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Maine

3.29 of 5 stars 3.29 · rating details · 13,752 ratings · 2,559 reviews

Three generations of women converge on the family beach house in this wickedly funny, emotionally resonant story of love and dysfunction from the author of the best-selling debut novel Commencement
The Kelleher family has been coming to Maine for sixty years. Their beachfront cottage,won on a barroom bet after the war, is a place where children run in packs, showers are ta...more

Kindle Edition, 530 pages

Published (first published June 14th 2011)

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Apr 26, 2012 ilovebakedgoods (Teresa) rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: jan-2012, library, women

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...more

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Jan 10, 2012 Marci rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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 b...more 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."!!!(less)

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Janice Thank you so much, you just saved me from wasting my time. I wanted to stick it out to see if there are lessons learned. I can see I will be angry if...more
Mar 31, 2013 05:33am

Mary Anne From the beginning, I felt that the author was weak, but that the characters seemed interesting, if nothing else. I wanted so much for the book to be...more
updated Apr 17, 2013 09:24am

Sep 10, 2011 CC rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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 a...more

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Mar 30, 2013 thewanderingjew rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

“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 sudd...more “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.
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Oct 10, 2012 Mmoleski rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The ending? Never saw that coming!

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May 11, 2012 Dani Peloquin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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 Ma...more 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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Nov 24, 2012 Andy Miller rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Great novel about four women from three generations who eventually come to their family's summer homes in Maine at the same time.

Alice is the matriarch of the family, in her eighties though none of her family knows her exact age. She is extremely committed to her Catholic faith though the faith does not keep her from routinely terrorizing her family. Maggie is her 32 grandaughter who is pregnant and abandoned by her boyfriend before she can tell him the news. Ann Marie is the daughter in law who...more

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Jun 21, 2011 Courtney rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorite-authors, my-favorites

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 mys...more

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Apr 02, 2013 Gina rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: women

I couldn't get far into this book. It read like the back of a Christian women's magazine. In the first few chapters, she introduces four characters named Mary as well as a school named St. Mary's (to bash us over the head with the Catholic theme?).

The fact that I read the audio version didn't help at all. The reader has a saccharine sweet voice reminiscent of an advertisement voiceover.

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May 21, 2013 Laura rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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 "wick...more

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Apr 22, 2013 Lisa Schmeiser rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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 b...more

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Mar 15, 2013 Joanne rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What a complex, but enjoyable book! While the family summer home in Maine has been around for over 60 years, ten years after Daniel Kelleher (Alice’s husband) dies the family is separated by who comes what month and feeling the burden for taking care of aging Alice. The summer story full of family drama centers on matriarch Alice, her eldest daughter Kathleen and her daughter Maggie and daughter-in-law Ann Marie. The family history is diverse with family secrets, longings and dreams, alcoholism,...more

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Feb 12, 2013 Amy Meyer added it · review of another edition

Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan

from Knopf

Publisher Summary: 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 ol...more

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Jan 21, 2013 Trudy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Daniel Kelleher won a fifty dollar bet in the 40's and was paid with a piece of land on the coast of Maine in Ogunquit. He and his wife's brothers built a house, and it became the summer retreat for the family. Alice, the matriarch after Daniel's death, doesn't get along with anyone in the family. She doesn't really even show allegiance to her daughter -in-law, Ann Marie, who dotes on her, and makes sure that Alice is never alone in Maine. Alice's kids are Katherine, Clare and Patrick, who's mar...more Daniel Kelleher won a fifty dollar bet in the 40's and was paid with a piece of land on the coast of Maine in Ogunquit. He and his wife's brothers built a house, and it became the summer retreat for the family. Alice, the matriarch after Daniel's death, doesn't get along with anyone in the family. She doesn't really even show allegiance to her daughter -in-law, Ann Marie, who dotes on her, and makes sure that Alice is never alone in Maine. Alice's kids are Katherine, Clare and Patrick, who's married to Ann Marie. Katharine, divorced from Paul and living on a worm poop farm in California with Arlo, has two kids, Maggie, a writer, and Chris. Maggie is pregnant with Gabe's child. They have just broken up. Clare and Josh, who have a successful religious paraphernalia business have Ryan, who's into musical theater. Patrick and Ann Marie have Fiona, who's gay and in the Peace Corps in Africa; Little Daniel who can't keep a job, having been fired from one that his father got him for downloading porn and charging it to his corporate credit card; Patty, their oldest, a few months older than Katherine, has three kids and lives in the burbs. Alice, living with guilt over her sister Mary's death in the Cocoanut Grove fire (Mary went back inside to retrieve her favorite gloves that Alice borrowed on the night she first met, and was not impressed by, Daniel), wants to exit this world in a state of grace, so the she will be reunited with her husband and Mary, donates the beach house to the Church, or specifically to Father Donnelly, of St. Mark's church in Ogunquit. Only, she never told her family. Father Donnelly let it drop to Ann Marie when he was fixing the garbage disposal. Sexual tension with Alice. The Brewers come for Ann Marie and Patrick 's first week. AM has a crush on Steve and thinks he reciprocates. Drunk, on the Fourth of July, AM kisses him, he recoils, and Katherine has witnessed. Last page, Alice goes to mass on August 15 and hears Daniel say, "Alice, it's time."(less)

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Nov 21, 2012 Onewithbooks rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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 tha...more

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Nov 07, 2012 Laura Smith rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: book-club

Maine is a beautiful story of women of all ages who are connected by family.

