At fifty, Pippa Lee seems just fine. The devoted wife of a brilliant publisher thirty years her senior, the proud mother of successful twins, and a...
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Nov 05, 2007
Andrea
rated it: 
This was a really good book. Very smart literature for women, IMHO.
Pippa Lee, 50, is married to Herb, three decades her senior. He suddenly announces that he wants to move to Marigold Village, a retirement community, and Pippa finds her life changing in ways she can't control.
We are taken into Pippa's life as a child and teenager, then into young adulthood.
Then we are brought back to the present and into an unexpected conclusion.
Pippa Lee, 50, is married to Herb, three decades her senior. He suddenly announces that he wants to move to Marigold Village, a retirement community, and Pippa finds her life changing in ways she can't control.
We are taken into Pippa's life as a child and teenager, then into young adulthood.
Then we are brought back to the present and into an unexpected conclusion.
Jan 27, 2011
Lindsay
rated it: 
"The Private Lives of Pippa Lee was a slow-starter for me - it took me a couple of weeks to make it through part 1, not because the writing is especially dense or difficult, but because the first fifty-ish pages barely captured my interest. However, other reviews suggested that the novel was worth persevering with, and I am very glad indeed that I did. [return][return][return]The novel opens with Pippa moving into a retirement community with her much-older husband, Herb. Decades younger
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Mar 28, 2009
LindyLouMac
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http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/6614...
Not at all what I was expecting when I added this book to my wish list as a Richard and Judy recommendation I was really expecting it to be a humorous novel about a couple moving to a retirement village and the young wife causing chaos as we learnt of her past lives.. How wrong could I have been, as I actually found it disturbing and somewhat depressing, though strangely still a reasonable read.
The protagonist is Pippa Lee and one of the quot More...
Not at all what I was expecting when I added this book to my wish list as a Richard and Judy recommendation I was really expecting it to be a humorous novel about a couple moving to a retirement village and the young wife causing chaos as we learnt of her past lives.. How wrong could I have been, as I actually found it disturbing and somewhat depressing, though strangely still a reasonable read.
The protagonist is Pippa Lee and one of the quot More...
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Jan 10, 2009
Elevate Difference
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What molding and stretching is required of a woman who chooses to better the quality of life of others over her own? Perhaps this type of self-sacrifice cannot be fathomed from the outside in. To be the devoted wife, the doting mother, the gracious hostess, the caring friend—where and when does she find the time to find herself?
Within in her sharply defined world, Pippa Lee is everything to everyone who matters to her—to Herb, her husband thirty years her senior and a prominent publish More...
Within in her sharply defined world, Pippa Lee is everything to everyone who matters to her—to Herb, her husband thirty years her senior and a prominent publish More...
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Dec 25, 2010
Athene_who
rated it: 
What can I say? After a hard term at university I picked this out for some light reading off my mother's bookshelf at home and I think it is middle aged chick lit.
It started well enough; the protagonist, Pippa Lee, is the kind of woman I suspect most women aspire to be. Kind, caring, effervescent, the friend other women trust with their secrets. However, as the book continues it becomes clear that she has worked hard to become this woman and it could have been oh so different. It More...
It started well enough; the protagonist, Pippa Lee, is the kind of woman I suspect most women aspire to be. Kind, caring, effervescent, the friend other women trust with their secrets. However, as the book continues it becomes clear that she has worked hard to become this woman and it could have been oh so different. It More...
May 25, 2010
Swissmiss
rated it:
I was prepared to hate this book, based on other reviews I'd read, but I ended up rather enjoying it. It was pretentious, true, but I don't agree with what others have said that it would never have gotten published if the author hadn't been Arthur Miller's daughter. I've read a lot worse. *cough*NicholasSparks*cough*
The one jarring thing was the disjoint of the middle section, which switched to first person, and I could never really get back into the third person of the rest of the n More...
The one jarring thing was the disjoint of the middle section, which switched to first person, and I could never really get back into the third person of the rest of the n More...
