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More About This Book

Overview

A "smart, sharply observant, even gently funny" (The Washington Post) debut novel of heartache and joy

Witty and surprising, Rebecca Johnson's first novel is about the unexpected links between one family and the world around them. Sophia and Darius have a well-worn marriage, two teenage daughters, and no foreseeable drama on the horizon. One morning, the two girls fight over the keys to the family car and set into motion an accident. The accident triggers a chain of events involving Harry, a still handsome B-list celebrity game-show host; Anton, a sexually repressed unemployed filmmaker; and Misty, who has reached month seven of what was supposed to be a six month campaign to make something of herself. Profoundly honest, this is a novel about the unpredictability of life, and the joy and heartache of how deeply one person's life can affect so many others.

Editorial Reviews

Carrie Brown
In her first novel, And Sometimes Why, Rebecca Johnson has managed to do an unlikely thing: deliver a perfectly pleasant, even enjoyable, read about a sad subject: the tragic accident of a lovely 16-year-old girl. Readers hurrying away from such a depressing premise should be reassured. And Sometimes Why will not be painful to read, and it will not leave you devastated. It is smart, sharply observant, even gently funny, but it is interested in our haplessness as much as our grief, in our survival rather than our undoing.
—The Washington Post
More
Loosely based on Johnson's own loss of a premature baby, this extraordinary novel follows a family coping with a grief that radically changes their lives.
—Carmela Ciuraru
More Reviews (4) Fewer Reviews
Vogue
With its sharp dialogue and deft character studies, Vogue contributing editor Rebecca Johnson's And Sometimes Why (G. P. Putnam's Sons) is a sunny, lightly comic L.A. story-until a traffic accident darkens its emotional weather. The victim, sixteen-year-old Helen McMartin, lands in a coma, her grieving parents drift apart, the handsome game-show host who was involved tries to shake off his guilt, and Helen's older sister heads for Alaska with a new lumberjack boyfriend. While cheerfully sending up the ludicrous excesses of Hollywood, Johnson offers a wise and affectingly humane portrait of loss-and the varied ways we find to withstand it.
—Taylor Antrim
Publishers Weekly

Voguecontributing editor Johnson examines in her heartbreaking debut the ties that bind and break in the face of tragedy. Darius, a Shakespeare scholar and professor, and his wife, Sophia, head of membership at a local art museum, are mired in the banal ebb-and-flow of family life they share with their two teen daughters-bookish Miranda and imperious social butterfly Helen. A sisterly tussle over use of the family car ends with Miranda attending college orientation and finding herself attracted to fellow freshman-to-be Jason, and Helen, while riding on the back of her just-dumped boyfriend's motorcycle, getting into a horrific traffic accident. As Helen lies in the ICU suspended between life and death, the author gives voice to the people Helen has touched: Darius and Sophia find little solace in each other; Harry Harlow, the game show host who was involved in Helen's accident, witnesses his life falling apart; and Miranda awkwardly navigates the feelings Jason has stirred within her. While the wandering focus on disparate characters pulls the novel in unwieldy directions (as when Miranda drops out to follow her boyfriend to Alaska), Johnson's portrayal of a family's grieving is exquisitely crafted. (Jan.)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information
Library Journal

Tragedy strikes the McMartin family when 16-year-old Helen becomes involved in a near-fatal accident after arguing with older sister Miranda over the use of the family car. Miranda and parents Darius and Sophia each respond differently to this catastrophe. Their story is intertwined with that of Harry Harlow, the driver of a vehicle involved in the accident and host of a popular, bizarre reality television game show, as well as a number of secondary characters. Over the next eight months, during which Helen remains comatose, crucial decisions loom and unexpected choices are made. In this debut novel, Voguecontributing editor Johnson depicts the many ways life can change. These changes are generally presented in a way that is both honest and compelling, but surprisingly it is the peripheral characters who seem thwarted. As the story unfolds and the family dynamics play out, the now disjointed McMartins move toward the transformations brought about by the tragedy. In the end, this heartfelt, poignant, and sometimes humorous and ironic study emphasizes the resilience of the human spirit. For larger fiction collections. [See Prepub Alert, LJ9/1/07.]
—Andrea Tarr

