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363rd out of 447 books
—
334 voters
A Year by the Sea
Now available in paperback, the entrancing story of how one woman's journey of self-discovery gave her the courage to persevere in re-creating her life.
Life is a work in progress, as ever-changing as a sandy shoreline along the beach. During the years Joan Anderson was a loving wife and supportive mother, she had slowly and unconsciously replaced her own dreams with the ne...more
Life is a work in progress, as ever-changing as a sandy shoreline along the beach. During the years Joan Anderson was a loving wife and supportive mother, she had slowly and unconsciously replaced her own dreams with the ne...more
Paperback, 190 pages
Published
August 15th 2000
by Broadway
(first published 1999)
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Well...must say I am surprised that the average rating for this piece of drivel was near four stars. What a selfish bitch. Sorry. Can I even say that on Bookmooch???? Anyone who can desert a husband of twenty odd years to go off on a quest to find herself at their "cottage" on the cape...guess she really DID need a year to find out she really wanted to stay married to her husband. Saving grace? The quotes at the start of each chapter were often enlightening. If they weren't there, this would be...more
Joan Anderson's husband came home to announce he'd received a wonderful job opportunity across country in Oregon and they were moving. Their two grown sons were married and living lives of their own, and nothing seemed to be tying the Andersons to their home.
Joan shocked her husband and herself when she told him she refused to go and was instead moving to the family cottage on Cape Cod. Thus began a year in her life, living hand to mouth, on the banks of the Cape.
The book was a little bit of "A...more
Joan shocked her husband and herself when she told him she refused to go and was instead moving to the family cottage on Cape Cod. Thus began a year in her life, living hand to mouth, on the banks of the Cape.
The book was a little bit of "A...more
This is a tough book to rate. I rarely review books, but I felt that I needed to get this one off my chest.
I gave it one less than 5 stars because I have an aversion to the cult of self. The premise of a woman leaving her husband to discover herself made me uneasy and skeptical. Self-discovery is important, self-worship is not. I feel that she often slipped from redemptive moments involving lessons about who she is and who she needs to be... to damning moments in which she embraced her errors an...more
I gave it one less than 5 stars because I have an aversion to the cult of self. The premise of a woman leaving her husband to discover herself made me uneasy and skeptical. Self-discovery is important, self-worship is not. I feel that she often slipped from redemptive moments involving lessons about who she is and who she needs to be... to damning moments in which she embraced her errors an...more
I loved this book so much! Basically, I love any book about a middle aged strong woman who goes to the beach to find herself, like Anne Morrow Lindbergh and women in that vein.
Joan Anderson decides not to move cross country when her husband tells her he's gotten a new job. Instead she pauses and decides that if her marriage is going to be saved at any point in time she needs to be alone to find herself, so she heads to Cape Cod and lives with among the locals for a year. She has occasional mome...more
Joan Anderson decides not to move cross country when her husband tells her he's gotten a new job. Instead she pauses and decides that if her marriage is going to be saved at any point in time she needs to be alone to find herself, so she heads to Cape Cod and lives with among the locals for a year. She has occasional mome...more
Lovely, poetic musings by a 50 year old who leaves her husband to find herself.
In two hours her husband, two sons and daughter's in law are arriving for Memorial Day weekend:
"Oh God, let me enjoy the pleasure of being graceful! As I gaze about the patio at the flowering perennials that endure year after year, I do myself a favor and recognize that I am no more or less than the perennial that provides the bulk of the lush backdrop for her family and those around her. It has taken years of growin...more
In two hours her husband, two sons and daughter's in law are arriving for Memorial Day weekend:
"Oh God, let me enjoy the pleasure of being graceful! As I gaze about the patio at the flowering perennials that endure year after year, I do myself a favor and recognize that I am no more or less than the perennial that provides the bulk of the lush backdrop for her family and those around her. It has taken years of growin...more
Basically this book represents everything I hate about this genre: it's self-indulgent and, worse, self-pitying. Joan Anderson is fortunate enough to have the means to take an extended period of time "off" from her marriage and mid-life crisis to figure herself out, but the life lessons virtually slip past her as she wallows in the "shoulda-couldas" of her life until now. Her story in not at all unusual, nor, frankly, all that sad or interesting. And unlike Elizabeth Gilbert in EAT, PRAY, LOVE,...more
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Reminded me of A Gift Frome the Sea in some ways. I really enjoyed this and especially loved the way she brought meaning into the every day things that we sometimes pass over too quickly. In some reviews I've read here some people didn't like the decision she mad at the end. I was good with that. It's ok to grow and still have your original essense be the core of attraction. In fact that is probably the best possible outcome. What I would have liked tho was for it to continue a little farther on...more
Aug 12, 2007
Karen
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
women who do too much
Shelves:
i-read-it-you-should
This is a great book! Joan Anderson has raised two grown sons and is in a stale marriage but not ready to give it up without looking deep inside herself. When her husband accepts a job that means they would have to move away and doesn't consult her first, she decides to pack up and move to their Cape Cod cottage for a year. This is a story of a woman who learns about herself, about life, and what is important to her. I've met Joan a couple of times and attended one of her mini-seminars...she's v...more
Take a pencil and draw a horizontal wavy line. The ups and downs of the line you've just drawn indicate my response to this book. The woman was very selfish to dump her husband for a year of solitude. What an arrangement--"I'll find myself while you cover the big bills, dear." Give me a break. I listened to her talk about herself and her issues and didn't like her very much. The "box" she was in, a life without passion and color, one in which she had suppressed her own desires in favor of others...more
Three friends and I recently read this book as a Book Club selection: and to a person, we were captured by it.
