Anywhere but Here [Paperback]

Mona Simpson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 15, 1992

Anywhere But Here is a moving, often comic portrait of wise child Ann August and her mother, Adele, a larger-than-life American dreamer. As they travel through the landscape of their often conflicting ambitions, Ann and Adele bring to life a novel that is a brilliant exploration of the perennial urge to keep moving, even at the risk of profound disorientation. Simpson's first novel is ultimately a heart-rendering tale of a mother and daughter's invaluable relationship.

"The two women in this book are American originals. Ann is a new Huck Finn, a tough, funny, resourceful love of a girl. Adele is like no one I've encountered, at once deplorable and admirable--and altogether believable."
--Walker Percy

"Anywhere But Here is a wonder: big, complex, masterfully written, it's an achievement that lands [Simpson] in the front ranks of our best novelists."
--Newsweek

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"Strangers always love my mother," Ann August tells us at the start of Anywhere But Here. "And even if you hate her, can't stand her, even if she's ruining your life, there's something about her, some romance, some power. She's absolutely herself. No matter how hard you try, you'll never get to her. And when she dies, the world will be flat, too simple, reasonable, fair." Indeed, over the course of the dozen or so years chronicled in Mona Simpson's first novel, Ann and everyone else related to the charming, delusional Adele learn this the hard way. Ann does hate her at times; Adele does indeed come pretty close to ruining Ann's life on numerous occasions, or at least scarring it, and yet, ultimately, it isn't possible not to love her. As Ann puts it: "The thing about my mother and me is that when we get along we're just the same."

This is a woman who uproots her child from Wisconsin and moves to Los Angeles, leaving behind a dull husband (not Ann's father--who wandered off long ago but makes appearances here in memories), under the premise that life will be beautiful and Ann will become a famous television star. But her lifelong dream and goal ("It was our secret, a nighttime whispered promise" turns out, like so many things in the Augusts' lives, to be lackluster when it becomes reality. Adele merely feeds on fantasy and drags her daughter along.

Nevertheless, it's hard not to worship her. We hear from her mother, her sister, from Ann, and finally from Adele herself, and no matter how she's used people, what trouble she's gotten into, or what lies she's told--and there are plenty of all three--a certain amount of awe always remains. When we come upon Ann's proclamation that "it's always the people like my mother, who start the noise and bang things, who make you feel the worst; they are the ones who get your love." It's startling to realize how heartily we agree with her. Anywhere But Here gives truth to this statement in a way that few books ever have. It's dense with misery and amazement all tangled together--a realistic and thus rare portrait of love. --Melanie Rehak

From Publishers Weekly

Ann, the narrator of this engaging look at mother-daughter relationships, is uprooted from Bay City, Wis., by her mother, Adele, so that she can become a child star in Los Angeles. PW praised Simpson for her "grasp of human relationships and sheer readability."
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (January 15, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679737383
• ISBN-13: 978-0679737384
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.9 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (67 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #47,192 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mona Simpson was born in Green Bay, Wisconsin, then moved to Los Angeles as a young teenager. Her father was a recent immigrant from Syria and her mother was the daughter of a mink farmer and the first person in her family to attend college. Simpson went to Berkeley, where she studied poetry. She worked as a journalist before moving to New York to attend Columbia's MFA program. During graduate school, she published her first short stories in Ploughshares, The Iowa Review and Mademoiselle. She stayed in New York and worked as an editor at The Paris Review for five years while finishing her first novel. Anywhere But Here. After that, she wrote The Lost Father, A Regular Guy and Off Keck Road.

Her work has been awarded several prizes: a Whiting Prize, a Guggenheim, a grant from the NEA, a Hodder Fellowship from Princeton University, a Lila Wallace Readers Digest Prize, a Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize, a Pen Faulkner finalist, and most recently a Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

She worked ten years on My Hollywood. "It's the book that took me too long because it meant too much to me," she says.

Mona lives in Santa Monica with her two children and Bartelby the dog.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars There's something here, November 1, 1999

By 

Elizabeth Welch (Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Anywhere but Here (Paperback)

There's something very American about this novel. A lot of people probably thought there wasn't much to it, but really when you look at the daily ordinary occurances and tragedies of our lives, they don't always seem so profound. It's when you view them as a sum of their parts that you see the meaning. I've never read a book that painted a life, several lives, so vividly and realistically. I believe in Ann and Adele. The ending is perfect. Adele loved Ann the best that she could, and it was a reckless, selfish, hurtful love, but it was love. Call me crazy but there's something sort of beautiful about that.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Loved it, but not for everyone, November 26, 2001

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Anywhere but Here (Paperback)

I was fascinated by this book, but it's not for everybody. Anywhere But Here is a meandering portrait of a family, told from the point of view of three generations of women, with most of the text from the point of view of the youngest, Ann. It is a mosaic of her memories as a child and young adult, caught up in the vortex of her mother's desperate attempts to live the life she dreams of.

I was delighted by her ability to evoke the point of view of a child; I'd often have to pause as some long-forgotten memory came rushing back, triggered by an especially perceptive phrase. She conveys brilliantly the way that adults seem simulatneously completely familiar and entirely alien. For days after reading this, I saw everything in my life through that strange double vision wherein the viewpoint of the book is superimposed on my own.

So basically, I loved it. That said, you might not, especially if you own Precious Moments figurines, believe children are innocents, think that God is looking out for you, or are uncomfortable naked, even when alone. This book is immensely honest, and those who prefer to maintain their illusions should avoid it. Also avoid it if you need action; this book is about human lives, which don't have plots.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent, December 2, 2004

By 

Jamie Mays (Clark Street after sundown) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Anywhere but Here (Paperback)

Seems like most of the other posters ought to stick to romance novels. Mona Simpson's first book is packed with rich imagery, irresistible storytelling, and vivid characterizations. In particular, Adele is certainly one of the most appalling mother characters in contemporary fiction. Grandiose, manipulative, and narcissistic, she is a monster for the ages. (Despite what the Amazon blurb says, I think it's easy not to fall in love with her.) Simpson has said in interviews that the book isn't autobiographical, but I can't help but wonder. That's how vivid it is.