That doesn't mean they agree or think alike or can even be civil towards one another, but it does mean they share holidays and relatives and their family summer home in Maine.

Each woman is lovable at times and makes you want to strangle her at others. What J. Courtney Sullivan has done a lovely job at is showing the true psyche of humans -- that all of us, for the most part, try. We try to be good, we try to help others,...more

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Oct 10, 2012 Nancy Brisson rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A number of novels have been written where the author sets a group of friends, or a group of couples and singles, or a gaggle of sisters and a mom down in a summer house by a great beach and has them duke it out with the issues that have piled up in their lives. I enjoy reading these books for some obscure reason, perhaps because I have five sisters and two sisters-in-law, eight nieces and one matriarch, but no beach house to provide a soothing setting for our surprisingly infrequent brouhahas....more A number of novels have been written where the author sets a group of friends, or a group of couples and singles, or a gaggle of sisters and a mom down in a summer house by a great beach and has them duke it out with the issues that have piled up in their lives. I enjoy reading these books for some obscure reason, perhaps because I have five sisters and two sisters-in-law, eight nieces and one matriarch, but no beach house to provide a soothing setting for our surprisingly infrequent brouhahas. So when the book Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan was recommended by any number of sources as a good summer read I added it to my list. Even though it is now early fall and I did not retire to a beach to read Maine I found it just as enjoyable as other books in this genre.

The author’s story structure is to assign a chapter to each of the key women in this story, and then to revisit them several chapters later. Since they are all related to each other and their lives intertwine it is nothing like reading separate short stories. It is clearly a cohesive novel that allows us to move between several different voices. So we meet this family’s matriarch, Alice; her granddaughter, Maggie; her oldest child; Kathleen, and her daughter-in-law, Ann Marie and through them we meet all the other members of the Kelleher family. The author immerses us in their joys and sorrows both current and past. Ms. Sullivan creates a strong and deeply flawed character in Alice, who is not afraid to critique the women in her family, but who gets by because of her beauty and because she can also be quite charming. She is the interesting hub around which the story twirls and she pushes buttons in each of us because the things she does to her children are familiar, if not in our own lives then in the lives of people we know. And after all, moms are people also, and all people, as my friend Marie says, are weird. We all have our eccentricities. The book was a pleasant break from heavier tomes and might even take you to warmer places on a day in deepest winter.
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Sep 17, 2012 Silvia Liotta rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Nel Maine Daniel ed Alice hanno costruito dal nulla un piccolo cottage in riva
al mare dove poter passare le estati insieme ai loro tre figli. E così è stato:
anni e anni di estati prima con i figli poi con i nipoti..sino alla morte del
patriarca Daniel. Da quel momento la famiglia Kelleher sembra essersi sgretolata:
la facciata di felicità è caduta rivelando anni ed anni di risentimento.
Un romanzo interessante che racconta la storia di questa famiglia disseminata
di rancori e di egoismi. A partire...more

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Sep 04, 2012 Sheryl rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Honestly I thought I would like this book very much since it was about family relationships (and came highly recommended), but I am sorry to say that I was disappointed. Not in the writing, it was good. Not in the setting, enjoyable too since it was Maine and New England and I've lived there and loved it. But in the characters. I just didn't like them.

A good novel will have bad characters with rotten characteristics, but even the worst of characters will have some redeeming qualities. The charac...more

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Sep 02, 2012 Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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...more

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Aug 16, 2012 Beth Bonini rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I find "You Are There" reading irresistible -- (thank you, Anne Fadiman, for giving a label to this reading compulsion) -- which explains why I picked up a copy of this book while vacationing in Bar Harbour, Maine. If you are looking for a sense of place, though -- if you want insight into Maine and its inhabitants -- this is not the book for you. A family's summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine is more or less the setting for the novel, but it might as well be any summer place. In fact, the other...more

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Aug 16, 2012 Mary Lou rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan is a novel I sped through, reading because someone loaned it to me, not caring too much about it. The experiences and relationships of matriarch Alice Kelleher, her older daughter Kathleen, her daughter-in-law Ann-Marie, and her adult granddaughter Maggie are the gist of the novel: three generations of women, the ways they communicate, compensate, and interact. To Sullivan’s credit, she develops the characters well enough that I could keep them straight and follow t...more Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan is a novel I sped through, reading because someone loaned it to me, not caring too much about it. The experiences and relationships of matriarch Alice Kelleher, her older daughter Kathleen, her daughter-in-law Ann-Marie, and her adult granddaughter Maggie are the gist of the novel: three generations of women, the ways they communicate, compensate, and interact. To Sullivan’s credit, she develops the characters well enough that I could keep them straight and follow the story even with cursory attention.

