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Miss Me a Lot Of
In this poetic, elliptical, and deeply moving coming-of-age novel, the story of Holly, daughter of a powerful and charismatic father and socially anxious mother, is one about the fate of beauty and attractiveness. With nuanced characters and colorful settings, the novel's narrative shifts smartly from the present to the influential past, blurring the line between the two.
254 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2008
About the author
Louise Wareham Leonard
5 books45 followers FIERY WORLD: girl meets Acheron -- God and River of Woe in Hades -- and journeys with him from grief to faith. With a focus on the language of flowers, myths about girls turned to trees -- and reasons to believe.
My all time favorite books are The Enchanted Wood, 03 (Valtat) W or Memory of Childhood (Perec) How German Is It (Abish) All for Nothing (Kempowski), The Tanners (Walser), Charlie Smith, Louise Gluck, Sebald, Theseus (Gide).
Past Praise “Although in style and tone 52 Men differs from either Elizabeth Hardwick’s Sleepless Nights or Renata Adler’s Speedboat, it is, like both of these books, a novel of impressions unified by the author’s sensibility... 52 Men suggests that our identity is at least in part a product of our romantic past... she’s slyly, coolly observant and has transformed her experiences into art. -Amanda Fortini in the Los Angeles Review of Books
My all time favorite books are The Enchanted Wood, 03 (Valtat) W or Memory of Childhood (Perec) How German Is It (Abish) All for Nothing (Kempowski), The Tanners (Walser), Charlie Smith, Louise Gluck, Sebald, Theseus (Gide).
Past Praise “Although in style and tone 52 Men differs from either Elizabeth Hardwick’s Sleepless Nights or Renata Adler’s Speedboat, it is, like both of these books, a novel of impressions unified by the author’s sensibility... 52 Men suggests that our identity is at least in part a product of our romantic past... she’s slyly, coolly observant and has transformed her experiences into art. -Amanda Fortini in the Los Angeles Review of Books
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 31, 2012
In the interest of full disclosure, Louise is a friend of mine. However, this only enhances her writing for me because I enjoy her cutting sense of humor and see it peeking out here and there in her books.
This is an introspective novel that draws the reader in quickly and doesn't loosen its hold throughout. It's a highly enjoyable read, and went far too fast. I finished it in a 2-hour plane ride and am left wanting more of the story.
This is an introspective novel that draws the reader in quickly and doesn't loosen its hold throughout. It's a highly enjoyable read, and went far too fast. I finished it in a 2-hour plane ride and am left wanting more of the story.
April 13, 2025
Review published in the NZ Herald, 14 July 2007
"Fathers and daughters at arm's length"
Miss Me a Lot Of
Louise Wareham Leonard
(Victoria University Press, $30)
Reviewed by Philippa Jamieson
There’s a certain style associated with many Victoria University Press novels, and this book has elements of this: lucid, pared back writing, and a certain emotional distance from (and between) the characters. If you like that sort of thing, you’ll love Louise Wareham Leonard’s second novel, Miss Me a Lot Of.
Much of the story takes place one summer by a lake in New York State, in two palatial houses inhabited by wealthy families with nubile (or not quite) daughters, and fathers with wandering eyes.
Holly is the daughter of a charismatic, philandering banker and a New Zealand mother who has put small-town Wanganui behind her to focus on vintage wallpaper. G (this must be Holly’s way of identifying him) is an Italian importer whose wife is a wannabe artist and interior designer with more money than taste.
Holly and G flirt with each other, not overtly, but the two are often seen down at the lake at midday. One of G’s daughters, fourteen-year-old Elsa, helps Holly’s father with some office work, and develops a desperate and intense teenage crush on him.
What unfolds is a series of uncomfortable but probably quite realistic scenes of the two families’ interactions: jovial and neighbourly on the surface, but with dark undertows of secret attractions. The characters are all caught up with their own self-centred fantasies, most of which are never realised.
There’s a lot of dialogue, which encapsulates the misunderstandings and things left unsaid. For all the talk, the characters are frustratingly vague in their communication. The writing is simple, flowing, and occasionally poetic: ‘The moon was draped onto the lake like a kind of voyeur, up close to us and bright, spreading.’
Holly goes on to have various affairs. Because of her beauty, she finds it easy to attract men, but they don’t seem to see beyond her looks – or perhaps she doesn’t show them – so her relationships are unsuitable and unsatisfying.
She is influenced by what others want from her, like many women, and by what her father says. To an extent she drifts along with it, never plumbing her own depths. She doesn’t appear to know what she wants out of life or relationships, and she doesn’t really let people in – including the reader.
Perhaps this disconnection and distance is partly the point of this novel, but it makes for an arm’s length read. Despite the good writing, I finished feeling flat and unsympathetic towards the characters.
"Fathers and daughters at arm's length"
Miss Me a Lot Of
Louise Wareham Leonard
(Victoria University Press, $30)
Reviewed by Philippa Jamieson
There’s a certain style associated with many Victoria University Press novels, and this book has elements of this: lucid, pared back writing, and a certain emotional distance from (and between) the characters. If you like that sort of thing, you’ll love Louise Wareham Leonard’s second novel, Miss Me a Lot Of.
Much of the story takes place one summer by a lake in New York State, in two palatial houses inhabited by wealthy families with nubile (or not quite) daughters, and fathers with wandering eyes.
Holly is the daughter of a charismatic, philandering banker and a New Zealand mother who has put small-town Wanganui behind her to focus on vintage wallpaper. G (this must be Holly’s way of identifying him) is an Italian importer whose wife is a wannabe artist and interior designer with more money than taste.
Holly and G flirt with each other, not overtly, but the two are often seen down at the lake at midday. One of G’s daughters, fourteen-year-old Elsa, helps Holly’s father with some office work, and develops a desperate and intense teenage crush on him.
What unfolds is a series of uncomfortable but probably quite realistic scenes of the two families’ interactions: jovial and neighbourly on the surface, but with dark undertows of secret attractions. The characters are all caught up with their own self-centred fantasies, most of which are never realised.
There’s a lot of dialogue, which encapsulates the misunderstandings and things left unsaid. For all the talk, the characters are frustratingly vague in their communication. The writing is simple, flowing, and occasionally poetic: ‘The moon was draped onto the lake like a kind of voyeur, up close to us and bright, spreading.’
Holly goes on to have various affairs. Because of her beauty, she finds it easy to attract men, but they don’t seem to see beyond her looks – or perhaps she doesn’t show them – so her relationships are unsuitable and unsatisfying.
She is influenced by what others want from her, like many women, and by what her father says. To an extent she drifts along with it, never plumbing her own depths. She doesn’t appear to know what she wants out of life or relationships, and she doesn’t really let people in – including the reader.
Perhaps this disconnection and distance is partly the point of this novel, but it makes for an arm’s length read. Despite the good writing, I finished feeling flat and unsympathetic towards the characters.
May 29, 2016
Really enjoyed this, probably not everyone's taste but the slow pace of the book added to the tension and eventual resolution.
Holly has been raised by a father who has spent his life striving and achieving, and a mother to whom appearance is everything. These values are rejected by Holly, and she takes her own path, but suffers from the damage done by this lifestyle.
It is a deeply moving book about choice and values.
Holly has been raised by a father who has spent his life striving and achieving, and a mother to whom appearance is everything. These values are rejected by Holly, and she takes her own path, but suffers from the damage done by this lifestyle.
It is a deeply moving book about choice and values.
December 10, 2008
I liked this book a lot - I liked her first one more - Since You ask - but she has a fluid writing style and a lot of insight into relationships and what drives them.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews