Places to Stay the Night

by Ann Hood

While dissatisfied Libby Harper abandons her husband, her two children, and the town of Holly for something better, frenetic New Yorker Renata Handy returns to Holly to heal her ill child

Genres: Fiction

275 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Ann Hood is the editor of Knitting Yarns: Writers on Knitting and the bestselling author of The Book That Matters Most, The Knitting Circle, The Red Thread, Comfort, and An Italian Wife, among other works. She is the recipient of two Pushcart Prizes, a Best American Spiritual Writing Award, a Best American Food Writing Award, a Best American Travel Writing Award, and the Paul Bowles Prize for Short Fiction. She lives in Providence, Rhode Island.

Reviews

[Lucy Andrews-Cummin]

I hate posting a negative review especially as I know Hood has fans. Basically, it is my fault for picking it up!

Where to start? I broke my own rule here, by the way, of keeping on with a book I knew I would rate below 3 stars. I couldn't put it down because I needed to see if the various transgressions, contradictions and omissions continued throughout.

Book is set in small town Massachusetts, out in the Berkshires, not far from Lee and Amherst etc. You have a stock local glam couple, the homecoming queen and football prince who married years ago. She was pregnant, wanted to leave small town, he convinced her to stay and marry him. At 36 she decides to go, to find out what she has missed before it is completely too late. For years she has either ignored her children or indulged them with perfect birthday parties, you choose because it is one of the endlessly contradictions presented by Hood. The novel opens with a sad sexual encounter -- you are supposed to think this couple never enjoyed each other, but later a slow and satisfying encounter is described . . . but then later the woman has her first "great" experience with the lover she takes on in L.A. . . . the contradictions abound. A woman with a daughter who has a brain tumor moves from NYC "back" to this town. But NOTHING is ever mentioned, not. one. thing. about her family -- where did she live back then? Who were they? Where are they now? In fact that is another of the weirdnesses in the book -- no grandma or grandma surviving for characters in a novel setting where people marry young and no one is older than mid-thirties . . . Unless properly explained, it is just not believable. The husband has a sister, but she's mostly an afterthought. Ah well, I'm going on and on as is often the case with a book that somehow outrages my sensibilities. Is it bad editing? Careless planning by Hood? Am I too picky? Why did I keep on reading? Hood can actually write, that's why, so it is doubly, triply irritating that the book has such sloppy details. (I barely scratched the surface.) **1/2 which is generous.

[Judy]

This is a sad novel, full of characters who are all wishing to escape from Holly, Massachusetts, a town distinguished only by its Christmas time postmark. The couples in the book are mostly mismatched by class and confuse sex and love. Tom Harper and his wife Libby, the main characters and parents of Dana and Troy, grow apart as their children grow up. The story line of the book is largely about Tom and Libby's lives during their separation. The book ends on a note of wistful hopefulness.

Of the novels I have read so far by Ann Hood, this was my least favorite. I look forward to reading her first book, Somewhere Off the Coast of Maine.

[Cecilia]

I read this as part of a Literature of Place class in college. Why? Well, once you begin it, it will become clear. The small-town setting in Massachusetts becomes another character in this story, as does L.A. when one of the main characters, Libby, moves out there. She leaves behind her husband and teenage kids…allowing her husband Tom to fall for Renata, a former local and then New Yorker who has moved back home to small-town life. Hood’s vivid characterizations bring this story and its setting in New England to life.

[Janeen]

Yet again, Ann Hood delivers a fantastic story about finding yourself. The characters she introduces have dreams and wishes that don't always come true. The ending could have been wrapped up a little better but I was still able to understand what Hood wanted from the ending.

[Christine]

Ann Hood is terrific at capturing relationships and how they are shaped by need. This is one of her best books, although I like them all.

[Bamboozlepig]

It was an okay book. It kind of wandered around and the characters were occasionally a bit cliched, but wasn't too bad of a read.

[Eric Klee]

This is my 3rd (or is it 4th?) book by Ann Hood. I think she's a fantastic writer. At just over 200 pages, this novel is pretty short and a quick, easy read. Although the novel is short, Hood manages to develop the personalities of several characters within this limited span that some writers can't even do in a novel twice as long.

The story begins when Libby, a bored housewife, decides to up and leave her comfortable domestic life in her hometown in Massachusetts for something more glamorous in Los Angeles. She leaves behind her husband Tom that she's been with since high school, and her two teenage children. The story then steers away from Libby and focuses more on the people whose lives have been affected by her departure. It wasn't her intention, but with the loss, everyone (Libby included) manages to discover something about themselves. The lesson is learned: "Everyone has to take care of themselves." And that's what they do. They each learn and grow from the experience.