As the title suggests, the focus of the story is property in Maine, accessed by a road “from a fairy tale, a long stretch of sand inside a tunnel of lush pine trees. When they reached the end, there was the ocean, sparkling in the sun, dark blue against a small sandy beach, which was nestled between two long stretches of rocky coast. . . three acres, too—all this land along the water” (13). Daniel Kelleher won the land in 1945, built a cottage with help from his brothers for himself and Alice, and they vacationed there every summer with their families which eventually included their three children, 42 nieces and nephews, and, finally, five grandchildren.

Their youngest son Patrick, the most successful, married Ann Marie, who Alice considered to be “a better daughter to her than either” Clare, her middle child or Kathleen, the rebellious oldest.

On the surface, Alice is admirable: she has attended Mass every day “for the past six decades, run both the Sunday School program, when her children were small, and the Legion of Mary once they had grown” (6). As the story opens, Alice has decided to give the property in Maine to the local church St. Michael’s by the Sea, which is floundering because of lack of funds. The initial cottage, a modern house Patrick had built for his parents a few years before Daniel died, and the property is now worth more than two million dollars. Alice has not mentioned this to her family, but she has begun packing and giving things away because “she didn’t want anyone to be burdened by the mess once she was gone” (4).

Although each character has her own issues, Alice’s background is the most compelling. She makes all of the major decisions in her life because of guilt about her sister Mary’s death in the fire of 1942 at the Cocoanut Grove, Boston’s premiere nightclub. Alice is there, dressed in her sister Mary’s clothes for a blind date with Daniel whom she finds ugly and unexciting. Mary has a rich fellow who, Alice learns, plans to propose that night, and Alice is beside herself with jealousy. She leaves the club in a fit of pique, argues with Mary when she follows her, sends Mary back into the club, which is why Mary is there when the fire starts, and then Alice lies to her family, never acknowledging that she was outside the club waiting for Mary when the fire started. Alice feels totally responsible for Mary’s death, though too cowardly to be honest, and she lives her life hoping for atonement, which she associates with giving the Maine property to the church.
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Jul 30, 2012 Terry rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Where are the half stars when you need them? I couldn't put it down and yet I didn't like the
4 main women very much at all. The youngest, Maggie, was the only one I would even think of
having as a friend. The matriarch of the family seems to care little or nothing about
other people's feelings especially those of the other women in her family.Although the author tells us that she really loved her husband, it is hard to fathom that she could love anyone. Her daughter has suffered the consequences...more

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Jul 19, 2012 Agnes Benis rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This is the story of 3 generations of an Irish American family who take their vacations in Maine. Alice, the matriach, who has hidden a secret regarding her sister Mary all of her life; Kathleen, Alice's daughter who was her father's favorite child; Ann Marie, the wife of Pat, Alice's son; Clare, Alice's daughter and Maggie, Kathleen's daughter who was supposed to come to Maine with her boyfriend Gabe and shows up without him and pregnant.

The book deals with myth of their big Irish family, myths...more

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Jul 12, 2012 Simone Sinna rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

When I am away for work or holiday I read even more than normal and like wherever possible to read something from the place I am in. This is a lot more meaningful if you’re somewhere exotic or even just culturally different (eg Coetzee’s Disgrace when I was in South Africa) and doesn’t seem quite as meaningful when you’re in the USA given there are so many American authors and it’s not like they often couldn’t be British or Australian in many ways. Pat Conroy evoking South Carolina would be an o...more

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Jun 26, 2012 Kathleen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: authors-new-to-me

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 n...more

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Jun 19, 2012 Sue Wargo rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I grew up with a family that was split between Maine and Massachusetts. I have fond memories of the long trips to Maine especially during the summer to visit relatives. Although they did not have a beach house on the coast, the vacations with family are some of my best memories. The place that the beach was is where I spent many college vacations with girl friends and I knew every nook and cranny that Alice described. I think that the author has a true knack for writing a woman's story. I could...more

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Jun 18, 2012 Erika Robuck rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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...more 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.(less)

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Jun 17, 2012 Jane rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: tried-to-finish

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....more

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Jun 13, 2012 Vicki rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

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...more

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What's The Name o...: Sis or sis-in-law obsessed with dollhouses - Solved [s]	3	131	Jul 31, 2012 11:58am
A Novel Idea Book...: J. Courtney Sullivan Bio and Article	1	7	May 07, 2012 04:26pm
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About J. Courtney Sullivan

J. Courtney Sullivan is a Brooklyn-based writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, New York magazine, Elle, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Allure, In Style, Men’s Vogue, the New York Observer, Tango, and in the essay anthology The Secret Currency of Love (Morrow.) She contributes to the website someecards.com, and is co-editing an anthology about young women and feminism with Courtney E. Marti...more

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“You all seem to think you should marry someone when you feel this intense emotion, which you call love. And then you expect 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.” — 2 people liked it

“...life was messy, conflict inevitable. It didn't mean you had to fall apart.” — 2 people liked it

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