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Leaving the World
From the bestselling author of The Woman in the Fifth and The Pursuit of Happiness comes a devastating new novel.Years after vowing to herself and her parents to never marry, have children and lead the resentful life they chose, Jane, now a Harvard professor, falls unexpectedly pregnant. Resolved as she’s been to childlessness, she begins to warm to the idea of motherhood, even with a partner who is increasingly absent. But a devastating turn of events takes the decision out of her hands in a way she could never have predicted.Her familiar world torn apart, Jane feels forced to leave her old life behind. She resigns from her job, cuts all ties with friends and family and moves to a place where no one will find her. Isolated, she feels she has finally succeeded in leaving her world.Yet when a young girl disappears, prompting a high-profile police investigation, Jane is drawn in. Convinced that the person at the heart of the case is much closer to her new community than anyone realises, she has to make a decision to either stay hidden or bring to light a shocking truth.
451 pages, Hardcover
First published March 5, 2009
147 people are currently reading
1724 people want to read
About the author
Douglas Kennedy
133 books1,196 followersDouglas Kennedy was born in Manhattan in 1955. He studied at Bowdoin College, Maine and Trinity College, Dublin, returning to Dublin in 1977 with just a trenchcoat, backpack and $300. He co-founded a theatre company and sold his first play, Shakespeare on Five Dollars a Day, to Radio 4 in 1980. In 1988 he moved to London and published a travel book, Beyond the Pyramids. His debut novel The Dead Heart was published in 1994.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 483 reviews
September 6, 2022
This was such an absorbing read that covered 25+ years in the life of an academic, from their dysfunctional family home background, covering their affair with a college professor at Harvard, through to a horrendous personal tragedy and the journey undertaken to try to come to terms with it. A remarkable and ultimately uplifting tale from this very good writer.
2010 read
2010 read
December 2, 2011
I really, REALLY liked it at first. I thought the writing was smart and intelligent and I would stop periodically and think, "Wow, that sentence was really profound!" But then after about 250 pages I was getting tired of all the profound-ness and then I got almost irritated and I started thinking it was more...I don't know, pretentious? Examples...the digressions into the merits of certain musical genres and the literary analyses of great works of literature. It left me thinking I was supposed to be impressed with how smart the author is rather than having those paragraphs advance the story in any important way. I also thought that the book seemed almost to be several novellas patched together in a row--first this happened, and then she is in an entirely different place and all of THIS happened, and then we're in another place again and THIS happened...etc. And I didn't get the whole "after 350 pages of horrible things that happened to me in life NOW I'm going to solve a serial kidnapping case that makes the Canadian police look like morons." That seemed unnecessarily random--or like the ending to a typical Steven King book, where 3/4 of the way into it the author appears to have no idea how to end the story. Unless I'm just not intelligent enough to "get" the deep and significant insights into the ending that I'm supposed to.
April 25, 2009
Let me start off by saying that I never met a Douglas Kennedy book that I didn't love!! This book had arrived a few days ago (ordered from the UK because it came out there first) and, each time I passed the table where it was sitting, I actually got a tingle just seeing the name Douglas Kennedy on the cover and knowing that something great was between those covers.
I like to think I discovered Douglas Kennedy all on my own many, many years ago when I read The Big Picture. At that time, whenever anyone asked me to recommend a great book, that's the one I told them to read. Kennedy followed up The Big Picture with The Job....another great roller coaster ride of a book. I don't know if something changed in his life at that point because all of the following books were very different. They were specifically about women or couples who were going through major rifts in their lives. As far as I'm concerned, no one can get inside of the head of a woman like Douglas Kennedy can. I wouldn't want to be his wife.
Kennedy writes that "All novels are about a crisis and how an individual -- or a set of individuals --negotiates said crises." In Leaving The World, the main character Joan Howard lives in the world of academia having gotten her PhD from Harvard and is now working as a professor at a New England college. I think Kennedy makes her so intellectually superior so that some of the things she does end up making her look more than intellectually challenged. Obviously doomed by her impulses, Jane finds herself mixed up in one predicament after another. It's how she deals with her crises that gives this book the depth that Kennedy's readers know he will deliver. She cannot stick to anything or anyone and finds herself lost in a world of people who continually leave her.
Until one day she decides that she will leave them. This is where Kennedy shines as he now puts Jane in charge of her own life and her own destiny and where we see shades of the excitement found in The Big Picture seeping through each page. While some people might say this book starts out slowly, they would be right because this is the way Kennedy sets the stage for things to come. He wants his reader to be totally invested in his character before he asks them to understand her. When we first meet Jane, it is in the present moment but, like everyone else, she has a back story and it's the understanding of this back story that will eventually help the reader to understand why she does what she does. In the book Kennedy says, "Life can only be lived forwards and understood backwards." And so we really come to understand more and more what is propelling Jane. There are times in the book where I was screaming, "NO Jane...don't do it", only to have my words fall on deaf ears.
Jane's life is one of ups and downs never seeming to find that happy medium between living and actually being happy doing so. Kennedy says in the book, "Unhappiness isn't simply a state of mind; it is also a habit." Reading this book is a journey as Jane tries to break this habit. It's another examination of the psyche of a woman by a master storyteller. In the hands of Douglas Kennedy, it becomes an expedition and one I was happy to take.
I know I've quoted Kennedy a lot in this review but some of the things he says in this book had such meaning to me. I leave you with one of the best...."Conscience is the inner voice which warns us that somebody might be looking." Well, I'm now your conscience looking at you and watching to see if you read this book!!!
I like to think I discovered Douglas Kennedy all on my own many, many years ago when I read The Big Picture. At that time, whenever anyone asked me to recommend a great book, that's the one I told them to read. Kennedy followed up The Big Picture with The Job....another great roller coaster ride of a book. I don't know if something changed in his life at that point because all of the following books were very different. They were specifically about women or couples who were going through major rifts in their lives. As far as I'm concerned, no one can get inside of the head of a woman like Douglas Kennedy can. I wouldn't want to be his wife.
