Goodreads Mobile | see what your friends are reading

Aug 10, 2010

Sjcapanna rated it:

I chose this book because it got a glowing review in People magazine. I know, People might not be the best source for literary recommendations, but I find reviews by high-faluting, snobby literary types to be just as unreliable.

I figured this book would be good in a quietly charming kind of way. You know, like the kind of book that is enjoyable not so much for the dramatic plot twists, but because of good writing and likable characters. While this book did have the latter two, i More...

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

Aug 02, 2010

Jennifer rated it:

I was intrigued by the summary of this book, though it's not a genre I'd usually pick up ~WOW am I glad I did!

This was a refreshing read that was hard to put down. There are several main characters in the book and all of them are accessible and fascinating in their own right (which is not an easy feat, mind you). Even though I didn't love all of the characters immediately, the more I read, the more endeared I became. Racculia jumps from character to character advancing the story fro More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jul 06, 2010

Gail rated it:

We know that growing up can be difficult. Coming of age isn't easy, but it was especially onerous for Oneida Jones. And, no, as she'll be the first to tell you - she was not named after a spoon.)

In this imaginative, entertaining debut novel Oneida's home is a boarding house, the Darby-Jones in Ruby Falls, New York, run by her mother, Mona. (There is not a father in the picture as Mona had returned to Ruby Falls years earlier unwed but with baby Oneida in her arms) As if cookin More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 06, 2010

Stephanie rated it:

When Amy Henderson dies suddenly, her devastated husband, Arthur Rook, finds a hidden shoebox of mysterious mementos, including a never-mailed postcard which leads him to the Darby-Jones boardinghouse, now run by Amy’s childhood best friend, Mona Jones. The grieving Arthur tries to decipher the meaning of his dead wife’s cryptic souvenirs, and in so doing, threatens to reveal a secret from her past.

“She was so tired of fighting with Amy’s nature. Because it was Amy’s nature to be unk More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 17, 2011

Lori L rated it:

This Must Be the Place, Kate Racculia's debut novel, is the story of a widower, a past friendship, a mother and daughter, first love, and what happens when all these different worlds collide. Really, it's a hard novel to classify as it crosses genres. It's a coming of age story mixed with elements of chic lit, but it is also a plot driven character study. And, after melding elements from these different genres, it's really quite good.

All the characters aren't perfect so they feel reali More...

0 comments like

May 29, 2010

Sharon rated it:

"This Must Be The Place," Kate Racculia's debut novel, is tricky to classify. Part coming-of-age story, part romance, and part mystery -- but all entertaining.

Racculia's main characters are widower Arthur Rook, boarding house owner Mona Jones and Mona's daughter Oneida. Rook comes to stay at the Darby-Jones boarding house, operated by Mona, after his wife's death. Throw into the mix that Rook's wife was Mona's beat friend in high school for the first in a series of comp More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 05, 2010

Meredith rated it:

Before you crack open this book, understand something vital: Whatever you think you know about these characters, you're, at best, only half-right. That doesn't mean that this is a mind-bender of Murakami proportions, though there are some pretty significant twists. It means that the characters have depth.

This is the warm, sometimes whimsical story of Amy Rook and the people she left behind. There is Arthur, her shattered husband; Mona, her erstwhile best friend, the girl who always More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 13, 2010

Sirwinthorpxiv rated it:

Kate Racculia, in her impressive debut novel, emanates an uncompromising, purposeful, and original voice. Her brilliantly crafted novel fallows Arthur Rook, a man recently heartbroken by his young wife’s sudden death. Delirious with grief, Arthur flees his home and job in California, guided only by an unmailed postcard written sixteen years ago to a woman he has never heard of. Arthur follows it to the Darby-Jones boardinghouse in a sleepy rural town in New York.
Arthur bites off more than More...

1 comment like

Aug 27, 2011

Evelyn rated it:

I was intrigued by the premise of this novel by a first-time author. It's the story of a single mother and her daughter who run a boarding house in a small, upstate New York village, and a widower/lost soul who is 'guided' to them after his wife suddenly dies.

The writing was very uneven; at times captivating and beautifully realized, at other times unbelievably muddled, confusing and unclear. It felt as though an editor had lost patience with parts of the book, and simply deleted some More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 02, 2011

Sheryl rated it:

Much of the plot seemed unbelievable, but is so engaging and well written, I kept reading. Arthur Rook is a socially awkward photographer who is married to the quirky Amy, who creates monsters for Hollywood. When she dies unexpectedly, Arthur rifles through his home looking for mementos of her life, hoping to learn more about her. Hidden away in her closet, is a pink box with scraps of paper, plastic trinkets, and a mysterious postcard alluding to her past life. Without telling anyone, he drives More...

