The End of an Error: A Story of What If Questions, First Love, and Second Chances

by Mameve Medwed

Lee Emery is an empty nester, contentedly married to a man she has known forever and hunkering down in the house where she grew up. She believes she is happy occupying such a familiar emotional and physical space. But questions of the path not taken start to haunt her after she publishes a memoir of her deliciously eccentric grandmother with whom she traipsed through Europe at eighteen. It was then that Lee fell in love for the first time. Twenty-five years later, "what if" obsessions shake up her settled life. Should she have made a different choice—Simon—instead of the man now next to her? Struck once more by the lingering power of first love, she sets off a chain of events that catapults her back to Europe and to a second chance that she may or may not want to risk.

Genres: Chick Lit, Contemporary, Fiction

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Mameve Medwed is the author of five novels, Mail, Host Family, The End of an Error, the 2007 Massachusetts Honor Book award-winnin How Elizabeth Browning Saved My Life, and the forthcoming Of Men and Their Mothers, pub date April 22, 2008.

Reviews

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have never read anything by this author,the subject interested me ,how you give up a long lost love,or not? I think it was sensitively written ,sometimes you have everything and yet there is something awaiting you that you cannot quite let go of. Shows how frail our hearts and despite all efforts a piece of your heart is left behind.

[Jennie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I spent the first half of this book trying to figure out where the romance was between Lee and her husband, Ben. Their relationship felt stale, as if they had become roommates along the days as their children grew and moved out of the home. The quintessential empty nest syndrome. I fell in love with Lee around the time she was in Europe with her Aunt. That is also where the writing took on a poetic quality, describing the scenery and events in such a way the emotion and beauty engulfed me. What is revealed through Lee’s trips down memory lane is even more involved than her memoir records, stirring up feelings, questions and desires she has longed to feel in her marriage.


Ben’s attitude is dismissive to her feelings, her dreams and her book promoting. This is especially true in light of his own hopes for a book deal, one that has taken on an obsession in his life, and in their home. I’m not sure if Mameve Medwed wrote his attitude to be this way to force the reader to see how Lee could feel lost in her marriage, but it seemed overstated. It caused Lee to seem small and without a backbone. Although, this might have made the ending even more of pronounced action, one that takes Ben by surprise. I wasn’t as surprised at the ending, having surmised Lee’s emotions, but I felt it was a well-deserved ending. It was a good book, nothing over the top fabulous, but worth the read.

[Nicholas · Rating 3 out of 5]

the writing is slightly clunky at times and I just didn't manage to be able to CARE at any point. That said, I LOVED the ending, which is rare for what it does -- ends a marriage for something else instead. Adultery is also portrayed without demonizing the characters. OK, in writing this I'm wondering if I liked it a little better than I thought I did.

[Theresa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Loved the opening of this book. Wish I could say I was as satisfied with the balance of the book. In the opening our main character has just published a small-press memoir that includes a pre-marriage almost-consummated romance, which her husband knew about but which she has not revealed publicly. I was intrigued by the premise and the dynamics between the main character and her husband, who seems to be a person she "settled for" in a moment of emotional turmoil as a young woman, on the sudden loss of her parents. Loved the detail in the opening:

Lee spots the package just as she turns into her driveway. She leaves the car running, the door open, the ignition pinging. She leaves the toilet paper and two percent milk, the previously frozen shrimp, the half gallon of Heath Bar Crunch, the mesclun mix, and four not-yet-ripe tomatoes imported from Holland on the baking vinyl seat. It's late March. After three weeks of rain and one freak snowstorm, the sun blazes. And there, slumping against her front step in its quilted manila sack, lies Lee's actual, palpable, three-dimensional book.

This story is about the grandmother of the memoir, about Lee, about her husband, about various betrayals. I wish it had been handled better; I found the plot disappointing, especially the reveal at the end, which felt somewhat gratuitous.

