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40th out of 122 books
—
18 voters
Wish You Were Here
Award-winning writer Stewart O'Nan has been acclaimed by critics as one of the most accomplished novelists writing today. Now comes his finest and most complete novel to date. A year after the death of her husband, Henry, Emily Maxwell gathers her family by Lake Chautauqua in western New York for what will be a last vacation at their summer cottage. Joining is her sister-i...more
Paperback, 528 pages
Published
April 7th 2003
by Grove Press
(first published 2002)
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Time and time again I have heard people state their disappointment with this book. On some level I can understand where they are coming from. One of the first things I was taught about writing stories was that there were two necessary elements: some sort of conflict followed by a resolution or redemption. This novel never reaches a point of climax, and rather than ending in some sort of resolution it merely drops off, almost as if the author grew tired of narrating the story. I think that in ord...more
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A week in the lives of members of a family on vacation at their cottage on Lake Chatauqua for the last time before it is sold. O’Nan gets into the heads of all his characters, from eight-year-old boys to the widowed grandmother. Even the absent ones—the grandfather who died the year before, the divorcing spouse—seem there by being reflected off the others. With the sometimes dramatically different perceptions and expectations that mothers and children, siblings, and spouses have of each other,...more
Family ties bind us close together even as they have the power to tear us apart. And this book is a good example of the power--both positive and negative--of family bonds. Emily Maxwell's husband, Henry, has been dead for a year and Emily has decided to sell the family's cottage at Lake Chautauqua in upstate New York. She gathers the family together for one last vacation at the cottage before it is sold. Joining Emily are Arlene, her sister-in-law, who is grieving over the loss of the cottage th...more
This is a fine novel set at a family's lakeside cottage near Chautauqua, New York. Emily, recently widowed, is spending a week at the cottage with her family for the last time (she sold the cottage after her husband died). The narrative is all in third person, but the perspective shifts from short chapter to chapter among the various members of the family: her husband's never-married sister, a retired elementary schoolteacher and empathetic aunt; her two children, the recently divorced, alcoholi...more
Whew, I just finished Wish You Were Here. I had been interested in reading this as the story is set in a cottage on Chautauqua Lake, which is within an hour’s drive from my home and the setting for many of my happiest memories. A family has been vacationing is this cottage for at least 3 generations. This book is about final week, however, the cottage has been sold. Each chapter is a day of the week. Each chapter is divided into numbered sections. At this point, I don’t get what changes as the n...more
It is August, and the cicadas are my Muzak for reading on warm and lazy evenings. I don’t need a beach novel (never go there), but I do welcome something easy and a little nostalgic for this time of year.
A perfect time to read about a lakeside family vacation, replete with hamburgers, water fun, unwelcome rain, and family tensions. This three-generation event is especially poignant, because the Maxwell vacation cottage on New York’s Lake Chautauqua is about to be sold. Grandfather has died, and...more
A perfect time to read about a lakeside family vacation, replete with hamburgers, water fun, unwelcome rain, and family tensions. This three-generation event is especially poignant, because the Maxwell vacation cottage on New York’s Lake Chautauqua is about to be sold. Grandfather has died, and...more
I'm reading Emily, Alone becuase I really liked the characters O'Nan created in Wish You Were Here. The story is one of those that takes place in the middle of life, in the middle of a story that might end well or badly, but that depends on where it stops. It's rare to see old age in such detail, and with such a fine blend of looking back and living forward. I liked the central dilemma of the story, whether and when to sell the family cottage. It's story I have seen played out in friends' lives,...more
3.5 stars.
Three generations of Maxwells spend their last summer at the family’s cottage in Lake Chautaqua, NY, a cottage that has been in the family for years, but has just been sold following the death of Henry Maxwell, the head of the family.
The author shifts the spotlight from character to character in this slow-paced, richly-detailed novel. The novel intimately follows the family’s activities through a week at the cottage. Descriptions of place are so sharp and perfect, that the reader almo...more
Three generations of Maxwells spend their last summer at the family’s cottage in Lake Chautaqua, NY, a cottage that has been in the family for years, but has just been sold following the death of Henry Maxwell, the head of the family.
The author shifts the spotlight from character to character in this slow-paced, richly-detailed novel. The novel intimately follows the family’s activities through a week at the cottage. Descriptions of place are so sharp and perfect, that the reader almo...more
How does the dynamics of a family change when a member is lost through death? What emotions are felt when life continues with the ghost of a missing loved one lingering in your midst? That's what this book is about. The lake cottage had been part of their lives as long as they all could remember-parents were now Grandparents, Children now adults and parents with children and spouses--lifes road has taken it's twists and turns for everyone. But this is the summer that they all come together for t...more
Sep 02, 2011
Kathleen
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
pearl-recommendations
How could I have not read anything by Stewart O’Nan until Nancy Pearl’s recent recommendations? So skillful is his storytelling, his sparse writing style despite rich details about the every day moments of our lives, the tension he creates, the sense of foreboding, I alternately devoured pages and then had to leave the book for a short time.
