Dr. Orville Rose has been living in EUrope practicing medicine at a European spa and life is pretty good. He likes his work, and he's fallen in love with a beautiful Italian yoga instructor. That's all about to change. "Two Bad things will happen today" she tells him one day as they set off boating on a lake. He scoffs, but soon finds out she was right. The "bad thing" that effects him the most is finding out his mother had died some time ago as he was wandering around Europe. This is the story of his return home, and how he deals with having to stay there for just over a year if he wishes to inherit everything his mother has left him.

So we read the story of how he reacts and deals with what he considers his "punishment" by his mother. The story has both it's comedic and tragic moments, just as life often does. While the story didn't grab my attention and make me want to keep reading straight thru, I did keep going back to it after short diversions to other things to see what would happen next. Settling in to a "small town" type of life after the more "cosmopoltian" style of living in Europe, we watch as Orville fights demons from his past while just wanting to get back to Italy. At the same time he is seeing his boyhood home in ways he had never really seen it before.

We get to watch as both he and those around him react and interact with one another. There are changes for the good and bad, but just who those changes are good or bad for may not necessarily be who you might expect. In their own ways, each character goes thru a change even tho it's Orville whose life we are following most closely.

Being about a doctor and his life, there's some medical jargon and doctoring going on, but none is graphic or over used. Its primary use is to give Orville more chances to interact with and learn about the townspeople. While like all books this one won't be for everyone, if you enjoy reading "life stories" type of books, you should find this enjoyable. ( )

This story of the return of Dr Orville Rose to his small hometown of Columbia, New York after the death of his mother, Selma, is a wonderful blend of tragedy and comedy.

During the year and 13 days that Orvy remains in the town he loathes in order to fulfill the terms of his mother's will and receive his inheritance we meet many a colorful character -- including the deceased Selma, now returned to a youthful beauty, flying about at night and sniping at her son from on high. The characters -- including that of the town of Columbia -- are cleverly drawn and all worth meeting.

Not the most brilliant book I've read this year, but a good solid read and well worth the time. I will recommend to many. ( )

Quite funny but a bit sentimental. Shows really what it must be like to be a GP in a small town. And small town America as depressing as usual. ( )

After reading all the negative reviews, I'm surprised I liked the book as well as I did. Yeah, it was a little predictable, but it was a nice, easy read. It's the type of book I like to read after reading something really intense. The characters are human and likeable (the good ones) and the small town atsmophere feels accurate (made me glad I live in a big city!) It probably won't be a book I read over and over again, but I enjoyed it.

As an Early Reviewer, I appreciated the hand-written note apologizing for the long delay in receiving the book. ( )

The Spirit of the Place makes two books in a row that have reminded me why I should never judge a book by its cover. The cover of this book left me thinking 'meh' but the novel itself knocked my socks off.

Shem's prose is mesmerizing and beautiful. This is a book to be savored. The plot steadily unfolds versus rushing forth. And yet, it held my attention from start to finish.

The most outstanding aspect of this novel, for me, was the emotional depth that Shem conveyed in his characters. Especially in Orville and Miranda, but also in secondary characters such as the old town physician Bill Starbuck, Miranda's sweet six year-old son Cray and Orville's passionate, impulsive pre-teen niece Amy. Even characters who made brief appearances, such as the flighty, ethereal Celestina Polo, and Starbuck's dutiful wife Babette were vivid to the reader through Orville's narration.

Orville was a man full of turmoil. His love life. His career. His relationship with his deceased mother. All his life he ran away instead of staying. Because of the terms of his mother's will, he is forced to stay. In Columbia, that is.

The town of Columbia is a character in and of itself. A town so unbelievably self-destructive that it borders on hilarious. Orville stayed under duress. Thanks to his mother's will, he stood to gain almost a million dollars by staying for at least one year and thirteen months. Could he learn to love, or at least accept his hometown. Would he?

Then there was his relationships with women. I wouldn't say I didn't like Celestina Polo, but I thought she was wrong for Orville. Miranda, on the other hand, I not only adored but completely sympathized with. It was difficult to watch Miranda and Orville's relationship deteriorate. Their fears, their emotions seemed so incredibly real. It was what most of us have felt at one time when we wanted something so badly, but were so afraid we couldn't have it that our fears became a sort of self-fulfilling prophesy.

Finally, there was Orville's relationship with his mother, Selma. Selma cared enough about her son to leave a boxful of letters to be sent to her son at specified times after her death. Yet, the letters were often harsh and critical and full of unforgiveness and grudges held by a mother against her only son.

Orville's struggle to come to terms with Selma, Miranda, and the sad little town of Columbia - and they are all intertwined - is the driving force of this story. There are several interesting subplots artfully woven in, such as the fight to save an historic Columbian hotel, Orville's relationship with the man who tormented and bullied him as a child, and Cray, Miranda's son who falls for Orville in much the same was his mother does: tentative love mixed with self-protective fear.

Shem's fascinating account of Orville's cathartic one year and thirteen days in Columbia is a perfect example of how a return to our hometown can force us to face the past. ( )