Maine

by J. Courtney Sullivan

In her best-selling debut, Commencement, J. Courtney Sullivan explored the complicated and contradictory landscape of female friendship. Now, in her highly anticipated second novel, Sullivan takes us into even richer territory, introducing four unforgettable women who have nothing in common but the fact that, like it or not, they’re family.

For the Kellehers, Maine is a place where children run in packs, showers are taken outdoors, and old Irish songs are sung around a piano. Their beachfront property, won on a barroom bet after the war, sits on three acres of sand and pine nestled between stretches of rocky coast, with one tree bearing the initials “A.H.” At the cottage, built by Kelleher hands, cocktail hour follows morning mass, nosy grandchildren snoop in drawers, and decades-old grudges simmer beneath the surface.

As three generations of Kelleher women descend on the property one summer, each brings her own hopes and fears. Maggie is thirty-two and pregnant, waiting for the perfect moment to tell her imperfect boyfriend the news; Ann Marie, a Kelleher by marriage, is channeling her domestic frustration into a dollhouse obsession and an ill-advised crush; Kathleen, the black sheep, never wanted to set foot in the cottage again; and Alice, the matriarch at the center of it all, would trade every floorboard for a chance to undo the events of one night, long ago.

By turns wickedly funny and achingly sad, Maine unveils the sibling rivalry, alcoholism, social climbing, and Catholic guilt at the center of one family, along with the abiding, often irrational love that keeps them coming back, every summer, to Maine and to each other.

Genres: Fiction, Book Club, Chick Lit, Contemporary, Audiobook, Adult Fiction, Family

388 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

J. Courtney Sullivan is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels Commencement, Maine, The Engagements, and Saints For All Occasions. Maine was named a Best Book of the Year by Time magazine, and a Washington Post Notable Book for 2011. The Engagements was one of People Magazine’s Top Ten Books of 2013 and an Irish Times Best Book of the Year. It is soon to be a major motion picture produced by Reese Witherspoon and distributed by Fox 2000, and it will be translated into 17 languages. Saints For All Occasions, was named one of the ten best books of the year by the Washington Post, a New York Times Critic’s Pick for 2017, and a New England Book Award nominee. Her fifth novel, Friends and Strangers, will be published in June 2020. Courtney’s writing has also appeared in The New York Times Book Review, The Chicago Tribune, New York magazine, Elle, Glamour, Allure, Real Simple, and O: The Oprah Magazine, among many others. She is a co-editor, with Courtney Martin, of the essay anthology Click: When We Knew We Were Feminists. In 2017, she wrote the forewords to new editions of two of her favorite children’s books: Anne of Green Gables and Little Women. A Massachusetts native, Courtney now lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband and two children.

Reviews

[CC · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two stars means it was "okay" and that's all the enthusiam I can muster for this one. The cover pulled me in, a woman on a beach, green sky surrounding her. It promised a fun literary beach read and unfortunately, for me, it didn't really deliver.

Three generations of Boston/Irish woman and another daughter in-law meet at the family's beach cottage (and two million dollar main house) in Maine. The narrative is told from the four women's points of view, which was a lot to overcome since only one and a half of the women were interesting. The third (Maggie) was stupid; the fourth (Kathleen), a bitch. The writing was fine -- but the two stars isn't about the writing.

The book is 85 percent backstory. Literally. And only matriarch Alice's backstory was interesting, woven in the mystery of her popular older sister's death. I didn't mind Ann Marie so much, her life of people-pleasing and grasping for joy felt real. But the rest of the pages were nothing but frivolity and petty, insignificant half-drama. Nothing happened. It took until page 200 for anyone besides Alice to even show up at the cottage. The so-called insights were too slight, and too few and far between to warrant the huge and sprawling backstories. Tough to wade through all that when the characters are unappealing/uninteresting.

[Marci · Rating 1 out of 5]

See below... I finished the book. There was no good news. The characters were all thin, 1-dimensional angry/bitter or victims with NO redeeming qualities and few redeeming actions (which were performed grudgingly at best.) The male characters were simply parsley on the plate used ONLY to showcase the women...the entire preimise of the book apparently was "life's a bitch and then you die".

I am in the middle of this book...I have only gotten this far because...I continue to believe, that with a barn full of sh*t... there MUST be a pony in there SOMEWHERE, and... SOMEONE actually PUBLISHED this book!! I want to meet the author; I want to ask her WHY she is so angry; who hurt her this badly that ALL of her characters (Alice, her 2 daughters and her 1 daughter-in-law, and then the grandchildren... all adults) are SOOOOOOOOOO angry, dysfunctional, "victims"... whiney, neurotic and generally completely unlikeable. Even the healthiest of her daughters (the one she hated the most) has her own issues ... but she is the most palatable...

Alice, the primary protagonist, takes great pleasure at the cruelties she inflicted onto her children. Frighteningly, I don't get the impression that the author means for these to horrify...

I am -- nearly 1/2 way through the book; so far, her son, and the husbands of her daughters have been mentioned ONLY in the mildest of passing... the author killed off Alice's husband, Daniel (who seemed to be a genuinely decent man and loving father early on.

