Customer Reviews

Entering Normal

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The reviews I read of this book made me very anxious to read it, as I too have lost a child and knew that I'd certainly be able to relate to the feelings of the grieving mother, Rose. Being drawn to this book because of Rose, I was intrigued about her life, the course of her grief over her son and the development of this unlikely friendship between her and Opal. Though the description of Rose's grief rang true to me, I felt that the book, as a whole, was full of holes, poorly developed characters and a faulty, contrived plot line. Though I finished it, I didn't really feel, by the end, that I knew Rose and Opal at all or that I understood who they were deep in their souls or why they would even be drawn to each other as friends, other than because of the surface circumstances of their lives. Opal was a truly botched character, and somehow she never came together for me as someone who was sympathetic in any way. She was angry and full of rage about her childhood, her family and Billy, she took lots of this rage out on Ty, I couldn't feel the development of anything true and real between them besides lust and sex...and she shared her rage with almost every character in the book with her charming (?) attitude. (All of her supposedly humorous self-talk about others in the book became really annoying to me after about the second time...and the book was loaded with these stupid, unfunny, private glimpses into Opal's feelings about people!) Also, though I am a really good cusser who is not offended by much, I felt that her sailor's mouth was way overdone. Rose also suffered from the same lack of character development, I thought, and was a shadowy and foggy figure throughout whom we didn't get to know in any substantive way, either. And the ending was almost unbearable to me. It was so contrived, tucking in all the loose ends and coming up with a neatly wrapped package of unreality and illusion that left me with feelings of "Oh, right!" and "Come on, Anne Leclaire, do you really expect us to believe this?" This book was, ultimately, a major disappointment for me and a major waste of my cherished reading time. I do see lots of 5 star ratings for this book, though, and I am very puzzled and wondering: Did we all read the same book? If so, I must certainly have missed something!

I was a little disappointed to see so many people did not like this book. I for one found it to be one of the best I have ever read. Two mothers who have built emotional walls around their hearts concerning their children. Opal the young mother who may lose her son simply because she doesn't fit the mold of a perfect mother. Rose who lost her teenage son five years ago in an accident that she feels is her fault. These two have both built a wall around themselve that they find in the end has to be overcome. Rose is finally able to come to terms with how deep she has fallen into despair and that life does hold another chance for her. Opal learns that you can trust and I think that is all this book needed to say in the end. Entering Normal the perfect title for a great book.

This book managed to keep me occupied for hours on a plane, always the mark of an engaging story to me!

"Entering Normal" is the story of emotional and painful times in the lives of two very different women, but it never descends into angst, nor do the main characters ask for pity.

Rose is 50 and lost a son, her only child, in a car accident five years ago. Opal is 20 and is running away from her controlling family and the father of her five-year old son when she rents a house next door to Rose's. How these two women *rescue* each other, emotionally and otherwise, is the topic of this novel.

Rose has been consumed by grief for five years because of her imagined guilt. Opal is trying to keep custody of her child. The bond of motherhood brings these women together and allows them to help each other in ways that neither would have imagined.

Anyone who has experienced the joys and sorrows of parenthood will be able to relate to these sentences :"Watching him, she feels a familiar jolt in her stomach, the sharp, sweet terror of motherhood." "Having a child is like having your heart walk around outside of your body, bumping into things."

Rose tries to write what she feels, keeping this a secret from her husband, Ned, who cannot manage, despite his best efforts, to penetrate her grief. Le Claire writes: "She wrote all about Todd and how she missed him and how one minute a person could be in your life, laughing and smiling and driving you crazy with their foolishness, and then the next, with no warning, they were gone and all the words you never got a chance to say would be locked up inside you, and what ever happened to words locked inside, where did they go?" Food for thought.

Opal,an unwed mother and her five year old son,Zack,are escaping her life in North Carolina;away from her opressive mother,Melva,and the unwilling father of her son,Billy.She ends up in the small town of Normal in Massachusetts,moving into a house next door to Rose and Ned. Their son,Todd, was killed in an accident five years earlier and Rose cannot escape the prison of her grief over Todd's death.Opal is a free spirit,albeit a good mother . An unfortunant accident reluctantly involves Rose, which opens a small door to their bonding. Roses' guilt over this forces her away from Opel, but already a change is being wrought upon her by their brief association.Opal's family and Billy wreck havoc upon her and Zack, while, at the same time, Rose has a further tragedy in her own life. The bonding, which has already begun,becomes full-fledged, and the two unlikely women join forces in their crises, changing them both for the better in the process.Opal is so well portrayed as a tough young woman determined to make it on her own. Having lost a son, I have known a few Roses myself, who refuse to leave their grief, making it their way of life. Ned, Rose's husband:Billy,Zack's father and Ty,Opal's off-times boyfriend are all believable. Her mother,Melva, is the controlling mother many of us are familiar with. Altogether, this is a wonderful book ,and Anne D. LeClaire has believably characterized these people and their interactions.

Entering Normal by Anne D. Leclaire is one of those books that finds you reading late into the night and asking for more. As I was about to finish this book, I was sorry I couldn't be reading it for the first time. I was so sorry to see the pages almost turning themselves for a book which turned out to be a very memorable read.

