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The Annie Year
Tall, trusted Tandy Caide, CPA, is a long-time patron of the arts in her town, which is why you will find her sitting in the front row of the high school’s annual musical production. This year is an Annie year—and it would be no different than other years were it not for the high school’s hiring of a new vocational agriculture (Vo-Ag) teacher. With his beguiling ponytail and decorative beaded belt, Kenny catches Tandy’s eye immediately. Ignoring the fact of her slovenly husband—who takes most of his meals in their hot tub—Tandy decides to entertain Kenny’s advances.
Trusted community pillar that she is, Tandy’s affair has instant repercussions. People are talking and her husband’s subsequent breakdown and check-in to a mental institution doesn’t help. At her regular meeting with the Order of the Pessimists—comprised of her deceased father’s disgruntled and drunken best friends—she is asked to step down as treasurer. Not only that, but her old lover is keeping a secret somehow connected to the Vo-Ag teacher. And meth labs—fueled by the abundance of fertilizer present in the region—keep blowing up. Somehow, it is all connected to Tandy’s ex-bestfriend’s daughter—the star of this year’s Annie. As Tandy pieces together the puzzle that has become her life, it becomes clear she must embark on a journey of self-discovery that might even include leaving town for good.
Trusted community pillar that she is, Tandy’s affair has instant repercussions. People are talking and her husband’s subsequent breakdown and check-in to a mental institution doesn’t help. At her regular meeting with the Order of the Pessimists—comprised of her deceased father’s disgruntled and drunken best friends—she is asked to step down as treasurer. Not only that, but her old lover is keeping a secret somehow connected to the Vo-Ag teacher. And meth labs—fueled by the abundance of fertilizer present in the region—keep blowing up. Somehow, it is all connected to Tandy’s ex-bestfriend’s daughter—the star of this year’s Annie. As Tandy pieces together the puzzle that has become her life, it becomes clear she must embark on a journey of self-discovery that might even include leaving town for good.
246 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 11, 2016
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November 1, 2019
Life is essentially unknowable in the middle parts. Only the very beginning and very end are certain: We are born. We die. All we know of the middle part is to pay our taxes.
before i received this book as part of my literary subscription box from quarterly, greg had shown it to me at the store, saying “look, it is funny grit lit!” which seemed a promising novelty - i love grit lit, but it is not a genre typically characterized by humor.
as it turns out, despite its smalltown setting, restless teens, and exploding meth labs, this is not at all grit lit. and i’m not even sure if it’s funny. there are definitely humorous elements, but the delivery is so dry, it’s not always easy to determine where the laugh track should be.
it’s one of those books that sort of happens to you as a reader, where the plot unfolds without trying to engage you by way of the action or the narrator.
the things that are good about this book are mostly tied to location, and the narrator’s description of the particulars of the small midwestern town in which she lives. how small is it? well:
Main Street was unusually thick with cars - six in two blocks. Someone was even forced to parallel park.
which is a perfect, succinct way to relate everything you need to know about this town, where everyone knows everything about everyone, and pizza by the slice is unheard of. even though i now live in the multi-ethnic and diverse socioeconomic paradise that is queens, i hail from a new england village too tiny to even be called a town. so i have firsthand experience with some of these observations, and i appreciated her descriptions of the very insular relationships that dominate such places.
i just never felt like i understood the narrator.
tandy caide, CPA is very practical, and she prides herself on being a person of integrity, but in many ways she isn’t really a person at all, more of a figurehead or some kind of oracle of financial concerns, privy to all the money matters of the town, tidying their receipts, assessing their worth in sums and figures, keeping their confidentiality, fixing their troubles:
numbers-person rigidity is one thing, but there’s something almost anhedonic about her. she’s married, although their relationship is mechanical, and her husband checks himself into a clinic pretty early on in the book, which frees her up to have an affair with the new ponytailed vo-ag teacher, who she refers to as ‘the vo-ag teacher,’ and with whom she has much sex, but there's little emotional connection on her part. she’s uninterested in making the effort towards typical human interactions, but it’s never explored in any psychological explanatory way, it’s just presented as factual:
I could have taken the day off to drive him to the Mayo Clinic. I just didn’t want to. I didn’t want to sit next to him in the car for an extended period of time, and then learn about his problems, and then talk to him about his problems, and then help him with his problems. You know - all the things a good wife would do.
and, with the vo-ag teacher, later:
…he came back and put his head in my lap and he cried.
I held him for a while. I tried not to look at him - this grown man crying - but I couldn’t help it. I looked, and it was awful. His face was blotchy and red and screwed up in a desperate, ugly way. It was one of the most awful nights of my life, not because I was heartbroken, but because he was. It is heartbreaking to watch a heartbroken person cry when there is nothing you can do to help him.
Then we made love again. He fell asleep immediately after.
it’s not that there was ‘nothing’ she could do, she just - as with her husband earlier - wasn’t interested in helping, experiencing nothing more than a clinical disgust at the situation.
which is fine, lack-of-affect is not really a turn-off for me in my characters, but it’s hard to understand motivation in a character like this, and many of her actions remain inexplicable. not the affair(s), those are a means to an end, but her abandonment of barb, her high school best friend - going against her own wishes to visit her and her new baby when she returns home from college just because her father and his best friend who happens to be barb’s father (small town - check) dissuade her - i needed more of a reason for that to make sense to me.
she addresses this inability to understand her, near the end of the book:
but it’s still a bit unsatisfying, particularly since she’s not really speaking as an individual here, but as a part of a collective “us vs. you” opposition that has been running through the entire novel, which is structured as an explanation of events addressed by tandy to some unspecified audience, peppered with remarks establishing a distinction made between smalltown folks like her and her people, and the addressees - big city people living near rivers where pizza can be bought by the slice.
i didn’t dislike the book, but its cold and impersonal tone along with the questions i still have about the identity of tandy’s audience &etc. meant i didn’t really love it, either. and i so wanted to, because smalltown/smallpress is my jam, but alas.
i will say i totally understand why whitaker chose this as a box-accompaniment to her own novel - there are definite touchpoints, but The Animators brings more to the table to gorge upon.
