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To Be Sung Underwater
Judith Whitman always believed in the kind of love that "picks you up in Akron and sets you down in Rio." Long ago, she once experienced that love. Willy Blunt was a carpenter with a dry wit and a steadfast sense of honor. Marrying him seemed like a natural thing to promise.
But Willy Blunt was not a person you could pick up in Nebraska and transport to Stanford. When Judith left home, she didn't look back.
But Willy Blunt was not a person you could pick up in Nebraska and transport to Stanford. When Judith left home, she didn't look back.
Twenty years later, Judith's marriage is hazy with secrets. In her hand is what may be the phone number for the man who believed she meant it when she said she loved him. If she called, what would he say?
'To be Sung Underwater' is the epic love story of a woman trying to remember, and the man who could not even begin to forget.
436 pages, Hardcover
First published June 2, 2011
154 people are currently reading
4994 people want to read
About the author
Tom McNeal
15 books217 followersTom McNeal was born in Santa Ana, California, where his father and grandfather raised oranges. He spent part of every summer at the Nebraska farm where his mother was born and raised, and after earning a BA in English at UC Berkeley and an MFA in Creative Writing at UC Irvine, he taught school in the town that was the inspiration for his novel, Goodnight, Nebraska. Tom has been a Wallace Stegner Fellow and a Jones Lecturer at Stanford University, and his short stories have been widely anthologized.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,002 reviews
February 7, 2017
Yes, I'm married to him, but I'm still voting. Tom gave this novel to me in manuscript form on Christmas day 2009 after seven years of writing and revision, and I read it all day and into the night. I finished it at 2 a.m. It was the best Christmas I've ever had. I want a book to make me fall in love. I want a book to be wittier and sweeter and just as rueful as the real world. I want a book to surprise and haunt me in all sorts of ways on every page, and to make me wish I could go to the places in it. I want to feel that my heart has been run over by a truck. TO BE SUNG UNDERWATER does all that. When you read it, you'll want to marry Willy Blunt.
August 28, 2011
At its heart, this is a love story-first love to be exact, but it also touches on elements of growing up, the intricacies of marriage and past regrets. The start of this book is like the casting of a line. Almost immediately you snag something delicate, then you begin to very slowly reel the line in. As you reel the line in, you know the line is there but it winks in and out of sight, but, again, you always know it is there.
I can't remember the last time I felt so perfectly cradled in the crook of a story as I was with this one. I felt so connected to this story, it very nearly broke my heart on multiple occasions. I am so touched by this book, I can't recommend it enough.
In this book Judith goes to live with her father in Nebraska after her parents end their marriage. In Nebraska she meets Willy, who turns out to be her first love. Judith goes off to Stanford University and leaves Willy behind with the promise that they will marry when she has finished college. Instead, Judith ends up ending there relationship by simply not being present for their designated weekly phone call, instead of talking with him about it.
Soon after ending her relationship with Willy, she meets Malcolm and eventually marries him. After 27 years without Willy in her life, Judith is consumed by memories of her time with Willy after her daughter rejects a bedroom set that use to be hers when she was a girl in Nebraska. She takes the bedroom set to a self storage unit and steals any opportunity to spend time with the set. One thing leads to another and she hires a private detective to find Willy. She eventually connects with him and is presented with the reality of what the end of the relationship did to both of them.
Writing this review is giving me that fluttery, light feeling in my chest and I find myself wanting to read it again already. This book contains equal parts beauty and tragedy and it will stick with me for years to come.
I can't remember the last time I felt so perfectly cradled in the crook of a story as I was with this one. I felt so connected to this story, it very nearly broke my heart on multiple occasions. I am so touched by this book, I can't recommend it enough.
In this book Judith goes to live with her father in Nebraska after her parents end their marriage. In Nebraska she meets Willy, who turns out to be her first love. Judith goes off to Stanford University and leaves Willy behind with the promise that they will marry when she has finished college. Instead, Judith ends up ending there relationship by simply not being present for their designated weekly phone call, instead of talking with him about it.
Soon after ending her relationship with Willy, she meets Malcolm and eventually marries him. After 27 years without Willy in her life, Judith is consumed by memories of her time with Willy after her daughter rejects a bedroom set that use to be hers when she was a girl in Nebraska. She takes the bedroom set to a self storage unit and steals any opportunity to spend time with the set. One thing leads to another and she hires a private detective to find Willy. She eventually connects with him and is presented with the reality of what the end of the relationship did to both of them.
Writing this review is giving me that fluttery, light feeling in my chest and I find myself wanting to read it again already. This book contains equal parts beauty and tragedy and it will stick with me for years to come.
March 7, 2016
Reading McNeal’s novel is like wrapping yourself up in a warm cocoon and never wanting to leave. This is the story of first love & the joy that comes of that innocence. It’s about the choices in life we make and how they might have played out differently. Judith, mid 40’s, has reached an impasse in her life: as a wife, a mother and in her job. When her daughter decides she wants a new bedroom set, the memories are set in motion. Judith recalls the love and hard work that went into refinishing the old maple set. The relationship that developed between her and her father; as well as her first love, Willy, whom she never forgot. The past is brought to present when she reaches out to him and discovers she never stopped loving him. As with any good love story, there is heartbreak and heartache. McNeal weaves a story of unforgettable, scarred and human characters. 4★
June 8, 2011
I'm frankly so humbled and left lingering in the aftermath of Tom McNeal's writing that I hardly know how to express myself. A strange place for me; ask anyone who knows me!
Having just finished "To Be Sung Underwater" today, I find myself heart-weary and contemplative...much like I felt after reading Pat Conroy's "The Prince of Tides," though the story lines are nothing alike and the protagonists are far from the same. It's just the quality of how the books both reach something deep inside, something that rings so near and dear and so close to the heart. This novel left me breathless, left me aching and longing for just one more time...just one more piece of the story...just a bit more...because I didn't want to put my own depth of feeling aside...again.
Mr. McNeal is an author of extraordinary skill, with the capacity to share a depth of humanity and feeling that reaches beyond our minds to the heart of us. He's one of those special, wise men that are so rare, he has to be beloved by all who know him. He's one of those writers who will live a long time in American literature.
He's a herald of the Midwest and the natural, simpler ways of life that are the bread and butter of our nation. He's an author whose work will come to mind often through the years. He gives us hope that through all the stresses, the paths leading to dead ends, and the corruption of our Age, love remains the constant and the most precious gift we can attain. We can still believe in love. And he reminds us that young love is as valuable and real as a love forged in later years.
"To Be Sung Underwater" is a love story that will carry you along through joy and misunderstandings. It will take you back in time, and it will stir up memories. As Judith begins her journey of finding a young love with Willy, walks away from it and returns to find him again many years later, we travel alongside in our own fantasies of "what ifs." Tom McNeal causes us to reflect.
"To Be Sung Underwater" is also a story about the history of a marriage of minds. A marriage like some of ours...forged by intellectual stimulation and likeness, a common goal and the following of a "better life" with all its rewards. It's the story of a marriage of good intentions and good companions...a marriage that makes sense and is a good match, but that fails over the long haul because it may not have had a foundation in true love. Not the love. Tom McNeal causes us to make an assessment.
Judith's teenaged years to her days of middle age reveal her to be a character both powerful in her determination to know and rescue herself, as well as to save her life light which often seemed to be eaking away. The eventual marriage she's stayed in for nearly 20 years has become brittle and poisonious for her. Finding her husband's assistant in her own hotel room with a man she thinks may be her husband, is one of the catalysts that makes her move back in time to find where she lost sight of her self. Tom McNeal causes us to search ourselves.
