Among Other Things, I've Taken Up Smoking: A Novel
by Aoibheann Sweeney
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Read in July, 2008
This book has many things I loved and a few things I wasn't so keen on, I thought giving it a "4" was a stretch, but I didn't have the heart to only give it a "3"
The side characters are all extremely predictable stereotypes. As soon as you meet them, you pretty much know everything that is going to happen with them. The predictability of the plot was my only major gripe with this book.
I loved how this book drew on Ovid's Metamorphoses. Ovid was invoked always at t...more
The side characters are all extremely predictable stereotypes. As soon as you meet them, you pretty much know everything that is going to happen with them. The predictability of the plot was my only major gripe with this book.
I loved how this book drew on Ovid's Metamorphoses. Ovid was invoked always at t...more
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Read in June, 2008
recommends it for:
Mainers, dykes, and people who like coming of age novels
Something I read about this book called it restrained, and that's probably the word that best describes it to me. This fits the setting of a lonely island, where the protagonist grows up with her father.
The metaphors are really well done: everything relates back to the island, its air, light, water, color, and the tools of life on a rural island. It's certainly distinctive to hear descriptions of the island where I was born, Manhattan, described with rural references.
Also fresh was the d...more
The metaphors are really well done: everything relates back to the island, its air, light, water, color, and the tools of life on a rural island. It's certainly distinctive to hear descriptions of the island where I was born, Manhattan, described with rural references.
Also fresh was the d...more
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Read in September, 2007
Written by fellow Crimson Aiobheann Sweeney, this is probably one of the best reads I've had to date.
It reminds me of the way I handled Trangression Junction, but her style is so clean, and the story so well written that I wish I owned this book rather than having to return it to the library. That actually says a lot.
This book was also a good fit for me because I can relate to a great deal of what was said and written as far as location, the feelings involved, and while I am not direc...more
It reminds me of the way I handled Trangression Junction, but her style is so clean, and the story so well written that I wish I owned this book rather than having to return it to the library. That actually says a lot.
This book was also a good fit for me because I can relate to a great deal of what was said and written as far as location, the feelings involved, and while I am not direc...more
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Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
someone who lives in a small town and hates it
This book doesn't have much of a story, and I don't mind that; it's about the narrator's self-discovery. It tells a story of a girl who spent most of her life isolated in Maine with her nebbish, absent-minded-professor father, but then gets a job to work in New York City. Its use of allegory (she uses Ovid to understand what's happening in her life...it makes sense in the story, I promise) is impressive and interesting to read. The problem is, the metaphors just stop. This is supposed to coincid...more
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Read in April, 2008
Miranda has grown up largely alone on an island off the coast of Maine with her father. Her mother died (possibly a suicide) when she was three. For many years Jonas Blackwell, a local fisherman, spent a great deal of time with Miranda and her father, taking on a great deal of parenting from James who was distracted at the best of times and absorbed in his work translating Ovid for hours at a time. The relationship between the two men, and the cause for their break is never explained, partially ...more
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Read in June, 2008
I really liked how this novel refers back to Ovid's Metamorphoses, especially after reading segments of it earlier this year. Among Other Things, I've Taken Up Smoking tells the story of a young woman coming of age and searching for answers regarding her own life, and the lives of her parents. Although somewhat predictable, it does present very unusual circumstances for the main character as she continues to transform, growing as a person.
That being said, the story did lack a degree of subs...more
That being said, the story did lack a degree of subs...more
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Read in August, 2007
Aiobheann (say "Even") Sweeney adds a worthwhile volume to the "coming of age" genre. Miranda, a teenager who grew up on a tiny island in coastal Maine, visits New York at the behest of her father, a classical scholar writing a translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses.
Books that make liberal use of metaphor, as this one does (episodes from Metamorphoses are sprinkled throughout), can be heavy-handed, but Sweeney has a light touch. While there's nothing startlingly original he...more
Books that make liberal use of metaphor, as this one does (episodes from Metamorphoses are sprinkled throughout), can be heavy-handed, but Sweeney has a light touch. While there's nothing startlingly original he...more
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Read in September, 2007
It started off a bit slow and weird but I wanted to give it a chance. I kept doing so until I realized it was over and had continued until the end to be a bit slow and weird!
