Among Other Things, I've Taken Up Smoking

by Aoibheann Sweeney

Critically acclaimed by reviewers across the country, Aoibheann Sweeney's beautifully written debut novel is a story of the profound human need for intimacy. For Miranda, the adolescence spent in her fog-shrouded Maine home has been stark and isolated-alone with her troubled father, a man consumed with his work translating Ovid's Metamorphoses , her mother mysteriously gone from their lives. Now, having graduated from high school, Miranda's father arranges for her to stay with old friends in Manhattan, and she embarks on a journey that will open up her father's past and her own world, in ways she cannot begin to imagine.

Genres: Fiction, Queer, LGBT, Coming Of Age, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Book Club

257 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Sweeney was raised in Massachusetts and attended Harvard University and the University of Virginia’s MFA Program, where she was a Henry Hoyns Fellow.

Her first novel, Among Other Things, I’ve Taken Up Smoking, is about a girl who grows up alone with her father on an island in Maine and is sent to stay in New York City with friends of her father's who open up her past, and her own world, in ways she cannot begin to imagine. It was published by Penguin Press in 2007 and was an Editor’s Choice at the New York Times Book Review and the recipient of a 2007 Lambda Literary Award.

Reviews

[Oriana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the tone of this book a lot, but I'm not sure I can really say I loved the story. The first half introduces us to this very lonely girl growing up isolated with just her dad on a tiny island in Maine. It's really suffused with soft melancholy, and very evocative and lovely. Dad's life's work is doing a new translation of Ovid's Metamorphosis, and there are snippets of some of the myths and personalities from it woven into the narrative in interesting ways. Miranda basically spends her childhood being Dad's stand-in wife or secretary, cooking and cleaning and typing and tiptoeing around him when he's concentrating. But she loves him and is fiercely independent, and also draws and wanders about the island and even makes a friend or two at school (she has to drive a boat there by herself, which is pretty independence-ing for a young girl), so it's not like she's a tragic figure or anything.

The second half takes her to New York City, to live and work in the library her father co-founded and then abandoned like twenty years ago. At this point the story switches to a fairly standard one of small-town girl comes to big city and is overwhelmed and discombobulated, and has to learn to assimilate and find her way. It helps that she's apparently suddenly gorgeous, and immediately has two different people (like the very first two people she meets) courting her hard. And of course, there are a lot of mysteries about her dad and what he did in NY and why he left and the messes he left behind, which Miranda now begins to slowly unravel—or, really, which unravel before her, dropping answers in her lap. Because at this point it turns into one of those stories where everyone knows too much, asks just the right questions at just the right time to make just the right piece of the puzzle fall into place. Which is really annoying.

Miranda also becomes more and more self-centered and unlikeable as the story heads toward its conclusion. The story falls victim to the somewhat common issue of a shy, quiet, observant first-person narration: we see everything happening around her, and she clearly describes things and sometimes comments on them, but we just don't get that clear of an idea of her motivations or reactions. She turns into a real bitch by the end, doing some unbelievably selfish and cruel things, which I guess we're supposed to excuse because she's lonely and fucked up by this new world she's been thrown into, but I never got enough of her thought processes to buy it, beyond OMG this bitch is crazy.

Anyway. The writing is great, I would definitely read more Aoibheann (what a name), but this one didn't really knock my socks off like I'd hoped.

[Jasmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

according to the internet this person's name is pronounced even. I hope that is true.

This book is amazing really and truly amazing. I can't actually tell you that much about the book because I have realized that even being aware of the genre of this book actually minimizes the impact of the book. But what I can do is talk to you about some of the reasons this book worked for me that may or may not work for you.

This is a really great coming of age novel (now remember I hate coming of age novels passionately).

So how did I end up with this novel. Well I have seen it and not bought it many times. I like the fact the title is about starting to smoke. Second I didn't bring a book with me the day of my language and thought midterm and there was an hour between work and my test and I was worried continuing to think about it would just stress me out more (although I didn't actually end up starting the book till after the test). Lastly, it was in a "last chance" 3.99 display at work so I paid like 3 for it which meant even if it was terrible I wouldn't have wasted that much money on it. basically it is a great situation. lastly lastly the book is about a person from an island in maine that moves to new york and starts smoking!! how could I not read that.