Willy of course represents lost dreams and the road less travelled. He's the beautiful boy of summer, the boy of all that's simple and natural and stressless. He's the Garden of Eden. He personifies love and its joys and passion. Willy is the one who makes time stand still and who is never forgotten~the love of Judith's life. He is the one she can be her authentic self with, and the one who really knows her. Willy is her safe place in a world that's crumbling around her...the one whom she loves eternally and who loves her, too. Tom McNeal offers us this opportunity to go back to those days when we were young and in love...
But, even in Paradise things are not perfect as we and Judith and Willy know. Life steps in. The campsite built in memory of their time spent there as young sweethearts is aging and in need of repair. Willy is not well. Judith has a difficult time allowing him to take her watch away...losing herself in a world where time stands still. And, as winter approaches, even nature sings a different song. The bitter sweetness of their reuniting is simply beautiful and painful to read about.
All I want to say in the end is that you must take the fastest way possible to get your hands on this book. It's a novel of immense character and beauty. You will never forget it. This author will touch your heart and soul with his story of love and loss, of regaining oneself, of well-meaning betrayal and of life and death.
It's one of those rare books I plan to read again. I leave you with this passage:
"Here's the thing, Judy. Here's the thing we have to look at and accept. For you, I was a chapter--a good chapter, maybe, or even your favorite chapter, but still, just a chapter--and for me, you were the book."
"No, no, Willy, what you're saying about me--that's just not ture," she said, but she didn't say what she thought was the truer, darker truth: that, to use his methaphor, he had been most of the book, but she had been too careless or self-absorbed or oblivious to know it, and it was too late to change the ending.
And of this poem by Horace Mann written on a Victorian punch-paper sampler that Judith's father gave her:
Lost,
yesterday,
somewhere between Sunrise and Sunset,
two golden hours,
each set with sixty diamond minutes.
No reward is offered,
for they are gone forever.
This is simply a great novel written by a man of substance and depth. 5 stars...6 if I had them to give.
Deborah/TheBookishDame
Having just finished "To Be Sung Underwater" today, I find myself heart-weary and contemplative...much like I felt after reading Pat Conroy's "The Prince of Tides," though the story lines are nothing alike and the protagonists are far from the same. It's just the quality of how the books both reach something deep inside, something that rings so near and dear and so close to the heart. This novel left me breathless, left me aching and longing for just one more time...just one more piece of the story...just a bit more...because I didn't want to put my own depth of feeling aside...again.
Mr. McNeal is an author of extraordinary skill, with the capacity to share a depth of humanity and feeling that reaches beyond our minds to the heart of us. He's one of those special, wise men that are so rare, he has to be beloved by all who know him. He's one of those writers who will live a long time in American literature.
He's a herald of the Midwest and the natural, simpler ways of life that are the bread and butter of our nation. He's an author whose work will come to mind often through the years. He gives us hope that through all the stresses, the paths leading to dead ends, and the corruption of our Age, love remains the constant and the most precious gift we can attain. We can still believe in love. And he reminds us that young love is as valuable and real as a love forged in later years.
"To Be Sung Underwater" is a love story that will carry you along through joy and misunderstandings. It will take you back in time, and it will stir up memories. As Judith begins her journey of finding a young love with Willy, walks away from it and returns to find him again many years later, we travel alongside in our own fantasies of "what ifs." Tom McNeal causes us to reflect.
"To Be Sung Underwater" is also a story about the history of a marriage of minds. A marriage like some of ours...forged by intellectual stimulation and likeness, a common goal and the following of a "better life" with all its rewards. It's the story of a marriage of good intentions and good companions...a marriage that makes sense and is a good match, but that fails over the long haul because it may not have had a foundation in true love. Not the love. Tom McNeal causes us to make an assessment.
Judith's teenaged years to her days of middle age reveal her to be a character both powerful in her determination to know and rescue herself, as well as to save her life light which often seemed to be eaking away. The eventual marriage she's stayed in for nearly 20 years has become brittle and poisonious for her. Finding her husband's assistant in her own hotel room with a man she thinks may be her husband, is one of the catalysts that makes her move back in time to find where she lost sight of her self. Tom McNeal causes us to search ourselves.
Willy of course represents lost dreams and the road less travelled. He's the beautiful boy of summer, the boy of all that's simple and natural and stressless. He's the Garden of Eden. He personifies love and its joys and passion. Willy is the one who makes time stand still and who is never forgotten~the love of Judith's life. He is the one she can be her authentic self with, and the one who really knows her. Willy is her safe place in a world that's crumbling around her...the one whom she loves eternally and who loves her, too. Tom McNeal offers us this opportunity to go back to those days when we were young and in love...
But, even in Paradise things are not perfect as we and Judith and Willy know. Life steps in. The campsite built in memory of their time spent there as young sweethearts is aging and in need of repair. Willy is not well. Judith has a difficult time allowing him to take her watch away...losing herself in a world where time stands still. And, as winter approaches, even nature sings a different song. The bitter sweetness of their reuniting is simply beautiful and painful to read about.
All I want to say in the end is that you must take the fastest way possible to get your hands on this book. It's a novel of immense character and beauty. You will never forget it. This author will touch your heart and soul with his story of love and loss, of regaining oneself, of well-meaning betrayal and of life and death.
It's one of those rare books I plan to read again. I leave you with this passage:
"Here's the thing, Judy. Here's the thing we have to look at and accept. For you, I was a chapter--a good chapter, maybe, or even your favorite chapter, but still, just a chapter--and for me, you were the book."
"No, no, Willy, what you're saying about me--that's just not ture," she said, but she didn't say what she thought was the truer, darker truth: that, to use his methaphor, he had been most of the book, but she had been too careless or self-absorbed or oblivious to know it, and it was too late to change the ending.
And of this poem by Horace Mann written on a Victorian punch-paper sampler that Judith's father gave her:
Lost,
yesterday,
somewhere between Sunrise and Sunset,
two golden hours,
each set with sixty diamond minutes.
No reward is offered,
for they are gone forever.
This is simply a great novel written by a man of substance and depth. 5 stars...6 if I had them to give.
Deborah/TheBookishDame
June 17, 2012
To be flung underwater and anchored there with a giant boulder to prevent it from ever resurfacing.
April 16, 2014
I don't know how to review this book. It was deeply moving and I don't have a category to neatly slide it under. The writing is absolutely beautiful and the experience of reading the book is visceral. Reader's Digest version misses the symbolism and the gathering of different threads to be mulled over later and braided together. But here it is, anyway:
Today Judith is a 44 year old woman working in television/movie editing. She is married to Malcolm, a man she met at Stanford and a mother of Camille. Malcolm is a banker. Camille is a teenager who is a success story waiting to happen. She grew up in Vermont until her mother's midlife crisis shortly after the disintegration of the marriage. Her mother became a certified hippie who didn't wear a bra, had friends over until all hours and enjoyed wine and casual sex. Judith wanted out. Judith went to live with her father in Nebraska. Judith was 14.
In Nebraska, Judith is living with her college professor father who is possibly having multiple forays with women but he is discreet. He and Judith enjoy a close relationship and they quietly know they love one another. He provides for her needs and encourages her dreams of Ivy League colleges. Judith is not close to anybody in particular except a girl named Deena. Besides her time with Deena, Judith is simply biding her time, drinking in the redneck behavior and writing her life story into a movie inside her head.