Kennedy writes that "All novels are about a crisis and how an individual -- or a set of individuals --negotiates said crises." In Leaving The World, the main character Joan Howard lives in the world of academia having gotten her PhD from Harvard and is now working as a professor at a New England college. I think Kennedy makes her so intellectually superior so that some of the things she does end up making her look more than intellectually challenged. Obviously doomed by her impulses, Jane finds herself mixed up in one predicament after another. It's how she deals with her crises that gives this book the depth that Kennedy's readers know he will deliver. She cannot stick to anything or anyone and finds herself lost in a world of people who continually leave her.
Until one day she decides that she will leave them. This is where Kennedy shines as he now puts Jane in charge of her own life and her own destiny and where we see shades of the excitement found in The Big Picture seeping through each page. While some people might say this book starts out slowly, they would be right because this is the way Kennedy sets the stage for things to come. He wants his reader to be totally invested in his character before he asks them to understand her. When we first meet Jane, it is in the present moment but, like everyone else, she has a back story and it's the understanding of this back story that will eventually help the reader to understand why she does what she does. In the book Kennedy says, "Life can only be lived forwards and understood backwards." And so we really come to understand more and more what is propelling Jane. There are times in the book where I was screaming, "NO Jane...don't do it", only to have my words fall on deaf ears.
Jane's life is one of ups and downs never seeming to find that happy medium between living and actually being happy doing so. Kennedy says in the book, "Unhappiness isn't simply a state of mind; it is also a habit." Reading this book is a journey as Jane tries to break this habit. It's another examination of the psyche of a woman by a master storyteller. In the hands of Douglas Kennedy, it becomes an expedition and one I was happy to take.
I know I've quoted Kennedy a lot in this review but some of the things he says in this book had such meaning to me. I leave you with one of the best...."Conscience is the inner voice which warns us that somebody might be looking." Well, I'm now your conscience looking at you and watching to see if you read this book!!!
February 25, 2017
This was painful to read and not just because at that time I was in pain. Probably suffering because of this very book.
I don't like spineless MCs and I think she didn't really redeem herself at the end, or had any arcs.
Not his best work. Read his Temptation.
And even though that wasn't the main theme of this novel, but those interested in better written novels about cinephilia or filmmaking in general, I would suggest Fork in the Road by Denis Hamill, plus his book was recently bought by Alexander Payne, who made Sideways and the Descendants, he has a habit of making good movies out of great novels, so couldn't be more happy about it.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
August 9, 2010
The first two-hundred pages of the book were actually fairly engaging... with the tragedies at least tolerable. Jane's father was on the run (and stole money from her); her mother was an absurd narcissist who blamed her daughter for her divorce; Jane's lover was killed in a dubious bicycling accident after a slew of terrible reviews for his book; and her eccentric, cinephile boyfriend and baby daddy ran off with an anorexic wannabe film producer. Each of these episodes became less and less authentic. Kennedy knows very little about the financial world, and even less about Hollywood - but yet he tried to have his narrator traverse all these worlds and come upon terrible misfortunes in them.
But finally, what ruined it for me once and for all -- was the senseless death of the child. Yes, in sheer deus-ex-machina style - the child has to be killed, too. What follows are hundreds of pages of abject misery, a narrative as purposeless as the life of its protagonist. We're dragged along with Jane on her aimless trip to Canada, where she gets involved in yet another cynical, awful tragedy - this one completely removed from anything that came before it. What we have, in the end, is a dreadful, humorless Picaresque in which one unimaginative tragedy after another gets piled onto a mostly blameless character. This isn't writing; it's a form of sadism. It's a relentless, talentless assault on the reader. In Kennedy's interview included in my edition of the book, he has the audacity to share his motto for writing: "It's the story, stupid." Fantastic. But this isn't a story - it's a horrific pile of unlikely and unpleasant EVENTS, none of which transform the character so much as ERODE her. This book is an absolute trainwreck, literally.
But finally, what ruined it for me once and for all -- was the senseless death of the child. Yes, in sheer deus-ex-machina style - the child has to be killed, too. What follows are hundreds of pages of abject misery, a narrative as purposeless as the life of its protagonist. We're dragged along with Jane on her aimless trip to Canada, where she gets involved in yet another cynical, awful tragedy - this one completely removed from anything that came before it. What we have, in the end, is a dreadful, humorless Picaresque in which one unimaginative tragedy after another gets piled onto a mostly blameless character. This isn't writing; it's a form of sadism. It's a relentless, talentless assault on the reader. In Kennedy's interview included in my edition of the book, he has the audacity to share his motto for writing: "It's the story, stupid." Fantastic. But this isn't a story - it's a horrific pile of unlikely and unpleasant EVENTS, none of which transform the character so much as ERODE her. This book is an absolute trainwreck, literally.
June 27, 2014
I had no idea what rating to give this novel at first. The writing is beautiful, (five stars), the secondary characters believable, likeable and 'real' but the story lurched from one improbable event to another and at one stage I actually laughed with the 'silliness' of it. At times the dialogue was utterly pretentious especially when Jane was discussing literature or music etc. In the end (which made it one star)
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June 5, 2011This is the worst book I have ever read, and I have read A LOT of books. What makes it bad? Where should I start? An unlikable, poorly characterized protagonist; implausibilities that border on the laughable; dialogue that is the most poorly written I've ever seen outside a Patricia Cornwell novel; loose ends never tied up (let's face it -- in everyday literature, the reader appreciates a little closure now and then)...these are a few of my un-favorite things. Add to this the sheer awfulness of the language, and you've got a wholly unappetizing, nearly unreadable mess. Let me expound upon this for a moment. When you write/publish a book and unleash it upon an unsuspecting public, you have a responsibility to provide at the very least proper usage, correct grammar and accuracy of detail. These bozos are incapable of even this minimal level of decency. Examples: Overuse of phrases to the point where they become catchphrases. If the author used "in a dark wood" once to indicate that a character is depressive, he used it six times. "He lay the evidence bag in the car" is an egregious grammatical error; if you are a writer or, worse, an editor or proofer and you don't recognize the difference between the intransitive verb "to lie" and the transitive verb "to lay", and between their respective past participles, you have no business being in the publishing business. And for the love of God, do your research, authors, and publishing houses, please use fact checkers. When your protagonist is a graduate student at Harvard who frequents the library, its name should damn well be correct in the manuscript. Just so you know, it's the WIDENER library, not the WIEDNER library. What makes all this inexcusable is that the protag is supposed to be an English professor and author of a scholarly book. Why in the name of all that's holy would she TALK the way she does in the book? The grammatical errors, stilted speech and inaccurate use of vocabulary would NEVER come out of the mouth of a Harvard-educated professor. (At least I'd like to think they wouldn't.)
