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Aug 21, 2008

Denise rated it:

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, More...

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Jan 01, 2008

Kate rated it:

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 boo More...

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Jan 23, 2009

Leah rated it:

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 h More...

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Sep 07, 2010

Tamidel rated it:

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 More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Oct 15, 2007

Cathy rated it:

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 far More...

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Aug 12, 2007

Karen rated it:

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 More...

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Jul 27, 2011

Sarah rated it:

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 " More...

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Apr 01, 2011

Cindy rated it:

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. More...

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Oct 30, 2009

Lynne rated it:

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 More...

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Oct 25, 2009

Lori rated it:

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 More...

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Aug 10, 2011

Maria rated it:

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 More...

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Jul 05, 2010

Rhonda Rae rated it:

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 appreci More...

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Jan 08, 2011

Terri rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Jan 21, 2009

Chelsea rated it:

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 hus More...

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Jan 25, 2010

Anne rated it:

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 i More...

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May 27, 2009

Sharon rated it:

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 th More...

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Jul 31, 2011

Anne rated it:

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 th More...

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Aug 17, 2011

Tania rated it:

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 More...

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Jul 18, 2011

Tracey rated it:

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...

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Sep 06, 2011

Kathleen rated it:

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 More...

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Jun 16, 2009

Barb rated it:

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 More...

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Jun 21, 2010

Liz rated it:

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 ye More...

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Jul 08, 2008

Donna rated it:

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."

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Oct 02, 2011

Pam rated it:

I'm not usually too interested in these nonfiction books about women finding themselves but something about the way this woman wrote appealed to me and got my attention right away. I liked the idea of the solitude - being by the sea, sand, beaches, Cape Cod. The only way one could ever have the time to really reflect would be under these circumstances when there wasn't so much distraction and things to pull on your time. The fact that she lived so close to nature had to have a big influence on h More...

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Jun 26, 2009

Laura rated it:

I think I liked the premise better than the book. Who wouldn't want a year by the sea to think and be by themselves? Well, it is a tempting thought if you are in the phase of life where you don't get many minutes to yourself due to small children. That said, I found a lot of her musings to be part of a big generational divide...she felt forced into her marriage and pretty dissatisfied with her husband (who did often sound like a jerk). I had trouble identifying with her descriptions of marria More...

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Feb 12, 2011

Mary rated it:

Joan Anderson did what many of us only dream of--she took a year off from her "real life." She spent the year at her family's Cape Cod cottage cavorting with seals, digging for clams, walking on the beach, and soaking up wisdom from an older, experienced woman.

Her husband wasn't exactly on board for Joan's sabbatical. In fact, she really wanted to get away from him. There was no "other man" (or "other woman"); Joan needed to find herself, or redfine her More...

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May 17, 2009

Mollyj96 rated it:

I guess I'm glad to hear that so many of the reviewers have never been in a position to find themselves or feel that any of part of themselves has been lost. I on the other hand can see how a woman who has taken care of a husband and children for 20 years might not feel so in tuned with who she really is. Therefore I commend this woman for having the balls to leave and be alone for a year and really see what that's like. I think it's easier to stay in a marriage you are not happy with and for More...

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Sep 13, 2009

Lianne rated it:

This book is about a woman taking a break from her husband/marriage after 20+ years and going to live in their cottage at Cape Cod. Unlike "Eat,Pray,Love" which has a similar theme, it is not near as self-indulgent. And, not only that, rather than being able to take an entire year off and do whatever she wanted without worrying about money, Joan has to get a job working at a fish market and then later "clamming" in order to pay the bills. She learns about solitude and find More...

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Aug 23, 2011

Sharon rated it:

A few times in my life, I have read exactly the right book at exactly the right moment. This summer was that moment for this book. A writer, who is around 50 years old, takes a year off from her normal life to rediscover herself and to find her new calling. Some of my favorite moments are when she swims with the seals, when she walks in the fog, and when she figures out how to finance urgently needed roof repairs. Joan Anderson asks, "Doesn't change occur only when we stop living the ex More...

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Mar 28, 2009

Lucy added it

Joan works through many of the issues that I seem be trying to work through too. She was able to take a year and live on her own in a small cottage near the Atlantic Ocean in Cape Cod. Having refused to move with her husband of many years to his new job, she takes this break. Being that I am taking a break....a more permanent break....from my marriage, I found it an interesting read.

How is it that we women find ourselves questioning everything as we see our children become adults More...

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