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.