I haven't even touched on the structure of the novel. The author posits that Jane had a lousy childhood. He spends the first third of the book trying to establish this, but outside of beating the dead horse of her dad's alcoholism and shady business dealings, and mentioning her mom's inability/unwillingness to show love, he does a crap job of painting this picture. Things just crop up to explain something Kennedy wants to have happen. All of a sudden, Jane is lonely, when we've never been given any indication that she is the lonesome type, because she needs to meet the quirky, thieving freak who fathers her child. She falls into an affair with her thesis advisor and we see none of the conflict this must engender, just the machinations she goes through to hide the relationship from Harvard personnel. (We find out that everybody knew anyway only when Kennedy needs another reason to make Jane an undesirable employee at her first teaching job.) Please don't make me go on. It was depressing enough having to read this horrible thing in the first place.
Also, the "dramatic" devices appear, wreak havoc on Jane's psyche, and then disappear in the rearview mirror when they've done their job. Unhappy childhood? Check. Drunk dad and cold mother? Check. Dead lover? Check. Deceptive, dishonest baby daddy? Check. Dead kid? Check. Failed suicide attempt? Check. By the time the latter event came up, I was terribly disappointed at Jane's lack of success at it.
I haven't even touched on the structure of the novel. The author posits that Jane had a lousy childhood. He spends the first third of the book trying to establish this, but outside of beating the dead horse of her dad's alcoholism and shady business dealings, and mentioning her mom's inability/unwillingness to show love, he does a crap job of painting this picture. Things just crop up to explain something Kennedy wants to have happen. All of a sudden, Jane is lonely, when we've never been given any indication that she is the lonesome type, because she needs to meet the quirky, thieving freak who fathers her child. She falls into an affair with her thesis advisor and we see none of the conflict this must engender, just the machinations she goes through to hide the relationship from Harvard personnel. (We find out that everybody knew anyway only when Kennedy needs another reason to make Jane an undesirable employee at her first teaching job.) Please don't make me go on. It was depressing enough having to read this horrible thing in the first place.
Also, the "dramatic" devices appear, wreak havoc on Jane's psyche, and then disappear in the rearview mirror when they've done their job. Unhappy childhood? Check. Drunk dad and cold mother? Check. Dead lover? Check. Deceptive, dishonest baby daddy? Check. Dead kid? Check. Failed suicide attempt? Check. By the time the latter event came up, I was terribly disappointed at Jane's lack of success at it.
December 27, 2010
It's a wild ride and I'm surprised by the way the author is connecting with a female lead character. I can honestly say I'm hooked and I'm intrigued by the writers musical references and descriptions to the point where I would like to do some research.
I must say I had a hard time putting the book down. The author spends about 3/4 of the book painting the lead character and circumstances leading up to the major event then the last 1/4 with a mystery and how the character changes. I don't want to spoil it but definitely was worth the read.
I must say I had a hard time putting the book down. The author spends about 3/4 of the book painting the lead character and circumstances leading up to the major event then the last 1/4 with a mystery and how the character changes. I don't want to spoil it but definitely was worth the read.
July 24, 2010
Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful! Douglas Kennedy is a smart, gifted writer. Very thought provoking novel which takes you through a woman's darkest trials and does so in such a way that makes you stronger for it. I just loved this book.
March 25, 2020
review to follow
August 2, 2020
"Một sự xuất phát ngẫu nhiên của hạt đưa bạn đến những nơi mà bạn chẳng bao giờ tưởng tượng nổi mình sẽ tới. Suy cho cùng, sự bất định chi phối mọi khoảnh khắc tồn tại của con người"
Chắc đa số sách mình đọc của 2020 là về SỰ CHỮA LÀNH đằng sau những nỗi đau và tổn thất. Đây là một thiên tiểu thuyết cuộc đời của một người đàn bà đầy tréo ngoe nhất mà mình từng đọc. Một người chưa từng cảm nhận được hạnh phúc thì cả đời họ sẽ ám ảnh bởi việc tìm được hạnh phúc. Nhưng sau tất cả những bi kịch thì người ta lại dần dần được chữa lành tự khi nào không hay.
Nào, hãy dũng cảm lên, hãy liều lĩnh đi, hãy giáng một đòn vào nỗi sợ hãi
Hãy tiến về phía trước
Vì cuộc đời cũng chỉ như "Không gian màu xanh và những con chim bay qua không gian"
DK viết về nội tâm con người cũng thiệt là hay. Vẫn không thiếu phần kịch tính và những cuộc chạy trốn...
Chắc đa số sách mình đọc của 2020 là về SỰ CHỮA LÀNH đằng sau những nỗi đau và tổn thất. Đây là một thiên tiểu thuyết cuộc đời của một người đàn bà đầy tréo ngoe nhất mà mình từng đọc. Một người chưa từng cảm nhận được hạnh phúc thì cả đời họ sẽ ám ảnh bởi việc tìm được hạnh phúc. Nhưng sau tất cả những bi kịch thì người ta lại dần dần được chữa lành tự khi nào không hay.
Nào, hãy dũng cảm lên, hãy liều lĩnh đi, hãy giáng một đòn vào nỗi sợ hãi
Hãy tiến về phía trước
Vì cuộc đời cũng chỉ như "Không gian màu xanh và những con chim bay qua không gian"
DK viết về nội tâm con người cũng thiệt là hay. Vẫn không thiếu phần kịch tính và những cuộc chạy trốn...
August 12, 2022
"Money. The trickiest substance in life - as its the way we keep score, measure our worth, and think we can control our destinies. Money: the essential lie."
