Customer Reviews

A Year and a Day: A Novel

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I wish I could give this book more than five stars. I loved it!
I started reading it and couldn't put it down. After I finished it, I couldn't get the characters out of my mind. I know at a future date, this will be a book I will want to read again. I can't really say what about the book grabbed me so quick and so hard, but it won't let go! I do know that I laughed out loud and cried more than once. Give it a try, I don't think you will be sorry.

I really loved "A Year and A Day". It was a wonderfully moving novel that really took me back in time to a kinder world. Who wouldn't have wanted to grow up in a small mid-western town? I found the charecters to be interesting and well developed. I enjoyed the rich details of the life Alice and her family lead - both happy and sad. I was glad that Mama didn't tell her everything she wanted to know. I wished that the book would have taken a year and a day to read because I really enjoyed being part of Alice's life. I liked this book better than the Lovely Bones.

Death is inevitable.

It will come whether people want it to or not. What happens, though, when it's your own mother and not only did she want it to happen but she parked her car on a set of railroad tracks to ensure it?

Without a word. Without any clear indication that she was even contemplating such an action.

She always seemed so happy...didn't she? Loved to cook, made plans for the summer, played games and dressed up.

Why?

Why becomes a larger-than-life word when fifteen-year-old Alice Martin tries to understand and cope with her mother's suicide. Her outlook on life, as well as that of her brother's, changes dramatically with that one event.

Lacking maternal guidance, they are forced to make choices, explore life and love on their own. Run away or stay...give up or go on. A constant internal battle.

Hearing her mother's voice does not help the situation any. Alice expects her mother to answer her questions, explain things, give her advice. But a mother who barely understood how to cope with things herself is in no position to provide just the right words for an emotionally overloaded daughter.

So Alice deals in any way she can, which sometimes is by not dealing at all. Her life has become a quest for answers, for a truth that may not even exist and may not matter anyway.

Denial, desolation, sparks of hope and heartfelt longing are experienced by the reader as much as by the protagonist. Leslie Pietrzyk's research into suicide and its aftereffects breeds credibility and ignites an inner contemplation even for those who have not been touched by it personally.

A Year and a Day provides a chronicle of one person's search for answers to the questions that accompany an untimely death. Although the death in the book is a suicide, the same chorus of "why, why, why?" accompanies any unexpected death. The questions in this book are asked by 15-year old Alice as she tries to restore her life after it has been turned topsy-turvy by her mother's suicide.

Alice's world--1975 small-town Iowa--is lovingly and deftly created. Midwestern readers of a certain age can enjoy reliving their days of small-town rhythms, slumber parties, detasseling corn, and Jell-o salads. (Iowa still leads the nation in per capita Jell-o consumption.) Readers can also note that some things have changed-e.g., a pregnancy out of wedlock being such a social stigma that Paula Eland has to be sent out of town during her pregnancy. And, coming of age, realizing that things are not always as they seem, that there are no easy answers are experiences common to humankind.

It is frustrating to never learn the reasons for Mamma's suicide, but Alice comes to realize that there are not only no easy answers, sometimes there are no answers at all. Throughout the book Alice asks the unanswerable questions. Readers who have experienced such a loss will relate to Alice and may even hope that she finds the answers she is seeking. Yet we know in our hearts that the asking is part of healing and the echoes of the unanswered questions will last a lifetime.

I got up early this morning to finish reading this book. It was engrossing, and well-written. Leslie Pietrzyk's writing is smooth and enjoyable, without any annoying snags or plot deviations. As a reader, you have to accept the voice of the dead mother as possible, but because Mama interjects into Alice's thoughts so seamlessly, I didn't question it.

Although Alice is dealing with the suicide of her mother and looking for answers, I think this book can be applicable to anyone who has lost someone important to them. It's a fun read, and I highly recommend it to any type of reader.

I'm surprised by the reviewer who complains that Alice's Mama gives her advice about makeup, boys, etc. Isn't the point that Alice, on the verge of womanhood, sorely misses her mother? And in fact I loved the scene where Mama instructs Alice in making up her face, and the detail of the lipstick, worn thin at the tip by Mama's lips. What Alice learns from Mama isn't trivial at all. It all adds up to something big, something Alice learns from Mama and by observing, through the lens of her grief, the town she has known all her life: "Everyone lives their real life in secret. You'll see."

The novel has a slow start in the aftermath of Mama's death, with small-town Iowa neighbors from central casting bringing various colors of Jell-O molds and uttering platitudes to the stunned family. And, as one of the editorial reviewers pointed out, there's no shortage of books about eccentric mothers and abandoned daughters (there's an eccentric aunt here, too). But I stuck with it and the characters grew on me tremendously, particularly Paula Elam and Joe Fry--two of the sort you think you know, then realize you don't know what they're like at all. I liked this enough that I'm looking forward to going back and reading Pietrzyk's first novel.