So this book is about a girl who grows up on crab island in maine. Although crab island is an actual place in maine off freeport in the book it is an imaginary crab island near a town call yvesport. This is obvious cause someone asks her if she has been to a city and she responds "bangor" bangor is not the city if you live in freeport, because there are larger cities clustered in southern maine. Bangor is referred to as the city above the midcost region in the down east region (Yeah I know this makes no sense fucking deal). this means that the imaginary island is in the region that the real island I grew up on is in. There is a size difference. although she mentions "other children" on crab island there are no size indicators but it doesn't have a school, even a one room school house (yeah these still exist on islands in maine but as far as I know they only go through 8th grade). So we are talking islesford (little cranberry) size(yeah these maine references aren't going to stop seeing as how I never get to use them). The island I grew up on is larger than this. much larger 4 towns, 4 elementary schools, 1 high school, 3 fire departments, several libraries, and a lot of cute one room post offices (but the library and police station downtown are huge).

This is bar harbor:
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they have laws about how much grey has to be added to color in signs. My mom lives "in bar harbor" now this actually means about 20 minutes from down town (picture above) in the winter 45 to an hour in the summer (yeah that's stupid).

However, I grew up in tremont. historically tremont was a bustling town they had factories, two banks, a roller rink, and a movie theater. This was back when it cost 5 cents to go to a movie,it lasted till it started to cost around 30 cents I think. When I grew up there was one general store, one hotel, and one camp ground. The book gets it right, you aren't a mainer unless you are born there, or in my towns case if your grandparents were born there. Also there is a dislike of smart people. So the isolation in the book I get that even if technically I was around more people.

*mild spoilers*
there is a character in the book called mr. blackwell he is a fisherman. He takes care of miranda because clearly her father isn't able. When I was in the third or fourth grade my mom started dating a lobsterman. Okay back up my mom can't cook, didn't spend much time at home, and lets just say when she was there I wasn't the most respectful ten year old. So when I was young my mom didn't come to my games, she didn't check my grades, actually Mraz discribes divorce well:

"it's probably because when you're young
It's okay to be easily ignored
I'd like to believe it was all about love for a child
It's kinda nice to work the floor since the divorce
I've been enjoying both my Christmases and my birthday cakes
And taking drugs and making love at far too young an age
And they never check to see my grades"

Okay so miranda's parents aren't divorced but her mother is dead and she sees this effect just as I did as a child. then this guy Mr. Blackwell comes along and he isn't unlike the lobsterman I knew "scotty" who got up at 4am to drive me to swim practice, came to all my basketball games, and told me that I should have been getting a+s not just as. Well Blackwell does that in the book. There is a feeling of transference of love or even love of the parent that is more directly related to love of their child and you see that in the book.


Moving on to the new york stuff. when you take a small town person (I think this is especially true about maine but I realize this could come from a very intense entrenchment in maine culture) and you send them to new york they never actually become new york. There is this phase where they really try. they date a rich guy, they spend money, they buy miniskirts but in the end the fall back is always jeans, they never really learn to walk in heels, etc. this book is really about what happens if you are that person. the person who isn't going to ever adapt. What do you do then?

well read the book and see.

[charlotte, · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rep: bi mc, Dominican American lesbian li, gay characters, Passamaquoddy side character

CWs: anti Indigenous racism, homophobia & lesbophobia

[Kirsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably the best part of this fresh and fast-paced novel is the stubbornly self-reliant protagonist's acceptance of her parents as human. That sounds like a cliche, but it's actually the most subtle transformation in a forest of other easy-reading dramas contained within this book. Nudged into understanding by the myths of Ovid's Metamorphoses woven throughout this short text, the reader discovers a young woman who worships her late mother and her elusive father as if they were gods. But then, ta-da! She finds out they're only human. And she's human, too. And ain't life grand.

Still, this is one occasion when easy-reading isn't necessarily a bad thing. This was a delightful read, and one that was difficult to put down. Yes, it was predictable, but only because the average reader is wizened with the universal experiences this little Maine island girl is encountering for the first time. In fact, it should probably be read by college kids who still shiver with excitement at the sight of a coffee cart in New York City. But it can be equally refreshing for anyone looking to luxuriate in the days where obligations are few and potential is everywhere.

[Tuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

great first novel. sweet and etheral, like a teenager, then changes to more gritty and "real", like the "real world". hopefully we can expect good things to come from aiobheann sweeney! probably everybody should read this book, if you have a heart at all. even dick cheney

[Kyle C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Miranda is a feral-haired tomboy growing up on a rocky island off the shore of Maine. Her mother disappeared in a boat accident; her father is a taciturn loner who spends his days translating Ovid's Metamorphoses. This is a novel of quiet tragedy told without melodramatic embelishment (on the first page, "My mother cooked us oatmeal in the morning and went into town. When she didn't return that night, my father made more oatmeal"—what a brutally pithy line packed with so much unspoken pathos). Sometimes Miranda goes to school, sometimes she stays behind to type up her father's translations. She has few friends and little ambition to go to college, and her main interest is in sketching the twisted gnarls of tree trunks. Her whole imagination is confined to coastal Maine and the tales of Ovid, and she sees the silent forests around her as vistas filled with nymphs and gods, understanding herself through these ancient mythic templates: she sees Daphne in the branches; she longs for her own Hermaphroditus encounter with a rapacious nymph; she is the Echo in the story of Narcissus, longing for love but unable to express her desires; she is Galatea, a creation of men's visions and expectations; she is Myrrha with illicit passions. When she grows up, her father sends her to New York to work as a typist for the Institute of Classical Studies—and there she undergoes her own transformation. Like Alison Bechdel's Fun Home, this is a story of father-daughter queerness, about a father with a hidden gay history and a daughter discovering how own queer future, and both achieving a deeper affinity and understanding of one another.

"Ovid's stories aren't really about what it's like to be changed. They're about how hard it is before you change, when everything feels like it's about to explode." Ovid's Metamorphoses have long provided a literary mythology for queer identity: the tales of Narcissus, Iphis, Caeneus offer an array of legendary heroes who are transformed by their transgressive desires. But what Aoibheann Sweeney's novel accomplishes so beautifully is to capture, with gentle brushstrokes, the mute loneliness of queer adolescence: a girl on an island typing up her father's translations and climbing the beach rocks, waiting for some unnamed desire to be fulfilled.

[Oana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Am gasit intamplator aceasta carte in biblioteca mea. Trebuie sa o fi cumparat la un moment dat pentru titlul ei foarte "catchy". (Dragi editori, se pare ca decizia de cumparare, cel putin la mine, se bazeaza intr-o proportie destul de mare pe titlul cartii. Deci aveati dreptate in tot acest timp!)

Dupa ce am citit coperta spate si cele cateva randuri despre autoare, m-am hotarat ca n-o sa-mi placa. Apoi m-am apucat de citit. Si am terminat cartea in doua zile, pe nerasuflate. Avand in vedere ca am citit o versiune in limba romana, este in primul rand meritul traducerii. Felicitari, Felicia Meili!

Nu vreau sa spun nimic despre plot, despre personaje, despre felul in care e scrisa cartea. Vreau doar sa spun ca e plina de surprize si ca pana la ultimul rand, toate aceste mici cadouri sau surprize pe care ni le-a facut autoarea sunt minunate.

E o carte scrisa in zece ani, ceea ce se vede. E o carte perfecta (sau perfectionata in cea mai mare masura posibila). Un pic de Shakespeare, un pic de Ovidiu si un pic de imaginatie si inovatie stilistica (atat in plot, cat si in construirea personajelor sau in descrieri) fac din povestirea asta o carte care ar trebui inclusa in manualele de literatura universala.

Am avut fler cand am luat-o din biblioteca!

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has many things I loved and a few things I wasn't so keen on, I thought giving it a "4" was a stretch, but I didn't have the heart to only give it a "3"

The side characters are all extremely predictable stereotypes. As soon as you meet them, you pretty much know everything that is going to happen with them. The predictability of the plot was my only major gripe with this book.

I loved how this book drew on Ovid's Metamorphoses. Ovid was invoked always at the right time, and in an appropriate, thoughtful way. This book made me rush to the bookstore and thumb through a copy of Metamorphoses, but sadly, Ovid's just not as reader friendly as I'd like.

There were some big themes in here that really resonated with me, especially: reflecting on and learning from your childhood memories using your knowledge and experience as an adult; and bouncing from experience to experience without any real guidance or goal, especially in social/interpersonal relationships.