"Everyone to their own destiny"
"Everyone to their own destiny"
May 20, 2018
Dezamăgitor acest roman a lui Douglas Kennedy, din toate punctele de vedere. Acțiune lentă, plictisitoare, narată superficial, de către un personaj feminin slab, de care nu te poți atașa.
Romanul începe bine, însă mi se pare că, de ce înaintezi cu lectura, devine mai prost, îți dai seama că nu te impresionează cu nimic, că nu ți-a rămas nimic în minte, deși Jane trece prin câteva drame, care ar trebui să te apropie de ea. Mi se pare că Jane e genul de narator distant, care nu își deschide sufletul și care te ține la distanță.
Nu mi-a plăcut cum a fost prezentată relația lui Jane cu mama ei și cu atât mai puțin cu fiica ei. Jane a prezentat superficial două evenimente ce i-au marcat viața: moartea mamei și nașterea lui Emily.
Kennedy reușește de obicei să impresioneze cu poveștile lui de dragoste, care sunt autentice și bine construite, însă de data aceasta nu a existat o asemenea poveste. Jane mi s-a părut incapabilă să iubească și să se dăruiască cu adevărat. Nici măcar în relația cu Henry nu mi s-a părut foarte prezentă și povestea lor nu m-a impresionat deloc, a fost slab construită și finalizată.
Mi-au plăcut referințele literare și cum a fost prezentată viața în mediu academic, însă asta a reprezentat doar o mică parte din acest roman lung, mult prea lung și detaliat pentru povestea ce vrea să o spună. Mi-e greu să înțeleg cum un autor care a fost capabil să scrie Jocurile destinului și Clipa, ajunge să scrie un roman superficial și sec cum este Nu pleca. Îl apreciez pe autor și tocmai de aceea nici nu am abandonat lectura și am încercat să rămân deschisă și să nu judec prea aspru, dar nu mi-a plăcut.
Romanul începe bine, însă mi se pare că, de ce înaintezi cu lectura, devine mai prost, îți dai seama că nu te impresionează cu nimic, că nu ți-a rămas nimic în minte, deși Jane trece prin câteva drame, care ar trebui să te apropie de ea. Mi se pare că Jane e genul de narator distant, care nu își deschide sufletul și care te ține la distanță.
Nu mi-a plăcut cum a fost prezentată relația lui Jane cu mama ei și cu atât mai puțin cu fiica ei. Jane a prezentat superficial două evenimente ce i-au marcat viața: moartea mamei și nașterea lui Emily.
Kennedy reușește de obicei să impresioneze cu poveștile lui de dragoste, care sunt autentice și bine construite, însă de data aceasta nu a existat o asemenea poveste. Jane mi s-a părut incapabilă să iubească și să se dăruiască cu adevărat. Nici măcar în relația cu Henry nu mi s-a părut foarte prezentă și povestea lor nu m-a impresionat deloc, a fost slab construită și finalizată.
Mi-au plăcut referințele literare și cum a fost prezentată viața în mediu academic, însă asta a reprezentat doar o mică parte din acest roman lung, mult prea lung și detaliat pentru povestea ce vrea să o spună. Mi-e greu să înțeleg cum un autor care a fost capabil să scrie Jocurile destinului și Clipa, ajunge să scrie un roman superficial și sec cum este Nu pleca. Îl apreciez pe autor și tocmai de aceea nici nu am abandonat lectura și am încercat să rămân deschisă și să nu judec prea aspru, dar nu mi-a plăcut.
July 12, 2010
Q: What do you get when you take a chronically mistreated woman and put her through even more unthinkable (if boring) abuse? A: The absolute worst book I've read all year.
Jane Howard is a boring, bland, insufferable academic. So it's hard to feel sorry about her sh*tty childhood, her string of sorry lovers, her unremarkable career, or even -- God have mercy on my soul -- the death of her child. Her thoughts and feelings are about as compelling as an article out of some obscure literary criticism journal. Perhaps most remarkably, Jane's life is moved along by actions like "then I used a computer search engine to find his phone number" or "then I used the cell phone that was in my pocket to call the number". If a reader sympathizes with Jane at all, it's because her life is full of cardboard cutouts: characters who enter for just one contrived conversation, psychiatrists who deliver tired axioms, policemen who interrogate, librarians who gossip... And if that were my world, I'd want to leave it too.
Jane Howard is a boring, bland, insufferable academic. So it's hard to feel sorry about her sh*tty childhood, her string of sorry lovers, her unremarkable career, or even -- God have mercy on my soul -- the death of her child. Her thoughts and feelings are about as compelling as an article out of some obscure literary criticism journal. Perhaps most remarkably, Jane's life is moved along by actions like "then I used a computer search engine to find his phone number" or "then I used the cell phone that was in my pocket to call the number". If a reader sympathizes with Jane at all, it's because her life is full of cardboard cutouts: characters who enter for just one contrived conversation, psychiatrists who deliver tired axioms, policemen who interrogate, librarians who gossip... And if that were my world, I'd want to leave it too.
April 29, 2015
This is an extremely depressing book. It is about a woman who has a terrible life from the moment she's born. It's very painful to read. It is intelligent and well-written and makes good insights into human nature, but you don't enjoy reading it. Her parents don't love her, then she has an affair with a married man who commits suicide, then she has a baby with a guy who ends up using her and abandoning her after taking 50 thousand dollars from her, and then her baby (3) gets run over by a car and she tries to commit suicide. She fails, and lives in a psych ward. When they release her, she wants to try suicide again, but she doesn't because she sees someone abusing their daughter. She moves to Canada and gets a job in a library. Then she sees a man accused of killing his daughter on TV and she knows he didn't do it so she launches her own investigation. The man kills himself in jail, she finds the girl in sexual slavery to a minister, she rescues the little girl.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 6, 2018
Cuốn này có bản tiếng Việt tên là "Nỗi đau nào rồi cũng sẽ qua" (chả hiểu sao k tìm thấy trên goodreads). Một cuốn tiểu thuyết dày vĩ đại nhưng mình đã hoàn thành nó trong một khoảng thời gian khá ngắn.