When Judith graduates from high school, she is reacquainted with a man (age 24?) named Willy Blunt who loves his beer, finish carpentry, picnics in the backwoods, and dreams of being anything but a farmer like his father. That relationship is strained. Judith and Willy have a summer of a torrid love affair with situations popping up that would change the course of both of their lives. No, there are no unplanned pregnancies or the usual YA drama. This is not a YA book.
Late in the summer, after a particularly surprising and violent turn of events, Judith is suddenly accepted to Stanford on the day Willy proposes to her. Judith accepts the proposal and promises to return after a year to marry. She then gets on a train and that is the end of Judith and Willy.
27 years later, Judith is wondering about her husband's fidelity, her career satisfaction, and what happened to Willy and Deena? She does some digging and they are reunited. During this phase of the book, my heart hurt. It absolutely ached. What had been done couldn't be undone but they spent quality time together until the end of the book which haunts me even now. I didn't hate the ending, it simply disturbs me.
So - rather than continue my own diatribes, I am simply going to write some questions that would be interesting to address if this book were chosen for a book club WHICH IT SHOULD BE - especially by a group of women over the age of 35.
1. Judith is editing films. How is this ironic? If you could edit your own life, what would you cut out, extend, or gloss over? Pick one event from your own life and rewrite it (Okay, that's an essay question. Perhaps the rest will go this direction. I haven't thought this out, yet).
2. Malcolm is not clearly vilified. Do you believe he was cheating on Judith? What difference would it have made for Judith to know for certain?
3. Why did Judith marry Malcolm? Compare and contrast Malcolm and Willy.
4. In an alternate, hypothetical story, Judith does not go to Stanford. How would the story be different? Would Willy still be an alcoholic? Would he still be a successful contractor? What foreshadowing is evident for Willy's life 27 years later?
5. Willy never learns to swim. Judith is comfortable in and out of the water. She adapts easily to her surroundings (see question 6). One scene has Judith swimming and begging to teach Willy how to swim. He refuses. She asks key questions - what if his life depended on it? What if her life depended on it? He said he would jump in if her life depended on it. How does this statement relate to his last decision in the book?
6. Could Willy have adapted to a life outside of Nebraska? How would that look in 2 years? 10 years? 27 years?
7. Is it possible for someone to get over the one true love?
8. How could Willy's life have been different? Could he have gone to college some place? Could he have been a lawyer? Could he have had a life outside of Nebraska without Judith?
9. Compare the parent/child relationships of the characters; Judith/her father, Judith/her mother, Willy/his father, Willy/his mother, Judith's father/grandmother, Judith/Camille, Malcolm/Camille. Does history repeat itself in any of these relationships?
10. Why is the story about Judith's parents and the single car crash with the other couple significant?
11. Where is your first true love? Do you still think of him/her? Would you sacrifice your life today to be with him/her? How would your life be different?
There is so much more to discuss in this book. I honestly still don't know why the title was chosen. This is simply one of those books to take your time reading and pondering.
Today Judith is a 44 year old woman working in television/movie editing. She is married to Malcolm, a man she met at Stanford and a mother of Camille. Malcolm is a banker. Camille is a teenager who is a success story waiting to happen. She grew up in Vermont until her mother's midlife crisis shortly after the disintegration of the marriage. Her mother became a certified hippie who didn't wear a bra, had friends over until all hours and enjoyed wine and casual sex. Judith wanted out. Judith went to live with her father in Nebraska. Judith was 14.
In Nebraska, Judith is living with her college professor father who is possibly having multiple forays with women but he is discreet. He and Judith enjoy a close relationship and they quietly know they love one another. He provides for her needs and encourages her dreams of Ivy League colleges. Judith is not close to anybody in particular except a girl named Deena. Besides her time with Deena, Judith is simply biding her time, drinking in the redneck behavior and writing her life story into a movie inside her head.
When Judith graduates from high school, she is reacquainted with a man (age 24?) named Willy Blunt who loves his beer, finish carpentry, picnics in the backwoods, and dreams of being anything but a farmer like his father. That relationship is strained. Judith and Willy have a summer of a torrid love affair with situations popping up that would change the course of both of their lives. No, there are no unplanned pregnancies or the usual YA drama. This is not a YA book.
Late in the summer, after a particularly surprising and violent turn of events, Judith is suddenly accepted to Stanford on the day Willy proposes to her. Judith accepts the proposal and promises to return after a year to marry. She then gets on a train and that is the end of Judith and Willy.
27 years later, Judith is wondering about her husband's fidelity, her career satisfaction, and what happened to Willy and Deena? She does some digging and they are reunited. During this phase of the book, my heart hurt. It absolutely ached. What had been done couldn't be undone but they spent quality time together until the end of the book which haunts me even now. I didn't hate the ending, it simply disturbs me.
So - rather than continue my own diatribes, I am simply going to write some questions that would be interesting to address if this book were chosen for a book club WHICH IT SHOULD BE - especially by a group of women over the age of 35.
1. Judith is editing films. How is this ironic? If you could edit your own life, what would you cut out, extend, or gloss over? Pick one event from your own life and rewrite it (Okay, that's an essay question. Perhaps the rest will go this direction. I haven't thought this out, yet).
2. Malcolm is not clearly vilified. Do you believe he was cheating on Judith? What difference would it have made for Judith to know for certain?
3. Why did Judith marry Malcolm? Compare and contrast Malcolm and Willy.
4. In an alternate, hypothetical story, Judith does not go to Stanford. How would the story be different? Would Willy still be an alcoholic? Would he still be a successful contractor? What foreshadowing is evident for Willy's life 27 years later?
5. Willy never learns to swim. Judith is comfortable in and out of the water. She adapts easily to her surroundings (see question 6). One scene has Judith swimming and begging to teach Willy how to swim. He refuses. She asks key questions - what if his life depended on it? What if her life depended on it? He said he would jump in if her life depended on it. How does this statement relate to his last decision in the book?
6. Could Willy have adapted to a life outside of Nebraska? How would that look in 2 years? 10 years? 27 years?
7. Is it possible for someone to get over the one true love?
8. How could Willy's life have been different? Could he have gone to college some place? Could he have been a lawyer? Could he have had a life outside of Nebraska without Judith?
9. Compare the parent/child relationships of the characters; Judith/her father, Judith/her mother, Willy/his father, Willy/his mother, Judith's father/grandmother, Judith/Camille, Malcolm/Camille. Does history repeat itself in any of these relationships?
10. Why is the story about Judith's parents and the single car crash with the other couple significant?
11. Where is your first true love? Do you still think of him/her? Would you sacrifice your life today to be with him/her? How would your life be different?
There is so much more to discuss in this book. I honestly still don't know why the title was chosen. This is simply one of those books to take your time reading and pondering.
December 16, 2011
I honestly cannot figure out if I loved this book or hated it. I became engaged in the story and yet found it familiar. I liked the main character, Judith, as a little girl and teen, but really disliked her as an adult. I still haven't decided if her teenage love, Willy, was a good guy or a conniving underhanded sneak.
The story involves a film editor named Judith who lived in California, but spent her teenage years living with her lovely father (a totally likable character) in Nebraska after her parents separate. The tale goes back and forth between the present in which Judith must be having a mid-life crisis and the past where Judith met and fell in love with Willy, ten years her senior. In the present, she suspects that her husband (who is a completely undeveloped character) might be cheating on her, but that is never completely confirmed. She has taken to hiding herself in a storage unit where she has set up her childhood furniture, neglecting her job and ignoring her daughter who she clearly loves. The language is lovely, but there is too much of it. The story takes far too long to tell and the ending is completely unsatisfactory and somewhat unbelievable.
