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The Transformation of Things

by Jillian Cantor (Goodreads Author)

3.38 of 5 stars 3.38 · rating details · 257 ratings · 79 reviews

What if the reality you thought you knew was nothing but a fantasy?

Jennifer Levenworth has a great, big, pounding headache. It could be because her husband, a judge, is indicted on bribery charges, leaving her unsure about everything in her marriage. Or it could be caused by the media, who are relentlessly covering the story. Or because the friends Jennifer thought she kn...more

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Published (first published November 2nd 2010)

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Apr 04, 2013 Crystal Starr Light rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary, it-s-not-you-it-s-me, chick-lit

I'm not going into a plot summary, because the book provides a pretty good one. Instead, I'm going to say why I stopped reading at page 70 and why it wasn't for me.

After months of being a completist, of reading books until the very last page in the hopes that they improved (and many times finding myself disappointed at the final page), I've instituted a new rule:

+ Read a book to 25% approx (ending preferably at the start of a new chapter).

+ Evaluate whether the book is worth continuing. Maybe I'...more

5 likes · like · see review

Jan 17, 2011 Rhonda Rae Baker rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: healing, memoir, children

I loved this novel...the story premise was superbly written. Psychological twists, emotions, friendships, perceptions, and real life family drama. This is one that I will be reading again and even had to read the last two chapters when it turned around because I was taken by total surprise and shocked yet happy.

What if? What is reality? What are dreams? What is our subscious really trying to tell us sometimes? I'm going to seriously start writing down my dreams. I want to learn more about mysel...more

2 likes · like · see review

Aug 09, 2012 Jean V. Naggar Literary rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

“Cantor creates convincing, likeable characters.” --Publishers Weekly

“Cantor puts a unique spin on this tale of a woman in transition.” --Booklist

"THE TRANSFORMATION OF THINGS is an elegant and involving page-turner about perception, truth and what's really true about each of our lives. Part mystery, part love story, part coming of age, it is a wonderful book. I could not stop reading!" —Barbara O'Neal, author of THE SECRET OF EVERYTHING

"A provocative novel that raises fascinating questions abou...more

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Jan 22, 2012 Kieran Walsh rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

So I'm hoping this book ends my trilogy of terrible books for the year. Where do I begin reviewing this one?
Good: Book took one day to read
Bad: will never get said day back
Good: It was raining outside so good opportunity to read (anything).
Bad: Missed opportunity to paint dining room.
I'm not even going to bother 'walk' through this one. Jennifer Levenworth was annoying and a suburban brat who just got lucky with some paranormal ability to experience other peoples' emotions. Oh wait, it was all a...more

4 likes · like · see review

Jun 05, 2011 Jillian rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What would you do if you could suddenly hear the thoughts of those around you? Would you be surprised at what they thought of you or would you expect it?

It’d be hard for me not to like a book by someone with my own first name, so I won’t. I really enjoyed The Transformation of Things by Jillian Cantor. In fact, I liked it so much, I read it in one night in one sitting. You gotta love insomnia.

When Jennifer finds out that her husband Will, a judge, has been indicted on charges of bribery, her cou...more

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Jan 27, 2011 Cleverly rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

t's not often you read a book and thoroughly enjoy it even though it left you scratching your head. I love Jillian Cantor's writing style she can master YA and Adult alike. I still don't know how to explain The Transformation of Things to someone with out spoiling it. So I am going to try....The characters all played fabulous catching roles. Each one had a specific reason even if it isn't the reason Jennifer(the main character) thought it was. Life comes quick and Transformations come in all sha...more

1 like · like · see review

Nov 24, 2010 Cheryl rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Jennifer Levenworth is at the hair salon when her life crumbles before her eyes. Jennifer’s husband Judge Will Levenworth has been charged with bribery. Jennifer rushes home to fine Will there. Will tells Jennifer that the charges are not true. He is innocent. Jennifer hopes Will is right because if found guilty, Will could be sentenced to up to twenty five years in prison.