This book MAY have some redeeming value somewhere along the way, and maybe at the end; so far, I wouldn't have lunch with any of these characters (except for Daniel... who had the good sense to die) let alone befriend them. Who knows; maybe something mystical and magical will occur and they will all get redeeming personalities and lives!

This book is now overdue at the library; I tried to renew it, but there is a hold on it. I laughed out loud. Sadly, the library's online system doesn't have a place to put "patron waiting for this book doesn't know when she's well off. Tell her to be grateful I am a book hog and move on."!!!

[ilovebakedgoods (Teresa) · Rating 1 out of 5]

I felt like I read a different book/story than the one the jacket made me believe I was going to get. I didn't like many of the characters AT ALL, I don't even understand how these people got together every year at the cottage when they seemingly hated one another for so long. I don't know..too much to get into and I'm a very lazy reviewer, but while I don't feel like every character I come to know should be happy all the time, I can't stand reading about the most miserable people on the planet and that's what most of these people felt like to me. The matriarch was a hateful bitch and I didn't feel one ounce of sympathy toward her when her "secret" was revealed. She was horrible from youth to adulthood, why would I feel bad for her at all? (I got the feeling that as readers we were supposed to feel bad for her but maybe I'm wrong). The secret she carried was from young adulthood so it's not like I could even feel like, "Ohhh, now I see why she's so miserable, poor thing!", since she revealed herself to be a pretty shitty person even as a child/teenager.

The writing itself was not bad, I just wish I could have cared about these people and their lives and outcomes more. That is to say, at all. I think Maggie was the only one I actually cared about.

edit: I think it's Kathleen that I liked, not Maggie. I liked the "black sheep", that's all I remember now. Reading the stock description of this book makes me think I meant to say Kathleen, not Maggie in my review. Maggie, from what I recall, was fairly spineless but it's been so long since I read this that I can't recall strongly liking or disliking her. I don't care for spineless women, though, in general. Kathleen was the black sheep because she was the only one who stood up for herself, though she was a bit of a bitch. Ann Marie was okay but came off rather foolishly and we all know what I think about Alice already (she's the matriarch).

[Vicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

The cover of this book is misleading -- I think that's upsetting a lot of readers, and that's probably fair. While the book IS set mainly on a beach in Maine, there's not too much that's lighthearted about this novel. But then, what are you going to show? 4 women angrily glaring at each other?

On the other hand, this book is exactly the kind of beach read that I do like. Good drama, easy to get wrapped up in, and a moving story. Three generations of women share the chapters in this book, and the moment that I became impressed with this novel was the moment that I realized I had sympathy for each woman. As readers, we naturally want to draw ourselves to a character to experience the world of the story. What was great about this was that at times, I found myself lining up with each character -- even the awful ones. That's a hell of a hat trick. Very good writing.

And, I don't know. It's just interesting to think of the moments where you leave your family behind to move away from what ails you about them. And if you can come back to it but still let it go. A great book. And actually a nice beach read, too.

[Suz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this impactful generational story of imperfect women living their complex lives. The constant thread being matriarch Alice Kelleher consistently and ever so harshly judging the physical appearance of others, which would drip-feed down the line to an insecure daughter in law, and surprisingly stopping with Maggie, a softer more accepting woman, Alice’s granddaughter. Kathleen, on the other hand, Maggie’s mother, so twisted by her mother’s failings has ended up Alice’s opposite, uncaring about the squalor in which she lives, choosing an esoteric career path abhorred and misunderstood by Alice. Happy to stay away from these two older women for as long as possible.

Each of these issues are well used instruments, offsetting each character’s most inner psyche, their fears, judgments, and regrets. Observing the women’s inner dialogue held me captivated, the writing spurring me on emotionally invested in the wonderful writing.

I love to read about Maine, it seems to crop up often in work, with the writing reminiscent of Ann Patchett, relationships broken down, forcing the reader’s circumspection into their own selves.

The big themes, particularly relating to Alice are religion (and what it looks like from the outside), generational differences, expected inheritances, and outward success, created the tense thread at all times. I felt drawn to these women, all imperfect and scrambling to protect themselves, their secrets, their foibles, and most interestingly, a lot of avoidance and lying to themselves.

The way in which each woman felt her internal longings/rages/neuroses, the self-doubt and harsh self-critique which had its way of spewing out onto the others did not stray into soap opera melodrama, this was skillfully formed prose full of bottled-up hatred and a drip feeding of angst.

All aspects of family drama came to play as each family member was introduced with their supposed failings laid bare from Alice’s POV, the terrible judgement coming from the matriarch.

I was fascinated by the most insidious thread of barbed wire coming forth from Alice, being physical appearance and body weight of any woman passing her by. She happened to be blessed with fabulous looks, as noted many times by each woman. As we learn about Alice’s back story it is still very hard to decide if we hold compassion for Alice. I struggled, and this moral greyness was an outstanding outcome, directing me to my own life trajectory.

This place called Maine drew me in, regardless of the unhappy women, whom I left feeing at least a little hopeful for. My first of this author, I was enamoured.

I listened to his book via the Libby app and my public library, a great narration to a wonderful book.