This is not your typical Reflective Memoir Toward Personal Growth (is there even a 'typical' for this genre?). Two of us are more Self introspective, reflective, self-assessors -- and two of us are not. A book we'd all read together last year in a similar vein was deemed by two of us to be 'self-absorbed whining by women who aren't busy enough to find anything better to do'. We all walke...more
This is not your typical Reflective Memoir Toward Personal Growth (is there even a 'typical' for this genre?). Two of us are more Self introspective, reflective, self-assessors -- and two of us are not. A book we'd all read together last year in a similar vein was deemed by two of us to be 'self-absorbed whining by women who aren't busy enough to find anything better to do'. We all walke...more
Women who hit their midlife crisis point seem to go to the ocean to write a memoir. Sometimes it works, like Lindbergh's Gift from the Sea and sometimes it misfires like A Year by the Sea. Throughout the book I could not relate to most of Anderson's life-changing insights. She writes of wanting to be "completed" by her husband and sons and not understanding how one can "laugh at one's self." While I adore my husband and children, I do not judge myself by them nor do I feel "incomplete" without t...more
Loved this book by Joan Anderson, who wrote it while going through a difficult time in her relationship with her husband. She decided to move to their cottage by the sea to ponder. For a year. Hmm.... Honey, I need some time to ponder. I'll be back in a year. I don't know how many people do that, but still, she pondered, and she wrote a book. Her writing is beautiful.
I pull my knees to my chest, wrap my arms around my shins, and drink in the sweet, pungent aroma of driftwood as the sun, salt, an...more
I pull my knees to my chest, wrap my arms around my shins, and drink in the sweet, pungent aroma of driftwood as the sun, salt, an...more
Joan Anderson writes a beautiful memoir of a year in her life in which she struggles with her path and the changes she feels are necessary for her growth. Some people may view this book as a selfish and indulgent mid life crisis episode and others, including myself, may view it as a wonderful transformative experience to be envied and learned from. How you feel about this book is dependent on your view.
When her husband arrives home one day excited over the news that he has taken a new job in ano...more
When her husband arrives home one day excited over the news that he has taken a new job in ano...more
Sem ser brilhante Um ano à beira-mar é um bom livro para ser em altura de férias.
Baseado na vida da própria escritora Joan Anderson Um ano à beira-mar é um livro que mostra as fragilidades de um casamento de muitos anos, no qual a autora se esqueceu de si própria vivendo única e exclusivamente para o marido e filhos.
Quando o marido decide aceitar o emprego a longos quilómetros de distância, Joan decide dizer basta a uma relação desgastada e pensar nela própria e parte em busca de si mesma para...more
Baseado na vida da própria escritora Joan Anderson Um ano à beira-mar é um livro que mostra as fragilidades de um casamento de muitos anos, no qual a autora se esqueceu de si própria vivendo única e exclusivamente para o marido e filhos.
Quando o marido decide aceitar o emprego a longos quilómetros de distância, Joan decide dizer basta a uma relação desgastada e pensar nela própria e parte em busca de si mesma para...more
Apr 25, 2012
Mary
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
biography-memoir,
mcl2012
This book has a very meditative quality to it, which I liked. The major concern the author is wrestling with seems to be whether she has a right to attend to her own emotional/spiritual needs. She has always been a caretaker and cruise director for everyone around her and has a lot of guilt about relinquishing that role. As in her later book, (which I read first)The Second Journey: The Road Back to Yourself, there are intersting observations about the relationship she has to her grown sons and t...more
Very fitting for those looking for renewing their life's focus. I was taken back to many years that paralleled with Joan and her situation in life. Although my choices were completely different, and there was no possible way to go off by myself, I understand why she did what she did. There were many years that I wanted to literally run away from the drama in my life. Joan didn't run away but took the opportunity of a year by the sea when the window opened. I commend her for this and appreciate t...more
I thought the book well written and found myself at times in love with the visuals stirred up, but I just couldnt stay in that "mood" for long. I know as a woman I should cheer her, but I simply couldnt. I thought it good stragedy for the author to put on page one that her husband came home and announced his new job, in another city, and was ready to be on her side, but nothing else she writes about her marriage or her life with her husband keeps me there. What I read about is a woman who decide...more
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This book deserves 6 stars or more!!!!
