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General Information
Author: J. Courtney Sullivan
Title: Maine
Genre: Women’s Lives and
Relationships
Publication Date: June
14, 2011
Number of Pages: 400
(Hardcover)
Geographical Setting:
Maine, United States
Time Period: Present
Plot Summary
The Kelleher family has
always loved Maine – it is a place where “children run in packs, showers are
taken outdoors, and old Irish songs are sung around a piano” (Sullivan, 2011).
The house has been in the family for years, after it was won in a game of cards,
and has provided a summer vacation spot for the family for years. It’s also a
place where the family refreshes and restores their souls and relationships, or
comes to hide – whatever is most needed at that time.
This summer, three
generations of Kelleher women come to the Maine beach house, each struggling
with her own challenges, demons and questions about her life. Alice, the
matriarch, has been living this house for years and is struggling with the
unexplained disappearance of her husband while determining the fate of the
house and her inheritance. Ann Marie, Alice’s martyr-ish daughter-in-law is
positioning herself as the favorite family member while trying to piece
together her crumbling marriage and feelings towards her husband. Maggie, Alice’s
granddaughter comes to Maine to seek solace and clarity after finding out she
is pregnant by her unreliable boyfriend. Kathleen, Alice’s daughter and Maggie’s
mother, comes to reconnect with Maggie all while maintaining a sober lifestyle
that is difficult around her family.
With all of these (related!) women under one roof, tensions are understandably
high – and yet, each member of this female-centric family provides others with that
which they need to address their individual struggles. Alice and Maggie connect
over Maggie’s pregnancy as Alice provides advice and counsel that only a
grandmother can give; Kathleen and Ann Marie work through their polar opposite
problems to try to help Alice make reasonable decisions about her future; and
Kathleen and Maggie start testing the mother/daughter bonds that have been so
strained in the past. Each woman is jarred to the core at a crazy turn of
events, bringing someone back into their lives that they thought they never
would see again – and each woman must draw upon her internal strength, and be supported
by her friends, in order to make decisions about the changes they must make in
their lives.
Elements of Women’s Lives and Relationships Writing
Tone/Mood
Books in the “Women’s Lives and Relationships” genre have a
variety of tones – ranging from melodramatic to realistic and everything in
between (Saricks, 2009). This story has some dramatic elements – the disappearance
and reappearance of Alice’s husband; Ann Marie’s drastic 180 which turns her
from a meek housewife to a force to be reckoned with – but for the most part,
the underlying elements of relationships, friendships, identity, love and loss
create a realistic setting for this story to unfold.
Characterization
This book highly ascribes to the characterization aspects of Women’s
Lives and Relationships, as it solely revolves around four related women, who
are all working through their personal and interpersonal relationships and
related issues. While men are present in this story – Maggie’s unreliable
boyfriend, the gentle local priest, Alice’s absent husband, Ann-Marie’s distant
husband, and Kathleen’s lovable and quirky husband – Sullivan does a fantastic
job of keeping the focus of the story on the women themselves and how they
related to one another, and view themselves, both within and outside the
context of their male counterparts. This book is truly character-centered.
Story Line
Stories in this genre focus not only on women as main characters,
but also on their struggles and triumphs – especially as they relate to women.
In this novel, the women are dealing with life changes, age, loneliness,
mother/daughter relationships, marriage, identity, etc. – and while these
elements aren’t reserved for books about women, the way Sullivan describes and
resolves those issues resonate deeply with women. Sullivan has a keen awareness
of the love/tension relationships that exist between generations of women in a
family, and is able to write a story that very accurately reflects the ways in
which women relate to one another.
Frame/Setting
Maine is set in the
present-day, with a location that isn’t familiar to all, but evokes feelings of
familiarity. Saricks (2009) notes that stories in this genre often include “fascinating
background details related to geographical setting, careers, and hobbies…”
Sullivan explores some fun/quirky details of both the setting (contrasting the
huge, “main house” with the quaint, rickety cottage that everyone prefers) as
well as Ann Marie’s hobby as a dollhouse creator, and Kathleen’s business as a
worm farmer. These small details are funny and intriguing, and draw the reader
in.
Pacing
The pacing of this novel is slow and languid – very reminiscent of
the beach where it is set. While there are no real suspenseful moments in the
book, there are a few moments that are jarring for the characters and reader,
and the pacing speeds up at that point. Overall, the pacing is set in a way
that allows things to unfold at a consistent, unhurried pace.
Book Read-Alikes
Ladies of the Lake – Haywood Smith
Both of these books focus on friendships and relationships between
female family members who are spending time together on vacation. In each of
these books, the relationships encounter tough spots that require the women to
engage in tough conversations and find ways to reconcile their differences to
repair their relationships and the family structure.
Summer People – Elin Hildebrand
In both books, the authors focus on groups of women who are
vacationing together while dealing with personal problems and interpersonal
relationships. The stories are both slowly paced with quick moments of surprise
and feature women that have deep flaws that make the reader engage with/relate
to them on a deep level.
Summer Rental – Mary Kay Andrews
Both Maine and Summer Rental explore the lives of
groups of women who are all in the process of rebuilding their lives after some
sort of crisis. While Maine finds the
characters exploring their crises from the beginning and Summer Rental provides more look-backs on the actual events, the
characters in each are charged with re-creating their lives with the support
and love of their family and friends.
Author Read-Alikes
Patricia Gaffney – Both Gaffney and Sullivan write novels that
feature sharp, intelligent and emotionally mature female characters. The books
have realistic settings and dialogue and showcase complex moral and familial
situations.
Sue Miller – J. Courtney Sullivan and Sue Miller both write stories
that are fun and entertaining, while pushing readers to think about the
challenges each character is facing. Both authors write emotionally and situationally
complex stories about divorce, family relationships and dysfunctions, and aging
parents.
Elin Hildebrand – Both of these authors focus on women's lives and relationships in character-driven novels that are easily relatable because of the character's problems and complex lives. Their leisurely-paced writing is emotional and sometimes bittersweet as characters' pasts are explored.
Reader Commentary
I first read Maine
when it was first released, and then again in the summer of 2014, and was impressed
by how relevant it was at each point in my life – as my relationships with my
female friends and mother/sister were in flux. While I would not consider this
book to be a great work of literary fiction (and truthfully it wasn’t written
to be that!) I do think it is a great example of this genre of fiction.
I think Sullivan does a fantastic job of creating unique and
fun characters. I really enjoyed Alice and Ann Marie – Alice is feisty and fun
and slightly bitter; Ann Marie is deeply complex and darkly funny. Of all the
characters, Maggie is my least favorite, but that’s probably because I found
her story to be one that’s told before. However, she is a relatable character
and familiar for many readers. The men in this book are also well-written –
they complement the story without detracting from it or overwhelming the female
characters.
This genre as a whole encompasses some of my favorite
authors – especially Jodi Picoult. I did not choose to discuss any of her books
in this annotation because I wanted to explore a different author, but I have
consistently been a fan of her work and after reading more of the genre,
understand how great of a writer she is for this genre.
As an aside – another book I would highly recommend in this genre is The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman.
While the book may also fall under historical fiction, the intense, complex
and amazing women that are featured in this book will put readers into a spell.
I cannot speak highly enough of it.
Saricks, J. (2009). The Readers' Advisory Guide to Genre Fiction: Second Edition. Chicago, Illinois: American Library Association.
I've never heard of this title before and am intrigued! Great annotation!
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