Throughout the novel, there's also interspersed a separate story about the "weirdo" Renata with whom Libby and Tom went to high school. Renata moved away to New York City after high school and is now moving back to Massachusetts for the health of her daughter. Her life becomes intertwined with Tom's after Libby's departure. She's a welcome character, and her story is interesting as well, as her life is affected by Libby, both in high school and now with the void that Libby left in her husband's life.

To me, the title of the novel represents "temporary homes." And that's what everyone in the novel seems to have: temporary homes until they can find their permanent place in the world that finally makes them happy.

My only disappointment is that I would have liked to have seen more of Libby in the novel, but she's used mostly as the catalyst the sparks everyone else to action with their own lives.

[Sherrida]

I read this book many years ago. I'm updating my book list through Goodreads.

Tom and Libby are high school sweethearts from a small town and marry right after graduation. They have a son and a daughter and both are well respected in the town, although we see that the family is slightly dysfunctional. Renata attended the same school but was always "odd" and leaves for New York right after graduation. Seventeen years later, Libby has suddenly left her family and set out for Las Angeles and Renata, with a terminally ill daughter, has returned "home". How will Tom and the kids cope with Libby's absence? Will Renata find the miracle she is hoping for?

[Carole Landry]

A thought provoking story by Ann Hood. Two families. Unhappy in your marriage? Serious illness threatening a child. Maybe the answer is to leave, escape the trouble and start over, reinvent yourself. But maybe not.

[Anatoly Molotkov]

In this early novel, Ann Hood studies a cast of unremarkable but very human characters in a small town: some want to escape, some to stay, and all deal with troubles and restrictions life has placed in their path. A compelling work from this multifaceted writer.

[Di]

One of those books you wish wouldn’t end

[Robyn Martin]

Audible

[Doug Nelson]

Slightly different. Hard to get in to it. Stayed with it. Last 1/3 of book made the first part worthwhile.

[Lisa Karim]

You can run away from your location but can never escape yourself and sometimes where you are is exactly where you’re supposed to be. Grapple with your inner turmoil until you find peace.

[Christina Mariani]

not as good as her other books

[Donnametal]

I was going to give this book 4 stars right up until the last chapter and then it went to 3 instead. I enjoyed reading the book and really become engrossed in the characters. But she ended the book too abruptly and I was frustrated with not knowing the present situation of the characters .

[Allison Renner]

I fell in love with this book, after thinking I wouldn't. It starts off slow, and you think you will side with the woman who is leaving her hometown and family to try for bigger and better things that she has been deprived of. You resent her husband and children for being ungrateful and tying her down. A third of the way in, you love the husband and completely understand how the children are feeling. Halfway through, you wonder what sort of woman could leave this behind. By the end, she is thinking as you do, and the book leaves you with tears drying on your cheeks and hope in the future.

[Rachel]

I've read two other Ann Hood novels (The Red Thread and The Knitting Circle) and LOVED both of them. If I'd read this book first I may never have picked up another Ann Hood book... and that would have been a huge mistake!

This book (in my opinion) is nothing like the others that I've read, I had so much trouble feeling anything for any of the main characters and while the premise of the story had a lot of merit and I could see where she was going with it I just didn't get sucked in...

[Stacey]

About a bunch of nondescript, regular people looking for meaning in their ordinary lives...I don't think they found any but the author tries hard to give meaning to even the littlest rebellions and to excuse outrageous behavior as 'finding truth'. Not really my cup of tea but came highly recommended.

[Colleen]

This is the story of Dana, a teenager abandones by her mother. It will toss you back into all the painful hyper-awareness of your teen years. Read this and you will never trivalize teenagers again. A story about dreams and how they come true, never in the was we'd planned. "her eyes are the color of bruises" "a mother would do this and be this for me" pg 151

[Ilona]

A decent plot, and people. Has a path that is believable. Everybody could grow.

[Dawn]

An okay book.

[Beth Ann]

two families lives fall apart. They find each other to help put back the pieces

[Stephanie Tuvera]

It was like a Sleeping Pill. I tried to read it in 4 different times, and I just end up hitting the couch and sleep.

[Kim]

I am giving thanks that this is over! I wasn't sure I'd make it to the end. I did like the ending, but it sure dragged in the middle (meaning over 80%).

[Frandrvc]

Nothing great and a bit disjointed with no ending.

[Maggie]

Slow, somewhat confusing read. Seems like the last chapter was left out of the book.

[Patricia Lane]

I like Ann Hood's work but this one didn't grab me. May try again at a later date.

[Susie]

Pleasant read - I didn't have any sympathy for the main character -- the mother who runs off to find herself abandoning her husband and children.

[Marcy]

Read this book many years ago but could not put it down