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313th out of 1,263 books
—
2,764 voters
The Widow's Season
by
Laura Brodie (Goodreads Author)
A mesmerizing debut novel about love, grief, and the ghosts who show up where we least expect them.
Sarah McConnell's husband had been dead for three months when she saw him in the grocery store.
What does a woman do when she's thirty-nine, childless, and completely alone for the first time in her life? Does it mean she's crazy to think she sees her late husband beside a d...more
Sarah McConnell's husband had been dead for three months when she saw him in the grocery store.
What does a woman do when she's thirty-nine, childless, and completely alone for the first time in her life? Does it mean she's crazy to think she sees her late husband beside a d...more
Paperback, 320 pages
Published
June 2nd 2009
by Berkley Trade
(first published April 16th 2009)
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This book was amazing! I have reread the ending twice to grasp it. It is the story of Sarah, an English professor who wants nothing more than to be a mother, and her husband David who is a well liked doctor on a college campus. After several miscarriages, Sarah and David start to fall apart. While on a kayak trip, David goes missing in a storm. While his personal belongings and kayak are recovered, David's body never is. Desperate to go on with her life, Sarah gives in and has a memorial service...more
The Basic Story: The opening line of the novel sets the scene perfectly: “Sarah McConnell’s husband had been dead three months when she saw him in the grocery story.” Right away, we are thrust into Sarah’s confusing world—where her grief and mourning play tricks on her mind. When she confesses her “vision” at a widow’s group, she finds support and empathy. After all, it is normal to “see” your loved ones when the loss is fresh and new. (I remember “seeing” my dad everywhere after he died. I’d gl...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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Recently I read a review of The Widow’s Season by Laura Brodie. Some words like debut, grief, psychological fiction interested me. I looked Brodie up on the net. After reading the story behind the story I was hooked, so much so that I contacted Laura and she agreed to do a guest author blog post for Saxton Reads & Reviews which you'll find at
http://www.engagedpatrons.org/Blogs.c...
Her opening paragraph states:
“Back in the 1990’s, when I was a graduate student at the University of Virginia,...more
http://www.engagedpatrons.org/Blogs.c...
Her opening paragraph states:
“Back in the 1990’s, when I was a graduate student at the University of Virginia,...more
What would you do if you saw your dead husband while grocery shopping? Would you chase after him demanding answers? Would you silently think you’re losing your mind due to your grief? Or would you shake off the image as simply wishing it to be your husband, but knowing it is just a complete stranger?
Having read glowing reviews about The Widow’s Season, I was eager to read it. Unfortunately, it fell flat for me. As I read Sarah’s story, I realized I didn’t feel anything for her…nothing. Here’s a...more
Having read glowing reviews about The Widow’s Season, I was eager to read it. Unfortunately, it fell flat for me. As I read Sarah’s story, I realized I didn’t feel anything for her…nothing. Here’s a...more
A woman's husband dies in a flash flood, although no body is recovered. She begins to "see" his ghost as she grieves, and the reader travels with her on her healing journey while trying to unravel the mystery of "Is he dead or not?"
I love this author's style, the clever way that she joins words together for maximum impact. Unfortunately the story becomes too implausible too early on. Either the husband is alive and somehow manages to elude notice by everyone in their small, college town -- while...more
I love this author's style, the clever way that she joins words together for maximum impact. Unfortunately the story becomes too implausible too early on. Either the husband is alive and somehow manages to elude notice by everyone in their small, college town -- while...more
It has been three months since Sarah McConnell’s husband, David was last seen alive. He went camping and kayaking. He never returned and his body was never found. Since than Sarah has been seeing David almost everywhere. First it was at the super mart, then on her front porch and finally at the cabin where David had been staying, while he was camping.
Sarah evens finds herself having conversations with David as if he were alive. That can’t be possible through as David is dead or is it? David’s b...more
Sarah evens finds herself having conversations with David as if he were alive. That can’t be possible through as David is dead or is it? David’s b...more
This was a really quick read. The style was engaging and it was truyly a hard book to put down. I thought the characters were engaging and easy to identify with. I think my only dissapointment was with the storyline between the main character and her brother-in-law... but I won't give too much away. You can decide for yourself.
The story is about a childless widowed woman who is 39 and is facing life without her husband. The author touches on so many emotions; the emotions loss, and of believeing...more
The story is about a childless widowed woman who is 39 and is facing life without her husband. The author touches on so many emotions; the emotions loss, and of believeing...more
The book begins, “Sarah McConnell’s husband had been dead three months when she saw him in the grocery store."
