So, this was a fun read. Not really, because it was about death, but it was decent-ish. I'm kind of torn about this book. I made the mistake of reading other reviews on Goodreads and they weren't particularly kind to the author. Reviewers told me that the author was quite self-centered and rather annoying. With that now in my head I also began to see the author as self-centered and annoying,
somewhat. I'll also admit that I thought this book was something completely different. I put this on my Goodreads list in 2012, and into my Summer reading list probably sometime in 2014. Sometimes when I put books on my list and check them out from the library I rarely read or lookup what the book is about. I believed this book to be a memoir of an abandoned child, someone whose father left and how that impacted their life. That turned out not to be the case because it was the memoir of a 9/11 widow.
Lucky—that’s how Jennifer would describe herself. She had a successful law career, met the love of her life in Doug, married him, had an apartment in New York City, a house in the Hamptons, two beautiful children, and was still madly in love after nearly seven years of marriage. Jennifer was living the kind of idyllic life that clichés are made of.
Until Doug was killed in the attacks on the World Trade Center, and she became a widow at age thirty-five—a “9/11 widow,” no less, a member of a select group bound by sorrow, of which she wanted no part. Though completely devastated, Jennifer still considered herself blessed. Doug had loved her enough to last her a lifetime, and after his sudden death, she was done with the idea of romantic love—fully resigned to being a widowed single mother . . . until a chance encounter with a gregarious stranger changed everything. Without a clue how to handle this unexpected turn of events, Jennifer faced the question asked by anyone who has ever lost a loved one: Is it really possible to feel joy again, let alone love?
With unvarnished emotion and clear-eyed sardonic humor, Jennifer tells an ordinary woman’s extraordinary tale of unimaginable loss, resilience, friendship, love, and healing—which is also New York City’s narrative in the wake of September 11. Where You Left Me is an unlikely love story, a quintessentially New York story—at once Jennifer’s tribute to the city that gave her everything and proof that second chances are possible.
While I did think at the time she named dropped a bit about the restaurants she liked and where she lived (Upper West Side/Hampton's), that honestly didn't bother me much. What bothered me was she seemed completely unworried about how they would survive financially. Yes I understand that her husband was a Senior Executive at Cantor Fitzgerald, but did they really have that much in savings? I think maybe I'm just too poor to understand that logic, because I know if I was in her situation I would be wondering how I would support my family now that my husband was gone.
The drifting in and out of past memories and present tense annoyed me. I'm one of those people that if you're going to talk about the past then make that a separate part of the book. Like a separate chapter or show some sort of separation within in the page or italicize. Don't just start a new sentence where I have no idea where you are, what time it is, and who you are talking too. I think that bothered me more than her talking about her lunches and spin classes. I'm big on structure, even though when I write these posts I'm all over the place, but I like what I like!
We also just kind of just jumped right into 9/11. While I appreciate not spending too long on her childhood or some boring college shenanigans, we went from a snowstorm in '96 which was half a page to the towers coming down. Um what? I knew she was married to the guy from the snowstorm (Doug) and that she took their kids to preschool the morning of, but there wasn't much else on their relationship. We went from zero to 100 in about a page and half. I guess it really isn't something to complain about, but I'm assuming she did have an editor, so I don't know what they were being paid for.
Was the story good? Yes, I've actually never read a 9/11 memoir, so it was eye-opening to read about one person/families journey out of the darkness. I admire her strength to tell this story and to remember the legacy of her late husband. I was also so surprised that she was able to find someone so soon (almost a year) after Doug's murder. Not that a widow should never date again, but I appreciated how patient her current husband Derek is with her. I mean he was all in from the first meeting in July 2002. It was a nice ending to the tragedy that her and Doug's children endured. I cannot imagine becoming a widow with 2 children at the age of 35, but she persevered.
I'm torn on the final grade for this book. I'm not sure that it deserves an F because it wasn't completely awful, but it could've had more to it? I don't even know if it could have anything added to it because really there wasn't much to add. Hmmm, I guess my final grade would be a C-? I feel bad giving it any less than that. It's a short, easy read, and if you like your tragedy/perseverance stories than probably add it to your list, if not you aren't missing anything. That's all for now!
Lucky—that’s how Jennifer would describe herself. She had a successful law career, met the love of her life in Doug, married him, had an apartment in New York City, a house in the Hamptons, two beautiful children, and was still madly in love after nearly seven years of marriage. Jennifer was living the kind of idyllic life that clichés are made of.
Until Doug was killed in the attacks on the World Trade Center, and she became a widow at age thirty-five—a “9/11 widow,” no less, a member of a select group bound by sorrow, of which she wanted no part. Though completely devastated, Jennifer still considered herself blessed. Doug had loved her enough to last her a lifetime, and after his sudden death, she was done with the idea of romantic love—fully resigned to being a widowed single mother . . . until a chance encounter with a gregarious stranger changed everything. Without a clue how to handle this unexpected turn of events, Jennifer faced the question asked by anyone who has ever lost a loved one: Is it really possible to feel joy again, let alone love?
With unvarnished emotion and clear-eyed sardonic humor, Jennifer tells an ordinary woman’s extraordinary tale of unimaginable loss, resilience, friendship, love, and healing—which is also New York City’s narrative in the wake of September 11. Where You Left Me is an unlikely love story, a quintessentially New York story—at once Jennifer’s tribute to the city that gave her everything and proof that second chances are possible.
While I did think at the time she named dropped a bit about the restaurants she liked and where she lived (Upper West Side/Hampton's), that honestly didn't bother me much. What bothered me was she seemed completely unworried about how they would survive financially. Yes I understand that her husband was a Senior Executive at Cantor Fitzgerald, but did they really have that much in savings? I think maybe I'm just too poor to understand that logic, because I know if I was in her situation I would be wondering how I would support my family now that my husband was gone.
The drifting in and out of past memories and present tense annoyed me. I'm one of those people that if you're going to talk about the past then make that a separate part of the book. Like a separate chapter or show some sort of separation within in the page or italicize. Don't just start a new sentence where I have no idea where you are, what time it is, and who you are talking too. I think that bothered me more than her talking about her lunches and spin classes. I'm big on structure, even though when I write these posts I'm all over the place, but I like what I like!
We also just kind of just jumped right into 9/11. While I appreciate not spending too long on her childhood or some boring college shenanigans, we went from a snowstorm in '96 which was half a page to the towers coming down. Um what? I knew she was married to the guy from the snowstorm (Doug) and that she took their kids to preschool the morning of, but there wasn't much else on their relationship. We went from zero to 100 in about a page and half. I guess it really isn't something to complain about, but I'm assuming she did have an editor, so I don't know what they were being paid for.
Was the story good? Yes, I've actually never read a 9/11 memoir, so it was eye-opening to read about one person/families journey out of the darkness. I admire her strength to tell this story and to remember the legacy of her late husband. I was also so surprised that she was able to find someone so soon (almost a year) after Doug's murder. Not that a widow should never date again, but I appreciated how patient her current husband Derek is with her. I mean he was all in from the first meeting in July 2002. It was a nice ending to the tragedy that her and Doug's children endured. I cannot imagine becoming a widow with 2 children at the age of 35, but she persevered.
I'm torn on the final grade for this book. I'm not sure that it deserves an F because it wasn't completely awful, but it could've had more to it? I don't even know if it could have anything added to it because really there wasn't much to add. Hmmm, I guess my final grade would be a C-? I feel bad giving it any less than that. It's a short, easy read, and if you like your tragedy/perseverance stories than probably add it to your list, if not you aren't missing anything. That's all for now!
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