Joy for Beginners

by Erica Bauermeister Narrated by Cassandra Campbell

Overview

"Moving, touching, wonderfully written, inspiring to read." -Garth Stein, author of The Art of Racing in the RainAt an intimate, festive dinner party in Seattle, six women gather to celebrate their friend Kate's recovery from cancer. Wineglass in hand, Kate strikes a bargain with them. To celebrate her new lease on life, she'll do the one thing that's always terrified her: white-water rafting. But if she goes, all of them will also do something they always swore they'd never do-and Kate is going to choose their adventures.Shimmering with warmth, wit, and insight, Joy for Beginners is a celebration of life: unexpected, lyrical, and deeply satisfying.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Praise for Joy for Beginners

“A joy to read. Bauermeister gives us characters who revel in the best of what life has to offer—loving relationships, fine food, good books, and travel—and she writes with keen observance and wry wit...Readers will be inspired to leap into their own lives with renewed gusto.”—Stephanie Kallos, author of Sing Them Home

“Erica Bauermeister’s prose is evocative and compelling.”—Garth Stein, author of The Art of Racing in the Rain

“Bauermeister has created a cast of textured and nuanced characters who individually and as a group speak to what makes women interesting and enigmatic. Her prose is velvety smooth, revealing life at once mournful and auspicious. Joyful, indeed.”—Library Journal (starred review)

“How transporting to live, even briefly, inside these women’s lives.”—Laura Hansen, Bookin’ it

“Sensual...evocative...A book designed to fill you up and make you hungry for life.”—Publishers Weekly

“Joy for Beginners is ultimately a celebration of life; a literary confirmation of the power of friendship.”—Carol Cassella, author of Oxygen

Kirkus Reviews

A soft-centered celebration of female friendship and endurance follows a group of women facing challenges set by a cancer-survivor.

It's the back stories to the six caring women who supported breast-cancer sufferer Kate through her illness and treatment which form the core of Bauermeister's novel (The School of Essential Ingredients,2009). After Kate accepts her daughter's challenge to go rafting down the Grand Canyon to celebrate being alive, each of the six agrees to do something scary or difficult, with Kate setting the tasks. Divorced bookstore worker Caroline must finally throw out her ex-husband's books, thereby reclaiming her life as well as her shelf space. Potter Daria must bake a loaf of bread, thereby embarking on a love affair. Sara, who has never spent a night apart from her children, must travel, while young widow Hadley, who has retreated to a tiny new home hidden in a green jungle, is tasked with taking care of her garden. Bauermeister's sensuous writing lends her slender, rather sugary (even when sad) material a graceful charm, but the material is never substantial enough, with the character vignettes too short and the liberating outcomes too heartwarmingly predictable.

Toothless. A neatly crafted reworking of a cozy, sentimental formula.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171845537
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	06/09/2011
Edition description:	Unabridged

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