Cuốn truyện là một bộ sưu tập các nỗi đau dường như k thể chịu đựng nổi (unbearable pain) của nhân vật chính - bị mất người yêu thương, bị phản bội, bị lừa dối, bị cướp mất những gì mình có... Cách viết của tác giả vô cùng gần gũi, chắc hẳn mỗi chúng ta sẽ tìm thấy sự đồng cảm và nhìn thấy bản thân mình trong đó.
Nhiều người nói đọc sách sẽ làm giàu cho cuộc sống, nhưng mình nghĩ cuộc sống của chúng ta cũng làm giàu trải nghiệm khi bạn đọc một cuốn sách. Nhờ những biến cố trong cuộc đời mà cách nhìn của chúng ta về một quyển sách sẽ khác đi nhiều.
Đây là một cuốn sách thú vị cho những ai muốn thoát khỏi những nỗi đau của con người
Cuốn truyện là một bộ sưu tập các nỗi đau dường như k thể chịu đựng nổi (unbearable pain) của nhân vật chính - bị mất người yêu thương, bị phản bội, bị lừa dối, bị cướp mất những gì mình có... Cách viết của tác giả vô cùng gần gũi, chắc hẳn mỗi chúng ta sẽ tìm thấy sự đồng cảm và nhìn thấy bản thân mình trong đó.
Nhiều người nói đọc sách sẽ làm giàu cho cuộc sống, nhưng mình nghĩ cuộc sống của chúng ta cũng làm giàu trải nghiệm khi bạn đọc một cuốn sách. Nhờ những biến cố trong cuộc đời mà cách nhìn của chúng ta về một quyển sách sẽ khác đi nhiều.
Đây là một cuốn sách thú vị cho những ai muốn thoát khỏi những nỗi đau của con người
July 15, 2010
Well...I finished it. I just kept hoping I'd start liking it more than I actually did. I've read comments that the writer was so good at writing the way a woman talks/thinks/feels but to be honest, to me, I felt like I was reading a man writing a woman. Nothing good happens to this poor woman in the book. She's not all that likable. The dialog is pretentious at times. It is as if the writer was overly impressed with his own vocabulary. I understand the woman was a professor..but please.
I would not recommend this book unless you are just trapped with nothing else to read. It was okay but there are so many other books to read.
I would not recommend this book unless you are just trapped with nothing else to read. It was okay but there are so many other books to read.
May 28, 2011
First off, I felt like I was reading four different books here due to the 4 distinctly different and not so cohesive story lines.
Secondly, the author focused waaaaay too much on what it was like to work in the main character's various jobs. No reader needs or wants to know that much about the mundaneness of someone's job.
Lastly, I was annoyed at how the main character just kept falling into various opportunities to become rich. Does that really happen?
This book just really didn't do it for me - I was expecting something completely different.
Secondly, the author focused waaaaay too much on what it was like to work in the main character's various jobs. No reader needs or wants to know that much about the mundaneness of someone's job.
Lastly, I was annoyed at how the main character just kept falling into various opportunities to become rich. Does that really happen?
This book just really didn't do it for me - I was expecting something completely different.
October 26, 2020
Nevoită să fie un martor mut la disputele gălăgioase ale părinților ei, Jane Howard e hotărâtă să nu se căsătorească niciodată și mai ales să nu aibă nici un copil pentru a nu risca ca acesta să fie implicat în eventuale conflicte ale adulților. Astfel că, atunci când împlinește 13 ani și participă la o cină în cinstea aniversării, Jane, prinsă din nou la mijlocul discuțiile dintre părinți , răbufnește și își declară dorința. Poate că ar fi putut fi un semnal de alarmă pentru cei doi părinți, dar declarația fetei schimbă dinamica familiei . Tatăl realizează că fiica lui a avut curajul să spună lucrurile pe nume și își părăsește familia, astfel că Jane a fost nevoită să suporte reproșurile mamei care o consideră principala vinovată a rupturii căsniciei. Dezamăgită de reactiile adulților din viata ei și fiind tot mai convinsă că iubirea și mai ales căsătoria pot strivi spiritul unei persoane, Jane pășește în viață hotărâtă să nu repete aceste greșeli. De fapt, toate relațiile ei amoroase au fost construite după reguli bine stabilite. Se apropie de profesorul ei de la facultate, un bărbat incredibil de cerebral si de atrăgător care suferea- un adevărat afrofidisiac după cum ea îl descrie, dar mai ales, însurat. Își stabilește reguli clare, alungă sentimentele nocive de gelozie și se bucură de relație, considerându-se că astfel este la adăpost. Numai că, viața are propriile reguli, și dintr-o dată, Jane de trezește în mijlocul unui coșmar, singură și pierdută. Marcată de tatăl absent și chinuită de mama hipercritică, Jane își schimbă dramatic viața îndreptându-se spre domeniul financiar. Doar că, în goana ei după iubirea părinților, pierde din nou totul. Pornește din nou la drum, un nou început, o nouă slujbă, un nou partener ce pare perfect pentru o relație ce nu include căsnicia. " Nu căutăm oare adesea pe cineva care a călătorit prin același peisaj emoțional răvășit și care ne cucerește astfel fără probleme?La o primă strigare, puteam să jur că mizeria familială comună- și felul în care amândoi ne-am smuls din mizeria ei- însemna că Theo e potrivit pentru mine, așa cum eu eram potrivită pentru el. " Numai că, din nou, viața are un alt punct de vedere.
Nu pleca, încorporează toate temerile unui suflet chinuit de vinovăție și implicit toată greutatea pe care o simte un copil, chiar și adult fiind, a frustrărilor părinților. Iar mama ei, e un personaj care te poate irita atât de tare încât îți vine să urli de frustrare. O detești și în același îți e milă de ea. Îi asculți punctul de vedere și rămâi fără grai. E un personaj în fața căruia nu ai nici o putere. " Odată ce a îmbrățișat minciuna, nimic din ceea ce spui, faci sau dovedești nu-l va mai putea schimba. Minciuna devine pentru el adevăr- iar această realitate nu poate fi distrusă."