Reading the back cover of the new novel by Laura Brodie, I thought it would be a ghost story; but it's actually much more. It's also a romance, has an element of suspense and plot twists and turns, all made thoroughly enjoyable by Laura Bordie's beautiful writing style. Her descriptions make the people and places come to life.
In the story, Sarah McConnell is at a turning point in her lif...more
Reading the back cover of the new novel by Laura Brodie, I thought it would be a ghost story; but it's actually much more. It's also a romance, has an element of suspense and plot twists and turns, all made thoroughly enjoyable by Laura Bordie's beautiful writing style. Her descriptions make the people and places come to life.
In the story, Sarah McConnell is at a turning point in her lif...more
I won this book on GoodReads.com. The author signed on the title page and also enclosed a personal note for me. I was really pleased.
I generally liked this book. It was about a woman whose husband dies in a kayaking accident. The body is never found, and then he starts to visit her. At first we are guessing whether he is her imagination, a ghost, or perhaps her husband never died. I didn’t like how casually she falls into a sexual relationship with her brother-in-law. She questions herself abou...more
I generally liked this book. It was about a woman whose husband dies in a kayaking accident. The body is never found, and then he starts to visit her. At first we are guessing whether he is her imagination, a ghost, or perhaps her husband never died. I didn’t like how casually she falls into a sexual relationship with her brother-in-law. She questions herself abou...more
Este libro me ha decepcionado bastante. Me he tirado toda la lectura esperando que pasara algo emocionante, importante. Pero no ha llegado nunca.
En algunos momentos me ha resultado aburrida (ha habido algunas descripciones de sucesos que eran prescindibles completamente, para mi gusto), aunque en otros la acción se ha desarrollado de manera más rápida, sobre todo al final. Y algunos personajes no sé qué pintan en la novela, realmente no veo que aporten nada.
Creo que el argumento es muy bueno, a...more
En algunos momentos me ha resultado aburrida (ha habido algunas descripciones de sucesos que eran prescindibles completamente, para mi gusto), aunque en otros la acción se ha desarrollado de manera más rápida, sobre todo al final. Y algunos personajes no sé qué pintan en la novela, realmente no veo que aporten nada.
Creo que el argumento es muy bueno, a...more
"She knew very well how she looked and sounded on her worst days, and to hell with them if they didn't like it. Life was not always pretty and cheerful, with hair curled and teeth whitened and supper waiting on the table. Life was sometimes a bitter harpy perched on the bedpost." (page 13)
"Love was complicated, that was all. Or was love simple, and marriage was complicated? In seventeen years of marriage, David had often left her feeling frustrated, and furious, and disgusted, yes - but he had a...more
"Love was complicated, that was all. Or was love simple, and marriage was complicated? In seventeen years of marriage, David had often left her feeling frustrated, and furious, and disgusted, yes - but he had a...more
Meh.
Weak characters. Cliches, cliches, cliches everywhere. Should have tried that creative writing exercise where I write down everything I predict will happen based on my knowledge of the genre and see how close I can get to predicting the plot point by point -- would have been impressive.
That said: I finished this super fast. It's TOTALLY a summer read-on-the-beach book.
If you know what you're expecting, it's not a complete waste of energy. But as far as being a compelling book? No. It just...more
Weak characters. Cliches, cliches, cliches everywhere. Should have tried that creative writing exercise where I write down everything I predict will happen based on my knowledge of the genre and see how close I can get to predicting the plot point by point -- would have been impressive.
That said: I finished this super fast. It's TOTALLY a summer read-on-the-beach book.
If you know what you're expecting, it's not a complete waste of energy. But as far as being a compelling book? No. It just...more
This is a story about grief and mourning.
Sarah was married to David. He went to their cabin and encountered a storm when he was out canoeing. His canoe capsized and he was killed. Sarah kept him alive by continuing a relationship with his memory during which time she also had an affair with David’s brother, Nate.
Up until the end of this book it was difficult to discern whether or not David actually died or whether he was pretending like he was killed in the canoeing accident so that he could dro...more
Sarah was married to David. He went to their cabin and encountered a storm when he was out canoeing. His canoe capsized and he was killed. Sarah kept him alive by continuing a relationship with his memory during which time she also had an affair with David’s brother, Nate.