I wouldn't say this book is a literary masterpiece, but it's a good and thoughtful read. I'm glad I read it.

[Miriam Cihodariu · Rating 3 out of 5]

An easy to read book, more or less in the coming of age country-girl-comes-to-the-big-city style, but with a beautiful touch of Classic studies. Since the main character grows up with her Ovid scholar father and doesn't know much else besides his stories, she sees these charming Greek myth situations in everyday life when she comes to the big city.

Most of them were known to me (as a mythology enthusiast), but the Myrrha myth did come as a surprise. It's great to learn something new (especially since I named my daughter Mira so for me the name has extra personal relevance).

In the end, it's a tale about learning to recognize loneliness in yourself and others, and about not allowing that loneliness to push you to decisions which won't actually help alleviate it.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aiobheann (say "Even") Sweeney adds a worthwhile volume to the "coming of age" genre. Miranda, a teenager who grew up on a tiny island in coastal Maine, visits New York at the behest of her father, a classical scholar writing a translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses.

Books that make liberal use of metaphor, as this one does (episodes from Metamorphoses are sprinkled throughout), can be heavy-handed, but Sweeney has a light touch. While there's nothing startlingly original here, Sweeney's writing is pretty without being florid or baroque, and the narrative is engaging. (The end made me cry, quite unexpectedly, and I so love when that happens.)

[Catarina C · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Entre outras coisas, comecei a fumar. “

Miranda é uma jovem que vive numa ilha isolada da sociedade performativa das cidades, como afirma o seu pai. Com este último, partilha uma rotina entre traduções e transcrições de livros mitológicos, num ambiente fechado sobre si próprio e sobre o mundo.

Com a precipitação de um final de liceu sem livre passe para a faculdade, Miranda transita de uma ilha isolada para a sua antítese: Nova Iorque. É acolhida em casa de um casal gay, que não esconde uma dinâmica desafiante e com a qual Miranda aprende a lidar. A abertura a uma paleta de cores ampla (🌈) conduz a narradora a uma viagem em busca de si mesma, extravasando os preconceitos que aprendeu a digerir sem questionar.

As interações heterogéneas no campo amoroso desafiam os ditames rígidos conversadores que tantas vezes nos cercam enquanto jovens, tal como acontece com Miranda n’A Tempestade de Shakespeare. Esta última obra serviu de influência na construção da narrativa de Sweeney: o isolamento, a personagem feminina constrangida por um passado que não é completamente seu e uma figura que vive nas sombras, serva de outras. Sobre este último ponto, Mr Blackwell e Caliban (em Shakespeare) são figuras que existem para colmatar lacunas deixadas pela figura patriarcal, cujo poder é aparente, insuficiente para cuidar do que afirma ser seu.

Sweeney criou um leque de personagens moralmente cinzentas e incompletas, tal como eu gosto. Todo o processo de mudança é uma antecipação da explosão, após a qual as peças estilhaçadas se perdem até que alguém as reúna. A mitologia, representada em tantas passagens, ilustra a falibilidade do ser humano, porque não integrando o plano dos deuses, é uma mera extensão da incompletude daqueles.

Opinião completa em vídeo: https://youtu.be/uqN_e3pP_MM

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aoibheann Sweeney’s debut novel, Among Other Things, I’ve Taken Up Smoking, is the best coming-of-age novel I’ve read since Melanie Rae Thon’s Iona Moon.

Miranda Donnal lives with her father, a reclusive classicist translating Ovid’s Metamorphosis, on Crab Island off the coast of Maine. Miranda’s mother died when she was three, and Miranda has been raised mostly by her father and Mr. Blackwell, a Native American Indian who cooks, cleans, and nurtures the family when he is not fishing for a living. The relationship between the three is loosely-defined and delicately complicated as Miranda grows up.

The novel, like the passage from Crab Island’s channel to the dock at Yvesport, is driven by the undercurrents of what is felt but not said. When Miranda is sent to New York City to work at the classical institute her father co-founded, Miranda moves through poignant observations (families like to humiliate each other) to attraction (that full, pull excitement—that secret feeling, throbbing inside of us while the rest of the world stayed quietly oblivious) to intimacy (nothing had seemed interesting until there was someone listening).

Full of the rich symbolism of Greek mythology and peppered with keen statements about love and identity, Among Other Things, I’ve Taken Up Smoking explores the tension between societal expectations and individual need, the stories we tell ourselves and the stories we share with others, and the courage needed to take an alternate route.

