19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The saga of one reslient cancer survivor's search for her "home" in the world is a must-read, March 4, 2008
After having read The Last Beach Bungalow, Jennie Nash's first novel, all I can add is that I hope she keeps writing books as strongly written and as resonant as this one! It is truly one of the best books I've read in a long time and I read plenty of wonderful books, so that is saying something.
What will YOU, the reader, find to love about this one? Several things. For one, think of the way the word "home" is used in our language. We don't just use it alone but as part and parcel of so many evocative phrases and terms such as "being at home"...."make yourself at home"...."heart and home" ...."feeling at home"...."homey" ...and so forth.
Whether you've ever lived in a home you loved or are searching for your dream home, you'll relate to this book. Add a woman, April Newton, who is a cancer survivor and you have extra appeal, one that strikes hard for this reviewer who can't help feeling for a woman who is shaken to the core after a struggle with breast cancer.
Even though April has passed the 5 year watershed moment that ups her chances of beating cancer, she isn't feeling joyous. Call it post-traumatic disorder or just plain fear and grief but her life no longer resembles the one she once had. She misses her old life.
Instead of the intimate marriage she once had, she has a marriage full of tension and strain. April has been scared for so long that she has forgotten how to celebrate life, even in the wake of good new news. Meanwhile, her husband is trying to build their dream home.
That is when April sees an amazing ad for a beach bungalow in Redondo Beach, one which will be sold at a bargain price to the right person or family. The current owner wants her beloved house to go to someone who will promise to "preserve and protect it" and she is asking for stories of people who will do just that - and she wants to know why they'd love her home.
While that premise may seem unbelievable to you, it is based on a REAL contest that was partial inspiration for the author, Jennie Nash, to write this book. The other? Her own history with cancer.
I have to add that even if you never get a chance to read this book completely, you should buy it. Why? Because there are three section in the back of the book that show what a talented author and writer can do to make a book EXTRA special.
In this case, Nash has added a set of discussion questions that will have you searching your soul about what home and family means to you. Then she tops that by including two real life memoirs that served as fuel for the book, one based on her own cancer and the other on the contest that happened in real life (a contest to win a home but set up very differently than the one in this book).
What else can I add? Well, one thing....at around $14.00, full price, this book is one of the best bargains around. It'll have you laughing, crying and talking for days...and might even inspire you to write your own novel!
Here's another great book from this author:
The Victoria's Secret Catalog Never Stops Coming: And Other Lessons I Learned From Breast Cancer
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
First Rate Read!, February 15, 2008
I didn't plan to stay up late and read this book in one sitting, but that is exactly what happened. From the opening lines, I was drawn into April's world and wanted to keep reading to see where she was headed. Perhaps some of the connection with April and her story stems from my own cancer survivorship. Perhaps it stems from the ever-present search for the real sense of "home" and its significance. Perhaps Nash has just written a really engrossing story with very real characters--characters with whom I was able to instantly connect. No matter where the connection came from, this was a heartwarming read. And I am glad that I stayed up late to finish it!
April Newton has reason to celebrate. She is a five-year breast cancer survivor. But for April, the cloud that is called "cancer" won't allow her to fully surrender to living as a survivor. Trapped by the fears, doubts, and "unknowingness" that come with a cancer diagnosis, April finds herself confused and frightened about her own future as well as that of her marriage and her family.
With the cancer survivorship as the backstory, readers are introduced to April, her husband, Rick, and daughter Jackie as they are in the midst of building a new home that Rick designed for April at the time of her diagnosis. In an unexpected turn of events, as the Newtons' move-in-date approaches, April happens upon a beach house that is for sale far below market value "to the right buyer," as defined by its owner, Peg Torrey. Believing that she is meant to live in this house, April sets out to be the winner of the right to buy the property. But in the process, she is confronted with the real meaning of home and what it would take to make her feel the happiness she longs to feel as a survivor. In the process, she learns more than she could ever hope to learn about not only herself, but her husband, her marriage, her family and the other truly important things in life.
by Lee Ambrose
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great, intimate read, February 6, 2008
Jennie Nash's debut novel is a beautifully written account of one woman's attempt to rediscover pleasure in her marriage after surviving a terrifying bout with breast-cancer. Nash's heroine, April Newton, has rebuffed death and now has everything to live for---but she doesn't know what or who to live for now that she is cancer-free. As a busy frelance magazine writer, the mother of a teenage girl, and wife to a successful builder, Newton is a lucky woman, with a beautiful new house under construction. The house is gift from her husband, but April can't help feeling that the new house does not represent a new lease on life. Nash navigates the tricky sexual dynamics that exist in marriage after one partner has survived an almost-fatal illness, and she brings the California coast-line to life in lush, vividly-written passages. You will remember April and her challenges long after you finish this memorable novel.
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