Up until the end of this book it was difficult to discern whether or not David actually died or whether he was pretending like he was killed in the canoeing accident so that he could dro...more
A woman in her late 30's is widowed. However, the husband comes and visits her after his death. Or does he? Is this all her imagination? Trying to resolve the differences that had cropped up over the past in their marriage???
At times I feel the husband is really alive and other times, I feel she is grieving in her own way. Making the attempts toward a better relationship that she wished she had tried before he "died".
Right now, I am too sure if the husband is really alive or not!
Finished the bo...more
At times I feel the husband is really alive and other times, I feel she is grieving in her own way. Making the attempts toward a better relationship that she wished she had tried before he "died".
Right now, I am too sure if the husband is really alive or not!
Finished the bo...more
In Laura Brodie’s Debütroman „Ich weiß, du bist hier“ geht es um die Gefühlswelt von Sarah, die ihren Ehemann David beim Kajakfahren verliert. Obwohl seine Leiche nicht gefunden wird, wird David für tot erklärt.
Doch dann sieht Sarah ihn immer wieder an verschiedenen Orten. Es scheint, als sei er ihr ständiger Begleiter. Aber kann es sein, dass ihre Phantasie ihr einen Streich spielen will?
„Ich weiß, du bist hier“ ist eine emotionale Geschichte, die mich stellenweise sehr mitgenommen hat. Sarahs...more
Doch dann sieht Sarah ihn immer wieder an verschiedenen Orten. Es scheint, als sei er ihr ständiger Begleiter. Aber kann es sein, dass ihre Phantasie ihr einen Streich spielen will?
„Ich weiß, du bist hier“ ist eine emotionale Geschichte, die mich stellenweise sehr mitgenommen hat. Sarahs...more
In Laura Brodie’s Debütroman “Ich weiß, du bist hier” geht es um die Gefühlswelt von Sarah, die ihren Ehemann David beim Kajakfahren verliert. Obwohl seine Leiche nicht gefunden wird, wird David für tot erklärt.
Doch dann sieht Sarah ihn immer wieder an verschiedenen Orten. Es scheint, als sei er ihr ständiger Begleiter. Aber kann es sein, dass ihre Phantasie ihr einen Streich spielen will?
“Ich weiß, du bist hier” ist eine emotionale Geschichte, die mich stellenweise sehr mitgenommen hat. Sarahs...more
Doch dann sieht Sarah ihn immer wieder an verschiedenen Orten. Es scheint, als sei er ihr ständiger Begleiter. Aber kann es sein, dass ihre Phantasie ihr einen Streich spielen will?
“Ich weiß, du bist hier” ist eine emotionale Geschichte, die mich stellenweise sehr mitgenommen hat. Sarahs...more
The Widow's Season by Laura Brodie opens with Sarah seeing her husband at the grocery store. There's just one slight hitch, he's missing and presumed drowned. Sarah does her best to assume it's just her grief playing tricks on her until he shows up at her doorstep as if nothing had happened.
Until David shows up at their home, I was considering putting the book aside. Sarah's grief after seventeen years of marriage is understandable but the first chapter or is completely focused on her grief. I b...more
Until David shows up at their home, I was considering putting the book aside. Sarah's grief after seventeen years of marriage is understandable but the first chapter or is completely focused on her grief. I b...more
Laura Brodie's debut novel, The Widow's Season, is a dirge of grief, wraiths, and resurrection of a professional woman whose been lost in of the song's cadence for far too long. Set in Jackson, Va., in a small college town, the season's change and sweep the protagonist, Sarah McConnell along.
"Sarah McConnell's husband had been dead three months when she saw him in the grocery store. He was standing at the end of the seasonal aisle, contemplating a display of plastic pumpkins, when, for one brief...more
"Sarah McConnell's husband had been dead three months when she saw him in the grocery store. He was standing at the end of the seasonal aisle, contemplating a display of plastic pumpkins, when, for one brief...more
This novel followed a predictable path. Recent widow Sarah has spent three month’s grieving her husband, David, after he disappeared during a flash flood. Since his body was never found, she is torn between hope that he may show up alive and relief that she has escaped a struggling marriage. So when she begins seeing David, there are really only three outcomes: has he survived, he is an apparition conjured by her own grief-ridden mind, or he’s a ghost settling unfinished business on earth. The o...more
This was a fantastic read that kept me engrossed the whole time I was reading it.
