Second Draft of My Life : A Novel [Paperback]

Sara Lewis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 8, 2003

Forty-two years and five books into her life, Charlotte Dearborn abandons her noncommittal boyfriend and her sinking-ship writing career, and becomes an elementary school teacher. Sure, she's giving up her dream of being a famous novelist, but in exchange she'll find a stable income, job satisfaction, and maybe even love. At least that's how it'd work if she were a character in one of her novels. In real life, she's busy coping with twenty yelling first-graders, a teacher's lounge full of nasty coworkers, and a series of romantic misadventures that fall far, far short of the real thing.

Charlotte's struggle to navigate the waters of a new career, a new single life, and the loss of her identity as a writer make Second Draft of My Life a funny, compulsively readable gem. From an author The Boston Globe applauded as "very, very good on the business of falling in and out of love," it is part romantic comedy, part manual for living, and wholly triumphant.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Charlotte Dearborn has just abandoned her career as a novelist to become an elementary school teacher. The likable, sad-sack heroine of Sara Lewis's fourth novel, Second Draft of My Life, Charlotte hasn't failed as a writer--her novels had all been praised by critics--but she is flailing financially, and at age 42 feels that a regular paycheck, benefits, and a chance to shape young minds surely outweigh the solitude, poverty, and constant disappointments of the writing life. At least that's what she tells herself. To prove her point, most of the chapters open with a recollection of a specific letdown in her literary career: the last-minute cancellation of a talk-show appearance; slow book distribution that wastes hard-won publicity; a rejection from a much-admired editor. This book will be a painful read for any professional writer, since hard knocks of this kind are no exaggeration. Luckily, Charlotte's troubles will seem comic to everyone else who reads this funny, well-crafted tale. As it turns out, Charlotte is stepping onto a road that will lead her back to her writing and her better, forgotten self. Like Robert Peck's assertion that everything important in life can be learned in kindergarten, Charlotte's survival proves that anyone who learns to handle a class of first-graders can handle anything at all. --Regina Marler --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Readers of "women's fiction" will find escapist entertainment and some nuggets of insight in Lewis's latest novel. It follows the tribulations of a praised but chronically impecunious author, Charlotte Dearborn, who abandons the writing life and her boyfriend to start a new career. Crushed when even her editor and her agent encourage her to "get out of this cesspool of a business," Charlotte determines to chuck it all and reinvent herself as a first-grade teacher in affluent southern California, welcoming the idea of a steady salary, benefits and a summer vacation. Lewis (The Answer Is Yes; Heart Conditions) delineates Charlotte's adjustment to teaching, introducing a school full of students and teachers who all speak in the same undifferentiated voice. She follows her heroine home to cheery-but-clunky dialogue with her twin sister, bookstore owner Emily (they were named after the Brontes), and a coterie of middling men who catch Charlotte's attention. Meanwhile, Charlotte discovers that she can't keep from recording her thoughts on the difficulties and satisfactions of her new profession, and eventually she has a manuscript whose heroine is a veteran teacher. Unfortunately, Lewis's own writing lacks subtlety, and the characters are dull and flat. Although she has the courage to create a character who struggles with mediocrity, Charlotte comes across as insipid and essentially uninventive, further burdened because she is lonely and overweight. The idea that writers' lives parallel those of their characters is an interesting one, but it's not developed here. Instead, the episodes resemble the events of a sitcom, and the ending is so cheerily simplistic that Charlotte's happiness feels too slick to be deserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Washington Square Press (April 8, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743436709
• ISBN-13: 978-0743436700
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,255,861 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Looking for a perfect summer read?, April 23, 2002

By 

Kinsey Millhone (California, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Second Draft of My Life : A Novel (Hardcover)

I'll admit that I'm an unabashed Sara Lewis fan, and was thrilled to see that she had a new book out. SECOND DRAFT OF MY LIFE is sure to delight readers of her previous titles, and should attract new fans as well (these lucky folks will have three other novels and a book of short stories to catch up on!).

The heroine of the book is Charlotte Dearborn, a talented but unsuccessful author whose novels got great reviews, but never caught on with the general public. Finally, Charlotte declares that she's through writing fiction (AND through with her unsupportive boyfriend). She gets a job teaching grade school. The book is primarily about her trials and tribulations as a teacher. While I've never been a teacher, Charlotte's ups and downs in the classroom seemed amazingly true to life. She also crosses paths with a number of potential Mr. Rights who all seem to turn into Mr. Wrongs.

SECOND DRAFT doesn't sugarcoat Charlotte's despair -- in fact, it's a pretty dark book compared to the much more lighthearted THE ANSWER IS YES and BUT I LOVE YOU ANYWAY. If there's a flaw, it's that the ending seems TOO upbeat compared to what has come before, and I didn't quite buy it. However, if you're looking for a fun summer read that's well-written as well as just plain entertaining (according to the bio at saralewis.com, the author has written for the New Yorker AND Mademoiselle!), check out SECOND DRAFT OF MY LIFE.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Let's hear it for teachers!, May 17, 2002

By 

Amy Leemon (North Fond du Lac, WI) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Second Draft of My Life : A Novel (Hardcover)

Charlotte Dearborn has published 5 novels but has not reached the success level she had hoped. She decides teaching 1st grade will be much more rewarding. Molding young lives, working with friendly co-workers (rather than the lonely life of an author) will be the life she wants.

Up until the first day, this seems like a good plan......

Trying to keep control of a group of children (and some mothers) is not as easy as she thought. And the other teachers don't seem to accept her as she had hoped. Maybe this teaching stuff isn't as easy as she had thought.

There are very few books written about teachers (I don't know why) and with this one, we get a bonus - she reflects on her publishing experiences too.

It's a GREAT book! Some reviewers have commented on the ending saying it doesn't fit. But the more you think about it (and you will), the more you will appreciate it.

Now that I've finished the book I'm sending it to my daughter in Texas - she's a teacher and a very good writer herself.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A well-crafted story that gets dropped on its head., March 19, 2004

By 

L. Quido "quidrock" (Tampa, FL United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Second Draft of My Life : A Novel (Paperback)

I really like Sara Lewis and think that many women of all ages can relate to her books. In "Second Draft of My Life", her heroine is a forty two year old writer named Charlotte, who is determined to leave her life as a writer to become an elementary school teacher.

Would-be novelists can learn a lot from the fictional Charlotte. So many writers believe that getting their first book published is the end of the rainbow. Charlotte's had five published, and the book realistically shows the fight to get distribution, publicity, sales and a movie tie-in. Perhaps Lewis speaks autobiographically, since she's been successful in getting published, but less so in terms of sales and notoriety.

While Charlotte is changing professions, and coping with the real world of teaching young children, a challenge for the not-so-faint of heart, she's also given up a romance that was going nowhere and attempting to find a meaningful relationship.

Although Lewis has the ability to see inside many angles of a woman's thought process and struggle through the everyday ups and downs of life, and although her gentle humor is heartwarming and charming, overall, this particular novel didn't succeed with me.

Throughout the first 225 pages, Lewis successfully gives us the ups and downs of Charlotte's attempt to start over. You become invested in what she is doing, and what decisions she will make to tinker with the path she's put herself on. And though you know there will be a happy ending, you're not prepared for the speed at which a simplistic idea that Charlotte sort of falls into, turns it all around for her, buttoning up all her loose ends, and doing a 180 degree turn....all in the last 75 pages of the book. Too many answers in too little time...Lewis seems to tire of the story and want to wrap it up fast.

Try other books by Lewis before you read this one, and you will see her skill in the art of writing for and about women.