Labor Day in Q&A with Joyce Maynard

Jun 30, 2009 Kasa Cotugno rated it really liked it

Shelves: author-visit

There is a metaphor at the heart of this book, that of the creation of an upper crust for a peach pie and the difficulties encountered when the hands are shaky and the weather is humid. It must be handled delicately and involves a little magic. Such magic is present when a stranger who also happens to be an escaped convict lands in the house of a 13 year old self-described "loser" and his agoraphobic mother, both of whom could use a great deal of help. If the setup sounds a little too facile, th ...more

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Jul 30, 2009 Laurel-Rain rated it it was amazing

From the very beginning of “Labor Day,” the reader is immersed in the mind, emotions and everyday life of a thirteen-year-old boy during one memorable Labor Day weekend. All told from the first-person narrator Henry.

Living in a small New Hampshire town, Henry is miserably aware of his limitations and those of his family members—from his mother, who is almost an agoraphobic, to his father whose new family with his new wife and new kids has no idea how to relate to him. Their stilted Saturday even From the very beginning of “Labor Day,” the reader is immersed in the mind, emotions and everyday life of a thirteen-year-old boy during one memorable Labor Day weekend. All told from the first-person narrator Henry.

Living in a small New Hampshire town, Henry is miserably aware of his limitations and those of his family members—from his mother, who is almost an agoraphobic, to his father whose new family with his new wife and new kids has no idea how to relate to him. Their stilted Saturday evenings out seem excruciating, and yet returning home to the mother whose need for him is almost too much…well, Henry is ripe for something extraordinary... something that will completely turn his world on end.

And then, at the Pricemart store early in that Labor Day weekend, the totally unexpected thing happens. First of all, it is very unusual for Henry and his mother to be out at all. His mother Adele avoids stores to the point that when she does go out, she usually buys enough provisions to stock up, therefore avoiding another such outing for many weeks…or months.

Therefore, it’s almost a quirk of fate, the two of them being in the store that day—it’s a last-minute clothes-buying expedition for Henry.

So when the man, bleeding and injured, approaches Henry, asking for help, it is such a fluke that of all the people this man could approach, Henry would be there for the encounter. And from that moment on, events tumble forward into such an unlikely scenario that the reader is drawn in and inevitably mesmerized by the unfolding moments.

We see the story unfold gradually, however, as the narrator takes us back and forth, filling us in on the backstory of each of the characters, helping us understand the context in which we find ourselves.

And then, almost like a slow crescendo, everything builds to the dramatic ending.

That’s all I’m going to say about the plot, lest I spoil it for the readers. Suffice it to say that the way you perceive certain things in life may never be the same again.

Afterwards, we are gifted with a few scenes of Henry’s life in adulthood, looking back on that summer weekend and how everything affected him—and not just negatively. We see how one incident of piecrust making with a stranger impacts Henry so much that he becomes a master chef as an adult. We discover how all of the events shaped his feelings about love, passion, betrayal…and how the haunting consequences of one weekend informed so much of his life in the years to come.

As I turned the last page, I wanted more…more about these characters and the events afterward; more of their experiences, living life through their eyes for just a little bit longer. They felt like friends…or possibly neighbors.

I will not forget this story.

...more

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Aug 18, 2010 Susan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I can't rave enough about this book. The novel is about 13 year old boy. He goes shopping with his mother. A man that has blood on his jeans starts talking to him. We learn that he has escaped from jail. He's mother takes him home. This involves the labor day weekend. These 5 days are the best days of the young boy's adolescence. The mother and the boy live a lonely existence.

I received this novel from book club girl for blog talk radio that will be on August 30th. If you are interested tune in ...more

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Aug 08, 2010 Tamye rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: family-drama, fiction-adult

This book, which takes place over the course of five days, was compulsively readable. It's narrated by Henry, a lonely, friendless thirteen year old boy who lives with his emotionally fragile, long-divorced mother, Adele. Henry spends most of his time watching television, reading and daydreaming, but everything changes on the Thursday before the Labor Day weekend, when a mysterious, bleeding man named Frank asks him for help. Over the next five days, Henry learns some valuable lessons about jeal ...more

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Jan 03, 2010 Abigail rated it it was amazing

I read this book in a few days. I couldn't put it down. I found the story line very interesting, and I couldn't wait to see what would happen. The story is about what happened to a 13 year old boy named Henry during labor day weekend. The book is narrated by him when he is younger and as an adult.

Henry is a misfit who lives with his depressed and slightly mentally unstable mother. On a rare shopping trip to a store, they are approached by an injured man (a prison escapee) who talks them into tak ...more

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Jan 18, 2010 Kathryn rated it liked it

An escaped convict holes up with an isolated divorced mother and her 13-year old son over Labor Day weekend and changes their lives for the better, at least from the perspective of the son looking back on that weekend 18 years later. The son's perspective is what made me enjoy this book. I am a total sucker for adolescent viewpoints and Henry's hits the mark. ...more

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