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Note to Good Reads: I hate that you don't have half stars! Two stars seems a bit too critical, but three stars feels too much to award this book. It's finely written, and I loved the construct of offering differing points of view from three generations of women in one family. The author balances this juxtaposition well, effortlessly switching from one character's voice to another. And the great success of the book, for me, is that the author illustrates so well how no one can really ever know another, nor fully understand them. Unfortunately, I think she was a little too good at it b/c ultimately, none of these characters really alter their views of each other in any meaningful way. There's very little character growth, which may be accurate to real life, but frankly makes for a frustrating novel. I kept wanting these women to connect, even just the littlest bit. But we have to wait more than half the book before they are even at the same place at the same time. I thought surely, once that transpired, that something would actually happen...but nothing does, really. The same old patterns are fallen into, and the same old judgments prevail. The book is well-written with richly drawn characters that aren't particularly likeable, yet are each fascinating in their own way...and I found that interesting and readable, but also ultimately unsatisfying. I wish the author could have allowed at least some of the characters to connect a little more than they do. I think it would have made for a richer book, without sacrificing the main theme. My two cents.

[Jane · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had to stop about 30% into the book (I'm reading it on a Kindle and it doesn't show page numbers but percentage) because well, it's just not very good writing. ...The author makes such a crucial mistake in writing which is she fails to SHOW what's happening and instead TELLS you what's happening. Therefore NOTHING HAS BEEN HAPPENING! All I've been reading is the back story of the first two characters, Alice and Kathleen. Don't tell me Alice is a self-conscious, judgmental, unsupportive mother. Show me her carefully getting ready in the morning, going for a walk, weighing herself, let me read a conversation she is currently having with one of her children where she judges them. I don't need the author to explain every single thought going through a character's head and the clear cut reason for their actions. Part of the joy of reading is that I get to figure that out for myself. Be subtle sometimes! I always try to improve my own writing and this book was a good example of how telling and not showing ruins the entire story.

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 4 out of 5]

Families are the places we share the most happy times and the most miserable times, the greatest joys and the most pain, places where people lift us up to become our best selves and tear us down to our worst. Maine is a book about families.

There is wisdom about families in this book. Here’s a little about having a child:

“No one had told Kathleen about the dark parts of motherhood. You gave birth and people brought over the sweetest little shoes and pale pink swaddling blankets. But then you were alone, your body trying to heal itself while your mind went numb. There was a mix of joy and the purest love, coupled with real boredom and occasional rage. It got easier as the kids got older, but it never got easy.”

We who have raised children know the truth of this. Powerful.

And then there is this thoughtful look at why families aren’t always helpful:

“But maybe your family could never give you the perfect response, the kindest reply. Maybe their vision of you was too tied up in their hopes and fears for them to ever see you as just you.”

Best of all, I loved these thoughts on marriage:

‘”You all seem to think that you should marry someone when you feel this intense emotion, which you call love. And then you expect that the love will fade over time, as life gets harder. When what you should do is find yourself a nice enough fellow and let real love develop over years and births and deaths and so on.”

Very moving saga full of secrets and lies and cruelties and, most of all, the love that combine to make a family.

[Court · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this book. I thoroughly enjoyed "Commencement", and Sullivan did not disappoint with her latest novel, "Maine." I truly loved the characters in this book and felt invested in them, and enjoyed the story-telling aspects that took us into the earlier part of the 20th century. I read it on my Kindle, where I have the opportunity to highlight passages or phrases that move me, and found myself doing it frequently with this book- mostly in relation to personal experiences. I found myself nodding along with the characters at several points, which usually leads me to label something a good read. I was also able to find myself in each character, at least in some small way, which is a credit to Sullivan's immense writing talent.

I read this book in a day, during the busiest time of year in my job, because it was that good and I couldn't put it down. Now I will just have to wait until Sullivan writes another.....

[Tina · Rating 2 out of 5]

A story about 4 woman in an Irish/American family who gather together at the family cottage in Maine. I thought this story would be more about mending a family and coming together but I feel that the story left too many loose ends dangling. The story didn't feel quite complete to me.

[Kim G · Rating 2 out of 5]

Blah.

I know these ladies. I'm a Masshole with a big, multi-class Irish Catholic family that spent at least a week every summer up in Wells. I'm related to these characters.

Except for I'm not, because even the Alice in my life is infinitely more complex than this. So is the Ann Marie. And they have hearts. These characters are BLOODLESS, it's infuriating. They keep showing up for their 400 pages, never straying from their caricature base, never doing much of anything.

Digging deep, I guess I could muster up some positive things to say about the presentation of the generational differences between these women and their concepts of their motherhood, but it's all drowned out by too much blah blah blah.

One thing that drove me particularly insane? The aftermath of the house reveal, and how the son was like "Oh well, she's got a will, lawyer says there's nothing we can do." BULLLLLLLLLLSH*T lazy plot device, what family wouldn't start tearing each other apart for a 2 million+ spread? I guess the story could have become too interesting if the author went there.

And why was there a middle sister who lived in JP? Why did she even exist, other than to add to Alice's brood to justify her misery? To throw another gay grandchild in the mix? To get some more muddied Catholicism shout-out points?

So many extraneous characters that were useless. So many. And yet nothing really happens. BLAH.

