Labor Day

This is a 2.67 review.

My feelings are very mixed about Joyce Maynard's Labor Day. I partially liked it; I partially didn't. Labor Day primarily takes place in the 1970's. Henry is the 13 year old narrator describing a pivotal Labor Day weekend.

While in a discount store with his damaged agoraphobic mother, Adele, an escaped convict named Frank approaches Henry asking him for a place to lie low. Frank's injured with a broken leg. Adele and Henry sneak him out with no questions asked. Thus begins a weekend where Henry gains self-confidence and Adele and Frank fall in love.

I am very picky about my love stories. I hate overly mushy, Harlequin types, and utterly stupid. The love story between Adele and Frank wasn't any of these but it was show more highly improbable. I know that Frank was not a true bad guy, just a victim of circumstance. However, he was still a convict and still very sketchy. Frank just kind of imposed himself in their lives offering life lessons. That just didn't sit right with me.

Perhaps because it was narrated from Henry's point of view, that I felt this way about Frank. It sure helped with me feeling sympathetic toward Henry and hiss feelings of abandonment toward Adele and Frank. It was also understandable on how Eleanor was influential on his thoughts regarding Frank trying to steal Adele away from Henry.

I felt that there were two brainwashing going on. Eleanor on Henry. She manipulating him as seeing Frank's good deeds as steps for stealing Adele. Eleanor was an immoral opportunist and Henry was naïve enough not to see it. Frank brainwashed Adele. I know this is the minority but when a man showers a fragile woman with enough attention, she'll be malleable. Frank did need a place to stay.

I think I liked the idea of Labor Day than the actual execution. Joyce Maynard's writing was very good. I liked that the characters had tragic pasts. Maynard is effective in making the mundane interesting. show less

While Joyce Maynard's novel is told from the point of view of a twelve year old boy, the story centers around the relationship between his lonely, divorced mother and the escaped convict they briefly shelter. Set in the mid-eighties in a New Hampshire town, during the final week of the summer, the story begins with Henry, an outcast at school, who feels responsible for his mother's happiness. Adele is emotionally fragile and agoraphobic, leaving Henry as her sole companion and support. During one of their rare trip to pick up supplies, Henry meets a man who behaves oddly, friendly, but there is something off about him. Despite this, Henry agrees to give the man a ride, and, equally surprising, Adele doesn't object. Soon, they are show more technically being held hostage by an escaped felon. The truth is more complex, however, as Adele and Henry are so lonely that they are willing to voluntarily comply. Soon a relationship begins between Frank, the convict, and Adele and Henry.

In this book's favor, the writing was solid and it was certainly a page turner. On the other hand, there were some pretty big problems with the characters. Adele is passive. Really passive. There's not a moment when she speaks up for herself or makes a decision that isn't just going along with someone else's decision. And she mostly just sits around. Sure, she's describes as beautiful, with a dancer's grace and body, but this seems inadequate to cause the levels of love and devotion she attracts. There is, of course, a tragic backstory, but it doesn't fully explain her inertia, years later. And then there's Frank. A man perfect in every way, except for the small detail of being a murderer. He's sensitive, hard working, bakes, understands boys and cares lovingly for handicapped children. Has there ever been such a perfect man in the real world? show less

Do you remember those pivotal moments in your life, those memories of maybe a few days in which your life changed completely? The Labor Day weekend that Henry was 13 was like that for him and his mother, Adele. Sometime in the 1980s, Henry and his mother are living in an isolated home in New Hampshire until Frank Chambers enters their lives. He is an escaped convict who comes to their house to hide out, and the experience will leave neither Henry nor Adele unchanged.

Henry narrates the story in a slightly meandering sort of way, with several flashbacks that allow the reader to know him and his mother far beyond what happens in just those five days. There are no quotation marks, a device that usually annoys me but surprisingly worked in show more this story because I felt more firmly in Henry's head. Henry, Adele, and Frank are wonderful characters; I cared about what happened to them and wanted to spend more time with them when the story was over. show less

This is my first Joyce Maynard book. The synopsis sounded intriguing. The story of Adele is a sad one, indeed. But Frank's presence seems to bring some life back to her. She needed love and affection. She needed positive attention. Thirteen-year-old Henry has been the "man" of the house for so long, yet he can't make his mother happy. Not in the way that Frank can.

Frank isn't really as awful as the media portrays him to be. He's a human being with flaws and still possesses some good qualities.

The story is sad while still clinging to hope and love. It is generously insightful, sharing the why's of Adele's unhappiness and depression. While Joyce is a fair storyteller, this book is not one that I would re-read.

Labor Day by Joyce Maynard is a coming-of-age book about a young man’s 13th year, in particular, the events that occurred over the Labor Day weekend. Henry lives with his mother who isn’t coping well with her life. She rarely goes out at all but this day Henry needed new clothes for school which was starting after the long weekend. While in the store Henry is approached by a man who obviously needs some help. He is limping and bleeding, and Henry and his mother take him home.

Frank is an escaped convict, but doesn’t seem threatening in any way, in fact, Frank and Henry’s mother, Adele, hit it off right away. Frank does tell them who he is but they are enjoying themselves and allow the situation to get even more intimate. When show more Frank and Adele start talking about running away to Canada, Henry believes they are going to leave him behind. He does see his father, but isn’t all that keen to live with his father’s new family or his step-mother. He becomes angry and confesses the situation to a friend. He then finds out that Frank and Adele have no intention of leaving him behind. They pack up and are about to leave when the police arrive and arrest Frank. The friend that Henry told went to the police for the $10,000 reward.

The book is written from the point of view of a thirty year old Henry who brings us up to date with what eventually happens to Frank, Adele, Henry and the rest of the family. I admit that at first I was not fond of fragile Adele and how passive she was but as the author slowly reveals more and more about her character, I began to root for her. I started this book thinking it would be an average read, but the author developed her characters into fully rounded people and presented a story that was both insightful and so richly shaded that I knew this was much more than an average book. show less

As the author acknowledges in the interview at the end of this riveting novel, sometimes a plot is a puzzle for characters to work their way out of. While the premise of this wonderful novel is unlikely (the harboring of an escaped convict), the characters act in realistic and compassionate ways. While I have never been a 13-year old boy, I understood Henry's loneliness and confusion. And the same for understanding his mother's pain and sorrow... Again, Maynard brings to life a complex and wounded character for whom the actions make sense even if they look strange to an outsider. I highly recommend this book. And have a piece of your favorite homemade fruit pie ready to enjoy about halfway through.

It has been ages since I have found a book this readable that touches me so deeply. Labor Day is a coming-of-age story in an unlikely set of circumstances. Henry and Adele, a son and mother, take in an escaped convict, and learn what it is to love. While it isn't as quick a lesson for Henry as it is for Adele, it is masterfully told and the time spent reading the novel goes quickly.

It isn't often that I finish a book, close it, and hold it to my chest in a loving embrace, but this was one for me. The lessons of love, forgiveness, peace and patience are powerful, but the voice given to Henry, both as an adolescent and as an adult, has a strong resonance with every believer in what love is.