Poate că " Nu pleca" nu e o poveste inedită, dar felul în care e scrisă pe mine m-a cucerit. Mi-a plăcut enorm pasiunea cu care autorul și-a prezentat persoanele și mediul în care își joacă rolul. Ascunși printre cearșafurile în care cei doi amanți și-au trăit iubirea, eu ca cititor m-am bucurat și de dispute literare, toate într-un limbaj și stil care te poate intimida. În același timp, odată pășiți în domeniul financiar, am uitat de tot de profunzimea discursurile literare și am pășit într-o lume diametral opusă, în care banul este Dumnezeu și nimeni nu are timp de politețuri inutile. " Bambi nu poate fi manager de fonduri de hedging. Și nici Lupul cel Mare și Rău, pentru că dobitocul a fost păcălit de trei porci. Noi avem nevoie de oameni realiști și duri." Și acestea nu sunt singurele exemple, căci Douglas Kennedy împreună cu personajele lui ne duce în lumea filmului sau a muzicii clasice, iar aceste incursiuni sunt făcute asumat și cu o pasiune demnă de admirație.
Sincer, nu prea am înțeles de ce spre final autorul a plusat, inutil mi s-a părut mie, făcând din Jane o eroină într-o aventură ieșită parcă din scenariul cărții. Pentru mine era suficient și așa, simplă, sinceră și umană.
" Oare la asta se reduce fericirea? Un moment suspendat în timp, când puteai să fugi de tine însăți? Când lăsai în urmă lucrurile care te bântuiau, furându-ți somnul și-ți aminteai că existența temporală era de o frumusețe răpitoare? Oare vântul și frigul ucigător- alături de valurile zgomotoase- erau menite să-mi aducă aminte că simplul fapt de a mă găsi acolo reprezenta o sursă a fericirii în sine? "
Nu pleca, încorporează toate temerile unui suflet chinuit de vinovăție și implicit toată greutatea pe care o simte un copil, chiar și adult fiind, a frustrărilor părinților. Iar mama ei, e un personaj care te poate irita atât de tare încât îți vine să urli de frustrare. O detești și în același îți e milă de ea. Îi asculți punctul de vedere și rămâi fără grai. E un personaj în fața căruia nu ai nici o putere. " Odată ce a îmbrățișat minciuna, nimic din ceea ce spui, faci sau dovedești nu-l va mai putea schimba. Minciuna devine pentru el adevăr- iar această realitate nu poate fi distrusă."
Poate că " Nu pleca" nu e o poveste inedită, dar felul în care e scrisă pe mine m-a cucerit. Mi-a plăcut enorm pasiunea cu care autorul și-a prezentat persoanele și mediul în care își joacă rolul. Ascunși printre cearșafurile în care cei doi amanți și-au trăit iubirea, eu ca cititor m-am bucurat și de dispute literare, toate într-un limbaj și stil care te poate intimida. În același timp, odată pășiți în domeniul financiar, am uitat de tot de profunzimea discursurile literare și am pășit într-o lume diametral opusă, în care banul este Dumnezeu și nimeni nu are timp de politețuri inutile. " Bambi nu poate fi manager de fonduri de hedging. Și nici Lupul cel Mare și Rău, pentru că dobitocul a fost păcălit de trei porci. Noi avem nevoie de oameni realiști și duri." Și acestea nu sunt singurele exemple, căci Douglas Kennedy împreună cu personajele lui ne duce în lumea filmului sau a muzicii clasice, iar aceste incursiuni sunt făcute asumat și cu o pasiune demnă de admirație.
Sincer, nu prea am înțeles de ce spre final autorul a plusat, inutil mi s-a părut mie, făcând din Jane o eroină într-o aventură ieșită parcă din scenariul cărții. Pentru mine era suficient și așa, simplă, sinceră și umană.
" Oare la asta se reduce fericirea? Un moment suspendat în timp, când puteai să fugi de tine însăți? Când lăsai în urmă lucrurile care te bântuiau, furându-ți somnul și-ți aminteai că existența temporală era de o frumusețe răpitoare? Oare vântul și frigul ucigător- alături de valurile zgomotoase- erau menite să-mi aducă aminte că simplul fapt de a mă găsi acolo reprezenta o sursă a fericirii în sine? "
January 17, 2018
I enjoyed the very beginning and parts of the middle of this book, though the ending took quite a twist and turn from the original emotion of the narrative to a suspenseful heroine type feel. It left me a little perplexed and a feeling that I didn't quite recognize the main character as who she was in the beginning. Which this could be exactly what the author intended. However it was done a little disjointedly or maybe the drama of it all was just too cheesy. Most of all I didn't like the Professor's character. She was too knowledgeable on every topic spoken of, she is too quick to shut everyone out of her life as if she is the only sufferer. Only in the end does she embrace another because of his past sufferings. Overall it's just too over the top, too convenient and too designed for my liking.
June 11, 2010
This was a whim purchase while in the supermarket (darn them for stocking books, lol, I can never leave without picking one up!) Turns out it was a good whim, as the book was thoroughly enjoyable.
It does take quite a while to pick up though as the first 100 odd pages are quite slow and wordy. After that though, I became really engrossed and found myself wanting to read it through quickly to find out what happens!
I did find the addition of Jane, the central character, solving a crime, completely unbelievable, especially as that part of the story didn't really have any build up. It felt like the author had run out of a plotline there and put in something from another story!
But, they are just slight critisicms, as it didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of the book.
It does take quite a while to pick up though as the first 100 odd pages are quite slow and wordy. After that though, I became really engrossed and found myself wanting to read it through quickly to find out what happens!
I did find the addition of Jane, the central character, solving a crime, completely unbelievable, especially as that part of the story didn't really have any build up. It felt like the author had run out of a plotline there and put in something from another story!
But, they are just slight critisicms, as it didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of the book.