[Eliza · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book highly readable but ultimately unsatisfying. Sullivan is a talented storyteller but there is little substance in her writing. I was thinking about how Jonathan Franzen (and many of his reviewers) were widely criticized. Why, people asked, do his books get so much attention when they are "just" domestic novels, not unlike so many similar novels written by women? But I believe Jonathan Franzen is a wonderful example of an author using the domestic setting to explore powerful ideas about modern life. Other examples that come to mind are Jennifer Haigh and Anna Quindlen. The world and characters created by Sullivan in Maine had potential for similar exploration but lack of analysis and cohesion left them meaningless. This lack of substance is particularly exemplified by the ending; I felt like Sullivan reached her desired word count and then stopped writing. Initially I planned to recommend this novel as I did enjoy much of the story. Unfortunately, the inconsistencies, loose ends and overall shallowness have caused it to sour in my mind.

[K · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had an odd reaction to this book. I have so many criticisms, and yet I found it surprisingly engaging in spite of its flaws. I wouldn't quite give it three stars -- it was way too flawed for that -- but it's actually a high two, as opposed to a low two.

This is one of those chick lit family dramas, three generations of women in one dysfunctional family, multiple viewpoints, blah blah blah. I can't remember the last time I read a book like this and thought it was well done; they're usually in the three-star range for me at best. So there's the matriarch, crusty 80-year-old Alice Kelleher, a pretty unsympathetic character although her daughter Kathleen is worse -- what a nasty, self-righteous jerk. Kathleen picks terribly on her sister-in-law Anne Marie, who has spent decades being the perfect Stepford wife and is slowly unraveling. And then there's Kathleen's daughter, Maggie, who is really too stupid to live.

Everyone has some kind of a time bomb brewing, and of course the four women will eventually come together and discover each other's time bombs in one big family mess. Alice's is that she has willed her summer home to the church, not to her kids. Anne Marie's is that she has a secret crush on her neighbor's husband even as she strives to maintain the facade of her perfect marriage and family. I'm not sure what Kathleen's is, but in any case she comes into the picture because of Maggie's crisis. Maggie's crisis is probably the most dramatic -- she is single and secretly pregnant, having taken a chance because she was blindly in love with her boyfriend. Said boyfriend's jerkiness is incredibly obvious to just about everyone but Maggie (really, J. Courtney Sullivan should have given him a few redeeming features other than Maggie's lust for him; it would have made the story far more believable, not to mention interesting), who is willing to risk the pregnancy because she's sure things will work out with this guy. Sigh.

Anyway, the book is incredibly slow. Very heavy on detailed backstory without a whole lot happening in the present for most of the book. The characters, as mentioned, are unsympathetic and not very three-dimensional, for all of the author's attempts at fleshing them out by keeping the reader in backstory hell instead of moving the plot along. Anne Marie was probably the most believable character but even she often felt like the author was trying too hard to depict her as a trope (the increasingly resentful Stepford wife who needs to make everything look perfect in order to feel in control) as opposed to making her a complicated person.

So why did I keep listening, especially when for once I had other tempting audiobooks to choose from? Well, as my sister noted, there was a weird voyeuristic appeal to feeling like I was eavesdropping on someone else's family dysfunction. The gossip, the griping, the secret and not-so-secret resentments, the miscommunications, etc. -- most of the book wasn't particularly dramatic but it still resembled the experience of watching a soap opera in that sense, where you get caught up in other people's issues so you can briefly forget your own. Also, the audiobook reader was actually quite good -- very expressive and authentic-sounding in the voices of the various characters. While I can't say I'll miss this book now that I've finally finished it, it did kind of keep me company on my commute and distract me from my own stuff. I can't give it an enthusiastic recommendation, but it was okay, which I guess is what the two-star rating is meant to indicate.

[Kate Quinn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sullivan does something rather remarkable in "Maine": she tells her story through the eyes of four women, not one of whom is completely likeable, yet manages to make you care what happens to them. The premise is simple - a beach house in Maine where the family matriarch, her daughter, her daughter-in-law, and granddaughter converge with a variety of personal problems. There's a pregnancy, a recovered alcoholic, a long buried secret, and enough grudges to fuel a war, but "Maine" isn't really about plot. It's about family: the alliances, the enmities, the unthinking support during hard times and the destructive fights over Christmas dinners. Anyone who has ever greeted a carload of relatives with an inward sigh of "Oh, God, here they come" will nod sympathetically all through "Maine."

[Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought a book with the title "Maine" would portray the state as an integral part of the story. However, this book could have taken place anywhere. The author did little to set the story in Maine other than citing a few local references. The characters were not well-developed and I found myself only mildly curious about them. The plot was thin and predictable, with Catholic guilt, Irish alcoholism, and sibling rivalry as major themes. Despite the dust-jacket blurb, I didn't find anything "wickedly funny or achingly sad" in this book. Some of the dialog, particularly during the '40's flashbacks, was incongruous. "Flummoxed" is used several times, both in the '40's and current times, for example. The first half of the book focused on the lead-up to Alice's tragic secret and the genesis of her guilt. This secret was the reason for her marriage, her alcoholism and her dissatisfaction with her life, but it took so long to get to this point that I just didn't care, and it was hard to see Alice in a sympathetic light. It seemed as if the author just ran out of things to say and, rather than tie the various plot lines together, crafted a cute you-figure-it-out ending that left me unsatisfied. This book was an exercise in schadenfreude.