Jan 30, 2010
Julie
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Mar 28, 2009
Elizabeth
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The character of Pippa Lee, in her many incarnations, is a wondrous specimen of a woman. It's far too easy to say "she overcame obstacles, blah, blah, blah..." It's much more than that when it comes to Pippa. She runs straight into the fire over and over, each time emerging more and more in touch with her own humanity. I fell in love with Pippa - her curiosity at a young age, her desperation during her young adulthood, and most of all her middle-aged incongruity. She knows how to
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Sep 13, 2008
Ina
rated it: 
There were bits about this book that I enjoyed but in the main I found it a slow read that went nowhere. I enjoyed reading about Pippa's childhood and young adulthood in the 60's and how this lively unusual womand had bcome subsumed by her husbnd and family. There were bits of her relationship with her mother that were disturbing but it did give you some insight into how she had become the woman she was and the impact it had on her own parenting of her daughter.
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Jan 08, 2010
Jayshree
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I could not bring myself to like this book. Supposedly, when Pippa moves to a retirement home, she undergoes some psychological issues that will undercover her past. That's not at all how the book plays out. there are about 60 or so pages of her transition in a retirement village and how she is adjusting and then out of no where, we transition to part two of the book which is where we learn of her former life.
Where did part two come from?? I had to reread the last couple of page More...
Where did part two come from?? I had to reread the last couple of page More...
Mar 13, 2010
Rebecca
rated it:
My library has a program called "Books To Go". It's kind of like how grocery stores position the candy bars right in the checkout line, but less fattening. Books that are being made into movies or that have gotten a certain amount of press recently are typically featured on a shelf right next to the library checkout.
I expected this book to be lightweight chick-lit, a guilty-pleasure read, but I was pleasantly surprised.
The novel starts when Pippa is 50 years old, and l More...
I expected this book to be lightweight chick-lit, a guilty-pleasure read, but I was pleasantly surprised.
The novel starts when Pippa is 50 years old, and l More...
Jul 13, 2011
Judy
rated it:
This was such an interesting story. I read it just in the past week because I wanted to pass it along in a bookcrossing book box. This story made me think about my own life, and how I have often contemplated on the fact that there are so many distinct compartments that don't have much overlap. For example, my childhood at home with my parents and my friends in my home town, and then there are my years at summer camp and my friends there, which were so transformative and where I made friends (and
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Aug 11, 2010
Debbie
rated it:
This book was lent to me by a friend and the loan was very timely as I am dealing with the subject of mental illness in my new novel. I was immediately struck by the narrative decisions the author made in the four separate parts. Miller has chosen to depict the present moment of the first part in the 3rd person which of course gives her room to move between characters if she needs to. The second and longest part of the book (the flashback) is told in the first person which I found strange as thi
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Aug 08, 2011
Missy
rated it:
I really enjoyed this story of a youngish woman who moves to a retirement village with her much older husband. Whilst there she begins to have a nervous breakdown, and the memories of how she became to be the person she is today are noted through the book. It was well written, she has a lovely way of turning a phrase. However, the last 20 pages left me absolutely speechless. The ending was shockingly bad, and so unlike the rest of the book that i had just written, that i began to wonder if i had
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Mar 09, 2010
Adrienne
rated it:
Miller returns to the familiar terrain she first explored with Personal Velocity, exploring one woman's life path and ambitions. As a lost and listless soul, Pippa Lee cannot find a career or purpose to devote herself too. She instead loses herself in futile sexual relationships until she attaches herself to Herb, a married publisher thirty years her season. Once Pippa weds Herb she loses herself in the marriage, when Herb grows elderly she is forced to reside in a retirement community where she
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Jan 24, 2011
NotSoLittleWitch