April 12, 2020
"Đôi khi bất hạnh ấp tới không phải như một cơn bão đơn độc, mà liên tiếp như sóng dồn. Đôi khi sau tất cả, những gì còn lại chỉ là ước nguyện được biến mất vĩnh viễn" - những suy nghĩ là của Jane - nhân vật chính trong cuốn tiểu thuyết, một phụ nữ chịu nhiều bi kịch, mất mát rồi lại hàn gắn rồi lại tuyệt vọng rồi lại tự mình vực dậy. Cuốn tiểu thuyết là câu chuyện về những vật lộn của cô trong cuốc sống đầy sóng gió, về những nỗi đau tưởng chừng không thể nguôi ngoai, không thể nào vượt qua. Cuốn tiểu thuyết thực sự phù hợp cho những ngày cuối tuần lặng lẽ, nhâm nhi một tách trà, đọc từng trang sách, trải qua với nhân vật từng cung bậc cảm xúc để rồi cuối cùng sau tất cả là sự an nhiên, là tự nói với bản thân rằng nỗi đau nào rồi cũng sẽ qua và cảm thấy đâu đó niềm hi vọng rằng một ngày đó họ sẽ lại cảm thấy hạnh phúc.
July 7, 2018
I read so many good reviews about Douglas Kennedy, so I decided to read this novel, sadly this is one of the books for me personally that didn't hold my attention. But I certainly would read other books by this author.
January 31, 2019
Een dik boek wat ik een paar keer wilde opgeven om verder te lezen. Toch kwam er soms weer een aparte wending waardoor ik weer verder las. Op die manier mij door het boek heen geworsteld. Nu snel naar een ander boek....
January 29, 2018
"Acesta e destinul. O înşiruire aleatorie de particule, care te duce în locuri în care nu te-ai imaginat vreodată."
February 11, 2024
Ok. Bit depressing. Last 100 pages the best part.
November 3, 2025
Excellent livre à lire mais trop détaillé par moment
December 24, 2010
On her 13th birthday, Jane tells her continually-fighting parents that she never will marry, or have children. The next day her father leaves them, and her mother blames her statement. Jane carries this guilt with her through her life. This lengthy book is an engaging journey through Jane's life, college, relationships, loves, and trials. I could not wait to get back to reading to see what happened next, and it was full of surprises.
The male author did a great job of telling the entire story from Jane's female point of view. Quite amazing. I think I may find another of his books to read...
Favorite Quotes:
"Everyone to their own destiny." p 6
"Maybe your father wouldn't have packed his bags. Maybe the bad feelings he was having about the marriage might have passed. We're so often on the verge of walking out or giving up or saying that it's all not worth it. But without a trigger...that 'something' which sends us over the edge..." p 8
"As she drifted into this chemical stupor, I could only think: Now you can fade away from what you just said...but I have to live on with it." p 9
"But---as I've come to discover---there is a profound, vast gulf between 'undersatnding' something that completely changes the contours of your life and 'accepting' the terrible reality of that situation. The rational side fo your brain is always trumped by an angry, overwrought voice. It's a voice railing at the unfairness of life, at the awful things we do to ourselves and each other; a voice which then insidiously whispers: "And maybe it's all your fault." p 9
"If we don't want to lose something...someone...we always want to believe the declarations of others, even if we privately doubt them. We all talk about how much we hate lies. Yet we prefer, so often, to be lied to...because it allows us to dodge all those painful truths we'd rather not hear." p 25
"Nobody gets away lightly in life. And the moment you think you've arrived is the moment that it all goes wrong." p 32
"...for being such a closed book, just like your father."
"Dad. I so wanted his approval, his interest. But I still adopted his closed-book way of dealing with the world. Maybe the distance I kept between myself and others was simply a modus vivendi, because it kept so much chaos at bay and because it meant I knew how to guard against intrusion or prying eyes or even a cross-examination by my best friend."
"You know what the big differnece between us is?" "Enlighten me."
"I reveal everything, you reveal nothing."
"A secret remains a secret until you tell somebody. From that moment on, it's in the public domain."
"If you don't trust anyone, don't you end up feeling lonely?"
"Everything has a price."
But the harboring of secrets also has its virtues. p 38
"All that you don't want, but refuse to walk away from. Isn't that known as a paradox?" p 40
"We try so hard to put our mark on things, we like to tell ourselves that what we do has import or will last. But the truth is, we're all just passing through. So little survives us. And when we're gone, it's simply the memory of others that keeps our time here alive. And when they're gone......" p 57
"Clothes have a language, reflecting your sense of self, your class and education, your aspirations and the image you wish to present to the world." p 76
"Why this need for such a rigid schedule? Discipline is all abou tthe imposition of control---the belief that, by following a precise regine and avoiding distractions, you can somehow keep the disorder of life at bay." p 127
"God, how we are all prisoners of our own baggage. Why can we never really free ourselves from its malignant weight and the way it so dictates the way our lives map out?" p 127
"The lure of safety drags us into lives we'd prefer to dodge. p 130
"At that moment I sensed that I would never be able to win with this man. But what exactly was I trying to win? All domestic relationships become, in one way or another, exercises in power. Even if you tell yourself you're not trying to control another person, you are, in some way, trying to put your imprint onto the domestic situation. The maddening thing about Theo was that he would never really meet me halfway but would use stratagems that made me seem unreasonable and eventually allowed his way of operating to prevail. If I raised objections he would simply absent himself. He was playing a game similar to the one that my father practiced throughout his life: My way or the highway. Only unlike Dad, Theo got what he wanted through silence, stealth, and cunning. " p 198
"I'm going to tell you what my AA sponsor told me when I was coming off a binge. You can continue to convince yourself this sort of behavior is normal and skid off the edge of the cliff. Or you can stop it and save yourself." p 431
The male author did a great job of telling the entire story from Jane's female point of view. Quite amazing. I think I may find another of his books to read...
Favorite Quotes:
"Everyone to their own destiny." p 6
"Maybe your father wouldn't have packed his bags. Maybe the bad feelings he was having about the marriage might have passed. We're so often on the verge of walking out or giving up or saying that it's all not worth it. But without a trigger...that 'something' which sends us over the edge..." p 8
"As she drifted into this chemical stupor, I could only think: Now you can fade away from what you just said...but I have to live on with it." p 9
"But---as I've come to discover---there is a profound, vast gulf between 'undersatnding' something that completely changes the contours of your life and 'accepting' the terrible reality of that situation. The rational side fo your brain is always trumped by an angry, overwrought voice. It's a voice railing at the unfairness of life, at the awful things we do to ourselves and each other; a voice which then insidiously whispers: "And maybe it's all your fault." p 9
"If we don't want to lose something...someone...we always want to believe the declarations of others, even if we privately doubt them. We all talk about how much we hate lies. Yet we prefer, so often, to be lied to...because it allows us to dodge all those painful truths we'd rather not hear." p 25
"Nobody gets away lightly in life. And the moment you think you've arrived is the moment that it all goes wrong." p 32
"...for being such a closed book, just like your father."