Young girl lives with her father on a remote island in Maine. Her mom is dead. we wonder if the man that is the family friend is the ed'd lover, the daughter doesn't seem to notice. Girl travels to NY and meets all of her Dad's old friens who are gay. Girl doesn't sem to make he connection to her dad. Girl becomes inoled...more
Young girl lives with her father on a remote island in Maine. Her mom is dead. we wonder if the man that is the family friend is the ed'd lover, the daughter doesn't seem to notice. Girl travels to NY and meets all of her Dad's old friens who are gay. Girl doesn't sem to make he connection to her dad. Girl becomes inoled...more
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Read in December, 2007
This book had given rave reviews to this debut author. I liked it, but cannot rave about it. I found the characters underdeveloped and the symbolism too obvious. The storyline had promise-- Girl and her inpenetrable, unnurturing father live alone on small island in Maine. Girl leaves the foggy island behind for the brightly lit New York City. The prose is well written; there is just too little of it. This novel's brevity forces the movement of the plot instead of letting it unfold. There i...more
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Read in July, 2007
A charming, subdued story about a young woman who comes to New York City from an island off the coast of Maine and begins to figure out the oddities in her family's past as well as some things she never understood about herself. As I said when I interviewed Sweeney for GalleyCat, "it's a gay novel that doesn't particularly make a big deal out of being a gay novel; the emot...more
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Read in April, 2008
This is a wonderful literary novel and would also be a fantastic book to give to a precocious high schooler or early college student. Weaving mythology into a coming of age tale that travels from Maine to New York City, the book is a beautiful portrait of the transition between childhood and adulthood. The book also explores the awkward, unevenness of being a child for whom circumstances demand maturity beyond her years. Miranda sketches her way into adulthood through a game of balancing acts, c...more
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I can't even begin to say how much I adored this book. Winner of a Lambda award for debut lesbian fiction, I kept meaning to find it at the library before happening upon it at the Strand and deciding to snatch it up. I'm so glad I did--I tore through this novel in two days, completely in love with Miranda, her father, their island, and her sudden transplant to new york. The cheeky title invoked a novel more urban and flippant, but the story itself is so much more thoughtful and tender than any c...more
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Read in November, 2007
This is a story about the profound human need for intimacy. In her debut novel, Aoibheann Sweeney paints a haunting portrait of a young woman with an unshakable loneliness and the relationship that finally pierces it.
I enjoyed this book very much. I liked the style of writing. I thought the story flowed quite smoothly and was an easy read. Unfortunately the ended left me wanted more, as so often happens, I find. I didn't get that feeling of closure I was hoping for. I wanted to know...more
I enjoyed this book very much. I liked the style of writing. I thought the story flowed quite smoothly and was an easy read. Unfortunately the ended left me wanted more, as so often happens, I find. I didn't get that feeling of closure I was hoping for. I wanted to know...more
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This review contains a spoiler! The mother's suicide seemed like a key event, but not for anyone in this book... What everyone is most interested in are their identities as gays. I am sure that the author did not intend this, but the book presents gay people as very cruel to non-gays: the father to the mother and to Mr. Blackwell, Miranda to Nate. The strength of the book lies in making you re-examine all the events after you figure out that all the key characters are gay.
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Read in February, 2008
An absolutely beautiful book of reconciliation: this is one of the most well written books I've read in a long time. This book is both subtle in its eventual purpose and completely matter-of-fact – don’t ask me how but Sweeney pulls that contradiction off perfectly.
A story so well constructed that, although I never wanted to see it end, I didn't feel ripped off when it did. It completes its "narrative arch" flawlessly and resolutely (is that a word? should be).
A story so well constructed that, although I never wanted to see it end, I didn't feel ripped off when it did. It completes its "narrative arch" flawlessly and resolutely (is that a word? should be).
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Read in January, 2008
This is a classic coming of age story. Girl grows up on isolated island in Maine with father, reclusive classics scholar. Girl goes to New York City for a few weeks to work with father's former friends/colleagues. Girl has romantic entanglements with a man and a woman. Girl gets confused and goes back to Maine, then decides to go back to NYC.
This was a quick read, and the story sort of carried me along, but I was hoping for a little more depth.
This was a quick read, and the story sort of carried me along, but I was hoping for a little more depth.
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Read in May, 2008
It was entertaining and a fun read. However, I had a hard time finding the main character believable. After spending years living in an isolated bubble with her father and friend at the center, how did she so easily immerse herself into NYC without feeling overwhelmed or unsure? Perhaps I should be optimistic and see NYC as the place where she could truly find herself--and she did. I didn't buy the seamless transition.
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in August, 2008
recommended to Allen by:
Staff review @ Bailey/Coy Booksrecommends it for: Someone interested in a quick read
I saw this book at a local mom & pop book store. It had a staff review on it which I only remembered said good things. I didn't get it then but later saw it at costco and decided to pick it up.
As some of the other reviews say, it is a bit predictable but still fun and interesting. The interlacing of Ovid is great and as a cover review says the story is almost lyrical at times.
As some of the other reviews say, it is a bit predictable but still fun and interesting. The interlacing of Ovid is great and as a cover review says the story is almost lyrical at times.
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There is "hope" for the author - yes, I know I am generous - as the writing and imagery is frequently beautiful. However the story line with a young girl finding herself and exploring her sexuality are less that believable. The book only has 250 pages thus she could have used a few more lines and developed the characters and story line better. Would NOT recommend it!
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Read in July, 2008
recommends it for:
People who like dark thoughtful novels
I am not too far in this book. That is what happens when you read two books at the same time and one is funny and lighthearted. I bought it while vacationing in Maine. It is about the isolation one experiences while on a practically deserted island (off the coast of Maine) and on a city island (Manhattan). The title also makes me laugh because of my job.
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