***********************************************
the third book in my second quarterly literary fiction box from pagehabit. huzzah!!!
review to come.
come to my blog!
before i received this book as part of my literary subscription box from quarterly, greg had shown it to me at the store, saying “look, it is funny grit lit!” which seemed a promising novelty - i love grit lit, but it is not a genre typically characterized by humor.
as it turns out, despite its smalltown setting, restless teens, and exploding meth labs, this is not at all grit lit. and i’m not even sure if it’s funny. there are definitely humorous elements, but the delivery is so dry, it’s not always easy to determine where the laugh track should be.
it’s one of those books that sort of happens to you as a reader, where the plot unfolds without trying to engage you by way of the action or the narrator.
the things that are good about this book are mostly tied to location, and the narrator’s description of the particulars of the small midwestern town in which she lives. how small is it? well:
Main Street was unusually thick with cars - six in two blocks. Someone was even forced to parallel park.
which is a perfect, succinct way to relate everything you need to know about this town, where everyone knows everything about everyone, and pizza by the slice is unheard of. even though i now live in the multi-ethnic and diverse socioeconomic paradise that is queens, i hail from a new england village too tiny to even be called a town. so i have firsthand experience with some of these observations, and i appreciated her descriptions of the very insular relationships that dominate such places.
i just never felt like i understood the narrator.
tandy caide, CPA is very practical, and she prides herself on being a person of integrity, but in many ways she isn’t really a person at all, more of a figurehead or some kind of oracle of financial concerns, privy to all the money matters of the town, tidying their receipts, assessing their worth in sums and figures, keeping their confidentiality, fixing their troubles:
I am solving all the tiny problems of all the people in this town using simple mathematical equations found on worksheets provided by the state and federal governments, with rules prescribed to me specifically by a series of books shelved within my fingertips' reach behind the desk, which are also found on the Internet in an easily searchable format. The people in this town bring me their problems in shoe boxes and grocery sacks and giant messy purses, and I file them into perfectly coherent little reports to be read by that giant thing that is the government. All those little problems of all those little people in this town get accounted for, made right, reported on, and stamped as true and unwavering by me: Tandy Caide, CPA.
numbers-person rigidity is one thing, but there’s something almost anhedonic about her. she’s married, although their relationship is mechanical, and her husband checks himself into a clinic pretty early on in the book, which frees her up to have an affair with the new ponytailed vo-ag teacher, who she refers to as ‘the vo-ag teacher,’ and with whom she has much sex, but there's little emotional connection on her part. she’s uninterested in making the effort towards typical human interactions, but it’s never explored in any psychological explanatory way, it’s just presented as factual:
I could have taken the day off to drive him to the Mayo Clinic. I just didn’t want to. I didn’t want to sit next to him in the car for an extended period of time, and then learn about his problems, and then talk to him about his problems, and then help him with his problems. You know - all the things a good wife would do.
and, with the vo-ag teacher, later:
…he came back and put his head in my lap and he cried.
I held him for a while. I tried not to look at him - this grown man crying - but I couldn’t help it. I looked, and it was awful. His face was blotchy and red and screwed up in a desperate, ugly way. It was one of the most awful nights of my life, not because I was heartbroken, but because he was. It is heartbreaking to watch a heartbroken person cry when there is nothing you can do to help him.
Then we made love again. He fell asleep immediately after.
it’s not that there was ‘nothing’ she could do, she just - as with her husband earlier - wasn’t interested in helping, experiencing nothing more than a clinical disgust at the situation.
which is fine, lack-of-affect is not really a turn-off for me in my characters, but it’s hard to understand motivation in a character like this, and many of her actions remain inexplicable. not the affair(s), those are a means to an end, but her abandonment of barb, her high school best friend - going against her own wishes to visit her and her new baby when she returns home from college just because her father and his best friend who happens to be barb’s father (small town - check) dissuade her - i needed more of a reason for that to make sense to me.
she addresses this inability to understand her, near the end of the book:
Perhaps you understand this. Perhaps you do not.
Perhaps people like you do not understand people like me. Perhaps you can’t understand me. Perhaps no amount of concrete evidence surrounding why it is that I do certain things and not other things, no amount of explaining myself with touchy-feely heart-to-heart talking about my Very Important Feelings, will ever make someone like you understand someone like me.
That is not my problem.
And even if it were my problem, I wouldn’t do anything about it anyway, because obviously I have much bigger problems than you.
but it’s still a bit unsatisfying, particularly since she’s not really speaking as an individual here, but as a part of a collective “us vs. you” opposition that has been running through the entire novel, which is structured as an explanation of events addressed by tandy to some unspecified audience, peppered with remarks establishing a distinction made between smalltown folks like her and her people, and the addressees - big city people living near rivers where pizza can be bought by the slice.
i didn’t dislike the book, but its cold and impersonal tone along with the questions i still have about the identity of tandy’s audience &etc. meant i didn’t really love it, either. and i so wanted to, because smalltown/smallpress is my jam, but alas.
i will say i totally understand why whitaker chose this as a box-accompaniment to her own novel - there are definite touchpoints, but The Animators brings more to the table to gorge upon.
***********************************************
the third book in my second quarterly literary fiction box from pagehabit. huzzah!!!
review to come.
come to my blog!
June 12, 2017
This is a strange little book, almost quirky but not quite. The blurb on the cover calls it 'weirdly beguiling' and that pretty much sums it up.