"Dad. I so wanted his approval, his interest. But I still adopted his closed-book way of dealing with the world. Maybe the distance I kept between myself and others was simply a modus vivendi, because it kept so much chaos at bay and because it meant I knew how to guard against intrusion or prying eyes or even a cross-examination by my best friend."
"You know what the big differnece between us is?" "Enlighten me."
"I reveal everything, you reveal nothing."
"A secret remains a secret until you tell somebody. From that moment on, it's in the public domain."
"If you don't trust anyone, don't you end up feeling lonely?"
"Everything has a price."
But the harboring of secrets also has its virtues. p 38
"All that you don't want, but refuse to walk away from. Isn't that known as a paradox?" p 40
"We try so hard to put our mark on things, we like to tell ourselves that what we do has import or will last. But the truth is, we're all just passing through. So little survives us. And when we're gone, it's simply the memory of others that keeps our time here alive. And when they're gone......" p 57
"Clothes have a language, reflecting your sense of self, your class and education, your aspirations and the image you wish to present to the world." p 76
"Why this need for such a rigid schedule? Discipline is all abou tthe imposition of control---the belief that, by following a precise regine and avoiding distractions, you can somehow keep the disorder of life at bay." p 127
"God, how we are all prisoners of our own baggage. Why can we never really free ourselves from its malignant weight and the way it so dictates the way our lives map out?" p 127
"The lure of safety drags us into lives we'd prefer to dodge. p 130
"At that moment I sensed that I would never be able to win with this man. But what exactly was I trying to win? All domestic relationships become, in one way or another, exercises in power. Even if you tell yourself you're not trying to control another person, you are, in some way, trying to put your imprint onto the domestic situation. The maddening thing about Theo was that he would never really meet me halfway but would use stratagems that made me seem unreasonable and eventually allowed his way of operating to prevail. If I raised objections he would simply absent himself. He was playing a game similar to the one that my father practiced throughout his life: My way or the highway. Only unlike Dad, Theo got what he wanted through silence, stealth, and cunning. " p 198
"I'm going to tell you what my AA sponsor told me when I was coming off a binge. You can continue to convince yourself this sort of behavior is normal and skid off the edge of the cliff. Or you can stop it and save yourself." p 431
November 21, 2017
My first book by this author and I was disappointed, despite the fact that the character of Jane we see growing in the book is endearing.
August 1, 2011
Sam de Brito is a favourite Melbourne Age columnist. I loved, but not necessarily agreed with, a recent scribing on his part about a certain type of woman he scathingly labelled 'the princess' - "...highly groomed, rarely seen out of high heels or air-conditioning , the princess smells good, tastes even better but, like taffy stuck to your back molar, soon starts a poisonous throb in your jaw." - the same sort of throb I had in ploughing through Douglas' novel about a most unappealing 'renaissance woman' in Jane.
Now previously Kennedy was my go to man when I simply wanted a good, non-taxing story. He's delivered these for me in spades before - from the Australian Outback to Parisian boudoirs his novels provide the goods - well written wihout aspirations to immortality, and always giving the necessary encouragement to actually finish. This one was a struggle though so unbelievably ridiculous was its alpha-woman.Tediously unlucky in love, but incredibly lucky in vocation, Jane swaggered between jobs. From mesmerising university lecturer in American poetry to stocks and bonds wheeler-dealer to the fastest rising librarian in Canadian history to serial killer tracker extraordinaire, the limits of her expertise knew no bounds, despite no formal training in all bar the first mentioned. Throw in a mental breakdown and suicide attempt for good measure, nothing convinced in this novel - it was all beyong the limits of my believability. The loss of a child is of course one's worst nightmare, but in Jane's case this reader muttered under his breath 'lucky child' on its demise so lacking in empathy was I to her situation.
Is there a point to presenting such an unattractive, over-wrought main protagonist - and some of the lesser participants were pretty foul as well. This was 'The Slap' without the redeeming allure of classy writing - just a dull plod.
This reader followed the journey to the end encouraged by an attractive character in recovering alcoholic Vern - would she be redeemed by him?
I've given Kennedy the latitude of one aberation and ordered his latest in which I trust he lifts his game. We all can err - just don't do it again Douglas!
Now previously Kennedy was my go to man when I simply wanted a good, non-taxing story. He's delivered these for me in spades before - from the Australian Outback to Parisian boudoirs his novels provide the goods - well written wihout aspirations to immortality, and always giving the necessary encouragement to actually finish. This one was a struggle though so unbelievably ridiculous was its alpha-woman.Tediously unlucky in love, but incredibly lucky in vocation, Jane swaggered between jobs. From mesmerising university lecturer in American poetry to stocks and bonds wheeler-dealer to the fastest rising librarian in Canadian history to serial killer tracker extraordinaire, the limits of her expertise knew no bounds, despite no formal training in all bar the first mentioned. Throw in a mental breakdown and suicide attempt for good measure, nothing convinced in this novel - it was all beyong the limits of my believability. The loss of a child is of course one's worst nightmare, but in Jane's case this reader muttered under his breath 'lucky child' on its demise so lacking in empathy was I to her situation.
Is there a point to presenting such an unattractive, over-wrought main protagonist - and some of the lesser participants were pretty foul as well. This was 'The Slap' without the redeeming allure of classy writing - just a dull plod.
This reader followed the journey to the end encouraged by an attractive character in recovering alcoholic Vern - would she be redeemed by him?
I've given Kennedy the latitude of one aberation and ordered his latest in which I trust he lifts his game. We all can err - just don't do it again Douglas!
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