The story involves a film editor named Judith who lived in California, but spent her teenage years living with her lovely father (a totally likable character) in Nebraska after her parents separate. The tale goes back and forth between the present in which Judith must be having a mid-life crisis and the past where Judith met and fell in love with Willy, ten years her senior. In the present, she suspects that her husband (who is a completely undeveloped character) might be cheating on her, but that is never completely confirmed. She has taken to hiding herself in a storage unit where she has set up her childhood furniture, neglecting her job and ignoring her daughter who she clearly loves. The language is lovely, but there is too much of it. The story takes far too long to tell and the ending is completely unsatisfactory and somewhat unbelievable.
November 25, 2012
This novel has gotten great critical acclaim, but it left me empty. The story goes back and forth from Judith's high school years in a small Nebraska town and present day where she lives in southern California with her banker husband and only child while she works as a television film editor.
The flashbacks are more interesting, partly because Judith's dad and mother were interesting....Present day Judith and her husband not so much.Unless whining about your life is interesting.
I'm in a minority on this book, but it just didn't do it for me
The flashbacks are more interesting, partly because Judith's dad and mother were interesting....Present day Judith and her husband not so much.Unless whining about your life is interesting.
I'm in a minority on this book, but it just didn't do it for me
January 31, 2014
I am baffled by the high praise this book is receiving. Did not like the main character at all. She was selfish, snobby and a terrible mother. She never deserved Willy in the first place. I found the constant witty comments between all the characters annoying. The ending was just sad, pointless and abrupt. All in all, highly disappointing. Wasted two weeks of my life reading this.
July 17, 2012
Can one ever forget their first love? Should one go back and try to find that love and see what just might happen?
This occurs in this novel which brought about so many emotions and feelings that touched me deeply and soulfully. The story deals with the blandness of marriage, the longing for something of long ago, and the ability to try and recapture the moments that thrilled and excited our protagonists, Willy and Judith. Judith seems haunted by a number of ghosts: is her husband having an affair, does she still love her old boyfriend, does she have any kind of life or is she caught in that automaton reality of raising a child, working, and being unfulfilled? ...and Willy, what has become of him?
Not many of us get that second chance to go back and I think the fascination with this lyrical novel is just that, Judith does go back. Willy, adorable and delightful in his youth, can not compete with the lure of Judith's going away to school and becoming something. He was easy to fall in love with and yet Judith left him. I loved how at one point near the book's conclusion he tells Judith..I was a chapter in your book of life while for me you were the entire book. Thinking back on this novel, as I have done since I finished and even dreamt about it, I find I have to believe that it is so, that one person as a couple or in a marriage, loves more than the other. Perhaps Mr McNeal believes this too as we see Willy become consumed by his love for Judith so much so that it seems to forever govern his life with heartbreak.
One wants very much for them to rekindle that young love. How fitting that we pretty much always want that happy ending, that riding off into the sunset together conclusion. This ending will break your heart and leave you with an abject sense of sadness and perhaps even melancholy. Perhaps, too, we really can never go home again.
For all of us who strive to be the book in someone's life, this was an excellent story, a story of true devotion and limitless love.
This occurs in this novel which brought about so many emotions and feelings that touched me deeply and soulfully. The story deals with the blandness of marriage, the longing for something of long ago, and the ability to try and recapture the moments that thrilled and excited our protagonists, Willy and Judith. Judith seems haunted by a number of ghosts: is her husband having an affair, does she still love her old boyfriend, does she have any kind of life or is she caught in that automaton reality of raising a child, working, and being unfulfilled? ...and Willy, what has become of him?
Not many of us get that second chance to go back and I think the fascination with this lyrical novel is just that, Judith does go back. Willy, adorable and delightful in his youth, can not compete with the lure of Judith's going away to school and becoming something. He was easy to fall in love with and yet Judith left him. I loved how at one point near the book's conclusion he tells Judith..I was a chapter in your book of life while for me you were the entire book. Thinking back on this novel, as I have done since I finished and even dreamt about it, I find I have to believe that it is so, that one person as a couple or in a marriage, loves more than the other. Perhaps Mr McNeal believes this too as we see Willy become consumed by his love for Judith so much so that it seems to forever govern his life with heartbreak.
One wants very much for them to rekindle that young love. How fitting that we pretty much always want that happy ending, that riding off into the sunset together conclusion. This ending will break your heart and leave you with an abject sense of sadness and perhaps even melancholy. Perhaps, too, we really can never go home again.
For all of us who strive to be the book in someone's life, this was an excellent story, a story of true devotion and limitless love.
May 15, 2015
To Be Sung Underwater is a wonderful, heart-wrenching story of first love and true devotion.
For me a little slow at the get-go with character Judith (Judy) that I didn't particularly like, but the story took a gripping hold on me when carpenter Willy Blunt entered the picture. And while I didn't care much for Judy at the onset, my opinion of her really took a dive
With family secrets past and present, and a dangerously crazy neighbor added to the mix of interesting characters, I could not stop reading.....all the way to the absolutely unforgettable end.
If you enjoy a good old-fashioned love story and like this quote: "For you, I was a chapter-----a good chapter, maybe, or even your favorite chapter, but still, just a chapter-----and for me, you were the book.".......read the novel!
January 1, 2013
This novel about a 40-something LA film editor whose thoughts begin drifting back to the summer she loved a Nebraska farm boy gets off to a promising start. It was recommended to me for the quality of the writing, and I was in fact impressed with McNeal's lovely, carefully crafted prose. I was also drawn into the thoughtfully developed characters - not just the main character, Judith, but also her parents, who were struggling to deal with the impacts of their choices in a rapidly changing world.
If the first part of the book hadn't been so well done, perhaps I would be less critical of the major missteps the author makes in the middle and at the end.
While I get what McNeal was going for in this book and admire his ability to craft beautiful prose, I'm stunned he had such a tin ear towards his characters in the second half of the book, especially after he demonstrated such acute sensitivity towards them in the first. For me, it's more of a two-star book, but I'm bumping it up since I really did admire the prose, and suspect I may be overly harsh in my judgements because of the high standard he set for himself.
If the first part of the book hadn't been so well done, perhaps I would be less critical of the major missteps the author makes in the middle and at the end.
While I get what McNeal was going for in this book and admire his ability to craft beautiful prose, I'm stunned he had such a tin ear towards his characters in the second half of the book, especially after he demonstrated such acute sensitivity towards them in the first. For me, it's more of a two-star book, but I'm bumping it up since I really did admire the prose, and suspect I may be overly harsh in my judgements because of the high standard he set for himself.
September 2, 2012
1.5 stars. This book is weird. It had fantastic praise using words like beautiful, magical, gorgeous, smart. And I guess the writing is technically nice but it’s weird somehow. I kept looking on the back cover to check if the author was British. For example, within a couple pages two separate people were described as “peevish.” Not that this word is overtly British, it’s just that the way Malcolm and Judith (and the other characters) speak is quite formal, oftentimes condescending (imagine a self-important professor as portrayed on Saturday Night Live) especially for people living in Southern California (and Nebraska!), especially for people in the movie industry. Another choice line (Malcolm to Judith): “you’re still the fetchingest creature I’ve ever laid eyes on, and I love you madly.” Now part of this is Malcolm’s affectation but he is far from the only person who speaks like this. There are Nebraska farmers with barely a high school education and they also use words like fetching and peevish and piggish. Even their teenage daughter sounds like an old British man.
