Ordinary World [Paperback]

Elisa Lorello (Author)

Book Description

Release date: June 14, 2011

Readers who fell in love with Andi Cutrone in Elisa Lorello’s first novel, Faking It, can now join Andi on a new journey in which she faces a challenge unlike any she has ever known. Ordinary World begins six years after Lorello’s first installment left off: Andi is blissfully married, works as a recently tenured professor at Northampton University, and is a published author. Life is ideal—until her husband’s death in a senseless accident shatters Andi’s world, plunging her into a gulf of depression and grief. Her family and friends do what that they can to ease her anguish, but no one seems to have the right words to heal Andi’s pain. On the advice of a friend, she travels to Italy to escape and unexpectedly runs into the man who once helped her discover her authentic self. As their friendship is renewed, Andi finally begins to heal, daring to hope that someday she will be happy again. Both wrenching and uplifting, Ordinary World is a moving tale of love and loss, joy and sorrow, heartbreak and hope.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

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Amazon Exclusive: Elisa Lorello on Ordinary World
 
Question: When, and how, did you know that Andi Cutrone's story wasn't finished? Was it before or after Faking It came out? Did you always have the rest of the story in mind or did it develop while you wrote it?

Elisa Lorello: Once I knew how Faking It was going to end, I pretty much knew that Andi’s story wasn’t going to be over. It was more a gut feeling than anything else. However, I had no idea at that time where the story was going to go or what was going to happen to her. It wasn’t until several years later, after I had relocated, that I knew what the story was going to be. And I was resistant at first because by then I had gotten so close to these characters and didn’t want them to be hurt. But when a story or a truth needs to be told, as a writer you have to honor that and get out of its way. But I definitely grieved with Andi and rooted for her all the way.

Question: You manage to turn the concept of an "ordinary" life into an extraordinary novel. And yet, being ordinary isn't something people are prone to want. How did you keep Andi's seemingly "everyday" goals compelling for the reader?

Elisa Lorello: That’s an interesting question. For much of the book, Andi’s everyday goals were nothing more than to get through the day, and I think a lot of readers got frustrated with her because for every step forward she took three steps back. I think that, in many ways, is an ordinary response to extraordinary circumstances. But the idea of finding solace in ordinary things--a cup of coffee, a book, a walk in the park, etc.--was ultimately the healing point for Andi and made life extraordinary. And I think that’s something we can all apply to our lives. We don’t need a traumatic experience to do so.

Question: The rhetoric elements in the novel are quirky and fun and really give the reader a bird's eye view into the world of academia. As a Rhetoric teacher, how much of your own college and teaching experience did you include and how much is simply your imagination?

Elisa Lorello: The rhetorical elements are all from what I learned and practiced, and pretty much parodied my own teaching philosophies at the time. I was fresh out of grad school when I wrote Faking It, so it’s kind of funny now to see how I sort of threw in everything I knew and loved, and how green and idealistic it is. I also watched a lot of The West Wing at the time and couldn’t help but absorb the style of dialogue--that’s not to say that I was trying to write like Aaron Sorkin, but it was definitely influential and something that I think worked really well in both novels. I still love how wonderfully rhetorical both novels are.

I so feel for Andi when she has that meltdown in front of her students in Ordinary World. In terms of my own emotional connection to the character, it was one of the hardest scenes to write.

Question: You're currently working on your next book. Anything you can share with us before it comes out?

Elisa Lorello: I’m one of those people who are really superstitious about revealing any detail about a work in progress. All I’ll say is that I’m taking a new approach by writing it from the point of view of two different characters, one of which is written in third person and is male. I’m also back to writing solo after collaborating on Why I Love Singlehood.

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About the Author

Elisa Lorello was born and raised on Long Island, the youngest of seven children. She earned her bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth and launched a career teaching rhetoric and composition. In addition to teaching, Elisa wrote the Kindle best-selling novels Faking It and Ordinary World, Why I Love Singlehood (co-authored with Sarah Girrell), and Adulation. After six years in North Carolina, she has recently returned to the northeast.

Product Details

• Paperback: 322 pages
• Publisher: AmazonEncore (June 14, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1935597361
• ISBN-13: 978-1935597360
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (135 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #476,748 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 54 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Mixed feelings January 20, 2010

By Beth Kristen Nehme

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Spoilers Alert. This review discusses the ending of the book. NOTE - Elisa Lorello has very thoughtfully responded to my concerns listed below in the first comment attached to the review. Please be sure to read her comment.
I loved Faking It, but I have very mixed feelings about Ordinary World. Something that was just a niggling concern as I read Faking It really began to annoy me in Ordinary World. I don't think that Devin/David was given a fair shake. Why is it that we would perceive a female who was driven to prostitution by an emotionally abusive parent as a victim, and the `johns' as abusing the situation, but we are so ready to cast the roles in the other direction if it is a male prostitute/'escort'.
Andi is in a world of hurt after her husband dies. She is justifiably self-centered and needy. She runs into her old flame Devin/David who still loves her and he tries to help her through the pain. She justifies her lack of emotional commitment to the relationship by the fact that `he did it to her before' - painting him as the aggressor rather than the victim in her earlier relationship with him. She deifies her former husband as `perfect' and refuses to acknowledge flaws in their relationship. In the end, she agrees to a relationship with Devin/David only because she can never have Sam again. She never once acknowledges any quality in which Devin/David (who is a pretty spectacular guy) is better than her former husband, except that he is alive. Even the last sentence - [Life with Sam was fabulous because Sam is fabulous, Life with Dev is ordinary] expresses that concept.
I know someone who feels that way about their current marriage after their first spouse died. It's wrong and unfair. If you can't look at your new husband and say that he is different, but fabulous in his own way, you don't deserve him, and you're not doing him any favors by being with him.
I so wish I were the editor of this. I would send this wonderful compelling book back and say - you didn't finish it. She's not there yet. Maybe there will be another to finish the story.

31 of 35 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Way Too Much Grief January 24, 2010

By TexasShopper

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Like Andi, my husband was killed suddenly in a senseless accident, leaving me a young widow to cope alone. At the 70% point of this book, Andi has wallowed in her grief for two long years and I have suffered every minute with her. Not in a good way. Frankly, by about the 40-45% point in the book, my sympathy for and empathy with her was completely exhausted. Sadly, there is nothing in this character to like. She uses her friends, finally 'understands' but is still a jerk with her mother and her self-absorption knows no bounds. Grief is no excuse for two years of bad behavior. I rarely give up on a book ľ of the way through, but I just plain do not care what happens to Andi. I have begun another book and likely will not be able to force myself to finish this one. Ever.

If you enjoy mucking about in vicarious grief, this is the right book. If you'd like to read something with even a glimmer of strength and self-reliance, look elsewhere.

29 of 35 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Elisa Lorello gets it. December 27, 2009

By Larry H. Leitner

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I just finished Ordinary World. I was a fan of Faking it so I was looking forward to the sequel. Nothing could have prepared me for the powerful emotions I got from this book. I lost my wife last spring after a 6 month illness and I lived so many of the thoughts and emotions Andi was dealing with and I certainly could identify with what she was feeling. Anyone who has ever lost a loved one should read this book and so should anyone else. Ms Lorello really gets it. She has captured the experience of loss like no other author I have read.