Out of Love

by Hilma Wolitzer

The child of divorced parents, Terry is desperately hoping her parents will get back together. Except, her dad has already remarried. Teddy discovers love letters written to her mother years earlier. Lively dialogue and believable situations will create warm reader empathy as Teddy painfully resolves to accept the inevitable.

Genres: Young Adult

Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Hilma Wolitzer (b. 1930) is a critically hailed author of literary fiction. She is a recipient of Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature, and a Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award. Her first short story appeared in print when she was thirty-six. Eight years later she published her first novel. Her novels and stories have drawn praise for illuminating the dark interiors of the American home. She lives in New York City.

Reviews

[Danica is Booked · Rating 2 out of 5]

My Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Disclaimers: I received this book for review from the publisher via Netgalley.

My Overall Thoughts/Impressions: I really wanted to like this one and thought it had great potential, but I just couldn't get into it. I don't know if it was because I wasn't the target audience or what, but I just really didn't connect with the story.

The characters were ones that I could easily connect with at the start, but then nothing seemed to happen. I felt like I was constantly waiting for something bigger or something more to happen. It just seemed like there should have been more. I know I'm not articulating this well, but something was missing.

I did like the premise, however. The premise was this: a girl who's hurting over her mother and father's divorce, who's hurt and wishes her mom would try harder. A girl who believes her mom should move on, lose weight, and get her act together. Her dad got married to someone younger and prettier. To her it seems ludicrous to her that somebody could just fall out of love.

That had great potential. I was expecting the character to undergo some kind of transformation or growth, but it was just too little a little too late.

However, the actual writing was really good. I thought she did a great job at drawing me in with her words. The plot was just lacking in my opinion. It was a well-written story; it just couldn't combine all of the elements together to make a great read.

Because of that I would give Hilma one more shot. I think she has what it takes to be a great writer; I just don't think she got there with this novel. I'll be curious to see if she writes anything else and if it was cheap I would check it out just to see if she could put it together.

In Summary: Hilma's novel had great potential and on some level I did enjoy it; however, I felt like it could have been better developed. I wanted to like this one. I just felt like it fell flat.

The Wrap-up: I felt like this novel had a lot of potential, but it just didn't execute. However, if you like books that are more middle grade in scope or books about dealing about divorce, you might like this one. And like I said the actual writing is beautiful.

Love,

Danica Page

[Stefanie Wille · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a good book, very well written.
For me it lacked a bit in the story department. I just kept waiting for something more. There was never a climax of any sort for me. There was a semi-climax and then it just simmered down.

Read my full review on the book here

[nan 🪷 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it. I just finished it today because I had this book going back and forth from January to August because it's only available on our public library (and I don't always have the time to go and have a me time, but this time, I had it). It was an easy read. It captured a glimpse of how kids are affected on their parents' divorce.