So Judith is a film editor married to a banker and living in LA. She thinks back to one summer where she lived with her Dad in Nebraska and fell in love with a simple guy named Willy. Memories and pondering ensue. It took me a long time to get into this, in fact I almost stopped reading altogether many times. The middle was stronger/more interesting. Though Judith sucks as a character her (teenage) relationship with her father is sweet. I was somewhat drawn along toward the end as I wanted to see what happened to/with Willy. The fact I did see this all the way through elevates it to 2 stars from 1. But for whatever reason I just did not “get” this book, nor its accolades.
So Judith is a film editor married to a banker and living in LA. She thinks back to one summer where she lived with her Dad in Nebraska and fell in love with a simple guy named Willy. Memories and pondering ensue. It took me a long time to get into this, in fact I almost stopped reading altogether many times. The middle was stronger/more interesting. Though Judith sucks as a character her (teenage) relationship with her father is sweet. I was somewhat drawn along toward the end as I wanted to see what happened to/with Willy. The fact I did see this all the way through elevates it to 2 stars from 1. But for whatever reason I just did not “get” this book, nor its accolades.
August 1, 2012
a couple of takeaways from this book:
1. judith is having a mid-life crisis. she doesn't feel passionate about her marriage; she is stressed out at work; she is semi-alienated from her teenage daughter. with this context, it is understandable that she begins to long for a time in her life when she was happier, felt more free and alive.
2. when peoples' first experiences with love are cut short before the passion wanes, they always idealize the first love. we remember every thrilling detail--the conversations, the connections, the first kisses, touches, etc. because they are young and unmarried, they are only imagining a life together. they have not yet been subjected to the everyday aspects of life that provide wear and tear on a relationship--the bills, the household chores, the competing careers, and the child rearing. i'm convinced that if judith and willy would have gotten married and made a life for themselves in nebraska, that life would have looked very much like the one that he had with deena.
3. just like judith, i was left with some questions about why willy did what he did at the end of the book. also, i appreciated that there were so many loose ends at the end of this novel. it leaves room for imagining what might happen next as judith reconciles her past self with her present self.
1. judith is having a mid-life crisis. she doesn't feel passionate about her marriage; she is stressed out at work; she is semi-alienated from her teenage daughter. with this context, it is understandable that she begins to long for a time in her life when she was happier, felt more free and alive.
2. when peoples' first experiences with love are cut short before the passion wanes, they always idealize the first love. we remember every thrilling detail--the conversations, the connections, the first kisses, touches, etc. because they are young and unmarried, they are only imagining a life together. they have not yet been subjected to the everyday aspects of life that provide wear and tear on a relationship--the bills, the household chores, the competing careers, and the child rearing. i'm convinced that if judith and willy would have gotten married and made a life for themselves in nebraska, that life would have looked very much like the one that he had with deena.
3. just like judith, i was left with some questions about why willy did what he did at the end of the book. also, i appreciated that there were so many loose ends at the end of this novel. it leaves room for imagining what might happen next as judith reconciles her past self with her present self.
May 29, 2011
This is one of those books that kind of sneaks up on you, draws you in, and then hits you with a heartbreaking, unforgettable ending. At first, I wasn't sure I was going to like it, but as I kept reading I found myself falling in love with the characters. McNeal's writing is economical and beautiful, and it truly soars when he writes about the Nebraska landscape & the flawed, broken characters who inhabit it. The ending -- well, some people probably won't like it, but it was the right ending for these characters, and I think my heart broke just a little.
June 23, 2012
A tremendous read, something that will stay with me for quite some time. This one grabbed me from the first page. The prologue made me say "Whaaaaaa?" and I was sucked right in, with some big questions from the start.
The book transitions from past to present, which are somehow equally compelling. You may not love the protagonist, but you can't help but be interested in her. She's pretty complex, and as the story unfolds, her motivations become easier to understand and relate to.
The book examines love and marriage, primarily, but there's much more to it than that. His writing sweeps you away to a place I never thought I'd even want to visit, really. In this book, though, Nebraska isn't just the primary setting. It becomes another character.
I'm dying to discuss this one, because the ending left some pretty big questions unanswered. And I'll definitely be looking up this author's other works. I also want to thank Markus Zusak for his 5-star rating of this book, which drew me to it. The question now is what to read next. I've already tried several, but it looks like this one is a hard act to follow.
The book transitions from past to present, which are somehow equally compelling. You may not love the protagonist, but you can't help but be interested in her. She's pretty complex, and as the story unfolds, her motivations become easier to understand and relate to.
The book examines love and marriage, primarily, but there's much more to it than that. His writing sweeps you away to a place I never thought I'd even want to visit, really. In this book, though, Nebraska isn't just the primary setting. It becomes another character.
I'm dying to discuss this one, because the ending left some pretty big questions unanswered. And I'll definitely be looking up this author's other works. I also want to thank Markus Zusak for his 5-star rating of this book, which drew me to it. The question now is what to read next. I've already tried several, but it looks like this one is a hard act to follow.
September 5, 2017
Judith, a 40-something is looking at her marriage but also looking back to her teenage years in Nebraska where she spent time with her father who is separated from her mother. Her teenage years were spent with her first love, Willy Blunt, a fabulous character and a great first love, but he has his flaws too. There's much retelling and reminiscing, but the book also touches on elements of growing up, the intricacies of marriage and past regrets. Should she try to contact Willy after all these years? This brings back memories of old boyfriends of mine. Willy very closely resembles an old boyfriend and for that reason alone, my own memories, I enjoyed this book, but there's lots to like about the whole story and Judith and her present day circumstances. I love the title and cover too.
November 3, 2011
The first time we fall in love, lasts forever.
Love is complex. It can uplift spirits and it can bring them crashing to the ground. Traversing between Vermont and Nebraska where her parents have separated to, Judith meets and falls in love with Willy Blunt. They separate, promising to wait for one another when she leaves for college. But now Judith is introduced to a different world and has new sets of friend. She meets Malcolm and consciously starts to let go of her past; starts to let go of Willy and the promises she made him.
In her mid-forties, Judith is living in California. She is married to Malcolm and together they have an intelligent teenage daughter. In her career, she's a successful film editor and puts in long hours to meet deadlines. By all counts, Judith has everything a modern career woman aspires to in the 21st-century. But Judith is not happy. She suspects her husband is having an affair; her daughter behaves distant and she feels threatened by the new breed of ambitious editors gunning for her job. As Judith becomes more disillusioned with her life, her thoughts return to happier days. And to Willy Blunt. At this point the author raises the philosophical question: if you had the chance to reunite with your first love, would you do it?
For Judith it means returning to Nebraska and track down Willy Blunt. Here we are asked whether two people ever love equally. In Nebraska, Judith discovers Willy shrunken by life. Married with two sons, he has never forgotten Judith. Alone in the log cabin he has built, he confesses to her these poignant words.
For you, I was a chapter-a good chapter, maybe, or even your favorite chapter, but still, just a chapter-and for me, you were the book.
Although To Be Sung Under Water has all the ingredients of a sweet and tender love story, and although McNeal's writing is staggering, I could not find myself being drawn to the story or the characters. I understand that there are loves that never leave our hearts; feelings that no amount of time or distance can erode. But I failed to understand Judith. She has a comfortable life. Her suspicions over her husband's infidelity are unfounded and her relationship with her daughter can be resolved if she spends less time holing herself in her past and more time with her.