Laura Brodie did a fabulous job with the story and the characters. You are drawn in to the story from the very beginning, and are not sure what is fantasy and what is reality. I was kept on the edge of my seat every time that Sarah thought that she saw her husband somewhere....was it really him? Was it his ghost?
I hated to put this book down - I wanted to stay home from work to finish it. When a book is that good, y...more
Laura Brodie did a fabulous job with the story and the characters. You are drawn in to the story from the very beginning, and are not sure what is fantasy and what is reality. I was kept on the edge of my seat every time that Sarah thought that she saw her husband somewhere....was it really him? Was it his ghost?
I hated to put this book down - I wanted to stay home from work to finish it. When a book is that good, y...more
Hated this book. Way too adult for a teenage book club. I found myself getting bored and had to trudge through this book instead of trolliping right on through.
I'll admit, I only chose to read this book because of the beautiful cover and moreso for the interest grabber on the back. But that was really the only part that kept me interested. At parts I did want to know what was going to happen next, but it wasn't like "OhMyGoshICan'tPutThisBookDownLeaveMeAloneAndLetMeRead".
I'll admit, I only chose to read this book because of the beautiful cover and moreso for the interest grabber on the back. But that was really the only part that kept me interested. At parts I did want to know what was going to happen next, but it wasn't like "OhMyGoshICan'tPutThisBookDownLeaveMeAloneAndLetMeRead".
I'm not really a ghost story reader, but this book sent chills down my spine a couple of times. It's a well written tale about grief and the characters are interesting. Sarah is well acquainted with grief, having suffered many miscarriages, but is not prepared for having her husband around the house following his apparent drowning (the body hasn't yet been found). The writing is good and subtle and kept me reading.
I came across this book in the "Recommended for you" section of my Amazon account, and the premise sounded very compelling, so I ordered it. I am so glad I did because I absolutely loved this book! The story was amazing, and the characters were real and likable. And I was guessing and second-guessing where I thought the story was going up until the very last page. A perfect first read for 2010!
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
It was amazing. I started the book and was captivated from the start wondering if David was alive or a figment of her imagination. Even though several things did not quite make sense until the end of the book, it was unexpected how things ended up with. How Sarah had to make peace with herself and the things that happened to her marriage before she could let go of her husband's ghost.
Super fast read...read in 2 days. It was a page turner. Brodie keeps you guessing until the end between twists and turns. There are some predictable parts, but the book moves quickly. It's easy to relate to the characters. Sarah McConnell is the widow who struggles to find herself. In her marraige she had grown bitter b/c she could not have children and had resigned herself to just following her husband's lead. This book is about Sarah rediscovering how to enjoy life. I do have some questions, b...more
Sarah McConnell's husband had been dead three months when she saw him in the grocery store. Is it really him or is it her grief? His body has never been found, she is having a relationship with his brother, and is visiting with her husband at their cabin. Is he there or is she having a breakdown? You won't know until the last page.
This was an eerie novel although not scary. I really liked the mystery of it and didn't figure out the truth until the end, but I kept trying throughout the novel. The reason I didn't love it was because the characters seemed like cardboard cut-outs, not like real people. Still, it was a good book and kept me interested.
This ia a quick read, which I needed right now. This is a story about a husband who has drowned, and his "appearences" to his wife. It sounds sort of far-fetched, but it works. They did not recover the body, so you don't really know if he is really dead/alive until the last chapter. Very well written. Glad I picked it up.
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I was born in Columbus, Ohio, with the name Laura Ann Fairchild. My earliest memories come from Seattle, Washington, where my family lived in the Magnolia neighborhood near the Puget Sound. I loved the deep, rainy colors of Seattle; one of my dreams is to buy a summer house on the Olympic peninsula.
At age eight, my family moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, where I stayed through high school, spendi...more
More about Laura Brodie...
At age eight, my family moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, where I stayed through high school, spendi...more
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“Looking at the children, she knew that any hope for a new life would have to grow within her. She glanced at Nate, wondering if he felt as she did, that children were the only consolation in this world, the only recompense for so much suffering.”
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3 people liked it
“Was it possible to love a man who made you feel ridiculous? Of course [.....], love was complicated, that was all. Or was love simple, and marriage was complicated? In seventeen years of marriage David had often left her feeling frustrated, and furious, and disgusted, yes - but he had also made her feel beautiful, and protected, and loved. And oh, what she would give to feel loved right now.”
—
2 people liked it
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Sep 06, 2010 08:17am