In This Our Life Review

I'm not quite sure what to say about this book. It wasn't the best or the worst book I've ever read, it was just so-so. It's a story of a family told from different points of view. Mostly it is from the viewpoint of the dad, Asa. He has been stuck in a loveless marriage for over 30 years and all that he wants is to escape from it and move out to a farm with his friend, Kate. His wife, Lavinia, is an overweight hypochondriac who delights in making her husband's life miserable. She never leaves her bedroom and complains and talks all the time. Asa feels that he needs to stay with her so that someone is there to take care of her and bring her food and medicine. The other thing keeping Asa around is his children. He has two daughters, Stanley and Roy, (yes that is right) and a son named Andrew. Andrew is married to Maggie and they have three kids. They have a great marriage and are fine and really aren't a big part of the book at all. When the book starts out Roy is married to Peter and Stanley is engaged to Craig and their wedding is coming up. A couple of days before the wedding Stanley and Peter run off together leaving Roy and Craig both heartbroken. They each take it in a different way. Roy is very strong and doesn't want to be pitied. When she is working or at home with her family she is fine, but at night she cries and doesn't sleep because of her dreams of Peter. Craig just kind of loses it, he becomes a wreck. When Roy and Craig meet up a few months later they begin to help each other over come their heart ache and soon fall in love.

Meanwhile, in Boston Stanley and Peter aren't doing so well. Stanley writes her mother telling her that she and Peter fight all the time. Soon Peter commits suicide and leaves Stanley heartbroken for a short time. Stanley is the kind of girl that demands things. She wants the best of everything and expects it to be handed to her. Lavinia (Stanley's mother) has an uncle, William, who is the wealthiest man in town and he kind of doted on Stanley and bought her whatever she wanted; this is where Stanley gets it. Stanley is a beautiful young woman and gets lots of attention for her good looks and she knows how to use them to get what she wants. She doesn't mourn long for Peter and is soon restless and wanting to go somewhere besides their city of Queensboro.

I don't want to give the book completely away but other sad and hard things happen with Stanley. The night Asa decides he's going to leave Lavinia and move out to Kate's farm something terrible happens with Stanley and Roy that makes him change his mind.

It was a good story, but the people in the story just think way to much. They can't get over things or move on with things because they just think and analyze WAY to much. I just wanted to say "stop thinking and go do something!" It kind of drove me crazy.

There was a paragraph in the book I wanted to quote only because it was funny and doesn't in any way reflect how I feel about my marriage. It is Uncle William's wife, Charlotte, who is analyzing her marriage and life. This is what it says "Charlotte, who knitted without looking at her needles, did not answer immediately. At the moment, she was busily wondering how women could have survived marriage throughout the ages if knitting had not been invented…" I just got a kick out of that. Again it doesn't reflect how I feel about my marriage or why I knit, just so we're clear on that.

I enjoyed the book but I am not anxious to read it again and like I said earlier there was too much thinking and analyzing and not enough action.