[Tsani Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written by fellow Crimson Aiobheann Sweeney, this is probably one of the best reads I've had to date.

It reminds me of the way I handled Trangression Junction, but her style is so clean, and the story so well written that I wish I owned this book rather than having to return it to the library. That actually says a lot.

This book was also a good fit for me because I can relate to a great deal of what was said and written as far as location, the feelings involved, and while I am not directly familiar with the events and lifestyles involved, it was, in a word, beautiful.

I will certainly be looking for the next novel by Sweeney, so she needs to get her little butt to work and write it.

Harvard has a way of producing really clean writers, and I don't know that it's the school as much as the personalities that end up there: Sweeney, Thoreau, Segal, myself...

But I would, in the end, advise this to anyone. It is the quintessential perfect book, in my opinion.

[Jared Della Rocca · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's hard to tag this book accurately, straddling between "Coming of Age" and "Exploration of Sexuality", without reliably falling into either genre. Sweeney's protagonist has a complex relationship with her father due to his own closed nature, which she doesn't really break open until she has moved away from him. As she truly forms her own identity, she can then better see her own father. Similarly, her own identity doesn't fully form until that separation occurs. While her coming of age and exploration of sexuality were well done, I felt that the book left some parts unexplored. I thought Sweeney could have done more with the triangular relationship of the protagonist, her father, and Mr. Blackwell, particularly the relationship between the father and Blackwell. Overall, though, the main themes were well-handled, particularly that of sexuality, without being over-handed or forced.

[Michelle Winters · Rating 2 out of 5]

It started off a bit slow and weird but I wanted to give it a chance. I kept doing so until I realized it was over and had continued until the end to be a bit slow and weird!

Young girl lives with her father on a remote island in Maine. Her mom is dead. we wonder if the man that is the family friend is the ed'd lover, the daughter doesn't seem to notice. Girl travels to NY and meets all of her Dad's old friens who are gay. Girl doesn't sem to make he connection to her dad. Girl becomes inoled in 2 different relationships, exploring her own sexuality with both a man and with a woman. Still no thoughts of dad. Returns to visit dad and seems to clue in suddenly by lets it pass ans doesn't bring it up with dad....what the...?!?!?!?!

[Frankie Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

An incredibly boring narrator I hated her.

[Lisa Toner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this debut novel about a young woman, Miranda, who grows up with her reticent father, fairly isolated on an island in Maine that he inherited from a close friend/colleague. They moved there from New York City with Miranda's mother when she was about two years old, but a few months later, her mother takes the boat out on a foggy day and never returns. After high school, her father sends her back to New York City, to work for some friends of his. There, the world opens up to her, and she learns about herself and gains some insight into her father and his life before her.

The character development is excellent, and the novel contains some beautifully-written prose, including descriptive passages that truly capture the variable moods of the island and of New York City. Themes include coming-of-age, grief, loneliness, acceptance, family and sexuality. 4.5 ⭐ rounded up to 5.

[Maha · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is astonishing, in the end, how difficult it is to know the things you know. What I mean is that all I had discovered was everything I knew all along.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweet little coming of age book with beautiful, descriptive writing.
Review here!

[Annette · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author is really good at describing small interactions between people, by using a few details to give a vivid impression of complex relationships, and of how the relationships change over and are made up of those small details.
The story feels really incomplete and I feel unsatisfied about it so far (the book covers twenty years) but the moments that make it up are so good that I didn't really notice that flaw as I was reading. The book reminds me of A Complicated Kindness.

Extra bonus points:
- Good descriptions of drunkenness!
- One of the few books told in the first person that I don't find annoying!
- Metamorphoses as seen by the protagonist at as a five and a twenty year old*

* People in books talking about books that they like: generally more interesting than the books themselves, even when the books are really interesting

[Michael Hicks · Rating 3 out of 5]

The terse prose of this book was reminiscent of Hemingway. When a writer is this economical with the prose, what they think is worth noting becomes important, as does what they don't. The fact that both the writer and protagonist were women made what she chose to note and not note insightful to me as someone who's never fully understood the female perspective. With that being said, some of the plot that hinged on innuendo was depending on me understanding that perspective, which was a stretch sometimes, but I guess that's my problem rather than hers.

