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Stop Here: a novel by Gologorsky, Beverly (2013) Paperback
Ava, Mila, and Rosalyn all work at Murray's Diner in Long Island. They are friends and coworkers struggling to hold together their disordered lives. While Ava privately grieves the loss of her husband in the first Iraq War, Mila struggles to dissuade her seventeen-year-old daughter from enlisting in the second. Rosalyn works as an escort by night until love and illness conspire to disrupt the tenuous balance she'd found and the past she'd kept at a safe distance. The promise of a new relationship with a coworker soon begins to restore Ava's faith in her own ability to feel, and Mila learns through wrenching loss that children must learn from their own mistakes. But ultimately it is love–for one another and for their wayward families–that sustains them through the pain and uncertainty of a world with no easy answers.With tender, unadorned prose and a supremely human sympathy for the triumphs and defeats of everyday life, in this long-awaited second novel Beverly Gologorsky delivers a moving and incisive story about loss, friendship, and healing in the shadow of a seemingly endless war.
- GenresFiction
Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
February 4, 2014
What makes this novel special is the author’s skill at making her characters real; I do enjoy realistic fiction: fiction with real characters engaging in real struggles. In this novel, three strong single women work at a diner and work at keeping their homesteads in order. All women are impacted by Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The author’s greatest writing strength is that she was able to provide the reader with the devastations of war without making politics a distracting note. It’s a beautifully written novel. All Gologorsky’s characters are well developed; each character has a struggle that is easily identifiable in everyday life. I highly recommend it.
August 11, 2013
I received this book via Goodreads First Reads.
I must admit, I did not know what to expect with this book. If I had seen it in a bookstore, I probably would have looked at the cover and moved on to another one. It's a chance that I won this novel because I would have missed a very good and interesting read.
This novel talks about ordinary people who are affected by extraordinary circumstances; mainly war. Its is about how regular people have to deal with war, death, cancer... and their effects on them in their everyday lives. How life does not stop. Even if they are living tough situations, they still have to go to work, clean their houses, eat, breathe, live. The world never stops to turn. People still drink their coffee every morning with their breakfast even if others are dying every second, everywhere.
What I really liked about this book is how each chapter focuses on a different character, each one being linked to the diner where some of the action takes place. Every character has something new and relevant to bring to the story. It never gets boring. Everyone has their own story, their own trauma. It keeps the novel in constant motion and the interactions between the characters are much more interesting because they are told from different perspectives.
My favourite character was Rosalyn; a waitress who has to work as an escort to earn more money. I found her story to be quite touching and real. And that really is what is great about this novel. It feels true. Those people could be anyone, really. They don't lead extraordinary lives. They work every week, take care of their families, sometimes dream of other better lives, yet they get stuck in their routine, but still have some nice moments.
It's a beautiful book, quite easy to read. You should all stop what you are doing and discover this novel by Beverly Gologorsky. She is a very promising author, writes beautifully and has an amazing way of describing characters; she makes them feel real.
I must admit, I did not know what to expect with this book. If I had seen it in a bookstore, I probably would have looked at the cover and moved on to another one. It's a chance that I won this novel because I would have missed a very good and interesting read.
This novel talks about ordinary people who are affected by extraordinary circumstances; mainly war. Its is about how regular people have to deal with war, death, cancer... and their effects on them in their everyday lives. How life does not stop. Even if they are living tough situations, they still have to go to work, clean their houses, eat, breathe, live. The world never stops to turn. People still drink their coffee every morning with their breakfast even if others are dying every second, everywhere.
What I really liked about this book is how each chapter focuses on a different character, each one being linked to the diner where some of the action takes place. Every character has something new and relevant to bring to the story. It never gets boring. Everyone has their own story, their own trauma. It keeps the novel in constant motion and the interactions between the characters are much more interesting because they are told from different perspectives.
My favourite character was Rosalyn; a waitress who has to work as an escort to earn more money. I found her story to be quite touching and real. And that really is what is great about this novel. It feels true. Those people could be anyone, really. They don't lead extraordinary lives. They work every week, take care of their families, sometimes dream of other better lives, yet they get stuck in their routine, but still have some nice moments.
It's a beautiful book, quite easy to read. You should all stop what you are doing and discover this novel by Beverly Gologorsky. She is a very promising author, writes beautifully and has an amazing way of describing characters; she makes them feel real.