Jennifer starts to crack under all the pressure of Will’s job on the line. Jennifer has a bad headache, only this headache...more

1 like · like · see review

Nov 02, 2010 Jennifer Rayment rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Good Stuff

* One of the most unusual stories I have read this year -- in a good way that is
* Beautifully written story that has a nice flow to it
* Some light humour
* Great ending and nicely hopeful -- we know I like that in a book
* Lovely commentary on the stress of being a mother and some of the feelings that we have, that society frowns upon us talking about. Motherhood isn't for sissies people!!!!
* Interesting thoughts on the misconceptions we have of other people and the judgments w...more

2 likes · like · see review

Jan 07, 2011 Stephanie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: chick-lit

“The Transformation Of Things” is a haunting account of ordinary lives and the things that make us see them in a new light. Some Chick Lit novels are obvious to read. Not this one. The way that Jillian Cantor left me hanging every chapter was astounding. Real relationships are never as clean cut and definite as when they are portrayed in novels. However, throughout this novel I could never decide on the outcome of the main character’s relationship. Despite this, the ending left me blind sighted...more

1 like · like · see review

Nov 05, 2010 Kate rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

THE TRANSFORMATION OF THINGS, by Jillian Cantor, is a interesting story that explores the idea that things are not always as they seem. The relationships that Jennifer has with her husband, family, and friends are tested as she discovers their secrets through her dreams.

I did enjoy this book as a whole but I have to say it wasn't my favorite. It was an interesting concept but I found myself getting bored in the middle. I did not connect with Jennifer the way I wanted to. For example, the relati...more

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Nov 06, 2010 Alisha rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: lt-win, arc-s, contemporary-fiction

The Transformation of Things was weird. Like, really, really weird. My thoughts on it are all over the place. I loved the premise, it was unusual and I loved that the author took a chance in doing something strange. It totally went in a way I would've never suspected and caught me completely by surprise. All good. However, as much as I love strange, I just couldn't connect with anything going on in the book.

I just felt very detached while reading this. I don't know if this was the author's inten...more

1 like · like · see review

Nov 12, 2011 Tasos Anastasopoulos rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ellen-s

That book was certainly nothing like I had expected it to be. Reading its plot I got fascinated by the main idea that was when we are really sure when are we dreaming and when we are facing reality. Could it be possible that what seems like reality is in fact our dreams and vice versa? For those of you who thought (like I did) that there would be a whole analysis how to make sure what actually takes place I am sorry to write but it was nothing but nothing like that.

The novel seems to belong in t...more That book was certainly nothing like I had expected it to be. Reading its plot I got fascinated by the main idea that was when we are really sure when are we dreaming and when we are facing reality. Could it be possible that what seems like reality is in fact our dreams and vice versa? For those of you who thought (like I did) that there would be a whole analysis how to make sure what actually takes place I am sorry to write but it was nothing but nothing like that.

The novel seems to belong in the “chick lit” category, a very simple story about a woman trying to save her marriage in a high society town… If it was bigger it would make a fine soap opera out of it. There is not at all a good profile of any of the characters, Will the husband that seems so distant paying no attention to his wife at all suddenly as the story goes on becomes very sweet without any explanation given about this whole change of his behavior. I almost got sick of reading about his pine smell over and over again, about how both him and his wife were constantly falling asleep wearing their clothes (even the shoes sometimes) and waking up hours later and starting their daily routines.

The only interesting part was a bit when those dreams were occurring and Jennifer (the heroin) was taking the place of one of her friends (or sister or even her husband) for some moments and was trying to make a sense out of it. Unfortunately enough those dreams didn’t last that much making me to lose my interest and though I was tempted to stop reading the book, the fact that it is quite a small one (and a bit of a motive to finish the 30 books read in a year challenge) pushed me to make it till the end.

When reaching the final chapter there is a revelation of everything and it is quite disappointing since I saw it coming all the way. A very poor effort this novel in my opinion, I am sure that it wasn’t so easy for Jillian Cantor to write something different from a young adult book like she used to in the past. She should somehow kept the whole “young adult” style in this novel as well so she could make it at least a bit interesting to read. I believe that the plot won’t be attractive even for chick lit readers and it’s hard to think of who will really like it.

Probably the only part that I enjoyed reading was the acknowledgments at the end, there were 1-2 dreams that were deleted from the book but at least getting to know how the author was writing the book how she thought to add or remove things was something that seemed much more real than the story itself.

Not such a big review this time since more comments would make me seem really mean and there’s no reason for that to happen. I didn’t hate the book but I found nothing really good about it so let’s move on to the next one, hopefully much better and a whole different kind to avoid something similar with that in any way hehe (finally I did become mean, I couldn’t hold myself after all)…
(less)

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Jan 17, 2011 Shonda rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2011

Jen Levenworth is at the hair salon when she sees the breaking news story. Her husband Will, the youngest judge in Deerfield County, has been indicted on bribery charges. Shocked and embarrassed, Jen flies out of her chair with damp hair and races home to find Will.