There were things revealed at the end that made me look back over details from the beginning and middle and say "aha, that's why." I thought that was adept storytelling, and even if some of the motivations, and ultimately the plot's culmination, were somewhat foreign to my sensibilities, I was still compelled to finish.

[Kel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a brilliant first novel by Aoibheann Sweeney. What the novel lacks in exciting plot movement, Sweeney makes up for in gorgeous prose, literary allusions, and character development. This is not an adventure novel, but rather a new take on the coming-of-age story. Miranda is a poignant narrator, sometimes funny when she doesn't intend but always fairly thoughtful. The story is paired with stories from Ovid's 'Metamorphosis' and mythology. There's nothing out of place. This is a perfect book to curl up with a glass of wine and a rainy day and take it one sitting or stretch it out over a few days.

[Virgowriter (Brad Windhauser) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read--and refreshing that the narrator's sexual awakening is not focused on her sexuality (i.e. she doesn't wrestle with it); rather, it's about whom she loves. Some interesting moments--ending felt rushed though, and she runs through complicated emotions and important decisions far too quickly. Missed opportunities to explore these emotions on the page in more depth. Few too many adverbs used.

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A bildungsroman about a young girl raised by her father consumed with the translation of Ovid's Metamorphosis and has that really delightfully Jeanette Winterson aspect of calling on myth for plot exposition. Hauntingly beautiful with descriptions like Plath and reminiscent in themes of Fun Home by Allison Bechdel.

[Socrate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Printre alte lucruri, m-am apucat de fumat. Ana spune că ar trebui să încetez cu chestia fată bună/fată rea şi are, evident, dreptate, dar, uneori, când am o ţigară în mână, străzile sunt periculos de pustii şi am băut câteva pahare după o zi de lucru şi observ luminile aprinse în diverse apartamente, scări şi clădiri întregi luminate, sclipiri roşii pe cer, mă gândesc la nopţile de pe insulă când eram mulţumită să stau singură afară, ascultând sirenele de ceaţă în întunericul acela plăcut, şi să gust aerul dulce-sărat.
Mama şi tata s-au mutat în Mâine când aveam aproape trei ani, astfel încât tatăl meu a putut să lucreze la o traducere a Metamorfozelor. Am crescut pe Crab Island, la vreo milă, pe apă, de un mic orăşel numit Yvesport care, cel mai adesea, era ascuns vederii noastre de o ceaţă groasă de Down East. La câteva luni după ce am ajuns acolo, mama s-a topit în ceaţă şi nu s-a mai întors. Ne-a pregătit nişte fulgi de ovăz dimineaţă şi după aceea a plecat în oraş. Când, în aceeaşi seară, nu se întorsese, tata a mai pregătit nişte fulgi de ovăz şi m-a dus la culcare: dimineaţa următoare l-a contactat prin radio pe domnul Blackwell, care a verificat dacă barca se afla la chei. În după-amiaza aceea Paza de Coastă a găsit barca, fără nici o zgârietură, eşuată pe ţărmul continental. Le-au trebuit trei zile să-i găsească trupul. Ne-au pus o mulţime de întrebări. Domnul Blackwell mi-a spus, mai târziu, că trebuie să fi murit îngheţată înainte de a se fi înecat – iarna sunt suficiente cam şase minute pentru ca inima să înceteze să mai bată. Nu era obişnuită cu bărcile, a spus el – trebuie să-şi fi pierdut echilibrul încercând să vadă pe unde călca.

[The Read head · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, I really quite enjoyed this book but my emotional response to it really evolved through the reading process... I'm immediately interested to see how this book sits with me over time.

This is a coming-of-age story. The book evolves from Miranda's childhood with her father on an island in Maine to her moving to NYC after graduating high school. It is slow and subtle and the main character is held at a distance from us. She is an oddly independent while sometimes naive character. Unassuming yet defined. We see her take form and evolve as the book progresses through a greater expression of her inner voice in the novel, which I found clever and effective and quite enjoyed.

My favorite element, and that which will stick with me the longest (I suspect), is the author's voice. There was nothing extremely compelling pulling me into the book (plot-wise, I suppose) yet I sunk right in and didn't want to put it down. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the reading experience of this novel. The tone is brief and subdued which is something I quite like but can feel distant. The elegance through which the author tied the end of the story together I found really quite beautiful and ended the novel on such a high note for me that I think I will continue to reflect on this novel for some time. That being said, don't expect something spectacular at the end, I just think the author knew her novel and stuck the landing.