[Karina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have now read all of J. Courtney Sullivan's novels and I gotta say I enjoyed this one. All her novels tie into being an American of Irish descent. I really like how she's always reminding herself her ancestors came from somewhere else. Her characters always have the Catholic faith instilled into them even with their evident flaws and dark pasts; the struggle to be good but still hating most of your family and loving them enough to come back. She has a Maeve Binchy sort of style except Sullivan's writing is usually in the East Coast in the United States versus Ireland. (Except Maeve Binchy is in my top 10 & she is an original)

Maine is written in chapters of the main characters. There is Alice, the matriarch. Ann Marie, the daughter in law to Alice. Kathleen, Alice's daughter that can't get over her past and for the most part hates her family. Maggie, who is Alice's granddaughter and Kathleen's daughter. Each one with a voice into the past and present. The thing that binds them, besides being a family, is the house with a private beach in Maine during the summers. The story alternates between WWII, before Alice married Daniel and lost her sister to the Cocoanut Grove fire, and the present day.

The characters irked me and I hated them sometimes but then I'd see their point and I liked them again. Kathleen got on my nerves the most.

Fast, easy read. Was very entertaining. Not a chicklit. I personally like stories with family differences. It is kinda like peeking into someones window and seeing the truth play out.

[Erika Robuck · Rating 5 out of 5]

MAINE, by J. Courtney Sullivan, was published in hardcover in June of 2011, and just came out in paperback. Both editions have hit the New York Times Bestsellers list, and the novel was named a Best Book of the Year by Time magazine. I had intended to read it while at the beach later this summer, but picked it up recently to read a chapter. Five days later, I finished the book in tears, and missed the characters who I’d gotten to know and love in spite of their flaws.

MAINE is the story of three generations of a dysfunctional Irish Catholic family and the beach house that becomes the touch point and meeting place for them throughout the years. When the novel begins, Alice–the matriarch of the family and one of the point of view characters–is cleaning out the house because she has secretly willed it and the land to the Catholic Church upon her death. Her rationale for keeping it from her children is that she thinks that two of the three of them stay as far away from her as they can, and the other only seems interested in the property for material reasons. As she travels through the rooms and prepares for the staggered summer arrivals of her children and grandchildren, Alice reflects on her long, often painful life, its joys and tragedies, and what she has become.

One of her granddaughters, Maggie, starts the next section. She is in a hollow relationship with a selfish man, and finds out that she’s pregnant. As she agonizes over whether or not to tell her boyfriend (who has decided he doesn’t want to live with her after all) about the baby, she decides to head to Maine to the beach house to reconnect with herself and her family.

The third point of view character is Kathleen, Maggie’s mother and Alice’s daughter. Kathleen has been sober for years and raises earthworms on a farm in California with her ex-hippie boyfriend, Arlo. She has rebelled against Alice’s glamour, religion, and tradition in every way, but through her daughter finds that she’s not as different from her mother as she’d like to believe.

The final voice in the book is that of Alice’s daughter-in-law, Ann Marie, the perfect New England housewife, mother, and grandmother. As she tries to keep the peace in the family while finding meaning in her own life, a secret crush threatens to undo her.

Sullivan’s portrayal of these flawed women is nothing short of brilliant. Her ability to capture the interior lives of such different characters with such honestly, paced perfectly within layers of story that span many time periods, makes for a truly rich novel. The women experience growth and change without tidy resolution, but the ending is immensely satisfying.

As a woman from a large Irish Catholic family (we’ll leave out ‘dysfunctional’ so I don’t get myself into trouble) I identified with the drama, the dynamics, and the politics of family relationships. Most of all, however, I connected with the deep current of love that keeps us coming back to those who sometimes hurt us the most.

If you enjoy novels of multigenerational family drama, you won’t find one better than MAINE. With characters real enough to step off the pages, and a beach setting vivid enough to put sand between your toes, MAINE deserves every ounce of praise I’ve read for it. I give MAINE my highest recommendation.

[Melodie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Three generations of family struggle with their expectations,desires and relationships with one another. Points of view are Alice the matriarch,daughter Kathleen,daughter in-law Ann Marie and grand-daughter Maggie.
The one thing beyond family ties that they have in common is a beach front property in Maine.Loved, coveted and harbor of memories good and bad. The one place that draws them inexplicably together is also the biggest bone of contention.And when all four women descend upon the place, the stage is set for high drama.
I struggled with this book from beginning to end. The characters were difficult for me to empathize with. Each of them were on my last nerve constantly.Alice with her passive aggressiveness and drinking problem, Kathleen with her viper's tongue and delight in other's pain. Maggie in her desperate attempt to hang on to a guy who clearly was a liar and cheat, and Ann Marie with her desperate need to be perfect.
There is nothing more complex then relationships among women especially within a family.But I really had trouble with all the extreme bitterness displayed. Most of the book was back story on the women.By the time they all came together at the beach,I was so ready to be done. And for me nothing was really resolved. Maybe that was the point?
And just a word about the cover. Girl on a beach? Really? Poor choice.

