How to Walk Away: A Novel
From the author of Happiness for Beginners comes the instant New York Times bestseller (May 2018), an unforgettable love story about finding joy even in the darkest of circumstances.
Margaret Jacobsen is just about to step into the bright future she's worked for so hard and so long: a new dream job, a fiancé she adores, and the promise of a picture-perfect life just around the corner. Then, suddenly, on what should have been one of the happiest days of her life, everything she worked for is taken away in a brief, tumultuous moment. In the hospital and forced to face the possibility that nothing will ever be the same again, Maggie must confront the unthinkable. First there is her fiancé, Chip, who wallows in self-pity while simultaneously expecting to be forgiven. Then, there's her sister Kit, who shows up after pulling a three-year vanishing act. Finally, there's Ian, her physical therapist, the one the nurses said was too tough for her. Ian, who won't let her give in to her pity, and who sees her like no one has seen her before. Sometimes the last thing you want is the one thing you need. Sometimes we all need someone to catch us when we fall. And sometimes love can find us in the least likely place we would ever expect. How to Walk Away is Katherine Center at her very best--a masterpiece of a novel that is both hopeful and hilarious; truthful and wise; tender and brave. Praise for How to Walk Away: "Katherine Center's voice did what great fiction is meant to do: It pulled me in so immediately and completely that I forgot about real life." --Taylor Jenkins Reid, bestselling author of Daisy Jones & the Six "I can't think of a blurb good enough for this novel...poignant, funny, heartbreaking." --Jenny Lawson, bestselling author of Furiously HappyBUY THE BOOK
Community Reviews
Iâm obviously in the minority here but I found this novel to be too unrealistic. It reads like a Hallmark movie. Having known someone who fell off his roof and was paralyzed probably has a lot to do with why I canât relate to this book.
With the book jacket description, I was expecting something a little more deep and more inspiring. When I threw my hands up and said "I give up. It's a romance novel," well, then it became a better book to me. It meant that the predictability of the novel became an asset rather than a liability. Once I saw the book as a midnight fantasy on a night when you can't fall asleep, it improved greatly. 3 starts as a novel, 5 as a romance, so I was going to give it 4 stars, but I relented while writing the last sentence of this review and changed it to 5.
Everything about Chip is perfect. His country club/fraternity name is derived from "Charles Phillip," a name fit for British monarchy. He's perfect, and perfectly narcissistic. I don't think Margaret even knows him. She's so stunned by him, and he's so dreamy that she doesn't tell him that she's going to earn $50,000 more at her job than he will working for a friend of his dad's after they both get their MBAs. He bullies her into a plane ride she doesn't want, and he fails at everything - the purpose of the plane ride isn't there, the engagement ring is all wrong, and, big surprise, he crashes the plane and runs away. Everything she saw in him was what she wanted to see - all veneer, no substance. The first 20 pages do not bode well for Margaret.
Actually, the first half of the book is truly good. There are quotes I want to put on my next Shutterfly calendar. Interactions between the characters, whether predictable or not, are written skillfully and make reading the book a true pleasure. There's a lot I could say... but I don't want to give away the intricacies of the novel. Somewhere around page 200 was where I started to roll my eyes. But just for a little while. Then I told myself to lighten up and enjoy the fantasy, and I did. I'll probably fall asleep tonight dreaming about the perfect kiss from the man who is perfect for me.
Everything about Chip is perfect. His country club/fraternity name is derived from "Charles Phillip," a name fit for British monarchy. He's perfect, and perfectly narcissistic. I don't think Margaret even knows him. She's so stunned by him, and he's so dreamy that she doesn't tell him that she's going to earn $50,000 more at her job than he will working for a friend of his dad's after they both get their MBAs. He bullies her into a plane ride she doesn't want, and he fails at everything - the purpose of the plane ride isn't there, the engagement ring is all wrong, and, big surprise, he crashes the plane and runs away. Everything she saw in him was what she wanted to see - all veneer, no substance. The first 20 pages do not bode well for Margaret.
Actually, the first half of the book is truly good. There are quotes I want to put on my next Shutterfly calendar. Interactions between the characters, whether predictable or not, are written skillfully and make reading the book a true pleasure. There's a lot I could say... but I don't want to give away the intricacies of the novel. Somewhere around page 200 was where I started to roll my eyes. But just for a little while. Then I told myself to lighten up and enjoy the fantasy, and I did. I'll probably fall asleep tonight dreaming about the perfect kiss from the man who is perfect for me.
Katherine Center tackles subject matter that could lead a less-skilled writer into a decidely maudlin, cliched, predictable mess of a story. But with Center's adept control of her characters and theme, the story of Margaret Jacobsen is a deeply moving, relatable, and empathetic journey, full of believable emotions and humor. First, Center adroitly describes the events that change Margaret's life forever in a manner that immediately connects them with her main character, as she struggles to understand and aceept what has happened. The story-telling device is a brilliant one because the reader is instantaneously invested in Margaret's struggle to comprehend and accept what has occurred. As the story opens, she has just completed a Master's degree & landed a job that surpasses her goals. She is engaged to a young man she has loved for years and has never had any reason to doubt her love for him, much less his love and commitment to her. However, shortly after their engagement becomes official, tragedy strikes. Margaret gradually begins to grasp what has happened and the myriad ways in which she will have to cope with the reality that the life she planned will never materialize. She does so surrounded by her thoroughly dysfunctional, but loving family, as well as indomitable strength, determination, and intention that she never knew she possessed. She never loses her snarky, sarcastic sense of humor which is characterized by banter with her sister that resonates as true and eerily accurate with any reader who has/had sibling(s). Yes, there is romance, but it is neither cloyingly sweet nor anticipated, making the magical moments Center includes feel organic and satisfyingly believable. The result is a story that makes readers cheer enthusiastically for not just Margaret, the lead character, but those characters who truly love and support her, and want, like Center's readers, only the best for her because Center shows readers that Margaret deserves it. How to Walk Away is a perfect beach or vacation read and will resonate with a broad age-range of readers (beginning with young adult).
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book!
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book!
Honestly. Not one of my favorites from this author. It was good but not until I was about half way done. That’s when it started to feel like there was a story and that something was happening. That’s when the main character started having some development. Overall the ending was great but I wish there was more to the story. I felt like something was just lacking. But again I joined the last 1/2 of the book!
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