Customer Reviews

The View from Mount Joy: A Novel

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Film and television actor Robertson Dean slips easily into the persona of Joe Anderson. Dean's voice is low with a slight sibilance that makes the character, a regular fellow, even more attractive and accessible. This voice is warm, inviting conversation, perhaps confidences.

We're introduced to Joe as a teenager. His father has died so he and his mother move to Minneapolis. It's always difficult for a teenager to make new friends but Joe has a lot going for him as he's an ace hockey player. He also has someone he's going for - Kristi Casey, head cheerleader. Less attractive and sexually active is Darva, his good friend.

Joe had hopes of becoming a star on ice but life does take those twists and turns and he winds up a grocer, albeit a popular and inventive one. He's happy with what he does and enjoys his relationships with customers. Kristi, on the other hand, isn't content. She's a striver as a tele-evangelist with eyes for our nation's capital.

Both Darva and Kristi will turn up from time to time in Joe's life which keeps listeners wondering what will happen next.

The View from Mount Joy is easy and often laughable listening as we go through the years with this guy named Joe.

- Gail Cooke

I laughed, laughed again, laughed louder and longer as the book raced by. Please don't let it stop, I want this story to go on indefinitely! Lorna Landvik's latest is a true laugh riot, except when it's poignantly sad and a bit heartbreaking.

Now, I admit I'm a card-carrying member of the Lorna fan club dating back to Patty Jane's House of Curl but her latest rivals Angry Housewives as the best yet. As the story opens, we're all back in high school in the early 1970s. I don't know about anyone else, but I'd swear Lorna and I must have been in the same class doing the same insane things. How did we ever survive unscathed?

Book clubs who have enjoyed Landvik's earlier works will find much to discuss in Mount Joy -- religion, politics, family, friends, food, travel and children all abound.

Finally, I really want to shop at Joe's grocery to win a contest, view Darva's art, have a tea party with Flora and hate Kristi and every other high school girl just like her. Terrific cast of characters that we've come to expect from Ms. Landvik. Don't miss the reference to Patty Jane and the description of the waitresses at diNapoli!

I couldn't read this fast enough and I hated to see it end. Now I'm already waiting again!!

THE VIEW FROM MOUNT JOY by Lorna Landvik
Rating: 4 Stars

April 12, 2008

Late last year I read THE VIEW FROM MOUNT JOY, Lorna Landvik's latest novel, and as with her past novels, I loved it. I've been a fan of Ms Landvik for years now, and for me she rarely disappoints. In this most recent novel, the story revolves around Joe Andreson, who started out in life full of promise. He was on his way to becoming a professional athlete and did well in school.

He had a lot of friends, including a new best friend, Darva, who was a social outcast, but the two become best friends. It's Kristi Casey, the school's most popular girl, that gains Joe's affections, however. Kristi is the opposite of what Darva stood for, and as the years pass, Joe begins to find out what Kristi is really all about.

Things don't quite work out for Joe, and he ends up working at a local grocery store, a job that ends up being his career as he approaches middle age. Through Joe's eyes, the reader will see the truth behind Kristi, a girl who grows into a woman who is selfish and manipulative. At the same time, Joe continues his friendship with Darva, who by now has a child of her own, and he lives out his days at the grocery store, wondering why his life turned out the way it had. Kristi flits in and out of his life, for one reason or another, and it is intersting to watch this character change over the years, but was she really changing, or was her new life just an extension of the old manipulative Kristi?

I found this book, along with all of Lorna Landvik's novels, engrossing. Her past few novels followed similar themes, in which the title character is not one that is considered a success story, or even popular, but there is always a lesson learned by the end of the book. Joe may not have reached the goals in life he had dreamed of as a child, but to those who loved him the most could truly say that he lived fully, and that he truly did achieve a highly successful life.

I really enjoyed this book. I've only read one other book from Ms. Landvik (Angry Housewives, which I loved!), and I certainly wasn't disappointed with this novel. It's a light story that follows Joe Andreson from the age of 17, all the way into his late 40's. The core of the story is about his love/hate relationship with Kristi Casey, head cheerleader and most popular girl in school, who grows up to be a famous evangelist with a very large fan following.

Joe, on the other hand, has taken a less public path, choosing to stay in the town where he graduated, and take over the Haughland Foods grocery store, living a quiet life that's disrupted every few years when Kristi comes crashing back into it, then disappearing again for months or years.

Now, my only issue with the book is that it was extremely difficult to keep track of time. Sometimes a few months would pass with the start of a new chapter, other times it was a few years, but one thing was certain, I was never really sure of WHAT year it was, especially toward the end of the book...and with the cast of characters growing more and more as the book progressed, it made it all the more impossible to keep track.

Overall though I really do recommend this book. It's a great weekend read that doesn't require much thinking, and the characters are, for the most part, all pretty likable (though I do think Joe was a BIT sensitive for a guy...I mean, I've never know a man to cry as much as he seemed to), and contrary to what another review said, this book is definitely NOT all about sex. It's about a teenage boy with hopes and dreams, and a crush on the most popular and unattainable girl in school, and the story of how his life plays out, and where exactly she fits into it.

This gem of a novel chronicles the life of a character who at first blush may seem like an "average Joe" (that's even his name), but soon the reader realizes that his life illustrates that the simplest kindnesses can mean everything. Landvick deftly evokes high school in the 1970's and the life of a smaller town near a bigger city and creates a fable that gently reminds us that the words "family" and "blessed" have broader definitions than some would give them.