0 comments like

Jul 12, 2011

Laura added it

I am glad I read this book. It was a good read. I hated some things (a character named Oneida...what a gawdawful clunky name to have to read 300 times...I loathed it), I loved others (one of the main characters made monsters for movies...THAT is an original profession in a book, how refreshing), but overall, I like it. It could have done without the post script chapter (8 Years Later)...I wish I hadn't read it. I really felt the book was complete without it. To me, that chapter was the author's More...

0 comments like

Jul 12, 2010

Laurel-Rain rated it:

The story begins with a boardwalk scene, a young girl, and a postcard.

We then leap ahead sixteen years to a couple living an ordinary life in LA; he, Arthur Rook, is a photographer, and she, Amy Henderson Rook, creates special effects in movies. They are just living day to day.

Then it all changes with a freak accident that leaves Amy dead and Arthur blindsided. Armed with a pink shoebox containing Amy's collection of objects he sees as "clues," and with a postca More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 30, 2010

Judith rated it:

Our hero is rendered speechless by his first visit to "In & Out" and meets his future wife when she rescues him by ordering for him. This cute-meet foreshadows the rest of the story. His wife dies dramatically in the first chapter and in his despair he tears apart their apartment looking for. . .? a shoe box filled with his wife's adolescent memorabilia. This naturally leads him to immediately leave L.A. and head for her hometown of Ruby Falls, N.Y. There he tracks down his wife' More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 31, 2010

Lila rated it:

Racculia’s wonderful novel centers on Amy, who is dead in reality but seems to be very much alive in the minds of people whose lives she entered and affected irrevocably. Mona (short for Desdemona, I love this name) Jones and her daughter, Oneida are two of the mentioned people. They own the Derby-Jones boardinghouse in New York and make it a home to a few renters. Life couldn’t be more peaceful, bordering on boring even. Oneida is a nerdy teenager with no real friends, Mona runs the house More...

0 comments like

Aug 15, 2010

Kristen rated it:

Kate Raccula's debut novel impressed me with its warm, loveable characters and unique storyline. As Oneida Jones comes of age in a sleepy town, she feels lonely and freakish. On the lookout for kindred spirits, we follow her through some of high school's twists and turns. Not formulaic or trite, this thread is the most conventional of the novel's woven storyline.

Oneida's mother Mona shows her own individuality and boldness by being a single mother in her hometown, running her fa More...

0 comments like

May 05, 2011

Emily rated it:

My "Company" husband's cousin wrote this book so he recommended it to me! It was really great read with interesting and well thought out characters. There are several storylines intertwined. I would classify it as a coming of age novel even though two of the main characters are already adults. Each character's journey was interesting and I loved how all of the stories came together. The premise was a little "P.S. I Love You"-a young wife dies and leaves the husband behind wit More...

0 comments like

Jun 30, 2011

Barbara rated it:

I am a sucker for originality. I loved this book! Kate Racculia has created an original story, with original characters and writes with a beautiful original voice. Just up my alley!! This Must Be the Place is a story of people who are not seeing their world clearly due to a series of secrets which keeps them at arms length from the people in their lives. As they find love, they find the importance of the secrets diminishes, and each of them are in a position to see and feel what matters to More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 21, 2010

Elisha rated it:

I must admit I always have problems with books where I sincerely don't like a major character (Amy, in this instance). I did like Desdemona. I thought the storytelling was clumsy - the love story of the teenagers was slightly creepy, the big secret was laborious in the reveal, and then it just ends suddenly on an unexpected up note which I can only compare to when an old song is being played and ends on one of those trumpet notes that starts out strong and then whines out like a balloon losing More...

0 comments like

Jun 15, 2011

Benita rated it:

This book was quirky and satisfying. I found myself thinking as I was reading it (and after) about how much DO we change as we grow older? What is the "true" us and how much do people know this essential part? I also liked how it made me think about friendships and the imbalance that can sometimes exist there.

I also felt it captured that horrible time in a teen girl's (esp. a smart girl) life really really well. Oneida is a bundle of contradictions (hubris and uncertainty, More...

