Customer Reviews

Living Other Lives

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been a fan of Caroline Leavitt's ever since she wrote "Meeting Rozzy Halfway", but I think this book is her best. The characters are real and you become truly wrapped up in their lives. All of the author's books are enjoyable, but this one really lingers in your mind long after you've read it. I recommend it enthusiastically!

I have recently discovered Caroline Leavitt's novels and this has been the lastest one I have read. Like her other novels, her characters are so vivid, they become like your good friends. This novel is no exception. The emotions the different characters embraced made my heart go out to them. I highly recommend this to anyone who wants to read a heartwarming story about various relationships intermingled with death, grief, and letting go.

Caroline Leavitt's novel about a young woman dealing with the unexpected death of her fiance is believable and moving. All of Ms. Leavitt's books are great; I also highly recommend "Meeting Rozzy Halfway".

LIVING OTHER LIVES

Matt is a friendly, loveable, outgoing, veterinarian, raising his teenage daughter, Dinah, alone. He meets and falls in love with Lilly, who is living in New York. Matt's mother, Dell, lives in Pennsylvania, and was not the type of mother you would hope to have. She was distant, pre-occupied, shipping Matt off to camp or to friends so as not to be bothered by him.

Matt meets an untimely death, and all three of these women begin a journey in grief, sadness, and trying to live with their own demons. None of them barely know one another, yet they are thrown together to try to come to grips with Matt's death and to try to make a new life for themselves and in the long run, with each other.

This is an excellent book that I hated to see end. Caroline Leavitt has a magic way of writing that makes characters come to life and seem so real. This book was not sad, even though it deals with heart-ache and so much sadness.

Journey through Dell, Lilly, and Dinah's lives as they make mistakes, hurt themselves and each other, and try to face life without Matt. One of the best lines in the book reads -- "DON'T YOU HATE IT? MISSING PEOPLE?"

Wow, how true! Everyone has experienced loss due to many number of reasons and this book is very fictional but for me, was almost therapeutic in its wisdom about dealing with missing someone you love.

HOWEVER, this is not a sappy, sad tale! Quite contrary! It is a wonderful story of a teenage girl coming of age, her hopes and dreams, her becoming strong and the two women who help her achieve this, while at the same time, helping themselves.

I highly recommend this book and look forward to reading all of Ms. Leavitt's other works.

Thank you!

Pam

Grieving is conveyed so well in this book! Somehow, Leavitt relayed the tale and the experience without bringing me down. The characters, as usual, were compelling and fleshed out. This and Girls in Trouble have been my favorites of Leavitt's.

There was one issue I would have liked to have seen resolved, but I can't mention it without including a spoiler.

Great book, hard to put down! I had felt a lil like each character in their different phases of their lives thruout the book! Would recommend this author!!

Living Other Lives, Caroline Leavitt's sixth novel, is an absolutely hypnotic read. Showing the innate magnetism that attracts -- and repels -- people, she weaves the lives of multi-generational women and the men they love and lose. This is writing at a fever pitch.