I must say that I am more than a little shocked by the high ratings given to this book by the other reviewers. In fact, it makes me wonder whether these are true reviews, or simply hype whipped up by the publisher. I just finished this book, having raced out to buy it in hardcover because I have enjoyed Lorna Landvik's other books so much, especially Angry Housewives. I was sorely disappointed by this one. It more plausibly could have been written by a high school girl as her first novel (provided that she had a decent editor). Throughout the entire book, I kept thinking, "This book is so poorly written, how could I have not noticed before that Lorna Landvik is really a B-, no make that a C-, writer? What happenened this time? Did she fall short of a deadline, and write the whole thing in a weekend? Or what?" Maybe the problem is that in this book, the protagonist is a man. The character of Joe seems completely unbelieveable to me. This book reads like a story written by a woman about what a man might think and feel, without any true depth of understanding about how a man thinks or feels. I don't claim to be an expert on men, but I've been married for 13 years, and dated men for about 10 years before that, and I can tell you that the character, Joe, certainly does not think or act like any guy I've ever known, straight, gay, conservative, liberal, rugged, artistic, or whatever. Also, I went to high school during this same exact era, and all I can say is that Lorna Landvik shot far short of the mark this time, failing to capture the rich oddness of this particular interesting moment in history. Instead, the book reads like a simple soap opera. Mildly entertaining, never challenging the reader to think, failing to provide any richness or depth to the characters. I think that this is unquestionably Lorna Landvik's most dull and uninspired novel to date. I hope that this is an aberration, and that we can continue to expect much more from her in the future.

This is Landvik's seventh book, and her best-but then I have said that about each of her books when it came out.

Joe Andresen moves to Minneapolis from Granite Falls, Minnesota with his recently widowed mother and starts a job at Haugland's Foods, and high school at Ole Bull High in Minneapolis. Joe is an excellent hockey player and attracts the fleeting, flattering attention of mesmerizing (like a poisonous snake) head cheerleader Kristi Casey. He also attracts the friendship of awkward artist and activist Darva Pratt. They all graduate in 1972. These two women, and his work at Haugland's, become a big part of his life.

Darva goes on to fullfill her dream and travel and study art in France; Kristi travels to find herself; and Joe graduates from the University of Minnesota and takes on the job of assistant manager at Haugland's. Life throws them all for a loop occasionally. There are some horrendous tragedies in Joe's life; and some incredible joys. We follow Joe's life through to the climax-his beloved wife's 50th birthday party, where he acknowledges how much joy and fulfillment his life holds.

Landvik has created a small town's worth of wonderful authentic characters in her writing life, and this book has its share: Joe, a good man with integrity and a flair for helping others; Darva, a talented artist, and a good and loyal friend; Kirk Casey, Joe's younger co-worker at Haugland's and Kristi's younger brother; Joe's mother Carole and his aunt Beth, and Beth's love Linda; and Carole's second husband, teacher Len Rusk. Kristi Casey is the odd one out-shallow, selfish, mean spirited, and attracted to the limelight. She uses sex and her beauty to manipulate and control the people around her. Of course the customers and staff at Haugland's and Joe's philanthropic spontaneous contests are part of the story as well.

Armchair Interviews says: Linda Landvik does it again.

As other reviewers have said, Joe Andreson is a guy we all would like to know. His story starts when he is in high school and he and his newly widowed mother move to Minneapolis to live with his aunt. He is a hockey player and has dreams of playing in the pros.

His dreams don't turn out and he ends up running a grocery store. What could sound pretty boring is actually magical. His ideas are unique and we could all do with a Haugland Grocery store!!

We get to know the other characters in his life - his mother and aunt, his high school buddies, his friend Darva and Kristi the cheerleader who is such a big part of this book.

But my favorite person, besides Joe, is an unforgettable little girl named Flora. Every scene she is in is enjoyable and her wedding is as unique as Haugland's Grocery Store. I got a real lump in my throat at that one!!

This book is great from start to finish. You will really enjoy it.

Someone mentioned that it's as good as "Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons" ~~ which is one of my all-time favorite books ~~ but this one, I will admit is way better. It tugs at your heart strings, it will make you smile and laugh and it will make you cry. It is probably just a little "too perfect" ~~ but isn't that we all want out of our lives sometimes?

This book is about Joe, a seventeen-year-old uprooted from his hometown to live with his aunt. His dad died when he was fourteen and after several years of grieving, his mom decided she wanted to live with her sister, Beth. Joe only had two dreams in life ~~ being a pro hockey player and a journalist. He meets Kristi at the school ~~ and thus began a life-long off and on affair. While Joe seems to think that his life has stagnated because he took over a grocery store instead of fulfilling his dreams ~~ his dreams came true in other ways that he never expected. Kristi chased after her dreams and never seem to be happy ~~ all alone in the world. Joe realizes that sometimes dreams of the youth just are that ~~ there's more to life than he ever realized.

This is one of the best fiction I've read in awhile ~~ maybe it's not the best-written one (I still hold out for "The Thirteenth Tale" for that title) ~~ it is definitely a sentimental novel and a book that I couldn't put down at all. It is one of the better reads this fall. It's perfect to read while preparing for the holidays as it talks about family, friendship and love. It'd be a perfect holiday gift for the woman in your life!

9-30-07

I am a fan of Landvik and look forward to each new novel. This was somewhat formulaic and predictable. It also felt repetitive. It is possible to tell a story where the characters repeat their actions without the monotony of the retelling. There is good character development with the usual larger than life situations and events. The ending, while an exellent twist, is just too much. Essentially, if you read the dust jacket, you know where the story will go without the details of how it gets there.