The central character Tandy Caide, is a CPA who lives in a small town in Iowa. A very small town. She is the only CPA and one of four (really three if you don't count the vicar) members of the Chamber of commerce. Her father was a CPA and she went to college a short drive away and has never been out of Iowa. She is married to an enormously obese man who was on the high school athletics team but now drives the school bus and likes to eat subway in his hot tub. When a new young, attractive, vocational agriculture (Vo-ag) teacher with a hippyish ponytail is appointed to the school Tandy immediately lusts after him and so begins a torrid affair which changes her life and that of the people around her.
Tandy's is a unique voice, often humorous with her acute observations of life and intimate knowledge of the others in her life. There are bizarre happenings that add to the quirkiness of this book - all night solo bowling, meth labs blowing up, the building of a sod house on reclaimed prairie - and make for a 'weirdly beguiling' read. 3.5★
The central character Tandy Caide, is a CPA who lives in a small town in Iowa. A very small town. She is the only CPA and one of four (really three if you don't count the vicar) members of the Chamber of commerce. Her father was a CPA and she went to college a short drive away and has never been out of Iowa. She is married to an enormously obese man who was on the high school athletics team but now drives the school bus and likes to eat subway in his hot tub. When a new young, attractive, vocational agriculture (Vo-ag) teacher with a hippyish ponytail is appointed to the school Tandy immediately lusts after him and so begins a torrid affair which changes her life and that of the people around her.
Tandy's is a unique voice, often humorous with her acute observations of life and intimate knowledge of the others in her life. There are bizarre happenings that add to the quirkiness of this book - all night solo bowling, meth labs blowing up, the building of a sod house on reclaimed prairie - and make for a 'weirdly beguiling' read. 3.5★
November 15, 2020
I originally posted this on my blog Rachel Reading, so check it out there. I was also given this book by the Publisher for an honest review
Until I read this book I thought that my best book of the year would be "Homegoing" by Yaa Gyasi (which would have been well-deserved) but then I laid my hands on this tiny little novel, only about 250 pages, that moved me beyond expectation.
I heard about this book on a post on Book Riot of the books that were going to be released in the last six months of the year and thought it sounded funny. The description makes it sound funny, doesn't it? And it is. I had skimmed other reviews that mentioned Tandy being an unreliable narrator so then I thought maybe I was in for a funny Gone Girl or something. I'll tell you this: the book is funny, and Tandy to me, was not an unreliable narrator. She was an honest one.
Tandy isn't free of flaws, but the summary makes the book sound like she's just casually having an affair for the whole book and it's funny!!! But that's not really the whole heart of the book. The heart of the book revolves around a woman who was born and raised in small-town Midwest America and has just kind of stayed there. There aren't people her age, and her closest friends are friends of her dads. It's something my grandparents have seen a lot now living in rural Maine. Most young people leave, and the ones that stay, stay.
Tandy is forced to deal with some of the demons of her past when it comes to her ex-best friend and her daughter, and I really don't want to say anything more than that. The book is so heartfelt, although I wouldn't necessarily say heartWARMING. It has a big twist in it, but it, yet again, felt just so real. I wasn't ready for this book to end, and like I said, it's my favorite book of the entire year. However, I did feel like the ending was complete. I felt fulfilled in the ending, and I wasn't hungry for more because it didn't wrap up well, I'm just hungry for more in general.
You will honestly regret missing out on this book.
Until I read this book I thought that my best book of the year would be "Homegoing" by Yaa Gyasi (which would have been well-deserved) but then I laid my hands on this tiny little novel, only about 250 pages, that moved me beyond expectation.
I heard about this book on a post on Book Riot of the books that were going to be released in the last six months of the year and thought it sounded funny. The description makes it sound funny, doesn't it? And it is. I had skimmed other reviews that mentioned Tandy being an unreliable narrator so then I thought maybe I was in for a funny Gone Girl or something. I'll tell you this: the book is funny, and Tandy to me, was not an unreliable narrator. She was an honest one.
Tandy isn't free of flaws, but the summary makes the book sound like she's just casually having an affair for the whole book and it's funny!!! But that's not really the whole heart of the book. The heart of the book revolves around a woman who was born and raised in small-town Midwest America and has just kind of stayed there. There aren't people her age, and her closest friends are friends of her dads. It's something my grandparents have seen a lot now living in rural Maine. Most young people leave, and the ones that stay, stay.
Tandy is forced to deal with some of the demons of her past when it comes to her ex-best friend and her daughter, and I really don't want to say anything more than that. The book is so heartfelt, although I wouldn't necessarily say heartWARMING. It has a big twist in it, but it, yet again, felt just so real. I wasn't ready for this book to end, and like I said, it's my favorite book of the entire year. However, I did feel like the ending was complete. I felt fulfilled in the ending, and I wasn't hungry for more because it didn't wrap up well, I'm just hungry for more in general.
You will honestly regret missing out on this book.
March 13, 2017
A blurb on the cover says weirdly beguiling, and that's perfect. The wry humor and strong voice and character of MC Tandy Caide quietly drew me in and didn't let go.
December 13, 2017
Part of this book completely drew me in to the life of the main character and her small town, and part of it left me confused and wanting.
"Perhaps we all need something that doesn't belong in some way to someone else and is just for ourselves."
"I am still getting used to the notion that you can have two seemingly conflicting ideas about your life at once, and that could both be true."
"Perhaps we all need something that doesn't belong in some way to someone else and is just for ourselves."
"I am still getting used to the notion that you can have two seemingly conflicting ideas about your life at once, and that could both be true."
November 29, 2017
Two stars in the Goodreads sense - "it was ok." I really wanted to like it, but every time I got into Tandy's quirky narration something so bizarre would be described so flippantly that I was put off. Or some statement I presume was intended to establish "quirk" was so over-the-top that I was jarred out of cadence. Honestly - what 36 year old woman has literally never heard of a sports bra? I grew up in a small town. They have sports bras there, too.
