Customer Reviews

Where You Are

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Let me start by saying that this is not a book for critics. It's not nearly disfunctional enough. This is a book for people who want to read something that makes them smile, that makes them dwell on the difficulties and the riches of life, that makes them take a deep breath when they finally put the book down at the end and be glad they made the journey.Clearly I liked it. First of all, you should read this book for the writing alone -- beautiful, concise, visual prose that is so rare these days.The novel is also extremely witty, with an intelligent sense of humor. You begin looking over the shoulder of a young man in his late 20s/early 30s dealing with an unexpected turn in life: he inherits a house that comes with a dog. He's not sure he wants the house. He's definitely sure he doesn't want the dog. But things aren't that simple, and you get to enjoy watching Lake, the main character, deal with life's unexpected turns. Whether cat lovers (not that there's anything wrong with that) will be able to relate, I don't know. I'm a dog person.The book shifts into a love story that, in my opinion, was incredibly rich simply because it feels so real, so down to earth. It captures two people as they fall in love and try to figure out if they are falling in love, and somehow it does it right.This book isn't for everyone...there's no disfunctional families, no melodrama, no biography of Jackie O. This book says life has its difficulties and it's confusions, but it also has beauty. I loved it and think that it's is a rare gem among thenovels being written today

Man with insular personality inherits home from eccentric aunt with a peculiar pet-related condition attached. Man's first instinct is to sidestep condition and reap profit. Man learns to love home, pet and new woman in his life. This sounds like the plot of a Victorian play or a 40s B movie. But Where You Are is instead a very fine novel, due to its subtle narrative and refined character development. We come to understand our two protagonists in the silences rather than in what they say, and the "romantic salvation" of the male protagonist is not treachly, soapy, or forced.
This is a textbook example in how to take tried and true themes and make them new with witty, simple writing. More importantly, this was a really fun read.