I recently
finished reading the novel Labor Day by Joyce Maynard. I am trying to branch
out of my favorite authors and genres and as I intend to see the film adaption
soon I decided to pick up this novel. (Always read the book before seeing the
movie if you want to envision the characters and settings through your own
imagination and not Hollywood’s take!)
I was not
familiar with Joyce Maynard or her writings before reading this novel. She
seems to have quite an interesting background – beginning with an affair at the
age or 18 with a then 53 year old J.D. Salinger which she revealed in her 1999
memoir At home in the world. She has been a reporter for the New York Times,
been a columnist and book reviewer before writing her first novel Baby
Love. Her published works include true
crime based novels as well as nonfiction.
The
following quote is from the Washington Post which I found very interesting in
relating the author’s life to the lives of the characters in her novel. “Maynard
has had her own share of unsuitable attachments, including an intense pen pal relationship
with a convicted murderer. She understands the deep yearnings that drive people
to impulsive decisions and sometimes reckless behavior.”
Labor Day
covers a time frame of five days in the life of thirteen year old Henry who
lives with his agoraphobic mother Adele. On a rare venture out of their home,
they are approached by Frank, a wounded escaped convicted murderer. They hide
him in their home over the long holiday weekend, during which time his presence
begins to change both of their lives. Adele comes out of her long period of
depression and Henry begins grudgingly to learn things from Frank in a way he
has not from his own father whom he sees weekly for a dinner date along with
his father’s new family.
As the story
draw to a close, these three misfits are forming a family. Plans are set to
leave the country together when the sheriff arrives following up on an anonymous
tip about Frank’s whereabouts. The story concludes eighteen years later as told
by a now thirty-one year old Henry.
I found the
writing style of this novel interesting. It is told in a narrative point of
view in its entirety by Henry, with no conversation taking place at all between
the characters. I enjoyed this book and look forward to seeing the story on
screen. Reviewed by Bobbi H.