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Apr 25, 2011
Kirsty
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This sounded like a good book and though the reviews were very mixed I went ahead and read it. At the beginning of the book we have Pippa Lee, aged about 50, perfect wife of a much older publisher, perfect mother of grown-up twin children. Then the story goes back to show Pippa's childhood and what she got up to before her marriage. Nothing wrong with that. The idea of showing the flaws of the woman who became the model wife and mother is nothing new but could make a perfectly good story. My pr
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Jan 09, 2011
Stephanie
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After moving into a retirement community at least thirty years prematurely for the sake of the husband thirty years her senior, quintessential housewife Pippa Lee begins to meander very calmly and quickly toward a very quiet nervous breakdown. In between episodes of sleep-walking, sleep-driving, sleep-eating, sleep-smoking, and developing odd emotional ties to her neighbor's thirty-something wayward son (while very much awoke), Pippa narrates the road map of her troubled past that involves every
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Aug 27, 2010
Emily
rated it:
So, I expected something kinda different, but this was enjoyable too. Maybe the author used way too many adjvectives (I can't imagine it being translated into Spanish, thank God I got an English copy at a second-hand bookstore) and it felt like the beginning was too long and the ending too fast. I mean, it wasn't that fast, but it kinda felt like she married Herb too fast, you know, like, I expected a few more advertures in her life before settling with him. However, it was all so well linked, o
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Nov 16, 2011
Elsa
rated it:
C'est le récit d'une quinquagénaire qui s'installe dans une résidence pour séniors avec Herb, son mari de 80 ans, éditeur de son métier. Elle découvre un monde aseptisé dans lequel elle cherche sa place. Et la voilà qui repense à son passé tourmenté, bien loin de l'image de femme idéale qu'elle renvoie, et qui se demande s'il n'est pas trop tard pour se libérer à nouveau.
Le style est maladroit, certainement du à la traduction. Les allers-retours dans le passé tronçonnent l'histoire. On More...
Le style est maladroit, certainement du à la traduction. Les allers-retours dans le passé tronçonnent l'histoire. On More...
Apr 17, 2009
Gypsy3x4
rated it:
This book is okay. I enjoyed Pippa but to honest it jumps around in the timeline a lot.
It's a bit confusing and sometimes as a reader you don't really know why you're reading about this moment in the character's life.
It would have been really helpful had the years of the chapters been posted at the top, so we could have known how old Pippa or Grace or Suky were when we were reading from thier perspective.
Because I got really lost sometimes.
It's a good character study of w More...
It's a bit confusing and sometimes as a reader you don't really know why you're reading about this moment in the character's life.
It would have been really helpful had the years of the chapters been posted at the top, so we could have known how old Pippa or Grace or Suky were when we were reading from thier perspective.
Because I got really lost sometimes.
It's a good character study of w More...
Oct 17, 2011
Cyndy
rated it:
Rebecca Miller's The Private Lives of Pippa Lee has mixed reviews here, and having just finished it over the course of the weekend, I think it makes sense; it's probably not a book that would -- or probably should -- appeal to everyone.
Pippa Lee is the much-younger wife of publisher Herb Lee. When the book opens, Pippa and Herb have just moved to a retirement community. At 50 or so, Pippa is the youngest by far, but she's gone along with her 80-year-old, who is in the twilight of his l More...
Pippa Lee is the much-younger wife of publisher Herb Lee. When the book opens, Pippa and Herb have just moved to a retirement community. At 50 or so, Pippa is the youngest by far, but she's gone along with her 80-year-old, who is in the twilight of his l More...
Oct 02, 2009
Laura
rated it:
I really disliked this book. I thought the characters were shallow. And I guess the concept of people having 'private lives' has been done before, much better. It didn't seem that radical to me, and Pippa's faults (considering she came of age in the 70's) weren't that crazy. It was tough to finish this, and I was really glad it was over.
I don't think this would have been published if she wasn't Arthur Miller's daughter. I admire this author's work as a director, and think she sh More...
I don't think this would have been published if she wasn't Arthur Miller's daughter. I admire this author's work as a director, and think she sh More...