I couldn't tell if Tandy was completely unable to recognize emotions, or if she's just so painfully logical that she doesn't quite understand them. Her dispassionate depiction left me mostly indifferent to and confused by the goings-on in the novel. The only thing I was clear on was my active dislike of the vo-ag teacher, who seemed like a maniac and I couldn't figure out what about him was supposed to be alluring. I grew up in a small town and around even smaller towns very similar to this one, but I still had a hard time connecting with/caring about the characters. Which I should have seen coming - the narrator bashes the reader over the head with bountiful utterances of how you (the reader) won't understand what she's about to say, but she doesn't care (but it's very important to her that the reader knows she knows she made a mistake, whether or not the reader understands, they just have to know she's a good person, blah blah). I get it: big city or closer-to-the-river city people will NEVER be able to come close to comprehending what it's like for her, resident of Small Town.
BUT, there was some solid writing, sometimes funny, sometimes bittersweet, and enough intrigue to push me through to the end, so I waffled between a two and three star rating.
Snarky synopsis: Impassive CPA is possibly depressed by her meth-addled Small Town. New Supposedly Sexy Teacher comes to town, CPA has an affair, ends her boring marriage, has some maybe fun for a while co-advising a group of five misfit kids in the FFA club. While having sex/a steady relationship with CPA, Supposedly Sexy Teacher knocks up Troubled But Promising high school student selling meth ingredients in an effort to get outta this shitthole town someday. Supposedly Sexy Teacher steals FFA money, splits. Asks CPA not to judge him, which she apparently doesn't (?). CPA decides maybe to pursue a brighter future by moving to Big City, goes for job interview with former boyfriend who clearly wants to have an affair with her, which CPA encourages but doesn't really care about either way (?) but all the while knows, though she's smart enough to be there, Big City and silly Big City People aren't for her. CPA goes back to Small Town, casually gets shot by meth-head but it's apparently not a big thing. Not even worth mentioning after a half-page hospital stay. Troubled But Promising Teen has baby, splits, leaving baby with her grandmother. CPA moves in with her best client (?) and decides she actually loves her town and living there is her true calling. AND DO NOT MESS WITH US. DO NOT MESS WITH US. EVER. (Actual closing sentences of the book. Caps are my own.)
I couldn't tell if Tandy was completely unable to recognize emotions, or if she's just so painfully logical that she doesn't quite understand them. Her dispassionate depiction left me mostly indifferent to and confused by the goings-on in the novel. The only thing I was clear on was my active dislike of the vo-ag teacher, who seemed like a maniac and I couldn't figure out what about him was supposed to be alluring. I grew up in a small town and around even smaller towns very similar to this one, but I still had a hard time connecting with/caring about the characters. Which I should have seen coming - the narrator bashes the reader over the head with bountiful utterances of how you (the reader) won't understand what she's about to say, but she doesn't care (but it's very important to her that the reader knows she knows she made a mistake, whether or not the reader understands, they just have to know she's a good person, blah blah). I get it: big city or closer-to-the-river city people will NEVER be able to come close to comprehending what it's like for her, resident of Small Town.
BUT, there was some solid writing, sometimes funny, sometimes bittersweet, and enough intrigue to push me through to the end, so I waffled between a two and three star rating.
Snarky synopsis: Impassive CPA is possibly depressed by her meth-addled Small Town. New Supposedly Sexy Teacher comes to town, CPA has an affair, ends her boring marriage, has some maybe fun for a while co-advising a group of five misfit kids in the FFA club. While having sex/a steady relationship with CPA, Supposedly Sexy Teacher knocks up Troubled But Promising high school student selling meth ingredients in an effort to get outta this shitthole town someday. Supposedly Sexy Teacher steals FFA money, splits. Asks CPA not to judge him, which she apparently doesn't (?). CPA decides maybe to pursue a brighter future by moving to Big City, goes for job interview with former boyfriend who clearly wants to have an affair with her, which CPA encourages but doesn't really care about either way (?) but all the while knows, though she's smart enough to be there, Big City and silly Big City People aren't for her. CPA goes back to Small Town, casually gets shot by meth-head but it's apparently not a big thing. Not even worth mentioning after a half-page hospital stay. Troubled But Promising Teen has baby, splits, leaving baby with her grandmother. CPA moves in with her best client (?) and decides she actually loves her town and living there is her true calling. AND DO NOT MESS WITH US. DO NOT MESS WITH US. EVER. (Actual closing sentences of the book. Caps are my own.)
March 11, 2017
I was torn between 3 stars or 4 stars. Really, I think it's 3.5. Anyway, I come from a small town myself, so I really appreciate this book. The book was slow moving, much like where Tandy lives. I liked the twists thrown in here and there. I didn't LOVE this book like I wanted to, but it had its interesting points. It was definitely funny. Good ending too.
August 11, 2017
This is Stephanie Wilbur Ash's debut novel, and it's not bad. Her novel,which appears to be set in northeastern Iowa, tells the story of Tandy Caide, CPA (You'll be reminded of the CPA thing-a LOT-so don't worry.) For reasons that become somewhat clear as the story progresses, she has long ago given up her youthful dreams of escaping to anywhere else (even Dubuque sounds exotic) and settles for life in her small, agrarian hometown. She works in her deceased father's accounting practice, she's married to her obese, underachieving high school sweetheart, most of her social life revolves around various civic functions with her father's two friends. She's fairly ambivalent about the life that chose her, sleep-walking it away in a functional funk. Then the high school hires a handsome out-of-towner as the new Vo-Ag teacher, and her staid routine gets shook up.