I have a few minor reservations but, for a novel I very spontaneously found at a used bookstore and read knowing next to nothing about... I consider this quite a surprisingly enjoyable read.

[Becoming Shelf-Aware · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Find yourself glued to this coming-of-age story of a young girl who grew up on an island with her father just off the coast of Maine. From awkward encounters to mythical stories, this book has a lot more than the back cover lets on.

Trying to find a place to start with this review is difficult. I was nervous when I started this book after seeing many of the other reviews. I blindly purchased this book from thriftbooks, after seeing it on an Oprah fall reading list published over 10 years ago. I am happy with my decision, but I know many other readers will not like this book. The main reason being, there isn't much of a story arc.

What the story was lacking in plot, it was made up for in writing style. The story is split into three parts. The silver age, bronze age, and iron age. (This is all explained in the beginning of the book. There are many mentions of "The Metamorphosis of Ovid" throughout the book, and a lot of it relates back.) Each part is written in a different style. The tone of maturity changes from one part to the next, starting when Miranda was a little girl and progressing to her young adulthood.

Among Other Things I've Taken Up Smoking tackles problems such as loneliness, depression, sexuality, and relationships. Though it's not a plot-driven story, it is still an important one. I would absolutely recommend this book to readers like myself, who swoon over writing style and "between the lines" reading. I wish there were more novels out by Aoibheann Sweeney, but sadly all I can do is cross my fingers and hope for a miracle.

[McKenna Cole · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a book with no staggering plot, I surprised myself with my inability to put the book down. I read a review that said the book was a failure because of the readers "inability to sympathize or find compassion" with her character. They complained that she had no drastic arc and that she remained unmotivated to change. If anything, her lack of extreme emotion and the briskness in which she experienced the people and places around her made me us feel close. The way Miranda observes her own life, to an almost sad and most lonely extant, is something I found deeply relatable. The disassociation and self-doubt, combined with thew painting of every landscape and review of each persona, it reminded me of the way I tend to sit back and observe rather than indulge. I think a lot of people read books like this and hope and pray that she will like herself more or will figure out her life's purpose by the last page. To me, however, it seems far more realistic that while her surroundings may change the new people enter, she remains just a girl who has no idea what she is doing but does the next thing anyway.

[Erikamelia · Rating 3 out of 5]

It had me feeling melancholy while reading it, with the protagonist living an isolated life with her dad on an island. I wasn't sure if her father was a good person at first with him not paying enough attention to her, and withholding her from school when the weather wouldn't let up, but I was drawn to the relationship her father had with Mr. Blackwell. I had hoped the author had revealed more but I'm assuming we were supposed to be left in the dark about the matter so that we could later find out about his sexuality at the same time she did.

Having little to no relationships growing up, other than her dad and his partner, she became a bit socially awkward when she moved to New York. It would have been nice to see her develop and closeness to Walter and Robert and was saddened by how she felt out of place with them.

I don't think she was unfair to either Nate or Ana while seeing both of them as neither one of them stated they were exclusive. I do think Miranda was learning how to navigate her own feelings not necessarily being confused about her sexuality but just unclear about who she felt the most comfortable with.

[Catalina D. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was one of my random picks from my hubby's books. I sometimes do that to change the genre a lil bit.
This novel traces Miranda’s journey from childhood isolation to adult self-awareness, shaped by grief, intellectual rigor, and unsettling truths about her past. It is a quiet, reflective exploration of identity, sexuality, and emotional inheritance.
Unfortunately, the beginning felt too slow for me. The isolated setting gave me Where the Crawdads Sing vibes, especially because of the remote house and the sense of solitude, but without the same narrative pull.
The story becomes more engaging once Miranda moves to New York and stays among her father’s friends. The secrets that surface there are genuinely unsettling, and I appreciated the way her character begins to explore desire and personal boundaries — observing rather than rushing, experimenting rather than defining herself too quickly.
I don’t consider it a spoiler to mention that this is an LGBTQ novel. Sexuality is not treated as a twist, but as part of Miranda’s gradual process of self-understanding. I have mixed feelings about this book tho.