This book was simply amazing and changed the way I look at my own life. This book caught my interest in the 1st page. Joan is married and has 2 boys, grown up and married with lives of their own. When her husband's new job calls to relocate, she surprises him as well as herself, and goes to New Haven, to their summer home. To think things out and find herself, taking a break from her marriage that has fallen to the wayside. Not following her husband, she at...more
This book was simply amazing and changed the way I look at my own life. This book caught my interest in the 1st page. Joan is married and has 2 boys, grown up and married with lives of their own. When her husband's new job calls to relocate, she surprises him as well as herself, and goes to New Haven, to their summer home. To think things out and find herself, taking a break from her marriage that has fallen to the wayside. Not following her husband, she at...more
Reading for the second time and just as good as the first. Have the follow up book now to read next.
This is not the best writing you'll find in the genre of "seeking oneself by doing something for a year" but I did find myself engaged through most of the book as Anderson explores her self, her husband and family by refusing to relocate with her husband when his job moves him out of state. Instead, she heads to the summer house by the sea to care for herself, re-engage in her own thinking and live by herself, supporting herself on her small personal savings. As the heater fails, she is forced t...more
Came across this by "accident" while browsing the library shelves: enjoyed a read this morning on a chilly rainy day. Interesting read. I suspect if I looked up some reviews, many long time married women would be talking about how it changed their lives. The librarian told me she has a weekend retreat by the sea for women. I didn't find it life altering; yet enjoyed the many insights that she came upon while living a life of relative solitude for a year on the Cape. In love with the ocean myself...more
Joan Anderson's memoir (1999) of the year she took "off" from her marriage to "find herself" is peppered throughout with quotes from the similar 'A Gift from the Sea' by Anne Morrow Lindbergh. Many reviews on GoodReads compare it to Elizabeth Gilbert's 'Eat, Pray, Love' (2006). I would even take if further back than Lindbergh's book to Viginia Woolf's 'A Room of One's Own' (1929) What all three books share is the idea that women need to recognize that being the nurturer in their family can, over...more
I wanted to like this book. Truly, I wanted to love it. I just couldn't. I don't necessarily have a problem with needing a trial separation from one's spouse. I can see why Anderson would've been angry when her husband came home one day and just said, 'I took a job out of state. We're moving.' For him to just presume something like that and demand she come with him was not ok in my book.
That said, Anderson's narration didn't feel honest. She didn't seem to acknowledge her part in the marital iss...more
That said, Anderson's narration didn't feel honest. She didn't seem to acknowledge her part in the marital iss...more
This is like the precursor to Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert: writer woman with some money manages to run away from marriage and typical responsibilities and get her head together. The good news is that Joan Anderson is far less self-absorbed than Gilbert, and her perspectives, especially after 20+ years into a relationship that produced two grown children, carry more weight as a woman in middle age who tries to determine what her next chapter deserves to be. She's a lovely writer with gen...more
In the first chapter she moves to Cape Cod and persuades a local fisherman to drop her off on an island filled with seals -- how could I NOT love this! It is a nicely written book about a woman who takes a year off from her marriage and moves into a beach house on Cape Cod. She was once a successful author of children's books but her collaborator has moved and she needs an income so takes a job in a fish store and takes up clamming.
I have to say I really identified with a lot of her thinking eve...more
I have to say I really identified with a lot of her thinking eve...more
Joan Andersons' quest to find her authentic self. As a published author, after 25plus years of marriage, raising and educating 2 sons, surviving empty nest, and the loss of the family cat, Joan feels the need of change. She is not happy and feels her husband is an emotional drain,. When he get a reassignment for his job, Joan decides she may not want to relocate. Joan decides on a seperation. She goes to live at the familys cabin by the sea (Cape Cod). She journals, meditates grows and matures e...more
I enjoyed it. It was a fast read. I enjoyed her writing style and the metaphors. If my husband annouced he was relocating for a job and did not discuss it with me, and every other comment out of his mouth was negative, and I had the means/oppotunity to go somewhere else that excited me, I would have done the same thing. Life is too short. He is a grown up healthy person, he can take care of himself for a while. She was fortunate that he appeared to spend some time on himself during that year as...more
Stealing from the book; "It seems to me that the task of the unfinished woman is to acknowledge her life as a work in progress, allowing each passage, evolution, experience to offer wisdom for her soul."
A great vacation book. A woman who chooses to live by the sea when her husband takes a job in a different city. Life by the sea causes her to look inward and how she discovers who she really is.
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Ever since I can remember I have been curious—asking questions, trying to figure out life’s meaning—all in an effort to live fully and get it right. My career began as a stringer reporter for the Gannett newspaper chain. As I practiced the craft of writing, I moved on to photo essays books for children, then the breakthrough book, Breaking the TV Habit, and finally into the genre of memoir. The la...more
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“When will I ever learn to accept what is given instead of always yearning for more? My lavish expectations too often tarnish my blessings.”
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