You can go directly to the website to read this review. In fact, I highly recommend that you do familiarize yourself with this site. However, for convenience, I have copied the main content of the review for you.
Thank you Stacey Pierce!
http://wwwpageonelitcom.blogspot.com/2010/12/therapy-novel-by-harrie-rose-is-great.htm
Therapy: A Novel by Harrie Rose is Great book club read...
I am a social worker so I was quite interested in this book because of the title alone. I was hoping it wouldn’t be a predictable love story and it went far beyond my initial expectations. Barbara was an educated college professor who became extremely depressed after her children left home. The depression was there all along but she managed to “put on a face,” as a lot of depressed people do. Yet once the children were gone she began having difficulty “faking it.”
She went to work and home. It wasn’t until her husband realized there were no meals on the table waiting for him that his wife of many years needed help., Barbara was married but spent most of their married life being a servant to her husband and being ignored by him. His life was separate from hers and she never questioned him about the things he did. She just let them be sinking further into herself. He was the popular outspoken one and she wasn’t. She didn’t attend events he invited her to because it reinforced how far apart their two worlds were., Barbara had a life most would envy. A beautiful home, good children, a successful husband and a prestigious career made up her world. Friends were few and that was good enough for her. Despite what she had Barbara felt lost. At the suggestion of her disconnected husband Barbara went to a therapist to get help. What would happen next was extraordinary and of course, unethical. Barbara begins to find herself where she least expected it. Her life began to change on the couch in her doctor’s office., The author told a love story that was funny and quite vivid. I could see the roads that she drove on in New England, the diplomas on the wall in the psychiatrist’s office that she squinted to read on her initial visit, and the beauty that lay within Barbara’s gardens. At times I could see both her joy and pain. Ms. Rose has an amazing ability of grabbing the reader’s attention quickly and drawing them in. I found myself laughing out loud at the author’s humor and feeling sorry for Barbara in other instances. In the end, I applauded her growth as I do Ms. Rose’s storytelling ability. This is a must read and is a perfect book club suggestion or Christmas gift for the reader in your family. What are waiting for?
Publisher: iUniverse Star (July 20, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1450232191
reviewed by Stacey Pierce http://diligentwriter.blogspot.com/2010_12_01_archive.html
Posted by PageOneLit.com at 1:46AM
"Every Book Begins with Page One."
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Showing posts with label review. Show all posts
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Readers say...(on Amazon)
5.0 out of 5 stars Good Book Therapy. We all Need It., September 24, 2010
By chefchick - See all my reviews
This review is from: Therapy: A Novel (Paperback)
A good read always makes me feel better. "Therapy - A Novel" made me feel good. I've never been a fan of therapy or therapists. I've really only been to therapy once, during my divorce. The therapy here, in the novel, consists mainly of stories from Barbara's life; her childhood, married life and motherhood experiences.
Somehow I think I gleaned a little therapy for myself in reading Barbara's story. Her voice, and the very vivid memories she has of her family, and her experiences as a young woman and mother, were so well-written, touching, funny, and for me, so relatable.
I enjoyed this book because it surprised me too. It held no cliches.
I read a great deal and many times I can predict what will happen in a novel. But Barbara's life, like my own, is totally unpredictable. The best part, rather than merely soul-searching, or going on some stupid eat pray love roadtrip, and accepting the lousy slump of her life, (like I think most people, especially women are expected to do), she makes drastic changes, grabs life by the balls, and finds more happiness.
This is not a self-help book, I never read that crap.
I get my therapy from unexpected sources, great song lyrics, a special sunrise, something sweet my kids say, like a pill in jelly, this book.
By chefchick - See all my reviews
This review is from: Therapy: A Novel (Paperback)
A good read always makes me feel better. "Therapy - A Novel" made me feel good. I've never been a fan of therapy or therapists. I've really only been to therapy once, during my divorce. The therapy here, in the novel, consists mainly of stories from Barbara's life; her childhood, married life and motherhood experiences.
Somehow I think I gleaned a little therapy for myself in reading Barbara's story. Her voice, and the very vivid memories she has of her family, and her experiences as a young woman and mother, were so well-written, touching, funny, and for me, so relatable.
I enjoyed this book because it surprised me too. It held no cliches.
I read a great deal and many times I can predict what will happen in a novel. But Barbara's life, like my own, is totally unpredictable. The best part, rather than merely soul-searching, or going on some stupid eat pray love roadtrip, and accepting the lousy slump of her life, (like I think most people, especially women are expected to do), she makes drastic changes, grabs life by the balls, and finds more happiness.
This is not a self-help book, I never read that crap.
I get my therapy from unexpected sources, great song lyrics, a special sunrise, something sweet my kids say, like a pill in jelly, this book.
Readers say... (on Amazon)
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book, September 28, 2010
By Janice Schuster - See all my reviews
This review is from: Therapy: A Novel (Paperback)
I found it hard to put this book down and stayed up too late one night to finish it. It is well written and the characters are highly interesting, especially the main character, Barbara. The book captures Barbara's feelings and her relationships with everyone and brings home the fact that being accomplished and well thought of does not necessarily make one happy. The dialogue is real and captures conversations that I'm sure frequently do happen between therapists and their clients. Harrie Rose is a talented writer who really should write more fiction. She captures and conveys settings (New England), plots, and characters with ease and draws the reader in to the story very quickly.
By Janice Schuster - See all my reviews
This review is from: Therapy: A Novel (Paperback)
I found it hard to put this book down and stayed up too late one night to finish it. It is well written and the characters are highly interesting, especially the main character, Barbara. The book captures Barbara's feelings and her relationships with everyone and brings home the fact that being accomplished and well thought of does not necessarily make one happy. The dialogue is real and captures conversations that I'm sure frequently do happen between therapists and their clients. Harrie Rose is a talented writer who really should write more fiction. She captures and conveys settings (New England), plots, and characters with ease and draws the reader in to the story very quickly.
Readers say... (on Amazon)
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Book, October 18, 2010
By J. L. Knox "Musical Chairs" (USA) -
I read this book after reading Franzen's Freedom, and I was thankful for this timing. I enjoyed Franzen's book, and it was definitely a different, more all-encompassing (macro) structure, but the circumstantial similarities between the books are there. As I read Therapy, I was exposed to a character who, like Franzen's protagonist (Patty), has endured abuse and suffered mental upset. Franzen’s Patty, like Rose’s Barbara, is retracing her tale through the lens of personal psychological discovery; unlike Franzen's book, however, this novel is centered on Barbara's plight alone so we get to zoom in on her life, listen to her thoughts in a more in-depth way. Moreover, Barbara is believable. She's three-dimensional; she's self-sufficient; she's confused and yet not helpless; she's not merely looking for someone to rescue her or define her life. Instead, she is searching for her identity and the root of her pain, searching to define her own standards in a relationship, and yet she's doing so in what is actually a far more self-realizing decade than that of many coming-of-age novels/memoirs.
This book is important in that it breaks apart many common dilemmas men and women face in self-realization, and yet it does so without being overly sentimental or preachy. It also investigates the multi-faceted (and very personal, in this case) relationship between a psychologist and patient. It offers insight into what can happen when we rely too much on external forces to fight an internal battle. Perhaps most important, the book is well-written and moves seamlessly. I recommend it to anyone who's the least bit interested in psychology.
By J. L. Knox "Musical Chairs" (USA) -
I read this book after reading Franzen's Freedom, and I was thankful for this timing. I enjoyed Franzen's book, and it was definitely a different, more all-encompassing (macro) structure, but the circumstantial similarities between the books are there. As I read Therapy, I was exposed to a character who, like Franzen's protagonist (Patty), has endured abuse and suffered mental upset. Franzen’s Patty, like Rose’s Barbara, is retracing her tale through the lens of personal psychological discovery; unlike Franzen's book, however, this novel is centered on Barbara's plight alone so we get to zoom in on her life, listen to her thoughts in a more in-depth way. Moreover, Barbara is believable. She's three-dimensional; she's self-sufficient; she's confused and yet not helpless; she's not merely looking for someone to rescue her or define her life. Instead, she is searching for her identity and the root of her pain, searching to define her own standards in a relationship, and yet she's doing so in what is actually a far more self-realizing decade than that of many coming-of-age novels/memoirs.
This book is important in that it breaks apart many common dilemmas men and women face in self-realization, and yet it does so without being overly sentimental or preachy. It also investigates the multi-faceted (and very personal, in this case) relationship between a psychologist and patient. It offers insight into what can happen when we rely too much on external forces to fight an internal battle. Perhaps most important, the book is well-written and moves seamlessly. I recommend it to anyone who's the least bit interested in psychology.
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