Liz Rosenberg

From its opening pages, "Home Repair" proves to be one of those novels that manage to walk successfully the fine line between tragedy and comedy.

It is the day of the family’s big garage sale and Eve is hoping to rid herself of the useless junk cluttering her house; if she can make a little extra money in the process, all the better. Noni, her nine-year-old daughter, commandeers the cash box and proves to be a ruthless negotiator, refusing to take less for anything than the price her show more mother has written on its price sticker. Marcus, Eve’s teen age son, comes outside only long enough to salvage a few of his favorite childhood items and carry them right back inside the house. Chuck, Eve’s husband, is simply not interested and decides to run an errand instead of hanging around to help Eve and Noni keep an eye on things.

All in all, Eve experiences a typical American garage sale, complete with the line-jumpers that arrive four hours early hoping to score the good stuff before the sale officially opens. She makes a little money, gets rid of a few things that had just been taking up space anyway and, by the end of the sale, is ready to give the rest away just not to have to carry anything back inside - nothing really unusual about her day. But then it hits her that her husband is not coming home and that he has chosen a silly garage sale to cover his exit, something she will have to explain to the kids and her mother.

Thus begins the rest of Eve’s life, maybe not the life she would have picked if given a choice, but one she will come to find that she is perfectly capable of handling. Her immediate reaction may have caused her to lose so much weight on the “heartbreak diet” that even her nine-year-old would grow worried about her, but Eve is about to discover just what an adventure the rest of her life will be. When several months later Chuck has the gall to show up unannounced for Thanksgiving dinner, he is shocked to find the table filled with people he never expected to see: a young Korean couple and their children, two of Eve’s co-workers, the big African-American caretaker of the local public park, and Eve’s mother. Though Chuck could not know it, the table is filled with some of the best friends Eve will ever have.

Frankly, Liz Rosenberg has surprised me. "Home Repair" is the kind of novel I generally pick up only reluctantly because of bad previous experiences with books that, at least on the surface, appear to be so largely geared toward a female readership. This, I am happy to report, is not one of those novels. Rosenberg made me care about Eve and her friends and what happened to them. I fell in love with the Marcus and Noni characters and the way they supported each other during their mother’s crisis. And I was cheered and inspired by the way Eve’s courage and hope are rewarded.

Liz Rosenberg says that one of Home Repair’s “ideal readers” is the “man awake reading at three thirty in the morning.” Strangely enough, I finished "Home Repair" just before four this morning myself (while not quite the insomniac Rosenberg envisions, I am pretty close), marking me as one of the book’s ideal readers -and one well satisfied with the experience.

Rated at: 4.0 show less

Eve has already lost one husband – her beloved Ivan who went out to get her chocolate ice cream and ended up dying in a car crash. So when her second husband, the handsome free-spirit Chuck, drives away from their upstate New York home on fine summer day (in the middle of a garage sale), Eve instinctively knows he has left her and her children. Eve gathers up the remnants of her yard sale and digs deep to find the courage to move forward. Her teenage son from her first marriage (Marcus), show more and her precocious nine year old daughter from her union with Chuck (Nona), along with Eve’s fiesty, sharp-tongued mother Charlotte (who moves from Tennessee to be close to her abandoned daughter) motivate Eve to keep going despite her broken heart.

Home Repair is the story of what it means to experience love and loss, and yet still find fulfillment in the small things that life offers. Liz Rosenberg’s prose reminds me a lot of Anne Tyler – the quirky, lovable characters and matter of fact narrative of ordinary life peppered with all the sadness and laughter that comes with it, ring true. Eve’s journey is not a straight line – she takes one step forward and three steps back – but, her persistence and sincerity, her love for her children, and her hope for romantic love again, all work to her advantage. Despite all of Eve’s setbacks, she is able to find the beauty that still exists in her life.

Rosenberg’s strength is in the development of her characters – my favorite of whom was Charlotte, an aging woman whose crusty exterior belies a loving heart. Rosenberg captures the bittersweet process of aging, as well as the connections between grandparents and children, and the ambivalence between mothers and daughters.