I had high expectations from To Be Sung Under Water. I really hoped to fall in love, to swoon and be heart sick over the unrequited love. But in the end, the story failed to connect with me.
Love is complex. It can uplift spirits and it can bring them crashing to the ground. Traversing between Vermont and Nebraska where her parents have separated to, Judith meets and falls in love with Willy Blunt. They separate, promising to wait for one another when she leaves for college. But now Judith is introduced to a different world and has new sets of friend. She meets Malcolm and consciously starts to let go of her past; starts to let go of Willy and the promises she made him.
In her mid-forties, Judith is living in California. She is married to Malcolm and together they have an intelligent teenage daughter. In her career, she's a successful film editor and puts in long hours to meet deadlines. By all counts, Judith has everything a modern career woman aspires to in the 21st-century. But Judith is not happy. She suspects her husband is having an affair; her daughter behaves distant and she feels threatened by the new breed of ambitious editors gunning for her job. As Judith becomes more disillusioned with her life, her thoughts return to happier days. And to Willy Blunt. At this point the author raises the philosophical question: if you had the chance to reunite with your first love, would you do it?
For Judith it means returning to Nebraska and track down Willy Blunt. Here we are asked whether two people ever love equally. In Nebraska, Judith discovers Willy shrunken by life. Married with two sons, he has never forgotten Judith. Alone in the log cabin he has built, he confesses to her these poignant words.
For you, I was a chapter-a good chapter, maybe, or even your favorite chapter, but still, just a chapter-and for me, you were the book.
Although To Be Sung Under Water has all the ingredients of a sweet and tender love story, and although McNeal's writing is staggering, I could not find myself being drawn to the story or the characters. I understand that there are loves that never leave our hearts; feelings that no amount of time or distance can erode. But I failed to understand Judith. She has a comfortable life. Her suspicions over her husband's infidelity are unfounded and her relationship with her daughter can be resolved if she spends less time holing herself in her past and more time with her.
I had high expectations from To Be Sung Under Water. I really hoped to fall in love, to swoon and be heart sick over the unrequited love. But in the end, the story failed to connect with me.
March 6, 2014
Maybe the title is a direction for how best to read this book?
I bought this book because of all the great reviews over on Amazon. Reviews that said such things as "a real love story at last"...I'm guessing these are the same people that enjoyed Madame Bovary in college.
The author tries for a clever stylized book that never achieves even a modicum of greatness. I'm not sure the writer liked Judith, but I'm sure I did not like her! The story is told in a past present mix. The first part gets tedious because you have one chapter of Judith in the present, realizing she is unhappy with her life, but not quite sure why, and then you have a chapter of young Judith, a glimpse of how she got to where she is. It goes back and forth like that. Then in part two (yes the author has created three parts)you mostly get young Judith. She is not an unpleasant kid, but she is kind of snotty and places herself above others. Typical teen. When present day Judith wonders about her own teen daughters tendency toward unpleasantness I want to tell her to look in the mirror!
Young Judith falls for an older boy. When they start dating she is about 17 and he is at least 21, maybe 22. He is a boy who went to high school, played basketball, and now does carpentry because he doesn't want to work his fathers farm. He is a pretty simple guy who is going to live and die in the midwest town he was born in. We know he is folksy and common because the author tells us he pronounces "Periwinkle" as "Perry Winkle" which was not the first time I scratched my head and said wtf? But he is exceedingly kind and has some real insight into the nature of what makes people tick. Willy is a truly likeable person. But Judith wants to shake the dust of Rufus Sage off her feet, she is meant for something more. So when she gets into Stanford, she takes the opportunity, never looking back at Rufus Sage or Willy.
So now she is an unsatisfied adult wondering what became of Willy her first love, and Deena and Patrick, the only two people she could call friends in Rufus Sage.
I could never care about Judith. There was nothing compelling about her. Mostly I wanted to slap her. I loved Willy and thought she was an idiot for never really seeing who he was.
At it's best, I guess it's a story that shows you can't go back and that you have to accept the choices you make. But that's me reaching for something good to say. A grand love story it most definitely is not!
I bought this book because of all the great reviews over on Amazon. Reviews that said such things as "a real love story at last"...I'm guessing these are the same people that enjoyed Madame Bovary in college.
The author tries for a clever stylized book that never achieves even a modicum of greatness. I'm not sure the writer liked Judith, but I'm sure I did not like her! The story is told in a past present mix. The first part gets tedious because you have one chapter of Judith in the present, realizing she is unhappy with her life, but not quite sure why, and then you have a chapter of young Judith, a glimpse of how she got to where she is. It goes back and forth like that. Then in part two (yes the author has created three parts)you mostly get young Judith. She is not an unpleasant kid, but she is kind of snotty and places herself above others. Typical teen. When present day Judith wonders about her own teen daughters tendency toward unpleasantness I want to tell her to look in the mirror!
Young Judith falls for an older boy. When they start dating she is about 17 and he is at least 21, maybe 22. He is a boy who went to high school, played basketball, and now does carpentry because he doesn't want to work his fathers farm. He is a pretty simple guy who is going to live and die in the midwest town he was born in. We know he is folksy and common because the author tells us he pronounces "Periwinkle" as "Perry Winkle" which was not the first time I scratched my head and said wtf? But he is exceedingly kind and has some real insight into the nature of what makes people tick. Willy is a truly likeable person. But Judith wants to shake the dust of Rufus Sage off her feet, she is meant for something more. So when she gets into Stanford, she takes the opportunity, never looking back at Rufus Sage or Willy.
So now she is an unsatisfied adult wondering what became of Willy her first love, and Deena and Patrick, the only two people she could call friends in Rufus Sage.
I could never care about Judith. There was nothing compelling about her. Mostly I wanted to slap her. I loved Willy and thought she was an idiot for never really seeing who he was.
At it's best, I guess it's a story that shows you can't go back and that you have to accept the choices you make. But that's me reaching for something good to say. A grand love story it most definitely is not!
May 16, 2023
A forgettable story about young love and the midlife pining for what could have been. Judith is the wronged wife who sequesters herself (quite literally in a storage unit) in the memory of a love that supposedly you'd uproot yourself for. Funny thing is, she didn't. So how fantastic could it really have been, especially considering that they were inebriated during their profound moments of togetherness? Their love wasn't all that exciting either. It was rather boring and ordinary. But perhaps that was the point...to view life from the point of view of ordinary people. Some young Midwestern girl who finds love but makes the choice to move on to the fancy west coast college and leave the small town boy. Then many years later finds herself as a successful Hollywood film editor in a dull marriage to a man who may be having an affair and bemoans her relationship with an emotionally distant daughter. An interesting discovery that somehow instead of making her face the truth in her relationships spurs her to become even less present and leads her down that road that we all know rarely makes anyone involved happy. She seeks out Willy, the hard working, cowboy boot wearing, definately-not-Stanford-material bloke whom she left behind. And boy is he ready for her return! The last part of the novel, although laboriously slow and much too sweet and contrived for reality, was the reason for the third star. It was a just ending that actually made me think and wonder. Not too much mind you, but enough that it made for good book club conversation.
