Love or Something Like It: A Novel [Hardcover]

Deirdre Shaw (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 14, 2009

A clear-eyed, emotionally honest debut about a thirtysomething woman forced to redefine her entire world after her young marriage falters, Love or Something Like It proves we can grow up at any age.

When Lacey Brennan meets Toby, a sweet and talented comedian, she impulsively moves across the country to be with him in Los Angeles. Lacey is unsure of what she is looking for out west–love? a new career? an escape from her fractured family?–but is reassured when Toby proposes on her thirtieth birthday. “I was thirty and I finally knew what I was doing,” she says.

In California, which Lacey calls “the edge of the earth,” she has the giddy, anticipatory feeling that anything can happen–opportunity looms large, and her life may yet turn out the way she wants it to. But soon in her marriage with Toby, from their awkward honeymoon in Paris to their desperate attempts to build careers, Lacey knows that something is wrong. Toby, unemployed, becomes a permanent fixture on the couch, and things are no better at Lacey’s TV job, where a pit bull stalks her, colleagues tyrannize her, and her boss hits on her. Meanwhile, her twin brother has dropped off the face of the earth, and Lacey begins to wonder whether she and Toby should start a family if she can’t even figure out her own. It is only after Lacey has given up on both L.A. and love that she gets an unexpected shot at happiness.

Rich with wry humor and wisdom, Deirdre Shaw’s novel deftly portrays a relatable, unforgettable character in Lacey Brennan, who, after a five-year quest for love and belonging, finds she must live in the moment in order to understand her past and face her future.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Shaw's bright and promising first novel, love lures Lacey Brennan from New York to Hollywood, where she and Toby, a TV writer, shack up in a Laurel Canyon cottage. When he proposes, 30-year-old Lacey sees the happily-ever-after she's sought since her parents' divorce, but she's vexed at every turn: the absence of her brother casts a pall over the wedding; the honeymoon is marred by arguments and stomach ailments. Professional life is no rosier: after her editor spikes her tax-evasion exposé, Lacey quits her newspaper job and takes an assistant gig at a lame sitcom. Toby loses his job and wonders aloud, Maybe I was too young to get married. First comes marriage counseling, then divorce, after which Lacey coasts into an affair with her egomaniac boss, takes a stab at screenplay writing and tries to unite her family. Only after deciding to move back to Manhattan and adopting a spring break attitude toward L.A. does she feel something like satisfaction. Shaw's first novel unfolds easily, with well-crafted prose and vivid detail, and even if some of the interpersonal drama can feel TV-thin, this is a great young-in-L.A. novel. (Apr.)
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From Booklist

*Starred Review* Shaw’s piercingly insightful first novel depicts a woman in her thirties redefining her life. Lacey Brennan and her twin, Sam, were raised by their father, an opportunist whose next big deal is always about to close, after their mother leaves him to marry her high-school sweetheart. Lacey’s escape is boarding school, while Sam runs away and cuts himself off from the family, save for sporadic contact with his sister. In her late twenties, Lacey meets Toby, a handsome stand-up comedian, and follows him from New York to Los Angeles. Toby’s new job as a TV writer proves to be a false start when his show is canceled, and he isn’t able or motivated to find another job. Toby and Lacey marry, but her new job as a writers’ assistant and his continued unemployment drive a wedge between the two. Unanchored, Lacey is forced to examine the career path she’s venturing down to determine if a life in L.A. is what she really wants. Shaw’s graceful prose and razor-sharp observations—at one point, Lacey observes her brother is “like a house burning down before our eyes”—make this absorbing debut a true standout. --Kristine Huntley

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Random House; First Edition edition (April 14, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400067707
• ISBN-13: 978-1400067701
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 0.9 x 9.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,055,217 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Deirdre Shaw grew up in New York and was a newspaper journalist for several years at The Keene (N.H.) Sentinel and The Philadelphia Inquirer. She now lives in Los Angeles with her husband and dog, where she writes for television and teaches fiction at the UCLA Extension Writers' Program.

Her debut novel is Love or Something Like It, the story of a 30-something woman finding herself in the wake of a young marriage and divorce.

Shaw's fiction has appeared in Folio and Swink, and her nonfiction in The New York Times and The New York Observer. She has held fiction residencies at the Millay Colony for the Arts and the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts. Her fiction was included in the New Short Fiction Series Emerging Voices Group Show in L.A. in 2005, and she was awarded a 2004 Hackney Literary Award for National Short Story.

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"Raw, realistic...anyone who's ever had to deal with the death of a relationship (and isn't that pretty much everyone?) will appreciate Shaw's honest, vividly written take." -- PEOPLE magazine

"A thoughtful, well-written story about a young woman prevailing over a difficult past...wryly funny, refreshingly honest...Shaw writes convincingly, with insight and wisdom." -- The Boston Globe

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars To love and lose in L.A., March 12, 2009

By 

Kristen (Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Love or Something Like It: A Novel (Hardcover)

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Deirdre Shaw's novel captures the precarious line of possibility and peril that exists in a young writer's Hollywood life and marriage. Lacey Brennan is our protagonist- educated, lost, and emotionally wounded by her own dysfunctional family. She finds refuge in Toby, a comedy writer with an overbearing mother. Their brief marriage is chronicled, as is the aftermath. The novel's strength is its honesty. Lacey's struggle to reconcile her own life's losses make it difficult for her to move on from her marriage. In a society that downplays the effects of divorce- even ones after young marriages- this novel is refreshingly real.

There are some parts of the novel that lag, but the early and latter chapters more than make up for it. There are some plot devices that seem somewhat forced, but all is forgiven in the end when Lacey is not given a standard "happy" ending. I admire this, as the reader is left to determine the measure of Lacey's happiness.

This is more than a beach read, a step up from the usual "chick lit" blather and glamour. If you like your novels with a little edge, pick up this one and you won't be disappointed.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Serious book about L.A., May 14, 2009

By 

Bearette24 (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Love or Something Like It: A Novel (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

This book was much more serious than I expected - not the typical frothy California fare at all. Lacey Brennan is a transplant from New York to L.A. She follows her comedy writer husband across country. Unfortunately, their marriage dissolves, and Lacey must figure out how to make a new life for herself.

Lacey is an introspective character, a bit detached, even though she does have deep wells of emotion. She learned to be self-reliant because her mother left her at a young age (in the care of her somewhat chaotic father). This detachment results in some distance between Lacey and the other characters, and at some points the narrative doesn't feel real because of that distance.

However, things came together by the end. I thought the book ended exactly the way it should.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't Put it Down!, May 12, 2009

By 

K. F. Holland (Venice, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Love or Something Like It: A Novel (Hardcover)

From the first page I was swept along in Lacey's journey as a young newlywed navigating through the undercurrents of life in L.A. Much like the city itself, Lacey's life seems unblemished and enviable; a handsome new husband, a shiny new job and access to the inner circle of the entertainment industry. But as the reader delves more deeply into Lacey's story and sees the facade begin to crumble, we are given a deeply compelling and engrossing story that touches on subjects known to all of us..love, family and loss. Lacey's struggle to recover from mistakes, both hers and others, is both poignant and inspiring. I've recommended this book to several friends who unanimously reported that they stayed up until all hours of the night because they couldn't put it down!