[Lisa Schmeiser · Rating 1 out of 5]

Every once in a while, I think to myself, "Self, you should probably break out of your fantasy and scifi genre and read one of those books about generations of women who are so witless to keep perpetuating the same psychological battles down through the years. I always see women reading these on the ferry or on planes, they seem like the kind of women who get asked to book clubs, and you've really wanted to be part of a book club. So if you read it, perhaps they will come."

And then I pick up a book like this, where every woman's problem can be solved with a decent therapist and some rigorously enforced boundaries around their more damaged family members, and I think, "This is why I'll never be in a book club."

To call the writing "workmanlike" is to insult the practiced diligence with which actual workmen do their jobs. The writer has active contempt for at least one of her alleged protagonists and is clearly on the fence about another two, so why should the reader dispute her? The whole thing was like reading a really sad blog from someone who desperately wants their life to have a bigger meaning and knows deep down it never will.

I clearly do not have the mind to appreciate this kind of book, or this specific book. No book clubs for me!

[JanB · Rating 5 out of 5]

The cover and title are unfortunate, leading one to believe this is a light, fluffy beach read. It's so much more than that. I loved it. It's well-written and at times wickedly funny. Dysfunction at it's best. At the end of the book I wasn't ready to say good-bye to the 3 generations of Kelleher women.

This would make an excellent book club selection, with lots to discuss.

[Dani Peloquin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many of you may remember by review of the author's first novel "Commencement". While I didn't give it that great of a review, I did mention that I was looking forward to reading her books in the future as I thought she had some potential as a writer. It is for this reason that I jumped at the chance to her new novel "Maine". This is certainly very different from her first novel and I love it!

The novel follows four women in the Kelleher family during a monumental summer at their beach house in Maine. Alice, the matriarch, is a strong willed and loose tongued woman who feels little affection for her family. She finds it difficult to relate to her children and grandchildren despite the fact that they are her blood. Her sections flash back and forth between the current summer at her house in Maine and an event from her past that still plagues her with guilt after over 60 years. Kathleen, Alice's daughter, is the misfit in the family. She is a recovering divorce with two children and a worm farm in California that she runs with her boyfriend. Her and Alice have always butted heads which was only exacerbated with Kathleen's father died. However, a momentous event causes Kathleen to uproot herself from her peaceful life in California and come east one last time to face her demons...and her mother. Anne-Marie, Alice's daughter-in-law, is the character everyone loves to hate. She was a stay at home mom who is a stickler for proper manners and etiquette. Though she was from the wrong side of the tracks, she has abandoned most of her past in hopes of becoming an upper-class socialite. Her only problem is her dysfunctional children and distant husband. Maggie, Kathleen's daughter, has always looked for love in all of the wrong places. Unfortunately, this last place left her pregnant and alone. She goes to Maine in an effort to get back to herself and plan her next move. When these four women are forced to share a house (or two), fights erupt, skeletons are unleashed from closets, and their love of family is tested.

I know this sounds like a lot of material, but Sullivan pulls it off without ever confusing the reader. Each character has her own dynamic and personality which is a feat when writing a novel that is constructed of all female narrators. Interestingly, none of the characters are likeable but I was still hooked on their every word. Perhaps the reason is that every family has an Alice, Kathleen, and Anne-Marie. The dynamics between the four women was fascinating and completely real. I would have enjoyed some insight from the men in the family, but I think that's another book as this one is all about the Kelleher matriarchy. Some reviewers were annoyed that the book didn't have more to do with Maine and wasn't really a beach read. Both of these statements are true. If you're looking for chick lit complete with a quirky main character and prince charming, this is absolutely not your book. If you're looking for a book that drops the names of various town and restaurants in Maine so if you have been to Maine you can feel like you're "in the know"...this is not it! This is a reasonably dark family drama that just happens to be set on the beach. Unfortunately, I could not give this book five stars because some of the Kathleen sections were a bit cliched or clunky. I felt that all of the other women were well developed and unique. However, I felt like I had met Kathleen before in many novels and Lifetime movies. Still, it didn't hurt my opinion of the novel which I will certainly be recommending.


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[LeAnn Noland · Rating 1 out of 5]

To say that this book was less than stellar is an understatement. First, the characters were either out and out unlikeable, insipid, or downright annoying. The storyline was slow and I felt that it took a long time to find out what the significant events were that had shaped the characters. I listened to this on audio book and it felt like the history of the battles was unfolded like peeling onion layers (and almost as painful). It seemed as though that was the whole point of the book rather than the events that were actually taking place.

The ending was abrupt. It felt as though the author didn't know where else to take the book, and since it was so long already that she just cut it off. Seriously if you had taken out half of Kathleen's whining that would have freed up up enough pages to have a decent ending.

I feel like the only character here that had any potential for growth or change was Maggie. Her character was I felt the most enjoyable with the exception of her Scottish friend and the priest. Unfortunately one will never know what happens to her because the author left us hanging.

