Susan Conley (1) (1967–)

Susan Conely’s honest and introspective memoir Foremost Good Fortune is a gripping read involving multiple, interconnecting spheres. Covering the time surrounding the Beijing Olympics when she lived in China with her husband and young sons, it’s part travelogue, part chronicle of the expat experience in one of the world’s most powerful and fascinating nations, and part a record of what it feels like to leave just about everything and everyone you know to start a new life.

Most authors show more of books on relocating to an exotic part of the world are thrilled to be on their journey. Susan Conely is openly ambivalent and that is part of what makes this book so eye-opening and interesting. It’s her husband’s love of China that led the family across the world to where he had found a two year job. Her sons were resistant and unhappy at first, but then they seemed to be adjusting faster than she was. Though Conely is both accomplished and independent she did not arrive in China knowing the language and so found herself uncomfortably more dependent on her husband than she ever had been at home in Maine. Starting from scratch she began learning the language, finding friends and enjoying her life in a new and sometimes beautiful country.

Then she got cancer. That’s a journey I’ve been on, and her description of how deeply disorienting it is, how it changes the way you think and look at the world in ways neither you or your loved ones can always anticipate were true to my experience.

A well written page turner. show less

LANDSLIDE is written by Susan Conley.
This portrait of a family in a fishing village in Maine, is a fresh look at marriage, motherhood and the complex life of teenagers.
The book jacket tells us that “After a fishing accident leaves her husband hospitalized across the border in Canada, Jill is left to look after her teenage boys - the wolves - alone. Nothing comes easy in their remote corner of Maine: money is tight; her son Sam is getting into more trouble by the day; her eldest, Charlie, show more is preoccupied with a new girlfriend; and Jill begins to suspect her marriage isn’t as stable as she once believed.”
This title is a pick of “All Books Considered”, MPR’s (Maine Public Radio’s) book discussion group/book club. (2021)
I like the writing style of Ms. Conley. She is a very popular writer. The book certainly kept my attention and the characters were minutely described. Maine and its fishing contingent is very well represented with all its glaring warts and flaws.
That being said, I did not (personally) like the characters very much and often wanted to just scream at them to “Snap out of it”. (Very much like the scene in the movie, “Moonstruck”.)
They (the characters) frustrated me greatly.
I did like ‘reading’ about the characters, however. The writing was very well-done.
Chapeau to Ms. Conley.
LANDSLIDE was an excellent choice for Maine’s state-wide Book Club and the title gave me a lot to think about; a lot to be thankful for (mostly, that I was not involved in this family drama); and so relieved that ‘my’ teenagers are independent adults and out of the house!
4 Stars **** And I will be reading more of Ms. Conley’s work. show less

I wanted to love this one. But I think this story is tough. You will either love it because you connect and feel the strife and the struggle. I just didn't. The first few parts of the story, with her "wolves" and her insights in her family were good and I enjoyed it it slowly gave shape to the family. But about half way, the 'wolves' and the cute parts of the family fade away. I didn't mind the anger or the struggle - they made the story interesting - but the writing didn't hold the magic or show more the edge that the first part did.

And I found Jilly's conversations with her friend Lara about her marriage disheartening. She had no one in her corner to support her, no money and no where to go. Absolutely no one allowed her to be upset or mad. They just told her to live with it. That's an awful stance to take and not a great overall message. show less

I was really looking forward to reading this book, and I was hoping I would like it, because I will soon be transplanted into Chinese culture/country where I plan to raise my children. My future husband is a native, and I know my children will soon be overtaking my Chinese level by the time they're in kindergarten. So in this book I wanted to catch a glimpse of how the author felt lost/disoriented/isolated in the new country. I felt like I could really relate with all that (except for the show more cancer part).

She does offer some slices of Beijing life. But I could not enjoy them as much because of her delivery. In the first parts of the book, what I disliked was the airy-fairy, pensive tone of the narrator. She was also a little too heavy-handed with the metaphors. Like, let's say she encounters Object X. She will then compare herself, or her sons, or her husband, to how they are like object or situation X. There's nothing wrong with that, inherently, but maybe it was done in a way that was too conspicuous, or it felt a little forced.

I liked that each chapter was relatively short, like a magazine piece, but I wasn't very fond how the book is generously sprinkled with "Sex In The City" type rhetorical questions or "thoughtful" observations.

Then after the cancer... geez, what a downer. I know I'm not being very sympathetic. I know she's been through hell. I know you've been in an abyss, but do you have to drag your readers down into it as well? It's such a depressing read. I feel it's a waste because she had a lot of material here, but she just wasn't distanced enough from the issue yet to be able to turn it into something closer to art. I felt disappointed because for a poet, her wording is so artless. I was looking for some beautiful turn of phrase. I wanted to tell her: You're a writer! Do more with the language!

Instead it was like her narrative was sapped of energy, and she used only the most basic words, in an ordinary manner.

Too navel-gazing for me. I wish she wasn't so closed off/resistant to/scared of the new culture -- at least in the end. She can be all these things at the start, but I'd love some small signs of transformation that show how she's opened up in the end. She SAYS she's changed, in the end. But I would have wanted to have seen it. I know it's a memoir, but there's too much telling, not enough showing. I guess I wanted vignettes, not a journal.

The best part of the book for me was at the end, the scene where they say goodbye to Lao Wu. It wasn't overwrought, so it struck the right note.

Maybe people who are cancer survivors will appreciate this more than I did. show less