All of this happens in a titular Annie year, or a year the local high school can actually put on the musical Annie because they have a girl with the expansive vocal range required. Not just any girl out on the prairie can hit that high F, so Annie years are special ones.
As I read a book, there are questions. Where is it taking me? What is the purpose of this journey? Why am I taking it? The most succinct thing I can say about this book is I am lost between questions two and three.
The story is decent. The ending is sweet, if underbaked. It has its moments of humor ("I had never been more attracted to anyone in my entire life. It was like he bowled directly into my ovaries.") The narrator is just SO dry though and despite attempts to unfurl her backstory throughout the novel, she's barely more than a tabula rasa. Even though the story is first person, I didn't connect to the person telling it. Ash writes with good economy about the location, but she relies on her other characters to fill us in on her narrator. We will hear other characters for instance tell Tandy she is a strange bird, repeatedly. These other characters also tend to be unintentionally vague and under-written. Midwestern ultra-taciturnity, I suppose the author is going for here. But now we've got characters we don't really know, doing things we don't always understand, and as a result there's not a great deal to think or say when it's all done.
Why did this story need to be told? What is the author telling us? The story was pleasant enough, and the author clearly has potential. It feels like what it is: a debut novel published by a small indie press. There's both a clear literary ambition and talent and a certain unfinishedness to the whole affair.
I received this book as part of my Quarterly Literary subscription box, specifically the one curated by Kayla Rae Whitaker. I was going to talk more about that, but I think I'll save it for a rave review.
Oddly enough, I think this story could potentially make a good indie film. The understatement of the characters contrasted against the endless, sweeping horizons? I'd watch it.
All of this happens in a titular Annie year, or a year the local high school can actually put on the musical Annie because they have a girl with the expansive vocal range required. Not just any girl out on the prairie can hit that high F, so Annie years are special ones.
As I read a book, there are questions. Where is it taking me? What is the purpose of this journey? Why am I taking it? The most succinct thing I can say about this book is I am lost between questions two and three.
The story is decent. The ending is sweet, if underbaked. It has its moments of humor ("I had never been more attracted to anyone in my entire life. It was like he bowled directly into my ovaries.") The narrator is just SO dry though and despite attempts to unfurl her backstory throughout the novel, she's barely more than a tabula rasa. Even though the story is first person, I didn't connect to the person telling it. Ash writes with good economy about the location, but she relies on her other characters to fill us in on her narrator. We will hear other characters for instance tell Tandy she is a strange bird, repeatedly. These other characters also tend to be unintentionally vague and under-written. Midwestern ultra-taciturnity, I suppose the author is going for here. But now we've got characters we don't really know, doing things we don't always understand, and as a result there's not a great deal to think or say when it's all done.
Why did this story need to be told? What is the author telling us? The story was pleasant enough, and the author clearly has potential. It feels like what it is: a debut novel published by a small indie press. There's both a clear literary ambition and talent and a certain unfinishedness to the whole affair.
I received this book as part of my Quarterly Literary subscription box, specifically the one curated by Kayla Rae Whitaker. I was going to talk more about that, but I think I'll save it for a rave review.
Oddly enough, I think this story could potentially make a good indie film. The understatement of the characters contrasted against the endless, sweeping horizons? I'd watch it.
November 13, 2017
This could have been a decent book. To put it simply, the writing drove me crazy and I was bored to death. A good author paints a story with words that lead you to feel a certain way. Ash straight up tells you how to feel, and continues a "small town vs. big city" battle throughout the entire novel. While there were a few moments of truth, the writing felt arrogant, condescending and unimaginative. The way Tandy's character was written was so incredibly unbelievable and stupid -- city people not knowing what grass smells like -- give me a break. It is possible to write about small towns without making the reader feel like a complete idiot. Having grown up in a small town myself, I was insulted. It felt like this was written by someone who grew up in a big city pretending to be from a small town.
Also - if you use "cat pee" to describe a smell four times, it's time to find a new adjective
Also - if you use "cat pee" to describe a smell four times, it's time to find a new adjective
February 10, 2017
A longer review to come - but suffice it to say, this book knocked my socks off. It's incredible. The kind of book I will buy multiple copies of to give to the readers in my life this Christmas, it's that compulsively lovable.
Update: You can find my review of "The Annie Year" at Split Lip Magazine: http://www.splitlipmagazine.com/1216-...
Update: You can find my review of "The Annie Year" at Split Lip Magazine: http://www.splitlipmagazine.com/1216-...
March 22, 2018
Hard choice between three and four stars for this one. Beautifully written book about a woman struggling with the boredom and tedium of day to day life. But the underlying story was predictable and not as fulfilling as I'd like.
When it was good, it was Tandy Caide what it's like to be at a plateau in life. She's the best CPA in town (because she's the only one). Her bowling game is topping out in the 260s (needs to learn how to put some spin on it). She's married and owns a home, but her husband's a fat loser and her house is a dump. You can relate to Tandy's life a lot.
But there are times when her behavior is just absurd. Husband is suicidal and asks for help getting to the hospital. Tandy let's him drive himself. Guy you are sleeping with is clearly sleeping with a high school student and brewing method. Misses all of the signs.
I really hope Ash keeps at it. I'll read her next book because she's got a lot of potential. This book had a bit of greatness in it, but wasn't quite there.
When it was good, it was Tandy Caide what it's like to be at a plateau in life. She's the best CPA in town (because she's the only one). Her bowling game is topping out in the 260s (needs to learn how to put some spin on it). She's married and owns a home, but her husband's a fat loser and her house is a dump. You can relate to Tandy's life a lot.
But there are times when her behavior is just absurd. Husband is suicidal and asks for help getting to the hospital. Tandy let's him drive himself. Guy you are sleeping with is clearly sleeping with a high school student and brewing method. Misses all of the signs.