May 23, 2014
I thought this book was ok - I kept reading it just to finish it. I felt that it was a bit unrealistic - every major life trauma and situation occurred - husband dying young, war veterans, post traumatic stress disorder, prostitution, cancer, teen pregnancy and giving up baby, husband in prison with daughter that never met him, affairs, paralyzed from the war - I mean it really doesn't miss a thing! I may live in my 'ivory tower' and not realize how some people need to struggle every day, but I just think the author went a little overboard with having her characters face so many tragedies.
July 7, 2014
The people who work in Murray's diner all have one thing in common: the war in Iraq. Ava's husband was killed there and now she is left alone to raise their son. Nick, who is the main chef, has a daughter who wants to go to Iraq and protest for peace. Bruce, another chef, is beside himself because his youngest boy was sent to Iraq to serve in the Marines. There are also many other characters in this book that interact with these people and it makes for an interesting story.
January 9, 2021
Well, it is in fact a book. It isn't a great book and it isn't the worst book I have ever read. I based my two star rating off that fact. I finished it in two days, not because I was so enthralled with the story I couldn't wait to see what happened, but because I wanted to get it over with.
This is the type of novel that throws so many characters at you so quickly that it becomes difficult to tell who the narrator is referring to with "she" or who the chapter is focusing on.
The characters speaking voice felt stilted. The grammar in the book felt off and uncomfortable to read. 233 pages and when I read the last lines and closed the book I still didn't feel any emotional connection to the characters.
The Lacy story line could've been explored so much deeper but was mentioned as a passing thought. The author should rewrite this novel and focus strictly on Rosalyn and Lacy.
I got this book from the Used Books Monthly subscription box and it was kind of a disappointment.
This is the type of novel that throws so many characters at you so quickly that it becomes difficult to tell who the narrator is referring to with "she" or who the chapter is focusing on.
The characters speaking voice felt stilted. The grammar in the book felt off and uncomfortable to read. 233 pages and when I read the last lines and closed the book I still didn't feel any emotional connection to the characters.
The Lacy story line could've been explored so much deeper but was mentioned as a passing thought. The author should rewrite this novel and focus strictly on Rosalyn and Lacy.
I got this book from the Used Books Monthly subscription box and it was kind of a disappointment.
October 29, 2016
Talk about a Meh book.
I enjoyed a lot of the writing style, the stories, the emotions that each person felt and their story. That being said, why so many characters?! The author introduced new people every single chapter and I often sat there going "Who is that?!" and frantically flipped back through the book only to realize that they hadn't been placed in the story yet. I understand that there were a few main stars in the story but holy moly was it hard to keep up on some chapters.
Along with being hard to decipher, this book was just out right sad. I believe that one couple got a happy ending, who were the saddest people at the beginning of the book. I was hoping for more connection, more attachment and more feelings of those who have been affected by that war and deployment.
Pretty disappointed in this one, but being a quick read I am not that upset.
I enjoyed a lot of the writing style, the stories, the emotions that each person felt and their story. That being said, why so many characters?! The author introduced new people every single chapter and I often sat there going "Who is that?!" and frantically flipped back through the book only to realize that they hadn't been placed in the story yet. I understand that there were a few main stars in the story but holy moly was it hard to keep up on some chapters.
Along with being hard to decipher, this book was just out right sad. I believe that one couple got a happy ending, who were the saddest people at the beginning of the book. I was hoping for more connection, more attachment and more feelings of those who have been affected by that war and deployment.
Pretty disappointed in this one, but being a quick read I am not that upset.
February 4, 2021
This was pretty good if you like little vignettes of a town. Each chapter focuses on a different character and the struggles and successes they each face. The characters are connected through a diner along a stretch of highway in New Jersey. Most of the characters work or regularly eat at the diner. I can see why this type of story might not appeal to some readers. It doesn't have a great story arc or anything. It is just bits of lives connected through one location. I liked it.
February 6, 2023
This novel centers on three waitresses at a diner and a few of their co-workers, family members, friends, and romantic interests. It is written with an ambitious structure that I think the Gologorsky pulls off well. Each chapter is from the point of view of one of nine characters. I never got confused on which person’s story I was following.
Stop Here is resolutely anti-the Iraq War, no surprise to the reader after the novel’s opening line: “There’s no way to ignore the war mongering on Fox News.” Each person has a dilemma or problem related to a major issue - aside from the devastating impact of the war on family members of soldiers, there is dealing with depression, serious illness, drug addiction, infidelity, and marriage made for financial security rather than love. Economic pressures and the war are ever present. The personal is political, and Gologorsky pulls this off pretty well.