A year after Henry Maxwell’s death his family returns to their summer home on Lake Chautauqua in western New York. His widow, Emily, and his sister, Arlene,...more
A year after Henry Maxwell’s death his family returns to their summer home on Lake Chautauqua in western New York. His widow, Emily, and his sister, Arlene,...more
One of the blurbs on the back of the book jacket promises that reading this book will make you want to call home and make amends and make certain your love(for your family) is known. I agree, to the extent that having met the characters in this book, you will think your family looks good in comparison no matter how pathetic they are.
I have to give this book 3 stars because I really did enjoy reading it. But how is that possible with the characters portrayed here? This is the predecessor to a bo...more
I have to give this book 3 stars because I really did enjoy reading it. But how is that possible with the characters portrayed here? This is the predecessor to a bo...more
Apr 26, 2011
Judy
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Stewart O'Nan fans
Shelves:
21st-century-fiction
Have you ever spent a week in the summer with extended family? As a child it is non-stop fun with cousins and outdoor activities. As a teenager it is mostly a crushing bore. As adults, it is more work than vacation: the meals, the clean up, the excursions, sharing bathrooms and bedrooms. As grandparents, possibly you look forward to it all year, but when the week comes you are quickly exhausted by all the random activity of having so many people in such close quarters.
The scenario of Wish You...more
A very enjoyable read.
The writing is wonderful, the insights of the author for all the different characters and what they are going through is amazing.
All the family dynamics make for an interesting story. It makes me appreciate my own family more and if I ever wanted to go on a vacation with all of my family (and I don't) this book would cure that crazy thought. It's such a good story, you feel for the kids and you feel for Emily and Arlene. You just can't like Margaret, some people shouldn't...more
The writing is wonderful, the insights of the author for all the different characters and what they are going through is amazing.
All the family dynamics make for an interesting story. It makes me appreciate my own family more and if I ever wanted to go on a vacation with all of my family (and I don't) this book would cure that crazy thought. It's such a good story, you feel for the kids and you feel for Emily and Arlene. You just can't like Margaret, some people shouldn't...more
I read it for my Night Owls Library Reading Group. It reminded me of the old-fashioned stories in GOOD HOUSEKEEPING magazine that I used to read when my mother's monthly issue would arrive to our home in Jackson Heights. It is a story of one week in the lives of a very pedestrian family; they are at their summer cottage on the lake in Chautauqua, NY, and the cottage is being sold because the paterfamilias has recently died. I do not mean to sound like a snob, but I thought this book was simply b...more
I can’t believe I’m writing this review because Stewart O’Nan is one of my favorite authors. Usually I read through one of his books in a day, but I just couldn’t get through this one. It didn’t capture my attention. I started and stopped reading too many times before deciding to give up. While many of his books are not big on suspense, they still always lead me to care about the characters and the outcome.
O’Nan creates very real and believable characters and stories. He is able to write storie...more
O’Nan creates very real and believable characters and stories. He is able to write storie...more
For at least the first half of this book I just wanted to put it down and forget about it. O'Nan's descriptive style is painfully accurate and detailed and every single one of the characters is miserable for some reason. It was like listening to a (small, crowded) house of overly sensitive and theatrical adults, mad/moody teenagers and whiny children. The wife's tendency to anticipate her husband's reaction to everything was also annoying. But it all rang true. And I enjoyed the relationship tru...more
I read this book after reading EMILY, ALONE (255 pages), a much shorter novel that is actually the sequel to WISH YOU WERE HERE (516 pages). I Liked EMILY, ALONE and didn't like WISH YOU WERE HERE. How could this be?
O'Nan's minutely detailed descriptions (which are the substance of both books) are absorbing. However, there is no plot -- something that is more burdensome in a long novel than a short one. There IS a major red herring that O'Nan abandons after stringing the reader along for a few...more
O'Nan's minutely detailed descriptions (which are the substance of both books) are absorbing. However, there is no plot -- something that is more burdensome in a long novel than a short one. There IS a major red herring that O'Nan abandons after stringing the reader along for a few...more
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Despite a light plot and seemingly unremarkable characters, Stewart O'Nan still manages to hold his readers over 517 pages in "Wish You Were Here." How? Through his extraordinary talent of inhabiting the interior minds of those ordinary characters. He gives you nine (10, if you count Rufus the dog) new friends here and O'Nan brings them so close, you're in no hurry to say goodbye.