Opal is the 20 year old unmarried mother of a five year old son named Zack. Refusing to live with her critical and overbearing mother any longer, Rose rolls dice from a Monopoly game and decides to fill up her car according to the number which appears. Wherever her car runs out of gas is where she is plannign on staying. And soon enough she finds herself and Zack entering Normal, Mass. Moving next door to Rose and Ned, Opal settles into hometown life spending time with her son
and making dolls for a toy store in town. Rose on the other hand isn't doing much of anything. Shrouded in grief from a tragic death five years before, Rose's feels as though she has little in her life to look forward to and ignores Opal and Zack. But when Opal needs Rose's help, Rose manages to set aside her grief. How these two women help each other to be there when life turns on a dime for them is the focus of this book which I really enjoyed.

The book packs many an emotional punch and shows readers how friends can and do become family. Rose and Opal are two wonderful characters who I miss already and will never forget. Similar to themes explored both by Jacquelyn Mitchard and Alice Hoffman, Anne D. Leclaire is a new to me author but one whom I plan on reading in the future.

I almost let a review or two keep me from reading this little jewel. This story very adeptly explores the lives of four people.There a few extra characters but I'd say there were four main ones. I was able to know how each character felt about what was going on in their own lives and how they felt about the other characters. I really enjoyed the way it moved in and out of each character's narrating the story. Sometimes it even back-tracked just a little and even that was well done. I'm afraid that this book may get overlooked because it quietly tells it story. The story itself is sometimes amusing and sometimes very poignant. Make sure you read lots of reviews if you're thinking of not giving this one a shot. It will stick with you awhile too!

Opal Gates drives to Normal, Massachusetts as a result of the roll of a die. A believer of signs, this twenty-year-old single mother searches for the means to become both independent and whole. She comes to live next door to Rose Nelson, whose life has shut down since the tragic accidental death of her only son some five years earlier. Their lives intertwine in Anne LeClaire's affecting, inspiring and compelling debut novel, "Entering Normal." LeClaire's writing is both fast-paced and emotionally wrenching, as both women deal with broken or frozen hearts.

"Entering Normal" is about decent people who are lost and adrift, nursing incredible grief or anger, struggling to find themselves, redefining their basic life assumptions, discovering -- often despite themselves -- that life truly does search out life. Alternatingly exhilarating in its hopes and terribly saddening in its portraits of good people coming to grips with possibilities lost and yearning for renewal, the novel seizes our imagination from the first paragraph and does not relax its solid grip until the last sentence. Ms. LeClaire sagely treats the implications of small lies, created benignly to protect or defend our loved ones, which evolve into malignant silences, threatening to unravel and ironically hurt the very people the falsehoods were designed to protect.

Despite the marvelous pacing of the narrative of the novel, "Entering Normal" features a variety of absolutely believable characters. Opal Gates not only is proud, defiant and indominable in her love for her son Zack, she is also vulnerable, compassionate and confused as to her direction in life. This malestrom of emotions enriches her personality; LeClaire never permits her to exist as a symbolic sterotype. Her neighbor, Rose Nelson, is beautifully rendered. Loving bonds shattered with the death of her son; her dispassionate distance perplexes and vexes her blue-collar husband, Ned. Shut down and exiled to a self-imposed isolation, Rose's odyssey towards acceptance and understanding comes at great costs. "Normal's" minor characters not only advance the action, they give a sense of fullness to the struggles Opal and Rose enounter.

Above all, "Entering Normal" extols the galvanizing impact of friendships and the liberating possibilities of loving relationships. Through its intriguing discussion of lies, silences and unspoken, thwarted hopes, the novel speaks to how isolative our sorrows and disappointments can become, so overwhelming and encompassing, in fact, that we may feel swallowed and digested by our burdens. It is the cardinal grace of this fine novel that the author provides not only solace for those of us who are hurting, but gentle and kind instructions as to how to overcome that self-imposed exile which lies engender.

Entering Normal is a tale of two moms. One who lost her son in an accident five years ago and one who moves away from her family and sons' father to better her life and make a new start. Although these women do not see eye to eye in the beginning they grow close sharing the bond of loss, love, and motherhood. This story will break your heart and then mend it. I will be looking for more books by Leclair!!

I could not put this novel down and read it in one day. Anne LeClaire has an unerring voice so much so that the names titling the chapters were not necessary. I knew instantly whose head we were in. I have lost a child, and while I did not experience grief in the same way Rose did, LeClaire did not take a wrong step. Her characters were strong but flawed which made them so real. I particularly liked the author's portrayal of Ned, Rose's husband. In spite of the serious subject-the death of Rose's son, her marriage in trouble, Opal's struggle to rear and keep her son, the book was full off humor, which offset and enhanced the drama. Ms. LeClaire's writing is low key and all the more powerful for that. This is a plot that everyone can identify with and I urge you to read it.

I couldn't put this book down. I totally related to Opal, and as a mother, have felt like her on several occasions. This book had me awake reading it all night during the week. Opal made me want to fight her battles. I wanted to pat her on the shoulder and say, it'll be alright. I wanted to call her mean momma and tell her off. Total emotional involvement.
Entering Normal was well paced, The characters were well developed. I like that the writer used forshadowing and writing techniques that I learned about in school. The plot developed in a realistic way.
Both Opal and Rose were people I knew and had been on a few occassions.