Apr 13, 2009
zazie
rated it:
типичен американски роман - шантаво семейство, майка наркоманка, отнесен баща и отчуждени деца. доста секс в различни вариации. авторката е наблъскала всякакви щуротии в книгата, но поне се случва нещо. имаше 3-4 хубави момента. като цяло лека и увлекателна книга. може би филмовата версия(с робин райт пен, киану рийвс и уинона райдър), която скоро излиза, ще е по-сполучлива.
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Dec 10, 2011
Booksdingle
rated it:
Didn't know what to make of this really, it was O.K. I found it quite unbelieveable to find Pippa in a retirement village with a much older man but the story of how she came to be there interesting, the parts about her early life were a good read but again made it seem quite unlikely that she ended up where she was and the ending was too convenient. That said I did want to keep reading so it did grab my attention, though I was also glad that this book was reasonably short - had it been a saga
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Jan 01, 2010
Katie
rated it:
actually reading the book was hard. the language was choppy and very passive. i couldn't connect with Pippa; she seemed very stoic and cold and distant. but now that i'm done with it and thinking back, i liked how when Pippa felt like herself the story was in the first person, and then when she started to feel outside of herself and not as though she knew who she was anymore, it was in the third person, as though she was watching her life happen before her. i'm glad i'm done reading it, thou
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Oct 09, 2010
Melanie
rated it:
First off, to be perfectly honest, I only picked up this book in an HMV in London because it was only £ 3.00 and I've previously heard about the movie.
Even though I still haven't seen the film the literary source didn't disappoint me.
The shortish story is divided in four main parts. It creates an atmosphere and mood on its own which has to be matched. And which had gripped me by the time I reached part two.
Pippa Lee's story starts off in the present, when she is pas More...
Even though I still haven't seen the film the literary source didn't disappoint me.
The shortish story is divided in four main parts. It creates an atmosphere and mood on its own which has to be matched. And which had gripped me by the time I reached part two.
Pippa Lee's story starts off in the present, when she is pas More...
Jan 05, 2010
Maren
rated it:
I didn't really know what to expect from this book. I signed up for a bunch of Goodreads giveaways and this was the one that I actually won. Yay, exciting, etc. but I ended up a little disappointed with the book itself. I didn't hate it or anything but the two star "it was okay" description is spot on.
Pippa Lee's character is one of the most multifaceted and carefully defined female characters that I've read in a book like this one in a long time. The middle section of the More...
Pippa Lee's character is one of the most multifaceted and carefully defined female characters that I've read in a book like this one in a long time. The middle section of the More...
Jan 11, 2010
AJ
rated it:
First two-thirds of the book: A+! Last part: are you kidding me with this?
Pippa is 30 years younger than her husband. She is completely in love and content and happy with their clearly defined relationship. It works for them and she is at times caught off guard with how content she is.
From the outset it is clear that something is going to change. Herb is 80 and has decided to sell everything so that he and 50 year old Pippa can move into a retirement community. He wa More...
Pippa is 30 years younger than her husband. She is completely in love and content and happy with their clearly defined relationship. It works for them and she is at times caught off guard with how content she is.
From the outset it is clear that something is going to change. Herb is 80 and has decided to sell everything so that he and 50 year old Pippa can move into a retirement community. He wa More...
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Dec 29, 2009
Karen
rated it:
When thinking about the plot and the main character, I wonder why I liked this book. But I did. Must be because of good writing.
Basic plot: The book begins with the main character, Pippa Lee, a 50-year old woman having just moved into an old-folks retirement community with her 80-year old husband. She is by far the youngest resident of the community. She starts having weird sleep-walking incidents that she doesn't remember, including gorging on eggs, smoking a pack of cigarettes, and More...
Basic plot: The book begins with the main character, Pippa Lee, a 50-year old woman having just moved into an old-folks retirement community with her 80-year old husband. She is by far the youngest resident of the community. She starts having weird sleep-walking incidents that she doesn't remember, including gorging on eggs, smoking a pack of cigarettes, and More...