These new friends are the three generations of Maxwells, who meet at Lake Chautauqua in upstate New York for one la...more
These new friends are the three generations of Maxwells, who meet at Lake Chautauqua in upstate New York for one la...more
A friend recently gave me her copy of "Emily, Alone" by the same author, and when I read the jacket, I saw it was a sequel to this book, so wanted to read this first. It is the story of Emily, a long-time Pittsburg-ian, recently widowed, spending what will be the last summer vacation with her children, grandchildren and sister-in-law at the family beach home in Chautauqua, NY. She has already contracted to sell the house after this vacation, which is spent reminiscing about a lifetime of visits...more
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This is just the sort of detailed precise book that focuses on characterization which I love. One becomes immersed in the family happenings and tribulations of the Maxwells as they vacation for a week at their Chautaqua cottage that is to be sold following the death of Henry, Emily's husband. Henry's sister Arlene regrets the sale but won't protest. Emily's children Kenneth, a prospective photographer who has quit his well-paying job to concentrate on his art and his supportive but possessive wi...more
Steward O'Nan joins the last few writers I've read in the "I can clearly see you are a good writer, but your books just don't do it for me" club. The book I had, included a quote on the cover that said something about the perfect book to take on a summer vacation. And I can totally see that. At one point I felt like I was a member of this dysfunctional family, summering at the family lake house. Their husband/father had died the year before, and he is the person everyone "wishes was here". The b...more
After the death of the family patriarch, a large clan gathers for the last time at their soon-to-be-sold lake house. The POV shifts around between the various characters, each of whom has assorted issues: the recovering alcoholic daughter, the kleptomaniac grandson, the maybe-a-lesbian granddaughter, the shiftless son, the judgmental and demanding mother. They all struggle with themselves as they simultaneously struggle to find ways to fill up the week, over the course of which, as with many vac...more
I can't give this book more than 2 stars and that would be too many except that he can write very well and the the things he wrote about were very very realistic and true and probably everyone has lived through many of these normal everyday happenings. The problem with that is that normal everyday realistic happenings that we have lived through are BORING! And, when there are 500 plus pages of this it is just too much. By page 300, I could see that I should give up except that I have a problem w...more
Wish You Were Here is a story of family and all that makes it wonderful and awful at the same time. Realistic in dialogue and with a varied and strong list of characters it tells the story of three generations of a family gathering for a final weeks' stay at their lake cottage. The father has died several months before and his widow Emily has decided to sell the cottage after one last family vacation. To the reader no conversation, thought, action or character reflection is missed. We are in thi...more
I am O'Nan fan through and through. After reading "Last Night at the Lobster," I knew I would read anything he wrote.
Warning: this is a big fat book in which almost nothing happens. A lot of readers will put it down when it becomes clear that the plot is little more than what happens when a family convenes at a summer cabin for one final week before it is sold. For some readers, the details will be cumbersome, the pace sluggish, the characters frustrating. But for me, I just didn't want to end....more
Warning: this is a big fat book in which almost nothing happens. A lot of readers will put it down when it becomes clear that the plot is little more than what happens when a family convenes at a summer cabin for one final week before it is sold. For some readers, the details will be cumbersome, the pace sluggish, the characters frustrating. But for me, I just didn't want to end....more
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Confession: For the second time this week, I have abandoned a book - this time after reading 3 chapters (68 pages). Stewart O'Nan might wish you were here; I wish he had written a compelling narrative! This was my first and last work by O'Nan. One of the many great things about Goodreads is that you get a sense of how many wonderful authors and reads exist out there! I have only so much time to read, so I want to spend my limited time on "time worthy" books. I've gotten to the point where if my...more
This is the prequel to Emily, Alone and sets up the family dynamics 10 years earlier, the summer following Henry's death when the family: Emily, Arlene, Ken, Lisa, Ella, Sam, Meg, Sarah and Justin, spend one final week together at the Lake Chautauqua home. Emily is the insecure, controlling head of the family and sets the tone of a family who each wishes they were someone else; Ken is an unsuccessful photographer, his wife, Lisa is just unhappy, Ella has discovered she is gay, Sam is a petty thi...more
Folks, I've gotta be honest here: this book is 528 pages of being stuck at a lake house with family members you don't really like. All of the characters are whiny and utterly unsympathetic. As for the plot, it goes like this--Emily's husband has died, and her kids, grandkids, and sister-in-law join her at their lake house for one last vacation before she sells it. There's a lot of rain and sitting around. There's a lot of talk about dinner and what's on the mostly empty shelves of the refrigerat...more
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This book was pure character study and nostalgia. It takes place within a week's time, and nothing really gets resolved at the end after we have learned everyone's personal demons. It has been a year since Henry, Emily Maxwell's husband, has died and her family gathers at their cottage by Lake Chautauqua in western New York. It has been tradition to spend some time there each summer as a family. This will be their last vacation as Emily has sold the cottage. Members of the family include Rufus t...more
I didn't think this was as strong as O'Nan's other books, but stuck with it as a foundation to reading Emily, Alone, a sequel, which seems to be better reviewed.
It was hard to like the characters and a lot of it was mundane. There were a lot of individual characters and their story lines to keep up with it, but none of them were particularly compelling.
After a while, the effort of staying with the book meshed with the idea of this family on vacation in a smallish cottage with rain and life disap...more
It was hard to like the characters and a lot of it was mundane. There were a lot of individual characters and their story lines to keep up with it, but none of them were particularly compelling.
After a while, the effort of staying with the book meshed with the idea of this family on vacation in a smallish cottage with rain and life disap...more
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Stewart O'Nan is the author of eleven novels, including Snow Angels and A Prayer for the Dying, a story collection, and two works of nonfiction. His previous novel, Last Night at the Lobster, was a national bestseller, was nominated for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and was named one of the New York Public Library Books to Remember. Additionally, Granta named him one of the 20 Best Young Ameri...more
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