left with questions. But, like "real" life, rarely is a snapshot in time ever cleanly wrapped up and completely resolved within a few days. Overall, a promising debut. I look forward to more from this author.
The author does a fine job depicting the emotions of the characters and their responses to the events and revelations that occur. I felt the author did a better job when she didn't bring The Sex Cure into the storyline. I also thought the climax deserved a stronger ending; I was left with questions. But, like "real" life, rarely is a snapshot in time ever cleanly wrapped up and completely resolved within a few days. Overall, a promising debut. I look forward to more from this author.
July 1, 2015
Easy read, engaging-enough story, unobjectionable writing. The tennis is so incidental I wonder if it wasn’t a little ploy by the publisher to try and catch the algorithmic coat-tails of Infinite Jest. Whatever.
Among the rotating perspectives, the only voice I found implausible enough to be distracting was Julia’s. It occurs to me, though, that she—a weird teenage girl—is the only character that I either myself or the author have ever been, which raises the interesting possibility that all the rest of them (harassed mother, entrapped husband, jock brother, etc.) are just as off and we
know.*
* Dat logo tho
November 16, 2013
This was a novel that it took me some time to warm up to, but once I was fully enveloped in the Obermeyer family's lives I began to understand them and their inter-generational dynamics and had to delve more into their story and the back story of Cooperstown, NY and the scandalous book that took the small town by storm in 1962. I love how the author wove the old scandal into the lives of this fictional family. Each family member has a voice, and I think this fleshes out the characters as they deal with each other and observe each other through their own eyes. But this is really daughter Julia's story, told in the moment, but then, at the end, from a distance, as her life and concerns shift and her family changes before her eyes.
September 9, 2014
I can't believe how quickly I devoured this book, and I'm so glad I somehow stumbled on it. Narrated by three generations of one family, the book chronicles personal tragedies that become public, and sadnesses and secrets that just as painfully remain hidden. By the end of each chapter, I would decide that narrator was my favorite, then get wrapped up in the next distinctive voice. This also allowed the author to unfold storylines in an intriguing way, to leave some things a mystery for a bit longer.
This isn't a feel good book but provides a lot of food for thought about repeating our parents' mistakes and the imprint that childhood sadness leaves on us.
This isn't a feel good book but provides a lot of food for thought about repeating our parents' mistakes and the imprint that childhood sadness leaves on us.
September 7, 2013
It was interesting to read this book right after finishing Franzen's "The Corrections." Both books examine the intricacies of family dynamics. Franzen's approach was to dig deep and peel away every single layer until nothing salvageable was left. Wright's approach was to skate safely on the thick ice and take no risks. Her characters were intriguing, but the reader never gets to see what makes them tick. And, she took easy shortcuts to deal with difficult plot transitions. It's a shame, because she's quite a good writer. I want to give her three stars, but I closed the book frustrated with her potential.
June 4, 2013
I received an Advance Reader's Copy of this book from the publisher.
Congrats to Callie Wright on this debut novel! Set in 1994 Cooperstown, NY, this is the story of the Obermeyer family: Bob and Joanie, their daughter Anne and her husband Hugh, and grandchildren Teddy and Julia. Following Joanie's death, the family is packing up Bob and Joanie's house and finds Joanie's copy of the book The Sex Cure. Thus begins a reopening of wounds that have been ignored for decades. This book was engaging from the start and I cared deeply about the characters. Beautiful prose.
Congrats to Callie Wright on this debut novel! Set in 1994 Cooperstown, NY, this is the story of the Obermeyer family: Bob and Joanie, their daughter Anne and her husband Hugh, and grandchildren Teddy and Julia. Following Joanie's death, the family is packing up Bob and Joanie's house and finds Joanie's copy of the book The Sex Cure. Thus begins a reopening of wounds that have been ignored for decades. This book was engaging from the start and I cared deeply about the characters. Beautiful prose.
October 13, 2013
This book was only okay. A book club read with a new book club so I was open minded, but quite a disappointment. That was kind of the consensus of everyone during our discussion. This was a book that could have been so much more. I thought grandpa was going to play a larger roll, but he pretty much disappeared after being the opening focus. That was kind of the same story with a lot of the characters. Not enough here to get me to love or hate any of them so I remained pretty indifferent to what happened to them, meaning the book became quite boring.
Would not recommend this one.
Would not recommend this one.
January 27, 2016
Well, I was really intrigued by the concept of this book, especially by the fact that THE SEX CURE was an actual novel written in the 1960s and based on the Cooperstown community's sexual escapades. While I wanted to keep reading to find out what would happen, there was something that was missing in the presentation of the characters, and I didn't really connect with or care truly about any of them, which is an uncommon experience for me when reading. (I put 3 out of 5 stars here, but only because 2.5 isn't an option... I didn't DISlike the book, but I didn't entirely like it either.)
July 16, 2013
This book, advertised as a family drama, drew me to it because I thought it might be closer to the story of the publication of Peyton Place which will be remembered by those in my generation. It was a bit disappointing on that front. I really enjoyed parts of the book, especially being able to examine issues through several perspectives. It did seem uneven to me, resulting in a "good" rating rather than a "great" one. I suspect lots of people would like it better than I did.
August 11, 2013
This book was nothing special, but was an overall good read if you have nothing better to do. It was a nice way to examine people, their relationships, and daily life. I felt the author tried a bit too hard to make the daughter quirky- to the point where she was a bit annoying at times. Warning- the ending was horrible! That's what threw me off to be honest. I kept flipping the page to see if I skipped something, but nope.
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