[Mme Forte · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Haiku Book Review

Three generations
Of family dysfunction
Thank God it's not mine.

Of course, there's much more to it than that. It's three generations of a women in a family with Issues (excuse the gratuitious caps, but there will be more before we've finished here), and those Issues are not complementary...or maybe they are, but in a friction-producing, resentment-engendering, contempt-breeding way. Alice, the widowed matriarch, is Boston-bred and Irish Catholic; she harbors what she believes to be a momentous guilty secret about the circumstances of a death. Kathleen is Alice's daughter; she is a veteran of AA whose 12-Step journey has taught her to Talk About Her Feelings (21st century translation: OVERSHARING ALERT); in a family that Does Not Discuss Unpleasant Things, this turns her into a pariah. Ann Marie is the daughter Alice never had; as a daughter-in-law more similar to Alice than Alice's own children, she has intimacy with Alice, but no insight. Maggie, Kathleen's daughter, is pregnant by her feckless boyfriend and reeling from their breakup.
All four of these women converge on Alice's summer home in Ogunquit, Maine. The family has come here every year since the '40s, running up against each other with increasing repercussions since the death of Alice's husband, Daniel, who could always make and keep peace.
The story begins as Alice decides to expiate her guilt by giving up what she loves most...and it isn't Chardonnay. Ann Marie takes it upon herself to drive up to care for Alice (who does not, in her own estimation, need caring for) after Kathleen declines to travel east from California, where she lives. Kathleen has not visited the house since her father's death 10 years before. Things happened before and after his death, particularly at the funeral, for which she cannot forgive her mother. Maggie travels to Maine to stay alone, rather than with her boyfriend, as she had planned. And finally Kathleen, learning of Maggie's predicament, arrives unannounced to take her daughter in hand. All learn of Alice's decision in an inopportune way. Hijinks ensue.
The story is told from each woman's POV in turn. Sometimes we hear events recounted by two parties serially. Each individual's past is laid out. This way, we learn about the events and circumstances that have made the women who they are -- and, in some ways, have turned them against each other.
The problem isn't with the story. It's all too plausible. We all know these people, and in some cases, ARE these people. For me, the problem is that it's all such a downer. I figured, having read Sullivan's first novel, "Commencement", that this wouldn't be a light-and-fluffy beach read. (I purchased it to take with me to my husband's family summer vacation...at their cottage in...wait for it...Maine.) These people are just so SAD. Alice is wracked by guilt, and is one of the most unpleasant characters I've ever encountered. What kind of grandmother doesn't like her grandchild? And what kind of mother accuses her daughter of alienating her father's affections so that he trusts only her? Alice does. She is self-righteous, inflexible, bigoted and miserable. Kathleen is the type that advocates public breastfeeding, lives an organic California lifestyle, and Talks About Her Feelings in a way that makes her a downright freak in her New England family. She used her inheritance to start a worm-fertilizer farm with her partner Arlo, whom she met in AA; this has done nothing to improve the family's opinion of her. Ann Marie's 2 children are a gigantic disappointment to her; they are grown and gone and this leaves her with nothing to do all day but spend her husband's (considerable) earnings on furnishing dollhouses and daydream about her handsome (married) neighbor. She focuses on Alice's well-being and has disliked Kathleen for years as she feels Kathleen is neglectful of her mother and a lousy mother herself. Maggie is a wreck after her long-term relationship ends, terrified of parenting alone and walking on eggshells as she negotiates the treacherous relational politics of the women around her.
Don't get me wrong, there are some funny moments here. Kathleen and Ann Marie strike sparks from each other, and Alice's politically incorrect pronouncements are (cringingly) amusing. There is some pleasant resolution as Kathleen learns to bite her tongue (a bit) and Maggie grows up (albeit unwillingly). And everybody gets some sort of comeuppance; I would argue that Ann Marie gets more than her share. I did enjoy reading the book, especially as the geography of the Maine coast is pretty familiar to me and there is a section of interesting historical detail on a well-known Boston disaster during World War II (I do love me a good disaster).
I would recommend this book to those who don't shy away from Conflict and Attempted Redemption. Do not, however, be taken in by the cover photo of a young woman lying on a beach in a bikini. This isn't Elin Hilderbrand or (thanks be to God) Nancy Thayer. This is not an easy summer read. This is J. Courtney Sullivan, and she expects you to sign on for the long haul. In the end, I was glad I did.

[Sterlingcindysu · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid 3.5. I feel badly leaving this on my shelf for so long--a great summer read! Yes, it's over 500 pages and a cover that doesn't represent it well, so those were factors in why I kept passing it over.

A family drama featuring women of three generations of Irish/Catholic descent. There were some great one-liners, such as when a grandfather thought a granddaughter's skirt was too short, "Your knees should throw a party and invite your skirt down." I'd say it was even 15% historical fiction as well. I loved when daughters suggested a biased grandmother use the word "Canadian" during her rants--it would make eating out in public easier!

Easy to get into and quick moving. There's not so many family members that a reader gets them confused.

[Maureen Grigsby · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very satisfying novel of a large Irish Catholic family in Massachusetts. Strong personality clashes with lifetimes full of resentments, and the Church always looming in the background makes for a delicious read!