Bottom line is that this was a sappy story that read almost like a trash novel but still managed to allow me to ponder the what ifs in life even if I had no sympathy for the characters. The highlight was the relationship between Judith and her father. But the early promise of that chapter was quickly lost to the mundane introspections of a rather self absorbed woman. Maybe I like characters to have a real flair for something or a novel with real purpose or a strong captivating story, none of which were evident in this book, so overall it was just okay.
Bottom line is that this was a sappy story that read almost like a trash novel but still managed to allow me to ponder the what ifs in life even if I had no sympathy for the characters. The highlight was the relationship between Judith and her father. But the early promise of that chapter was quickly lost to the mundane introspections of a rather self absorbed woman. Maybe I like characters to have a real flair for something or a novel with real purpose or a strong captivating story, none of which were evident in this book, so overall it was just okay.
February 6, 2013
"It is the first shower that wets."
"Marriage is like picking the place where you're going to live for the next fifty years by using a wall map, a blind fold, and what you really, truly, deeply believe is your lucky dart."
"Our marriage, like all marriages, was happy until it wasn't."
Judith was living the dream and had the sort of marriage to Malcolm she had envisioned for herself during her college years at Stanford. Her life was settled and serene, until a little 'swerve' occurred which she might have intended to occur, "maybe I'd actually plotted it out in one of those corners of your brain or heart that you access only in dreams." Yet, she believed in a sort of love that "picks you up in Akron, Ohio, and sets you down in Rio de Janeiro." She'd had that with Willy Blunt in high school, one of the secrets she carried with her. When she starts to suspect that Malcolm might be cheating on her, Judith allows herself to explore the secrets she'd suppressed for almost three decades.
This book appealed to me on so many levels and I suspect it will stay with me for quite a while. What if....who hasn't wondered how our lives would be different had we made different choices in our youth...we had married another person....chosen a job in a different city. Why does that first lover still hold a special place in the secret spaces in your heart or your occasional dreams? What if....
A haunting, beautifully written story of love, marriage, and roads not taken, tinged with dangerous choices. I loved this book.
Recommended by Ellen
Check our catalog: http://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/...
"Marriage is like picking the place where you're going to live for the next fifty years by using a wall map, a blind fold, and what you really, truly, deeply believe is your lucky dart."
"Our marriage, like all marriages, was happy until it wasn't."
Judith was living the dream and had the sort of marriage to Malcolm she had envisioned for herself during her college years at Stanford. Her life was settled and serene, until a little 'swerve' occurred which she might have intended to occur, "maybe I'd actually plotted it out in one of those corners of your brain or heart that you access only in dreams." Yet, she believed in a sort of love that "picks you up in Akron, Ohio, and sets you down in Rio de Janeiro." She'd had that with Willy Blunt in high school, one of the secrets she carried with her. When she starts to suspect that Malcolm might be cheating on her, Judith allows herself to explore the secrets she'd suppressed for almost three decades.
This book appealed to me on so many levels and I suspect it will stay with me for quite a while. What if....who hasn't wondered how our lives would be different had we made different choices in our youth...we had married another person....chosen a job in a different city. Why does that first lover still hold a special place in the secret spaces in your heart or your occasional dreams? What if....
A haunting, beautifully written story of love, marriage, and roads not taken, tinged with dangerous choices. I loved this book.
Recommended by Ellen
Check our catalog: http://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/...
July 23, 2011
Beautiful. Lyrical in its simple prose. Imagine if Hemingway were to write a novel that combines the best of THE HORSE WHISPERER with the best of THE NATURAL (in terms of relationships and destiny) and you might get a sense of this one. Willy Blunt was Judith Whitman's first love during her teenage years in Nebraska, where she had chosen to live with her college professor father after the breakup of her parents' marriage. But fate throws the young couple a late summer curve, and their plans go the way of the plans of many young people who separate in the hopes of being among the few to survive a long-distance relationship at that age. Fast-forward 27 years and we have Judith feeling unfulfilled in a number of areas of her life and for a number of reasons. And despite the passage of those years, she has never really gotten over Willy, whom she never saw again after that end of summer separation, and now fate and some internal drive are telling her that it's time to reconnect. What happens next will get to even the hardest reader's heart in spite of a few clichés, as it is so beautifully presented by the author. Overall, the story is nonlinear and flips back and forth between young Judith and Willy and their older counterparts, and we see how their paths led them back to this particular place at this particular time. The characters are richly drawn and deeply developed, and I was rooting for Willy throughout. Actually, I found myself rooting for both of them in spite of their flaws and in spite of what I sensed would be their ultimate fate. I won't be forgetting this one anytime soon.
June 26, 2014
"It is the first shower that wets."
"Marriage is like picking the place where you're going to live for the next fifty years by using a wall map, a blind fold, and what you really, truly, deeply believe is your lucky dart."
"Our marriage, like all marriages, was happy until it wasn't"
Judith was living the dream and had the sort of marriage to Malcolm she had envisioned for herself during her college years at Stanford. Her life was settled and serene, until a little 'swerve' occurred which she might have intended to occur, "maybe I'd actually plotted it out in one of those corners of your brain or heart that you access only in dreams." Yet, she believed in a sort of love that "picks you up in Akron, Ohio, and sets you down in Rio de Janeiro." She'd had that with Willy Blunt in high school, one of the secrets she carried with her. When she starts to suspect that Malcolm might be cheating on her, Judith allows herself to explore the secrets she'd suppressed for almost three decades.
This book appealed to me on so many levels and I suspect it will stay with me for quite a while. What if....who hasn't wondered how our lives would be different had we made different choices in our youth...we had married another person....chosen a job in a different city. Why does that first lover still hold a special place in the secret spaces in your heart or your occasional dreams? What if....
A haunting, beautifully written story of love, marriage, and roads not taken, tinged with dangerous choices. I loved this book.
"Marriage is like picking the place where you're going to live for the next fifty years by using a wall map, a blind fold, and what you really, truly, deeply believe is your lucky dart."
"Our marriage, like all marriages, was happy until it wasn't"
Judith was living the dream and had the sort of marriage to Malcolm she had envisioned for herself during her college years at Stanford. Her life was settled and serene, until a little 'swerve' occurred which she might have intended to occur, "maybe I'd actually plotted it out in one of those corners of your brain or heart that you access only in dreams." Yet, she believed in a sort of love that "picks you up in Akron, Ohio, and sets you down in Rio de Janeiro." She'd had that with Willy Blunt in high school, one of the secrets she carried with her. When she starts to suspect that Malcolm might be cheating on her, Judith allows herself to explore the secrets she'd suppressed for almost three decades.
This book appealed to me on so many levels and I suspect it will stay with me for quite a while. What if....who hasn't wondered how our lives would be different had we made different choices in our youth...we had married another person....chosen a job in a different city. Why does that first lover still hold a special place in the secret spaces in your heart or your occasional dreams? What if....
A haunting, beautifully written story of love, marriage, and roads not taken, tinged with dangerous choices. I loved this book.
June 15, 2022
The whole time I was reading this book, I vacillated between liking it and being ready to give up on it, but I saw it through to the end. The main character is a nice enough woman, but she has lost part of herself along the way and can't seem to decide if she is happier in the past or in her current life. In the end, she just comes across as sad.
So in retrospect, I should have given up. The ending was so disappointing and left too many things unresolved. It was like the author didn't know how to end the book, so he just quit writing. As readers, we can fill in some blanks, but this book needed at least one more chapter.
So in retrospect, I should have given up. The ending was so disappointing and left too many things unresolved. It was like the author didn't know how to end the book, so he just quit writing. As readers, we can fill in some blanks, but this book needed at least one more chapter.