Yet this not a downer of a book. I liked the way the waitresses and others in their circle help each other in ways big and small. That stays with me more than anything else. This is a big-hearted book although not a sentimental one. There is humor and fellowship as they confront serious dilemmas. The book is neither happy nor sad as the story lines play out in a variety of ways.
This somewhat moving and thoughtful book for me is not quite four stars because I wish the characters were more distinct. I enjoyed Gologorsky's writing style -- clipped but often eloquent -- and psychological insights. Conversations often feel similar. The writing style and style of conversation is much the same in each chapter. The characters, especially the women, sometimes feel like the same person in a different stage of her life and confronted by different circumstances. Maybe that’s uncharitable. The people all demonstrate different character traits, but I wish this were conveyed in a more convincing way so you truly felt their individuality.
Stop Here is resolutely anti-the Iraq War, no surprise to the reader after the novel’s opening line: “There’s no way to ignore the war mongering on Fox News.” Each person has a dilemma or problem related to a major issue - aside from the devastating impact of the war on family members of soldiers, there is dealing with depression, serious illness, drug addiction, infidelity, and marriage made for financial security rather than love. Economic pressures and the war are ever present. The personal is political, and Gologorsky pulls this off pretty well.
Yet this not a downer of a book. I liked the way the waitresses and others in their circle help each other in ways big and small. That stays with me more than anything else. This is a big-hearted book although not a sentimental one. There is humor and fellowship as they confront serious dilemmas. The book is neither happy nor sad as the story lines play out in a variety of ways.
This somewhat moving and thoughtful book for me is not quite four stars because I wish the characters were more distinct. I enjoyed Gologorsky's writing style -- clipped but often eloquent -- and psychological insights. Conversations often feel similar. The writing style and style of conversation is much the same in each chapter. The characters, especially the women, sometimes feel like the same person in a different stage of her life and confronted by different circumstances. Maybe that’s uncharitable. The people all demonstrate different character traits, but I wish this were conveyed in a more convincing way so you truly felt their individuality.
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June 9, 2014http://www.full-stop.net/2013/12/03/r...
Review by Scott Beauchamp
There’s a particularly American sort of isolation, a way of being alone while in a group, that can be seen most clearly at a twenty-four-hour diner during the thin hours of night. No squalor or violence present, just the sinister hum of neon and the clanking of coffee spoons as strangers politely sink to the bottom of their own personal hells. It’s that same rootlessness and dissatisfaction that the painter Edward Hopper mined so thoroughly. You see it of course in his most famous work, “Nighthawks,” but it’s really present in everything he ever did. It’s a consciousness of sinister despair in the angular shadows of a building. It’s in the way two people leaning towards each other in conversation seem to be engaged in an existential conspiracy. It’s how a broken aerial jutting off to the side might be a thin finger pointing towards oblivion. This isn’t necessarily realism that we’re dealing with, but a very realistic look at the way depression soaks through the American landscape. Stop Here, Beverly Gologorsky’s second novel, is a sort of literary Hopper painting. She works in a simple and very naturalistic mode that moves beyond mere realism in the same way that “Nighthawks” suggests meaning beyond the simple plot of its image. Stop Here is about average Americans who are haunted. Money, death, regret — whatever torments the characters of this novel also thickens the atmosphere with an almost spectral presence. To say that Gologorsky is a master of mood would be an understatement.
Read the rest here: http://www.full-stop.net/2013/12/03/r...
Review by Scott Beauchamp
There’s a particularly American sort of isolation, a way of being alone while in a group, that can be seen most clearly at a twenty-four-hour diner during the thin hours of night. No squalor or violence present, just the sinister hum of neon and the clanking of coffee spoons as strangers politely sink to the bottom of their own personal hells. It’s that same rootlessness and dissatisfaction that the painter Edward Hopper mined so thoroughly. You see it of course in his most famous work, “Nighthawks,” but it’s really present in everything he ever did. It’s a consciousness of sinister despair in the angular shadows of a building. It’s in the way two people leaning towards each other in conversation seem to be engaged in an existential conspiracy. It’s how a broken aerial jutting off to the side might be a thin finger pointing towards oblivion. This isn’t necessarily realism that we’re dealing with, but a very realistic look at the way depression soaks through the American landscape. Stop Here, Beverly Gologorsky’s second novel, is a sort of literary Hopper painting. She works in a simple and very naturalistic mode that moves beyond mere realism in the same way that “Nighthawks” suggests meaning beyond the simple plot of its image. Stop Here is about average Americans who are haunted. Money, death, regret — whatever torments the characters of this novel also thickens the atmosphere with an almost spectral presence. To say that Gologorsky is a master of mood would be an understatement.
