Sitting Practice: A Novel (Hardcover)

by Caroline Adderson (Author)
Key Phrases: reel food, Stevie Blake, Real Food, Beth Ann (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
“All of Adderson’s characters are rounded and all have utility, not simply as plot devices but as parts of a striving, suffering whole.”—New York Times Book Review

“A generous, clear-eyed study of love, human error, and resilience. Adderson is equally interested in the life of the body and the spirit, and is especially adept at exploring the point where the two meet.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Adderson’s prose is characterized by fierce intelligence, razor-sharp wit, and wry omniscience. She writes with a tone of subdued mirth or bemused wisdom that lends the book both immediacy and intimacy. In her hands, sex, religion, parenting, even something as simple as making bread come from a completely unexpected vantage that makes them suddenly new and strange.”—Vancouver Sun

“Adderson achieves a remarkable effect with her prose. Its clarity is so overwhelming that it becomes intoxicating.”—Globe and Mail

“Cadence and pacing are sure-footed, dialogue is pitch-perfect, the unfolding story utterly absorbing. This is a writer with all the talents required to keep on delivering.”—Quill & Quire

“The beauty of Sitting Practice lies in its conviction that true love can endure the unendurable. At the same time, it is anything but romantic fiction in the traditional sense. While her book may have heartwarming moments, Adderson is more concerned with the importance of being in the moment, no matter what life brings.”—Montreal Gazette

“Sitting Practice is a novel of substance that is a delight to read. Caroline Adderson treats the domestic drama with elegance and wit, and what she has to say about her characters and their circumstances is often profound—not to mention surprisingly funny, too. This novel is the real thing.”—Meg Wolitzer, author of The Ten-Year Nap and The Position

“A sharp-edged new writer in the take-off phase of her career.”—Margaret Atwood, CBC Radio

Product Description
It only takes a moment for your life to be changed forever—as the characters of this darkly comic novel discover early on. The fateful moment for the newlyweds Ross and Iliana comes with the freak automobile accident that leaves Iliana paralyzed, Ross grief-stricken, and both of them struggling to come to terms with a married life nothing like they originally had in mind. As the usually affable Ross struggles with guilt and with finding ways to cope with his newly fractured life, Iliana gets used to her unwelcome existence as a wheelchair-bound wife, to her husband’s growing sense of alienation, and to their awkward new lack of intimacy.

What ultimately happens with Ross and Iliana is as unexpected and surprising as the fateful mishap that sets the events in motion in the first place. Sitting Practice is a clever and insightful study of love’s collision with harsh reality, told by an author with a remarkable instinct for the workings of human nature, a nimble gift for language, and the ability to find humor in the oddest places.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Trumpeter (March 11, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590305582
• ISBN-13: 978-1590305584
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #837,378 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A lovely book, October 26, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Sitting Practice (Hardcover)

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's the story of a woman who is confined to a wheelchair because of a car accident. The book follows her and her husband as they try to rebuild their lives and relationship after the accident. Some authors would take a plot like that and turn it into a sappy, sentimental story. This author resists that temptation. The characters are real and make realistic choices and mistakes. I laughed out loud at some parts, cried at others, and was sorry to reach the end. It's a wonderful, well-written story.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Keep Practicing, February 21, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Sitting Practice (Hardcover)

Caroline Adderson has been proclaimed as one of Canada's most notable emerging authors. "Sitting Practice" was an interesting book, but I didn't ever feel connected to any of the characters. Contrary to several reviews I read, the people didn't seem very real and probably the only one I really liked was the young nephew. I was disappointed, but will likely read her future novels to see if the author becomes the major literary talent that is being predicted.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not much spiritual content , July 14, 2008

By	Hank Hirsh "Hank Hirsh - Six Perfections Musi... (Portland, Oregon, USA) - See all my reviews

The story here is contrived. As a result of an accident a young newlywed finds herself in a wheelchair for the remainder of her life. Her young husband feels the guilt. He loses interest and she falls for a lowlife character momentarily. Meanwhile, this husband is supposedly coming to spiritual realization. Not much is ever said about his meditation practice, but there is one reference to him sitting on the bed meditating. What? There is no depth at all in the husband's character and it is difficult to see who is really is.
There is far more discussion of love interest and description of romantic encounter than of spiritual development in any of the characters. In fact the last scene in the book hints at sexual encounter.
The book is well enough written, but kind of superficial. A nice novel that might be more accurately catalogued in romance than spiritual.