January 26, 2014
I want to love this book because the writing was so rich, descriptive and beautiful. It was top notch. The characters were well-developed and at the heart of it all, it was a story about first love in Nebraska. As is so popular now, it jumped back and forth between past and present. For me, the past was interesting and the present, not so much...but that was in some ways the point. I can't comment on much without giving away a lot of the story but I will say that I cannot imagine many people reading this story and not feeling some pretty intense nostalgia. I found it a little long and the ending was not believable but I did enjoy most of the book and I flat out loved Willy.
November 10, 2024
What a great find To Be Sung Underwater has turned out to be. With it's wonderful writing, moving storyline and dynamic characters, this was one of those books that I lost myself in for a few days.
I loved this novel. To Be Sung Underwater will be on my top reads for 2011. This is the kind of story that begs to be discussed and one that you reflect on long after the last page is turned.
I think this book would make for a great movie as well. There is romance, heartache and drama weaved within the story and I found it hard to put down.
I loved this novel. To Be Sung Underwater will be on my top reads for 2011. This is the kind of story that begs to be discussed and one that you reflect on long after the last page is turned.
I think this book would make for a great movie as well. There is romance, heartache and drama weaved within the story and I found it hard to put down.
September 12, 2011
What did I miss? Why were the reviews so good and I found the book such hard going?
I wanted to love this book. The storyline is so me right now (no not the bit about finding your first boyfriend - although who knows!). A 44 year old woman wondering 'what if' caught in the mundane world of now.
I found the story so slow, the prose not beautiful enough to keep me occupied enough through the slowness and the characters all a bit unlovable.
The first chapter was a cracker though. The rest just lacked it.
I wanted to love this book. The storyline is so me right now (no not the bit about finding your first boyfriend - although who knows!). A 44 year old woman wondering 'what if' caught in the mundane world of now.
I found the story so slow, the prose not beautiful enough to keep me occupied enough through the slowness and the characters all a bit unlovable.
The first chapter was a cracker though. The rest just lacked it.
July 8, 2015
I had high hopes for this book and, while I did enjoy parts of it, I mostly thought it was a waste of time. Really, what happened? Nothing. Nothing happened. Young Judith's story was enjoyable, but older/present-day Judith sucks. She needs to see a therapist.
January 29, 2012
Sometimes we daydream back to past loves and wonder ‘what if’. It is natural, it is human to meditate on what could have happened if that girlfriend/lover/wife/mistress/ whatever had not drifted/blazed out of one’s life – had the relationship continued on, where would we be now. If all is fine in the present moment these warm whimsies pass, but if existence is barely bearable then such notions may not remain so tucked away.
The sad feature of ‘To Be Sung Underwater’ is that it had to end – always the mark of a classy novel. Here you wish that the refound love would go on and on, and we could vicariously follow its progress. In my sunny nook I could quite happily, white wine within reach, have become lost in its narrative for at least a couple of hundred or so more pages. Like many of its effusive reviewers, this reader fell in love with the book’s Nebraskan summery-ness. I became captivated for hour after hour by Willy Blunt – his country boy homespun-ity, his tales, his capabilities, jokiness, his flashes of violence – but above all his heart-on-the-sleeve love for Judith.
Judith Whitman, nee Toomey, is the focus of the novel, living the LA lifestyle with bland banker Malcolm – the hubby who was maybe/maybe not cheating on her. When you’ve had a Willy, why would you ever take up with a Malcolm, so it gradually dawns on Judith that there is very much something missing in her being. She therefore sets about turning the ‘what if’ into actuality. This for her produces an answer that is surprising on several levels – sadly poignant, almost ‘Sparkesian’, and all too soon final.
Willy Blunt shines leaving Judith, Malcolm and other lesser characters in his shade. Judith’s father, Dr Toomey, a small town academic is the other ‘winner’ for this reader. As with Malcolm, we are not quite given the ‘full story’ of his secret world at once – McNeal cleverly ekes out the information. Like many of us, he has had to adjust to a life that has not met earlier expectations – a life that to the outside observer could be read as disappointing. As with Willy, the sincerity of his love for Judith is a given and adds much to the allure of the tome.
Yes, this book is indeed ‘ravishing’ to borrow another reviewer’s apt word, And Willy Blunt will remain in my mind long after the details of his great love, with time, turns to haze
March 30, 2015
Last month, I read Tom McNeal's YA novel
Far Far Away
, which was flawed but enjoyable. That led me to McNeal's 1998 debut novel for adults,
Goodnight, Nebraska
, which was damn near the Great American Novel.
From there, I went straight into 2011's To Be Sung Underwater , which was also uncommonly absorbing though not quite as satisfying (and which also had less of a streak of ecclesiastical futility). And now, unless I go read the YA books McNeal co-authored with his wife Laura, I'm all the way through this man's published catalog.
I'm not ready for this to be over yet. I need to find more books constructed with McNeal's level of skill and feel. McNeal has a rock-solid grasp of who his characters are, how they behave and react, what they want, and what they most deeply need. What's more, with great ease, McNeal intuits and makes wholly believable the relationships between those characters.
At TBSU 's core is the romance between protagonist Judith and the slightly older Willy Blunt, but Blunt doesn't properly onto the scene proper until about halfway through the book. Meanwhile, the reader is properly entertained and perfectly fascinated by Judith's interactions and her history with her husband Malcolm, teenage daughter Milla, workplace superiors and subordinates, even the random guy who rents her a storage unit. This is the Judith of age 45 or so. We also spend a lot of time with teenage Judith, each of her parents, her friend Deena, a Nebraska farm boy named Patrick Guest, and eventually Willy.
McNeal takes his time to let the book build and breathe, and he covers a broad spectrum of human emotion and experiences. As with Goodnight Nebraska , the rural Nebraska landscape is front and center here, along with urban Los Angeles. The dialogue is playful, crisp and succinct. These characters feel like real people, and we get to spend an awful lot of time with them. McNeal spent 7 years on this book, and it shows.
From there, I went straight into 2011's To Be Sung Underwater , which was also uncommonly absorbing though not quite as satisfying (and which also had less of a streak of ecclesiastical futility). And now, unless I go read the YA books McNeal co-authored with his wife Laura, I'm all the way through this man's published catalog.
I'm not ready for this to be over yet. I need to find more books constructed with McNeal's level of skill and feel. McNeal has a rock-solid grasp of who his characters are, how they behave and react, what they want, and what they most deeply need. What's more, with great ease, McNeal intuits and makes wholly believable the relationships between those characters.
At TBSU 's core is the romance between protagonist Judith and the slightly older Willy Blunt, but Blunt doesn't properly onto the scene proper until about halfway through the book. Meanwhile, the reader is properly entertained and perfectly fascinated by Judith's interactions and her history with her husband Malcolm, teenage daughter Milla, workplace superiors and subordinates, even the random guy who rents her a storage unit. This is the Judith of age 45 or so. We also spend a lot of time with teenage Judith, each of her parents, her friend Deena, a Nebraska farm boy named Patrick Guest, and eventually Willy.
McNeal takes his time to let the book build and breathe, and he covers a broad spectrum of human emotion and experiences. As with Goodnight Nebraska , the rural Nebraska landscape is front and center here, along with urban Los Angeles. The dialogue is playful, crisp and succinct. These characters feel like real people, and we get to spend an awful lot of time with them. McNeal spent 7 years on this book, and it shows.
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