[Grace Monnens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slow moving, and built up for a subpar ending. I enjoyed the character arc and the realism though

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

When both of Lee’s parents are killed in a plane crash, someone says it is “the end of an era”. Lee, in her grief, thinks of it as “the end of an error”, a mistake, which brought about this terrible calamity. Within a few weeks, the bereaved girl is married to her steady sweetheart, Ben, beloved of her steady, dependable Maine parents. But she never forgets her first love, at eighteen: Simon, the son of British friends of her eccentric grandmother Marguerite, who took her on a tour of Europe. When her children have all left the nest, nearly thirty years later, Lee writes a biographical novel of her grandmother, and includes the brief passion with Simon in its pages, reopening her heart and her curiosity where he is concerned. Which is the “error” in Lee’s life – her marriage to Ben or her longing for Simon? And what will she do about it? I stayed up half the night to finish the book and find out!

[Shelly B · Rating 2 out of 5]

I gave this book 2 stars but it was probably more like 2 1/2 for me. This is the 3rd book of Ms. Medwed's I have read and my least favorite.

Didn't quite get the relationship with her husband - it seemed very mediocre and he seemed a bit selfish. And not sure why she stayed after the kids had gone away.

Enjoyed the part about where she traveled as a teenager with her over-the-top grandmother in Europe…but when her grandmother dies, she forgets and leaves in ashes in an urn in a diner and doesn't go back to get them….?? Really?

On occasion I had a hard time following because she flipped from past to present several times in many chapters.

I think I liked the ending but still mulling it over a bit.

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll let my erudite friend Greg speak for me:

"Another female American academic (the middle-aged director of a "junior-year-abroad" program) with complex interactions--in this case, with her husband, with a boyfriend from long ago, with her grandmother, and with the natural environment (both Maine's and England's)"

Greg thought the writer's tendency to use the present tense for chapters set in the present, and past tense for flashback chapters, was a bit annoying. I don't remember this, but could be.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a slow start, I really enjoyed this book. The first half in Maine, then a trip with a nineteen year old girl and her grandmother. After Lee and Simon get involved, the book gets interesting. Clearly Lee and Simon should have stayed together, but instead they marry other people. When they meet up again, sparks fly. Later the book gets funnier and even more interesting.

[Elysabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite of Medwed's books -- I guess I liked that it didn't end the way you thought it was going to, but at the same time, all the characters except for Lee felt one-dimensional and predictable.

[Shelley Hinojos · Rating 2 out of 5]

When a man starts using the word "darling" in a book and the female is not five years old, I know it ain't going to be that good. Grandma was the most interesting character in the book. I leave it at that. Two stars is questionable.

[Madelyn Hall · Rating 1 out of 5]

Chalk it up to summer at the beach. Otherwise, I would never have wasted my time on such a trite, silly book. Unlikeable characters, and repetitious phrasing make Medwed's book a colossal bore. Half a star.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Examining the choices made in life and love. What do we find out about ourselves? Insights and surprises. Enjoyable read that will leave you smiling or upset, depending on how you view life yourself. Recommended.

[Paige]

I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to finish this book...I rarely not finish books but so far it's boring.

[Barrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Medwed is the poor woman's Elinor Lipman. "End of an Error" was charming and fun, but at the end, I felt no sense of satisfaction.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable read...a good look down the path not taken and whether you can really go back.

[Libbey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though this is a quick read its characters/lessons(?)/questions will stick with you for a while.

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about looking back on choices made. I enjoyed the book but did not like the ending.

[Trudi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Writing a memoir about her grandmother, brings back memories of her first love to Lee. Although she has a happy marriage, she has never forgotten Simon and has never ceased to wonder "what if..."

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

I suspect my work distractions kept me from fully enjoying this book -- certainly not the author's fault. Parts of this were so wise and funny, and I loved (and did not foresee) the ending.

[Sasha Strader · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn't wait to get through this book, and not because it was so blasted fantastic. It was actually kind of awful with just enough suspense to keep me reading. I don't recommend it.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't sure, at first, if I would like this book...but it surprised me.

[Ruthann · Rating 2 out of 5]

Funny at times. Overall predictable.

[Donna Pejouhy · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful take on different types of marriages & first love.

[Suzanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining with predictable ending

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

meh, I didn't like this book at all.

[Leslie Oakes]

Thought it was good but not great.

[Joan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Gave up, couldn't even be bothered to plod through the whole book.