I really hope Ash keeps at it. I'll read her next book because she's got a lot of potential. This book had a bit of greatness in it, but wasn't quite there.
April 7, 2019
I picked up this book after seeing it featured in an article in the Des Moines Register highlighting books by Iowa-native authors. Being from rural Iowa myself, I could easily see and smell what Ash was describing. This was a quick read with unique, sometimes endearing, often strange, characters. Most relatable of all, Ash writes “In the living room there was a love seat with an Iowa Hawkeye blanket draped over it, just like in every other living room I’d ever been in.” Plus you can’t go wrong with a book that has lyrics from Annie in it.
December 3, 2017
I really enjoyed reading this book, and I am still enjoying thinking about it in new ways. First, this book is funny without being funny; and I found enough plot to go with the character development to keep me involved throughout the story.
Second, I keep re-thinking what this story was about; and I can't wait to discuss it with a group to see what they think about the storyline and this town.
Full of midwest dry humor, much appreciated by this FL transplant to MN.
Second, I keep re-thinking what this story was about; and I can't wait to discuss it with a group to see what they think about the storyline and this town.
Full of midwest dry humor, much appreciated by this FL transplant to MN.
April 10, 2018
I was very surprised at how much I liked this this book. After I would put it down, I found myself thinking about it at various times during the day. I always looked forward to the next time I could pick it back up. The main character is someone I think I’d like to talk to.
November 7, 2024
Again with the great debut novels! Nominated for a Minnesota Book Award in 2006. I don’t know who/what won that year, but Stephanie Wilbur Ash was robbed.
April 2, 2017
One of the best books I have read in a very long time.
Ash's humor made me giggle out loud and the main character, Tandy, was likeable and relatable on various levels. Not a love story, but a story about loving. Loving where you are in life, loving who you are and loving those around you, no matter what. And of course, about being a person of integrity.
This was a quick read, as it was hard to put down.
I would most certainly recommed this to a friend.
Ash's humor made me giggle out loud and the main character, Tandy, was likeable and relatable on various levels. Not a love story, but a story about loving. Loving where you are in life, loving who you are and loving those around you, no matter what. And of course, about being a person of integrity.
This was a quick read, as it was hard to put down.
I would most certainly recommed this to a friend.
January 3, 2017
It's a great story. I love the small town personalities and the antics that everyone is up to. I can close my eyes and see the bowling alley, the school, the offices. My criticism comes with the writing- you really had to work to get through the repetition, often poor sentence structure, and unclear transitions to get to the story and the juice, but it was definitely worth it in the end. This would be a 5 star book with an editor to help with the writing issues.
February 9, 2017
Just a small town girl
Living in a town of literally like, 12
She took the midnight train just trying to go about her business but everyone couldn't get out her shit and the guy she slept with was a hipster
Redneck chic.
Living in a town of literally like, 12
She took the midnight train just trying to go about her business but everyone couldn't get out her shit and the guy she slept with was a hipster
Redneck chic.
Read
December 12, 2017I can't rate this book. I enjoyed it, it spoke to me, it will stay with me. But I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, because I can't image on what criteria I would recommend it. It's sad, and weird, and hopeful, and trope-y, and complex, and beguiling, and revealing. At first, Tandy and her righteousness (as Mueller puts it later in the book) grated on me. She spoke to You the reader often in judgmental "you can't possibly understand us townsfolk tones" often. But the more I learned about her, the more I sympathized with her. A couple of very revealing moments won me over. Here we read Tandy's refrain of "it's business, I'm a businesswoman," she has respect and responsibility in her community, while we watch her go home alone, drink herself into stupor, wonder about the meaning in her life, feel so lonely and disconnected, feel lost. She suffers in silence. The "businesswoman" is a strong facade. She so often looks to Barb and thinks things like, "Barb was staring back at me, standing straight, held up by her strong spine" and "I saw Barb holding her pot of coffee up with that iron forearm." She reports feeling relief when the doctor confirms she even has a spine. But what Tandy doesn't see in herself, others do; Mueller's story showed us how a little 8yo girl did her own pony tails askew because she has no one to help her, yet prim and confident in business, she ushered Mueller and spoke with him like a businesswoman does to her client, then left to try to sober her Dad up. She says, "no one in my family had ever said out loud that they loved me." Ash did a masterful job connecting me to Tandy's inner turmoil, patheticness, earnestness, and longing. I think this is the kind of book I could re-read and keep seeing the connections across chapters, but because it didn't bring much else to me but a detailed portrait of a woman I could relate to, I doubt I will re-read it.
The rest of the book, I could take it or leave it. Ash didn't really develop the other characters or try to, I think. We remain firmly in Tandy's perspective, it's a rather short book, and Tandy really isn't all that close to people. So the book feels a little flat. I'm not invested in anyone but Tandy, who Ash did a right bang-up job writing.
Here are some of my favorites:
The man in his rusty pickup truck drove slowly by again...I watched him and he watch me. I was skeptical of him, as I am skeptical of all new people. I do not know why he was skeptical of me. I had always been here. - I like that she is literally rooting herself to this place on the sidewalk, while more broadly capturing theme of the book of never leaving and not being able to leave.
'My husband bought a hot tub,' I said. 'I will stew here until I die.'
Despite what you may believe about the Internet, not everything can be found there.
Death.
Taxes.
- As in, you cannot rely on the internet....for again, as we all know, the only thing you can put your faith in and know for certain are....
Pg. 83 - when Tandy first has sex with the Vo-Ag teacher, she describes imagining consuming him and destroying him through consumption. What does it mean? The imagery is dark, twisted, dysregulated. It is the perfect disquieting communication to the reader of Tandy's inner struggle with decision-making and doing what she wants, feeling powerless, so she claws at those around to feel powerful.