[thewanderingjew · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Maine”, by J.Courtney Sullivan, is largely the story of Alice Kelleher, a very direct, headstrong and outspoken matriarch, and three generations of her family who seem to become weaker with each successive generation. She is a devoted Catholic, driven by an almost religious fanaticism to do her duty and perform some act of kindness before she dies, in order to make up for her sins and ensure that she is not consigned to Hell. She is known for her sharpness of tongue, coldness, drinking and sudden mood swings. Her husband is a gentler man who restrains her and keeps her centered and in check. The characters in this family are examined with illuminating detail, and their life experiences are explored. Their differing and misguided perceptions of life’s events, that they all seemed to experience and interpret differently, are exposed and dissected. Their secrets are bared, and when exposed, they cause ripples throughout the extended clan.
The audio was done well, with an expressive reader who enlightened the listener in her telling of a tale that illustrates family dysfunction and flawed judgment in all of the characters as they interacted with each other and the world. The story is told in the voices of three generations of the women of the family: Alice, Kathleen, Ann Marie and Maggie. Each chapter dwelt on one character at a time, rotating from one to another throughout the book, as the events which determined the paths they chose to take in life were uncovered.
Although, at first, the picture might seem to be of a perfect extended, multigenerational family, living a nirvana-like existence, enjoying summers in their beachfront cottage in a small, insular community which was once an artist’s colony in Cape Neddick, Maine, the reader soon discovers that each of the characters brings with them a raft of troubles and predisposed conclusions, arising from their lifestyles and backgrounds, and the situation is not what it seems to be on the surface. When that surface is scratched, using the memories and experiences of each, the characters are exposed with all of their warts and foibles, as they developed into active members of this dysfunctional, family group dynamic.
This family harbors many secrets and, therefore, holds secret animosities toward each other which are most often based on misconceptions about events. This creates giant rifts between family members who hold grudges that continue with the passage of time, and continue to encourage vindictive behavior toward each other. In the end, some do metamorphose into better people; others remain their same intransigent, stubborn selves, continuing to exhibit discordant behavior wreaking havoc upon the peaceful coexistence of the family. Each of them lives in a fantasy world of their own creation.
All of the complications of life, in general, are examined: sibling rivalry, faith, religion, loss, illness, tragedy, love, homosexuality, criminality, neglect, alcoholism, relationships, marriage, motherhood, fatherhood, and parenting. This intergenerational saga explores a slew of raw emotions. The reader will, at some point, identify with many of the emotions that are exposed: nostalgia, sadness, joy, humor, disbelief, shock, anger, and even frustration, as they identify with many of the experiences and feelings of the characters. For instance, I was very familiar with the geographic areas the book describes, the towns and the atmosphere, and it aroused childhood memories of a simpler time and adult memories of a more complicated one. Because it covers three generations, there will be something for each reader to identify with, within a particular place or time period. The reader’s life and ordinary experiences will often come uncomfortably close to home to those of the novel’s characters. This book is an interesting read which will, in the end, leave the reader with a question about Alice’s ultimate choices and fate.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading the book cover, one might assume this is yet another novel about a multi-generational, dysfunctional family only this time on the eve of summer, the family cottage and beach house, their battlefield. “Maine” is so much more, weaving the history of Irish immigrants in Boston, decisions young women and men made about relationships, marriage and careers as young men shipped out abruptly during World War II, and the lingering power of the Catholic Church on these young couples.
The novel is narrated by four women in the Kelleher family; Sullivan is a skillful writer, able to write dialogue that made me laugh as frequently as angry, bitter words made me cringe. There is over 60 years of history reflected in the cottage the women visit again this summer in Maine; while most of that history involves memories often associated with annual visits to the family home – shared fun, adventure and laughter – there are secrets, jealousy, pettiness, and shame – a potpourri of biblical deadly sins.
The plot is rich and without clichés. A few of the characters are hard to like because they are relentless with their cruel words and inability to let the past go. They all have tragic flaws that in the end, one understands if not forgives them. Redemption is at the core of the matriarch’s life (and story) but becomes the journey for all the central characters. Some of their struggles left me much to think about in my own life.

[Librariann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Calling it now: bestseller. Not because it is a-mazing, like The Help or Room, but because it is the kind of books ladies like to read on their vacations and pass along to their friends.

With four female main characters from three generations, women will see themselves, their mothers, sisters, grandmothers, or children in at least one of the interwoven stories. And even though it didn't wrap up sufficiently for my tastes, this slice of family life, with its vivid characters that you alternate between hating, pitying, and understanding, screams I AM THE KIND OF IMPORTANT NOVEL THAT YOU CAN READ ON THE BEACH OR WITH YOUR BOOK CLUB.

(Y'know, moreso than the books with rippling men's abs on their covers)

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I admit, I didn't like a single character. Even in the end, I STILL didn't like anyone. Sullivan takes three generations and puts them in the part of Maine I've been visiting yearly for the past 17 years. So it was fun to visit since I haven't gotten up there yet this year! But spending a week with these women was claustrophobic to say the least. This was a one case I wasn't sorry to say goodbye to a book!

[Paula K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific family saga. Some funny moments. Highly recommend.