This is an excellent book; a compelling story with rich detail and exquisite character development presenting both the complexities and thrills we all encountered while growing up. At the same time, intertwined in this gripping narrative of the realities of adolescence is a heartfelt and moving portrayal of the pain, confusion, and reinvigoration experienced once forced to deal with the unexpected death of a loved one. The book is riveting and powerful in describing our tendencies to be propelled into a quest for answers, while also poignantly articulating that although answers are not always possible, the questions we ask and do not ask shape our heart as well as our lives. The book allows you to laugh and cry and to feel good about doing so.

I stayed up late to finish reading this beautiful, poignant novel about a girl whose mother's suicide begins a year of searching, self-discovery, and, eventually, forgiveness and love. The small-town setting was wonderfully depicted. I especially liked the character of the sensitive bad boy, Joe! I look forward to reading Ms. Pietrzyk's next novel.

A YEAR AND A DAY deals with the loss - through suicide - of Alice and Will's mother. The story is narrated by 15 year-old Alice and is set in rural Iowa during the 70's. Great memories there if you were a young adult during that era!!!!!!!!!!!!

The kicker is this -- Alice hears her Mom's voice from beyond -- and has almost daily conversations with her. Sound crazy? It is NOT. This book is so unique and very, very good.

After Alice's mom kills herself, the family is devasted. Alice and her older, much adored brother, Will, live with their great Aunt Aggy. Confused, lonely, grief-stricken, they try to pick up their lives and attempt to get through the FIRST YEAR of grief. Alice has been assured by her high school principal that she will be OK after that first year. Anyone who has ever lost somebody they love truly knows this is NOT the case.

With her mom talking to her, Alice attempts to get through her days. Her friends treat her differently now that her mom has killed herself, her aunt seems to have gone off the deep end, her brother, dealing with his own grief, has started to hang out with the town's bad boy, Joe Fry. Alice has never felt so alone in her life.

Through her Mom's "chats", Alice finds things out about her Mom that she never knew or realized. She now understands that her Mom was a PERSON too -- had loves, hopes, dreams, hates, and was also once a young teenage girl and not just always her MOM. She also learns things about her never known father and her mother's life with him. Plus, her mom is there to guide Alice through some rough situations.

Alice takes us through her days at school, life in small-town rural Iowa, and her first major love, bad boy, Joe Fry. Joe, while being considered the bad boy of the town, is not. He wears his hair too long, goes to class when he feels like it, drives too fast, drinks too much, has no curfew or rules; he is a free soul. Yet, he is very supportive of Alice and wow, I fell for him myself. He is kind, caring, considerate, wise, and romantic. He plays baseball with Alice's brother Will and the two boys are good friends. He helps Alice deal with many things that happen during this first year.

You will meet a great cast of characters -- Alice's good friends, Linda and Becky, her teachers, her aunt's reluctant boyfriend, mothers in the neighborhood, and the town tramp, Paula Elam, who becomes Alice's friend and much, much more. While Paula is the town's bad girl, she and Alice have more in common than they realize and their lives will become intertwined.

This was a great book. From the reviews I have read it seems not to have been read or enjoyed much for the past two to three years. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE -- read this book. It was magnificent!!!!

For anyone who has lost somebody, this book is a must. For me, that first year was tough and I was relieved when it was OVER. It seemed to be a milestone and an accomplishment that I could make it through that first year. To quote from the book -- "Mr. Rhinehart had told me I would be fine after one year. Like something magic was supposed to happen right after that 365th day ended and you were on to the 366th. But it didn't work that way, not for Mrs. Elam, not for Mama, not for me or for anyone."

This book is NOT sad, it is funny, has a great story-line, wonderful characters, and should not be missed.

ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you!!!

Pam

A few days after her mother's suicide, 15-year-old Alice begins hearing her voice. Not only does Annette speak to her, but allows Alice to hold two-sided conversations, asking and answering questions.

As crazy as Alice fears she's become, she's more than happy to have her mother present...if only her mother will answer two important questions. Why would she park her car on train tracks right before the whistle blew? And who is the father of Alice and her older brother Will?

Annette won't give up the whole truth, though, dispensing it in bits and pieces along with advice Alice sometimes heeds, but more often, ignores. In her grief, Alice can't seem to keep away from the school bad boy, Joe Fry; while Will ignores his girlfriend and takes part in a little rebelling himself. Meanwhile, their great-aunt Aggy copes by turning herself into an "artiste," much to the teens' dismay.

Someone told Alice she'd be fine a year after her mother's death; but all she finds is that everyone is full of secrets, many of which she'll never know the answers to.