'The roots of it were longer than my arm.' He held up his arm, in case none of us knew how long an arm was. - The resentful cynic in Tandy speaks like this
I'm not perfect. Show me someone who is and I'll show you a righteous asshole who needs to be knocked down a few notches.
The rest of the book, I could take it or leave it. Ash didn't really develop the other characters or try to, I think. We remain firmly in Tandy's perspective, it's a rather short book, and Tandy really isn't all that close to people. So the book feels a little flat. I'm not invested in anyone but Tandy, who Ash did a right bang-up job writing.
Here are some of my favorites:
The man in his rusty pickup truck drove slowly by again...I watched him and he watch me. I was skeptical of him, as I am skeptical of all new people. I do not know why he was skeptical of me. I had always been here. - I like that she is literally rooting herself to this place on the sidewalk, while more broadly capturing theme of the book of never leaving and not being able to leave.
'My husband bought a hot tub,' I said. 'I will stew here until I die.'
Despite what you may believe about the Internet, not everything can be found there.
Death.
Taxes.
- As in, you cannot rely on the internet....for again, as we all know, the only thing you can put your faith in and know for certain are....
Pg. 83 - when Tandy first has sex with the Vo-Ag teacher, she describes imagining consuming him and destroying him through consumption. What does it mean? The imagery is dark, twisted, dysregulated. It is the perfect disquieting communication to the reader of Tandy's inner struggle with decision-making and doing what she wants, feeling powerless, so she claws at those around to feel powerful.
'The roots of it were longer than my arm.' He held up his arm, in case none of us knew how long an arm was. - The resentful cynic in Tandy speaks like this
I'm not perfect. Show me someone who is and I'll show you a righteous asshole who needs to be knocked down a few notches.
August 10, 2024
I finished this a couple of weeks ago and am still thinking about the characters, especially Tandy Caide, rural CPA. This is very much a character-driven novel, but there’s a much more compelling plot than a lot of character-driven fiction.
It’s also the voice and the rare case of second person. Hopefully I have that right — when the narrator speaks to you, the reader. These asides to the reader aren’t on every page. You read along, getting into the story, and forget, and then the first-person narrator suddenly talks to you. And if, like me, you are from cities and suburbs, the Twin Cities in my case, she’s pointedly speaking to you, telling you her rural Iowa truth, which she doesn’t expect you to understand but she sure helps you see it. And I mean see it. The writing is visual. Truth so plain you can’t believe you didn’t know. It’s stunning. I don’t mean stunningly as in beautiful but as in, I felt stunned. (Beautiful too though, in its raw human portrayal.) She does this slightly accusatory voice again in the ending, which is very strong, a perfect ending showing such grit, and I almost fell off my chair. I was a bit shook, honestly, with how this narrator had my number. I feel like I understand myself better. If you have heard of the urban/rural divide and are interested in talking about it with others, this would be a good choice for a book club or other group read.
It’s good, very good. One of my favorite books of the last decade. I want more. This was a 2016 novel — I don’t know how I missed it then but I’m glad I got to read it now — and I’m hoping the next one is coming just around the corner.
It’s also the voice and the rare case of second person. Hopefully I have that right — when the narrator speaks to you, the reader. These asides to the reader aren’t on every page. You read along, getting into the story, and forget, and then the first-person narrator suddenly talks to you. And if, like me, you are from cities and suburbs, the Twin Cities in my case, she’s pointedly speaking to you, telling you her rural Iowa truth, which she doesn’t expect you to understand but she sure helps you see it. And I mean see it. The writing is visual. Truth so plain you can’t believe you didn’t know. It’s stunning. I don’t mean stunningly as in beautiful but as in, I felt stunned. (Beautiful too though, in its raw human portrayal.) She does this slightly accusatory voice again in the ending, which is very strong, a perfect ending showing such grit, and I almost fell off my chair. I was a bit shook, honestly, with how this narrator had my number. I feel like I understand myself better. If you have heard of the urban/rural divide and are interested in talking about it with others, this would be a good choice for a book club or other group read.
It’s good, very good. One of my favorite books of the last decade. I want more. This was a 2016 novel — I don’t know how I missed it then but I’m glad I got to read it now — and I’m hoping the next one is coming just around the corner.
September 10, 2017
“When I add up the total sum of that year, it is this particular line item that always gets me: it had to be an Annie year.
You see, if there was a talented tall girl at the high school, they do Hello, Dolly! If there is a girl who is unusually ugly, but funny enough to pull off Snoopy, they do You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. If a lot of boys get suspended from football early in the season for drinking and one of the star players-- the quarterback or the lead tackle or whoever-- can convince the rest of the team into singing in public, they do Guys and Dolls.
They don’t do Annie that often because Annie requires a certain type of extraordinary talent. There must be a girl, usually a small one, with both spunky charm and believable innocence. That just doesn’t happen in this town.”
Ugh, I loved this book. Tandy Caide, our plucky protagonist, accounts for us the events of one year, one season in a small Midwest town. In a familiar and funny voice, we hear about the people she considers family (people she hasn't talked to in years, but that's okay because that's how family acts around here), the new Vo-Ag teacher who shows up to stir the pot, and the methheads who blow up houses every so often. It's so small-town, it's perfect. As a small town girl myself, I could almost taste the descriptions when Tandy gave them, and the characters were unique and memorable. More than anything, it expresses in perfect detail the way it feels to grow up and reside under the mark of everyone's watching eyes and wagging tongues. Read. It's great.
You see, if there was a talented tall girl at the high school, they do Hello, Dolly! If there is a girl who is unusually ugly, but funny enough to pull off Snoopy, they do You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. If a lot of boys get suspended from football early in the season for drinking and one of the star players-- the quarterback or the lead tackle or whoever-- can convince the rest of the team into singing in public, they do Guys and Dolls.