Will is home when she arrives and looks beaten and distraught. A look that is uncharacteristic for him as he is always put together and everything is its place when he’s around. Seeing Will this way frightens Jen and she begins to won...more Jen Levenworth is at the hair salon when she sees the breaking news story. Her husband Will, the youngest judge in Deerfield County, has been indicted on bribery charges. Shocked and embarrassed, Jen flies out of her chair with damp hair and races home to find Will.

Will is home when she arrives and looks beaten and distraught. A look that is uncharacteristic for him as he is always put together and everything is its place when he’s around. Seeing Will this way frightens Jen and she begins to wonder about his innocence. And her marriage.

The Transformation of Things is a story about seeing things for what they are versus what we want them to be. Which we all now is very, very hard (and scary) to do. Early in their marriage, Jen and Will lived a great life in the city. Being newly married and having great careers allowed them to be young and carefree. After making Partner at his law firm, Will set his sights on becoming a judge. This decision uprooted them from city life to suburbia. Jen’s job at the magazine became a distant memory as she attempted to settle in as being country club housewife.

This transition did not come easily for Jen. No matter how close she was with her friends, she thought she was still kept at arm’s length in their immediate circle. This was evident when the news story about Will’s arrest broke and her friends started to pull away from Jen. Slowly Jen and Will are trying to pick up the pieces after being ostracized from the country club. As Will begins a new job, Jen also finds herself freelancing at her former magazine. Will’s change in behavior is at first uncomfortable for Jen, but soon she cautiously welcomes it as she ponders the future of her marriage.

And then the dreams begin. Jen has vivid dreams about those close to her: her sister Kelly, Will, Kat, a former co-worker and friend at the magazine, and Lisa, another country club member. Jen had preconceived notions about each, but after her dreams, she begins to question how well she truly knows them.

There’s an unexpected twist at the end that I really can’t say more about without ruining the book. I’m not sure how I feel about it to be quite honest. It took away from the book just a bit for me. Having said that, I still recommend The Transformation of Things to fans of women’s fiction.(less)

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Sep 19, 2012 Kellie Lambert rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Transformation of Things
Jillian Cantor

My mom recommended this to me right before I flew home to Raleigh to visit this past June, and it provided the perfect escape on the plane. Flying across the U.S. is often a 5-7 hour ordeal, so this filled that time frame perfectly.

A Judge is convicted of bribery and disbarred, left to rebuild his marriage and career. This book is in the wife's perspective as she deals with this shift in their home and dynamic. Suddenly, amidst all this change, the wom...more

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Jan 13, 2012 Elizabeth rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-reviewed

It's kind of interesting to see what random books I end up reading just because the library has them in Kindle format... in any case, I went in with fairly low expectations of this novel, but I ended up liking it. There's actual character development! The protagonist actually undergoes some change and learns from her experiences. The ending was actually somewhat interesting, and by this time I actually cared about the protagonist more than I had in the beginning.

I did have one really big issue...more

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Aug 06, 2011 Kathy rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have to say I devoured this book over just a couple of days, wanting to see what would happen. And the characters were really likable. But I had many problems with this book. Overall, I don't think it was very well written. The twist at the end felt like a cheat, for one thing. Also, maybe this is just a pet peeve of mine, but this author constantly does that thing where you end a sentence, then put in a comma, then end the sentence a different way, as in "I didn't know what was going to happe...more

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Sep 23, 2011 Ben rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The following review might be due to me not giving the book enough of a chance, or that I'm more used to the action/fantasy/suspense genres, but... While I found the first 5-7 chapters interesting, once I got to chapter 11, I got bored of the story. Another issue I had with the book, is that there seemed to be a lot of paragraphs with multiple sentences(in a single paragraph) starting with... "And then..." I don't mind it when authors use those words, but to have one sentence after the next star...more

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Feb 26, 2011 Melanti rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011

I find the idea of this book much better than the book in practice. Maybe because I can't imagine belonging to a country club, or having friends that use plastic surgery. Nor can I imagine having a husband that is never home (what's the point of being married in that case) or even having children. Due to the differences in our lives, I found it almost impossible to relate to Jen. I find her husband a bit more relatable, but not much.
My biggest problem is that the ending is one of the biggest cop...more

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Jan 30, 2011 Shari rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I could give it three and a half--a little weak in the writing department. it seems as though most readers loved this book. no major complaints-although i have not read the particular sadness of lemon cake, i thought that perhaps this was a similar premise. Jennifer's husband -a judge- is indicted and her world is turned upside down. relatable friend theme, jewish theme life's problems theme-i guess what threw me off was the whole notion of her dreams. jennifer has dreams which enable her to kn...more

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Feb 04, 2011 Rachel rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

After her husband, a judge, is indicted for accepting a bribe, Jennifer Levenworth's life begins to unravel. As tries to adjust, she begins to realize that she is getting a glimpse into the private lives of the people around her through her dreams.