Kirkus Reviews
Well-written but formulaic debut explores a family's grief after a tragic accident. Intellectually engaged, financially blessed, possessed of good values and better luck, the attractive McMartins have never known real heartbreak until, on an otherwise unmemorable morning, 16-year-old Helen sets off to break ties with Bobby, her secret older boyfriend. With four beers in his belly and a gas tank full of sugar (courtesy of a jealous ex-girlfriend), Bobby crashes his motorcycle into the car of reluctant celebrity Harry Harlow, host of a famous game show, Would You Rather? Bobby dies instantly, and Helen is in a coma. Her father Darius, an esoteric English professor with a photographic memory, holds vigil at her beside, refusing to give up hope for her recovery. Mother Sophia, an arts administrator racked with guilt over her blindness to the signs of Helen's ill-fated romance, becomes obsessed with Bobby, especially after detectives suggest that he had criminal ties. Elder daughter Miranda, a freshman in college, allows herself for the first time to be drawn into a relationship with a man, someone she met on the day of Helen's accident. Meanwhile, though he was not at fault in the accident, Harry finds that he can't let go of his guilt. He begins acting erratically, is fired from the game show, divorces his young wife, pursues a tentative friendship with Sophia and launches a bizarre business venture. As it becomes increasingly apparent that Helen will never recover, family members flee to their separate spaces. Miranda follows her man to Alaska's remote backcountry; Darius insists on moving Helen home to care for her himself; and Sophia, sensing a crumbling marriage, moves to New York City.The final bleak development is anticlimactic, given how many lives have already been irrevocably altered. Unremarkable, though fans of Ann Packer and Jodi Picoult may appreciate Johnson's careful foray into post-crisis fiction.

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780399154522
  • Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
  • Publication date: 2/14/2008
  • Pages: 320
  • Product dimensions: 6.30 (w) x 9.24 (h) x 1.17 (d)

Meet the Author

Rebeca Johnson has been a contributing editor to Vogue for the past eleven years. She has written "Talk of the Town" columns for The New Yorker and was a contributing editor at Talk magazine.

Customer Reviews

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Sort by: Showing all of 5 Customer Reviews

  • Posted December 12, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    an extremly boring book

    i didn't like this book and couldn;t get over my disgust with the tv show host, therefore i couldn't get into the book. i was highly disappointed with this book.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted April 4, 2008

    It's just NOT good...at all!

    This book had potential to be great but the characters were not realistic. I wasn't drawn to any of them and felt that there was a certain disconnect on all the story lines. The description of the book says something like all the characters choose unexpected paths with the same conclusion. There was NO conclusion and the characters hardly had any impact on each other or the outcome. Not one of the characters really had a profound effect on the others. The B-list actor wasn't at fault, the story line between he and Helen's mother was ridiculous, Anton had NOTHING to do with the story other than meeting Misty who also has NOTHING to do with the story. The story of Miranda was so far fetched does it matter AT ALL that she killed a wolf or that she even moved. The book lacked everything that makes a book great. I felt like the description is totally misleading and that the 3 great reviews must have been given by friends of the author. With the description I assumed these characters would be deeply involved and they basically meant nothing, just characters meant to fill spaces of an otherwise 50 page book.I'm an avid reader of all types of books and can easily read 2-3 books a week. I really feel the entire time spent reading was a waste.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted March 1, 2008

    Best Book I've Read in the Past Year

    And Sometimes Why is emotionally very impactful and I predict a big Summer hit. There is a very authentic feel to Johnson's story and characters with their ironic and very human situations. Rare to read a novel with so many entertaining characters in such unique and clever situations - very imaginative and insightful and somehow, no matter how odd the characters' traits, I could relate to them.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted March 2, 2008

    A compelling Read: Funny, Bittersweet, Uplifting

    This story really pulled me in. I pretty much couldn't wait to see what would happen and finished it in two days. It's rare to find a novel like this that's deep and funny at the same time. I was drawn in by the opening -- a truly poignant scene of domestic happiness and tranquility -- the kind we usually fail to appreciate when we have it. What was amazing to me is that even when the tranquility is broken the writer still pulls off a story with passages and characters that truly made me laugh out loud. And she brings the story to an uplifting end that really helps you see the joy in the day- to-day of friends, family, work, life. I really recommend it.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted March 3, 2008

    Couldn't put it down

    This is my favorite book in recent memory- can't wait for her to write more! The characters are funny, sharp, witty and beautifully drawn- think Larry McMurtry! Buy this book- you will not be disappointed!

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
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