They don’t do Annie that often because Annie requires a certain type of extraordinary talent. There must be a girl, usually a small one, with both spunky charm and believable innocence. That just doesn’t happen in this town.”
Ugh, I loved this book. Tandy Caide, our plucky protagonist, accounts for us the events of one year, one season in a small Midwest town. In a familiar and funny voice, we hear about the people she considers family (people she hasn't talked to in years, but that's okay because that's how family acts around here), the new Vo-Ag teacher who shows up to stir the pot, and the methheads who blow up houses every so often. It's so small-town, it's perfect. As a small town girl myself, I could almost taste the descriptions when Tandy gave them, and the characters were unique and memorable. More than anything, it expresses in perfect detail the way it feels to grow up and reside under the mark of everyone's watching eyes and wagging tongues. Read. It's great.
September 27, 2017
Funny, cutting, and plucked straight from a small, rural Midwestern town. This is how I'd describe The Annie Year. Not much really happens in the story, but then, not much happens in small towns in rural Northeastern Iowa where the book takes place. The main character, Tandy Caides, is the town's only CPA, a fact she relishes and wishes weren't true all at the same time. She starts an affair with the high school's new Agriculture teacher, and chaos ensues.
I thought Ash did a remarkable job of capturing what it's like living in a dying, farm town where getting out is the best option. But many people, for a number a reasons, choose to stay where they are and getting out quickly seems impossible. The Annie Year is an easy, quick read, and the local connection (I lived in Iowa for three years) made it fun. 3.5 stars out of 5.
I thought Ash did a remarkable job of capturing what it's like living in a dying, farm town where getting out is the best option. But many people, for a number a reasons, choose to stay where they are and getting out quickly seems impossible. The Annie Year is an easy, quick read, and the local connection (I lived in Iowa for three years) made it fun. 3.5 stars out of 5.
February 7, 2018
Well, The Annie Year is quite something.
To be fair, 3 stars doesn't truly give this book credit. Ms. Ash has managed to capture the desolation, love, and stoic-faced-ness that is the deeper parts of Midwestern USA (at least, in my estimation anyway). The characters are grizzled and worn, and sometimes pretty darn bleak, but there is also something about the themes in this story that really are brilliant.
A lot goes on in "boring" small towns. Whether it be fighting to be recognized, struggling with BIG issues like teen pregnancy and drug abuse, or even just the everyday scandals of affairs and love, the small town buzzes. Therefore, even though this book is grounded in the Iowa sod, it's got a lot going on. Pick it up, you city folk. This one is for you.
To be fair, 3 stars doesn't truly give this book credit. Ms. Ash has managed to capture the desolation, love, and stoic-faced-ness that is the deeper parts of Midwestern USA (at least, in my estimation anyway). The characters are grizzled and worn, and sometimes pretty darn bleak, but there is also something about the themes in this story that really are brilliant.
A lot goes on in "boring" small towns. Whether it be fighting to be recognized, struggling with BIG issues like teen pregnancy and drug abuse, or even just the everyday scandals of affairs and love, the small town buzzes. Therefore, even though this book is grounded in the Iowa sod, it's got a lot going on. Pick it up, you city folk. This one is for you.
March 21, 2024
I am so behind in my reviews. I read this in 2017. Let's see if I can remember what I loved about it (because I did love it). Small town, gossipy and nosy people, just waiting for something to talk about, and a fun main character who gets involved in stuff way above her pay grade. The plot is too involved to rehash here, but it's got meth labs, school productions, towns losing their young people and their talented folks, love affairs, and other great subplots that make this book breeze along. I found this one in the Little Library but I bought a copy for my sister, because I knew she'd love it, and she did.
August 12, 2017
I liked "The Annie Year" - the first book by a Minnesota/Iowa author. I don't agree with some of the descriptions by reviewers such as hilarious - not so. It's just a year in the life of a small-town CPA and the relationships she has with the people in her life - some have been there her whole life and some are new. I liked the slower pace of the book and the descriptions of the Iowa countryside and small town life. A small part of the story deals with the impact of meth addiction in an area like this and that is fairly scary - houses burn down frequently. Good effort by a new author!
May 3, 2025
The narrator of this novel is a CPA and for the most part, she tells her story with dispassionate accuracy. Set in a small town, Tandy Caide has inherited her father's business and does the taxes (and knows the financial secrets) of her neighbors. As her marriage falls apart and she embarks on an affair with the new Vo-Ag teacher, Tandy's emotions and desires start to rise to the surface, even as she finds herself at odds with some of the people she's known her entire life. An interesting read, but I found Tandy's voice frustrating and this made the book feel longer than it was.
November 17, 2017
I enjoyed this book because it felt predictable, but it kept taking turns I didn't expect. I've been trying to describe it to friends, but have been somewhat unable to pigeonhole it. I like that in a book.
There is as much humor as darkness in the book. The characters definitely evolve, and the setting feels authentic to me. I recommend it as a change of pace read from almost any genre.
There is as much humor as darkness in the book. The characters definitely evolve, and the setting feels authentic to me. I recommend it as a change of pace read from almost any genre.
November 17, 2017
A great short novel, set in a small farm town. It manages to include an affair between two characters without becoming a romance novel. I will quote the Kirkus review for the rest: "Darkly hilarious and weirdly beguiling". Go read it.
March 28, 2021
A decent book; I chose it because the author grew up in MN and works at Gustavus.
A fictional biography of sorts, it chronicles a year in a woman's life in which many changes happen. Reminded me of Fargo in a weird way, but in Iowa and without murder. Dark, but well written.
A fictional biography of sorts, it chronicles a year in a woman's life in which many changes happen. Reminded me of Fargo in a weird way, but in Iowa and without murder. Dark, but well written.
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