I was expecting a little story about a woman dealing with adversity and working through troubles in her life and marriage. It ended up being a little deeper than that. The last few chapters brough a bit of surprise that I didn't see coming and I think...more

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Jun 11, 2010 eb rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: abandoned

The narrator is both deeply boring and breathtakingly clueless about the meaninglessness of her problems (it ruins her day if someone gives her the side-eye in Whole Foods)--which would be great if we were meant to see her as an unreliable narrator, but I'm afraid we're meant to trust her. These characters aren't round; they're not even flat. They make you forget what it's like to read a book about three-dimensional, lovingly imagined people. Does it go without saying that the prose is the pits?...more

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Dec 19, 2010 Mary rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Was he a man, dreaming he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming he was man? That's a key question in this book. Do we really choose our own destinies? I'd like to think we have something to do with it. It was hard at first to care about Jennifer and all she was going through. She seemed so distant from her husband, her family, her friends. But as the story picks up and things are not exactly what they seem, you root for her to figure out where she's going on her path in life. I enjoyed this s...more

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Dec 28, 2011 Rachel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I thought this was an easy read ... definitely different from what I expected! A woman discovers her husband, a judge, has been indicted for taking bribes. The cushy life she had been living was suddenly in chaos and the friends she had expected to be with her suddenly dropped her like hot potatoes. Her whole world has changed. So Jen sets out to discover what was really going on and in the meantime, she found out as she dreamed that she could enter her friends' and husband's thoughts ... it was...more

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Nov 19, 2012 Cara rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fun-or-frivolity

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

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Apr 13, 2011 Laura rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011-mt-bookpile

Jen's life is falling apart: she'd given up her city-based life when her husband became an elected judge and gained "friends", the chairmanship of a cancer benefit and a McMansion and all that goes along with suburban wealth. One day she learns her husband is being indicted for bribery and her new life unravels. To deal with the stress, her herbalist gives her a new herb that now gives her very deep, very intense dreams in which she becomes people in her life (her husband, her BFF, her sister an...more

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Apr 21, 2012 Beth Peninger rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was my first read of Jillian Cantor and I really liked her writing. In this particular book she draws the reader in and then introduces a twist that still has me trying to figure out what happened! It's not a mystery/thriller sort of twist but just one that makes the reader want to re-read the book and see if there is foreshadowing to it that was missed.
Jennifer, 33, is married to the youngest Judge to ever sit on a bench in her city. When he makes headlines with bribery charges she is thr...more

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Jun 04, 2011 Sara rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, adult-fiction, loved

What an amazing book! Jen's a woman who seemingly has it all - her husband's a judge, they lives in the suburbs, she spends time lunching and playing tennis with the wives of other noteworthy people in town - but then her husband gets indicted for accepting a bribe, and her life begins to fall apart. Supposed friends shy away from her, her husband's life is changed, and she suddenly starts having vivid dreams that give her glimpses into the lives of those around her; she dreams that she's her hu...more

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Jun 17, 2010 Ml rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I absolutely loved this book. I was lucky enough to receive an advance copy, and finished it in two days. The Transformation of Things is the story of Jen Levenworth, wife of a recently disgraced judge who begins to have dreams about the secrets of her family and friends. She soon realizes that not everything is as she thought it to be, and begins to question her own choices and truths.

I highly recommend this book and will definitely be buying it as a gift for family and friends.

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Aug 24, 2012 Jane rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really liked this simple, sweet, gentle book. There were many characters and relationships that I really could relate to. Don't think that it will be listed among any literary giants, but I found it very pleasing in its portrayal of real human weakness' and misconceptions. Interesting viewpoints in the way the story unfolded. I enjoyed the lack of intimate sexual detail or violence. Just a nice read.

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Nov 10, 2010 Jayne evangelista rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

My thoughts on this book are all over the place. For much of it I couldnt wait to be done,however the last quarter saved it for me and I find myself re-thinking everything I thought about it initially. It totally went in a way I didn't expect and caught me completely by surprise which I love in a book. If I could, I'd give this 3-1/2 stars.

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About Jillian Cantor

I'm the author of novels for teens and adults: THE SEPTEMBER SISTERS, THE LIFE OF GLASS. and the THE TRANSFORMATION OF THINGS, which was a Target Emerging Author's pick and a Doubleday Book Club featured alternate. Up next: MARGOT, a re-imagining of Anne Frank's sister in post-war America, (Riverhead 2013) and a new YA novel (Walker/Bloomsbury 2014).

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