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Off Keck Road: A Novella
by
Mona Simpson (Goodreads Author)
In this flawless novella, Mona Simpson turns her powers of observation toward characters who, unlike Ann and Adele August in her bestselling Anywhere but Here, choose to stay rather than go.
As a high school student in Green Bay, Bea Maxwell raised money for good causes; later, she became a successful real estate agent and an accomplished knitter. The one thing missing fro...more
As a high school student in Green Bay, Bea Maxwell raised money for good causes; later, she became a successful real estate agent and an accomplished knitter. The one thing missing fro...more
Paperback, 176 pages
Published
September 11th 2001
by Vintage
(first published 2000)
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There is two reasons why I chose to read this book, the first and ultimate reason being that I am from Green Bay, WI, and the book takes place there. The second being that Mona Simpson also wrote "Anywhere but Here," which I remember liking. This book however is different. The only reason that I enjoyed it even partially was because she references things and places that I know about, even being over 50 years ago. Other than that, I think the writing lacked, and the 'storyline' - if there even wa...more
After reading the first page, I wondered if I would really like this book. I saw Mona Simpson speak and she was such a good story teller in person, that I kept reading. I'm glad I did. Our main character, Bea, eventually goes through life without ever having a male companion or losing her virginity. We think at first that the book is only going to explore part of her life, but really it goes from post college on and back. Shelly, the girl who contracts polio, is the most interesting of the chara...more
I just started Off Keck Road. She interviewed Edmund White last night at the Hammer. It was hilarius! She is quick and funny, and I can't wait to get into this story further.
O.K. Several hours later, I devoured this book like a box of See's. It's about two women who grew up in the same town, on opposite sides of the track, and who never leave. Their lives are similar yet so very different. Both never married or had children, the things everyone in Green Bay associated with a successful life. The...more
O.K. Several hours later, I devoured this book like a box of See's. It's about two women who grew up in the same town, on opposite sides of the track, and who never leave. Their lives are similar yet so very different. Both never married or had children, the things everyone in Green Bay associated with a successful life. The...more
In this expansive novella wrought of spare, lyrical passages, Mona Simpson traces with affection the entire arcs of two women's lives. Bea Maxwell never marries, foreswearing a life in Chicago to return to Green Bay to care for her ailing busybody mother as arthritis cripples her. Bea's life as a prosperous but frustrated real estate saleswoman counters but parallels the coming-of-age of young Shelley, whose stubbornness couples nicely with a naivety that contrasts Bea's ability to glimpse the m...more
It's odd how similar this book is to Empire Falls, even though it's only a quarter of its size and about an area on the other side of the United States. It may be minimalistic instead of expansive, but Off Keck Road perfectly describes small town life and its inapplicability in today's world. People don't necessarily change, but places do; attachment to place is vastly important, which is why the end is, in many ways, heartbreaking. The perspective wanders among various characters, but it begins...more
You know that expression, "I really wanted to like this book?" Well, I did, and I just did not like it! I LOVED "My Hollywood," which I read a short while ago. But this book I could not get into, and I gave it until 60% of the way through. It is described as a quiet book about quiet lives, and I generally like quiet books, but this book was too quiet. I didn't find the characters particularly interesting or poignant, and the book was not filled with the absolute gems that I found in "My Hollywoo...more
A look into the lives of two women from "opposite sides of the tracks" in Green Bay Wisconsin from the 50's into the early 80's. Well drawn characters and excellent writing, but suffers from its scope and length - - it is really a novella, and given the time over which their lives are dipped into, we can really only know the characters in snatches. It is a testament to the skill of the author that I want to know more about Bea and Shelley and to imagine their continued lives. Reminded me a littl...more
I found this very dreary. I was waiting for something of consequence to happen, and it never did. The whole book seemed like an exercise in character development, with little attention paid to the plot. I'm not sure that the character development was even very good. Everyone seemed unfinished and rather static, which, I suppose was the statement the author was trying to make. It just didn't resonate with me.
Beautifully written in a clear, dispassionate tone. But you walk away feeling a bit sad for the heroine (or one of the heroines) Bea, who glides through her life with clarity and purpose - all except for completely missing the boat on connecting with anyone. A perfect book for winter reading. Captures the cold snow-laden life I remember from Wisconsin-Illinois.
Why do I keep reading depressing books? Lordy! Writing is a bit simple, characters a bit boring, story ok. Stuck with it cos I thought there'd be some big thought-provoking ending, and was a wee bit disappointed. And depressed. Yes. Depressing.
I got to page 20 and threw in the towel. I could not get into this book, and I think the effort required to do so is due to poor writing as opposed to any kind of strange post-modern meta stuff. Flat, uniform, indistinguishable characters. A dreary bore.
This is a deceptively quiet novella, but I found it poignant and profound. Not everyone has a 'happily ever after' turning point in their life. Sometimes you just have to do the best you can with the hand you're dealt.
I really wanted to like this book more than I did but I just couldn't identify with the two main characters. Generally, I like quirky characters -- but these two ladies just had an overwhelming sense of sadness about them. Maybe it was just me.
Except for historical context this is a waste of time. There really is no story line. Most characters are not developed enough to remember who your reading about and how they are connected. Really this Novella could have been a short story and been more successful.
WOW. This is a stunner of a novel - short, crisp, beautifully structured, and with one of the most heartbreaking endings I've ever read. Just read it. And when you finish it, go back immediately and reread the first chapter. When I finished it initially, I really liked it. When I saw how perfectly the first and last chapters mirror each other, I loved it. Great look at how a group of characters evolve over the course of forty years.
I enjoy Mona's work and I enjoyed this as well
Reminiscent of Olive Kitterage. Good small town saga.
Saw at Third Place --
Liked it much better than My Hollywood.
Reminded me a bit of Anne Tyler, but set in small-town Wisconsin, rather than Baltimore. Mona Simpson does a great job of identifying those moments in a life where a crossroads occurs (some minor gesture or statement discourages or encourages a relationship or event) and pointing them out.
I liked how she moved the characters through time and through them painted a detailed portrait of the American post-war period's effect on cultural patterns and norms. As someone who also lived through the rapid transformation of towns and farmlands into endless suburbs, it felt accurate to me. Not that the people in the book weren't also very particular individuals, with unique, believable personalities and experiences. Good read.
1st edition, small red r.m. bottom edge
There's a joke about Middlemarch in this one, as there are in many of Lorrie Moore's novels. Is someone writing an article on the c20th afterlife of George Eliot? They should be, I think.
loved this book. it was my first by mona simpson. all about choices that we make and how our judgements are
sometimes flawed. wanted to know more about what happened
to bea
sometimes flawed. wanted to know more about what happened
to bea
I identified a lot with the characters in this book... still not sure if this is a good or bad thing.
I LOVED this book. I loved the detail and monotony captured through the years for this character.
Okay, but fairly boring. I hope the next two I read by Simpson are better.
Pretty good for a novel. Fit the bill for a quick plane read.
I really enjoyed the descriptions of retro Green Bay, WI life.
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Mona Simpson was born in Green Bay, Wisconsin, then moved to Los Angeles as a young teenager. Her father was a recent immigrant from Syria and her mother was the daughter of a mink farmer and the first person in her family to attend college. Simpson went to Berkeley, where she studied poetry. She worked as a journalist before moving to New York to attend Columbia’s MFA program. During graduate sch...more
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