Charlotte Dunrea, the meticulous, the upright, was beginning to drip gravy down her front, to spill coffee in her lap. The seat of her slacks sagged. She complained that it was harder to do everything – to get in and out of the car with Marcus. You could see what an effort it was, getting up out of the kitchen chair after dinner, clinging to the table for support. She might need a walker soon. She was slowing down. It seemed to Eve as if her stubborn little mother was now a permanent fixture in their lives, and the only way she’d ever leave was for her to be carried out, feet first. – from Home Repair, page 48 -

I enjoyed this lovely book. My only complaint was a minor one – that Rosenberg makes a small error re: medical information (being a Physical Therapist, I am probably more tuned into the nuances around medical procedures than the average reader). But, aside from that, the pages of this book turned effortlessly. I began to feel like the characters in the book were old friends, and I regretted saying good-bye to them. I hope Rosenberg is working on her next novel because I look forward to reading more from this talented debut author.

Home Repair is a mixture of happy and sad, laughter and tears – it reflects the real stuff of our ordinary lives. Readers who chose to go along on Eve’s journey from joy to loss and back to happiness will find it a satisfying trip.

Recommended. show less

*I received a free copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

Instead of consuming this book, I feel like this book consumed me. I fell into it and was wholeheartedly immersed in L. M. Montgomery’s life. Even while not reading it, I still felt as though my heart and mind were with L. M. Montgomery. Certainly, I couldn’t stop talking about it, as my husband could attest. It’s been quite a while since I’ve been completely absorbed in a show more book, and reading this was such a wonderful experience.

L. M. Montgomery, or “Maud,” as she was called, is absolutely one of my favorite authors ever. I’ve read a good chunk of her works (and she was a prolific writer!), so to learn more about her experiences and what inspired her stories–especially those of Anne Shirley and Emily–was a lovely experience to begin with. It’s clear to see that Rosenberg loves Montgomery and her stories as well, because reading this as almost as close as reading a memoir, it was so filled with empathy and emotion. I felt like I was in a conversation with a friend, talking about another friend. It was a sort of: “Did you hear about Maud? She published a book!” kind of thing. I was joyous over Maud’s triumphs and saddened over how much loss and sadness she had within her life, but it’s a comfort to know that for all her struggles, she loved her writing, and those stories live on for us today thanks to her.

Rosenberg gives a comprehensive overview of Maud’s life, from early childhood to late adulthood. I love that she was able to include direct quotes from the personal journal of L. M. Montgomery, which added a great touch of personality and authenticity to situation. It’s nicely paced–I never felt as though too much or too little time was spent on one thing. I LOVED some of the humorous anecdotes told. L. M. Montgomery could be one funny lady.

What I most appreciated, however, was the frank discussion of mental illness. Both Montgomery and her husband seem to have had some forms of depression and anxiety, and I am so grateful to Rosenberg for tackling that head-on. The more we talk about these things, the more we share both the struggles and successes of people who live with this diseases, the more we normalize them and are able to seek help in managing them. It’s especially important for young people who might not know how to deal with what they’re feeling and what they may be experiencing to know that even those we look up to struggle with the same thing. I’m so glad this was included.

This biography is magical, truly. I felt completely transported reading it and it’s been one of my absolutely favorite reads this year. Every Montgomery fan will find something to love about it, and I’m so glad I was able to learn more about L. M. Montgomery’s life and experiences. Thank you so much to Liz Rosenberg for writing this and Candlewick Press for publishing this. It’s extraordinary.

Also posted on Purple People Readers. show less

4.5 stars

Oh, what a lovely book! I hadn't dared to hope it would be as good as it is.

Rosenberg doesn't talk down to her audience, using vocabulary that's probably a little challenging for her target audience, but in just the right way so that they can learn the words in context. She doesn't shy away from themes of mental illness, loss, and even despair, and yet her affection for Maud shines through on every page. It's a blend of hope and loss, ambition and failure, happiness and sorrow in show more just the way that Lucy Maud Montgomery's own writings were.

This book feels like a L.M. Montgomery book, and I can't think of higher praise than that. show less