Middle Age: A Romance (2001)

Never would have read it if it weren't for my bookgroup picking it. Incredibly long book for me but I plowed through it and...surprise....I enjoyed it. Needed a cheat sheet for the characters.

While I admit that I wasn't immediately able to get into the book in the beginning and that there were some parts I found a tad rambling, this is another masterfully-written novel by Joyce Carol Oates. It tells several stories of middle-aged individuals whose lives are linked by a recently deceased friend they barely truly knew yet have been profoundly touched by. The characters are all very well-realized, even the mysterious Adam Brendt, who I found myself nearly obsessing over too! Reading Oates, it's difficult not to feel a sense of impending doom, and yet Middle Age ends with the triumph after a struggle. ( )

Adam Berendt dies near NYC exurb; friends uncover layers

10.05 ( )

I do wish I didn't have to finish this book, it would be so wonderful to have a little bit left. She makes fun of us middle aged people, in the gentlest of ways. ( )