0 comments like

Apr 28, 2011

Tara rated it:

I found this a very sweet story. The narrative is rich with complex issues like death and betrayal, and yet there is a bouyant optimism throughout. The story centers around an absent character - Amy Henderson. She never appears in person and yet the search for an understanding of her permeates every story line. I fell in love with all three of the major characters, Arthur, Mona and Oneida. I can wholeheartedly recommend this book. Here's my favorite line: "Once again Mona was desperate for More...

0 comments like

Nov 10, 2010

Amy rated it:

I ended up skimming through this book. There were 2 stories going on, and only one really interested me. It's am interesting read about a man whose wife passes away at the age of 32. He then realized he didn't really know her, didn't know her wishes, etc, etc. He finds a postcard in her only box of secret belongings and sets out to meet the person the postcard was written to (but never sent). We meet her former best friend and the best friend's teenage daughter, and learn more about the dea More...

0 comments like

Aug 23, 2010

Phoebe rated it:

L.A. photographer Arthur Rook goes half crazy when his wife is killed. He yearns to find something of her again, and happens upon a shoebox full of mementoes, which lead him to Mona, proprietor of the Darby Jones hotel in upstate New York. Mona is drawn to him but knows nothing of his connection to her former best friend. When she finds out, she realizes that a long-kept secret of her own, involving teenage daughter Oneida, may need to be shared. I loved Mona, and the plot thread between her More...

0 comments like

Nov 16, 2010

C. rated it:

This Must Be The Place
Kate Raccullia

This is Raccullia first novel. It is about the secret left behind by a woman after her death in an accident and the grief of her husband, the widower Arthur Rook. After finding a 16 year old postcard his wife had never mailed, he starts his journey that will take him from California to a small town New York, in search of understanding his wife's past. The address is a boardinhouse owned by Mona Jones, her old time best girlfriend and h More...

0 comments like

Jul 31, 2010

Beth rated it:

In the beginning of the book, I thought Arthur was going to be the main character. He takes his deceased wife's mementos in a pink shoe box to seek out Mona to find out more about his wife's past. However, after getting more into the book it seems as though Oneida is the main character and it becomes more of a coming of age story. All the characters in this book are not exactly likable but that is okay. Some of the tenants in the Darby-Jones Boarding House are quite peculiar but they do make for More...

0 comments like

Jul 09, 2010

Bridget rated it:

Mona has raised Oneida all by herself. They now live in a boarding house, called the Darby-Jones, that Mona is responsible for. The tenants of this home are a curious bunch. Considered a freak, Oneida has never had an friends. When a new resident, Arthur, comes to Darby-Jones, the residents lives are forever changed.

There are certain books that touch you in ways that you cannot begin to describe. That's how I felt about This Must Be the Place. It's amazing novel. Book readers More...

0 comments like

Oct 18, 2011

Tom rated it:

I'm not quick to compare one writer to another but if you liked Audrey Niffenegger's second novel, "Her Fearful Symmetry", you'll be washed away with this one. There are a few implausible scenes and developments, but I think any site calling itself "goodreads" has to include this as a good read. The plot is terrific, and although some of the twists and turns are predictable there is a fair share of surprises - a bit like life, I suppose; which is exactly why I'm enthralled More...

0 comments like

Dec 27, 2011

Marielle rated it:

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

0 comments like

Jan 26, 2011

Jason rated it:

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)

The main problem with overedited literary debuts from precocious MFAers, in my opinion, is not that they're bad but rather so damn mediocre; take for example Kate Racculia's recent This Must Be the Place, which would be hard to point at in any particular place and say that it's actively bad, but More...

3 comments like (3 people liked it)

Apr 16, 2011

Melanie rated it:

I struggled between a three and a four star rating on this book. I chose a four because, as you choose with wine, you read what you like and what makes you smile.

The plot is fast paced although the hidden secret chaser in the storyline is very transparent and easily guessed right away. I think you rocket through the book to validate your suspicions which is why i made it so quickly through this book. I admit i read 200 pages in one sitting just to finish and find out if i was right. More...

0 comments like

Jun 22, 2011

Peggy rated it:

A debut novel by the author, who lives in Boston. it is the story of Arthur Rook, Mona Jones and how their lives are connected through Arthur's late wife Amy, who was Mona's best friend in high school. After Amy is killed in an accident at work, Arthur tries to figure out what her final wishes were. He follws clues in Amy's pink shoebox of mementoes and ends up in Ruby Falls, NY and Mona Jones's boarding house.

Mona has no idea who Artur is and only finds out because of an accide More...

0 comments like