Read the rest here: http://www.full-stop.net/2013/12/03/r...
July 29, 2016
I received a free copy of this book through Goodreads First Reads giveaway!
2.5 stars;
This book was 'meh'. I'm normally not too crazy about contemporary but the war-themed really interested me (also the location, which unfortunately added nothing to the story, is where I'm from!).
It's not that I disliked this book, but I didn't like it either. It was a quick read but didn't really hold my attention. I liked that there were many different characters - mainly because I didn't care about one in particular - but the writing is extremely unclear. I would read a paragraph filled with "she" and "her" before a name appeared and I knew who the author was writing about. With so many names and story lines, and not enough emotional attachment to characters, it was a bit confusing.
This book is also very depressing. It addresses heavy topics - war, death, illness, caregiving, relationships - and while the book is realistic, none of the characters ever try to be positive and look at the bright side. Very, very depressing. And personally, I'm not one to turn away from tough subjects but it just did not work for this book. At times it became overwhelming and just too much.
I also wasn't too crazy with the ending. A few too many loose ends and not much conclusion for many of the characters. The book seemed to just end abruptly.
Some readers may really enjoy this book but it just simply was not for me.
2.5 stars;
This book was 'meh'. I'm normally not too crazy about contemporary but the war-themed really interested me (also the location, which unfortunately added nothing to the story, is where I'm from!).
It's not that I disliked this book, but I didn't like it either. It was a quick read but didn't really hold my attention. I liked that there were many different characters - mainly because I didn't care about one in particular - but the writing is extremely unclear. I would read a paragraph filled with "she" and "her" before a name appeared and I knew who the author was writing about. With so many names and story lines, and not enough emotional attachment to characters, it was a bit confusing.
This book is also very depressing. It addresses heavy topics - war, death, illness, caregiving, relationships - and while the book is realistic, none of the characters ever try to be positive and look at the bright side. Very, very depressing. And personally, I'm not one to turn away from tough subjects but it just did not work for this book. At times it became overwhelming and just too much.
I also wasn't too crazy with the ending. A few too many loose ends and not much conclusion for many of the characters. The book seemed to just end abruptly.
Some readers may really enjoy this book but it just simply was not for me.
August 31, 2013
I learned a long time ago in an English class that some of the best books are both sweet and useful-that is, they are enjoyable to read while also teaching or instructing the reader in some way. I am an eclectic reader and love books that have only one of the above qualities, but over the years I've found the lesson to be an apt one. For me, the best books are ones that I can't stop reading, that also make me look at the world a little differently. This book is one of those. The characters are well-developed and the interactions between them keep the pages turning late into the night. The political themes of the book are also intriguing without alienating the reader-I think if you find you don't agree with the politics, you will still love this book. As for me, I am so glad that I won this book through Goodreads.
June 28, 2016
I deeply admire Gologorsky's crafting of this novel. Her depiction of her characters is unmistakably generous and sympathetic, but this does not prevent the novel from taking a larger, more objective view of the themes at stake at times. The narration is as deep feeling as it is deep thinking, and that's a rare and refreshing quality. I heartily recommend Stop Here. It's a fairly simple, yet life-affirming read.
I received an uncorrected proof of this novel through the Goodreads First Reads program, FYI.
I received an uncorrected proof of this novel through the Goodreads First Reads program, FYI.
May 31, 2015
I had great hopes for this novel, which is really much more a collection of linked stories -- think Olive Kitteridge, but not nearly as good -- than a novel. The characters were all part of a staff at a diner on Long Island, but they were developed, well, not poorly, just not at all. It was difficult to know who was Roslyn, and who was Mila and who was Bruce and who was Nick. Thus, it was difficult to know who had cancer, who didn't want her daughter to go to war, etc.
A huge disappointment.
A huge disappointment.
December 31, 2013
Like a bunch of short stories about a group of diner employees. I didn't like how much time was skipped paragraph to paragraph. It left out a lot of important events and made the stories difficult to follow.
June 2, 2014
You can read my full review at my blog dedicated to literary fiction by women, Read Her Like an Open Book. http://wp.me/p3EtWm-dM
December 25, 2013
Quick read, engaging characters. Good insight into relationships, especially among women friends.
November 15, 2014
Harsh, real and in your face believable. These characters get under your skin. I wanted more and then it was over.
February 4, 2014
Although not my usual pick, it definitely kept me reading! I also got annoyed and yelled at the ending, so that is a good sign!
August 25, 2016
wow = very complex and real characters. Enjoyed reading this very much. It was a nice change from my normal fiction reads.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews