Today Will Be Different
A brilliant novel and instant New York Times bestseller from the author of Where'd You Go, Bernadette, about a day in the life of Eleanor Flood, forced to abandon her small ambitions and awake to a strange, new future. Eleanor knows she's a mess. But today, she will tackle the little things. She will shower and get dressed. She will have her poetry and yoga lessons after dropping off her son, Timby. She won't swear. She will initiate sex with her husband, Joe. But before she can put her modest plan into action, life happens. Today, it turns out, is the day Timby has decided to fake sick to weasel his way into his mother's company. It's also the day Joe has chosen to tell his office -- but not Eleanor -- that he's on vacation. Just when it seems like things can't go more awry, an encounter with a former colleague produces a graphic memoir whose dramatic tale threatens to reveal a buried family secret. Today Will Be Different is a hilarious, heart-filled story about reinvention, sisterhood, and how sometimes it takes facing up to our former selves to truly begin living.
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Today Will Be Different byMaria Semple
259 pages
What’s it about?
This book follows a day in the life of Eleanor Flood. Today Eleanor vows to be different....
What did it make me think about?
Maria Semple always makes me smile. She is a keen observer of human nature, and her wit makes her novels stand out.
Should I read it?
I laughed my way through "There's Something About Bernadette" and was looking forward to Ms. Semple's next book. I thoroughly enjoyed this story as well. The author verges on being too clever for her own good, but always manages to finish with just the right amount of earnestness. I will have to admit that her observances are sometimes better than her plot.
Quote-
"It wasn't the end of Bucky that had Eleanor living in Technicolor. It was being a sister again. There was no relief deeper than being loved by the person who'd known you the longest. Eleanor's heart giggled with mad abundance: so much to share, so much goodwill, so many notes to compare, so many ways to help and be helped. She went out into the world, everything a performance for her coconspirator, Ivy. It was Eleanor at her vibrant best."
If you liked this try-
Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson
Dietland by Sarai Walker
The Good Luck of Right Now by Matthew Quick
Today Will Be Different byMaria Semple
259 pages
What’s it about?
This book follows a day in the life of Eleanor Flood. Today Eleanor vows to be different....
What did it make me think about?
Maria Semple always makes me smile. She is a keen observer of human nature, and her wit makes her novels stand out.
Should I read it?
I laughed my way through "There's Something About Bernadette" and was looking forward to Ms. Semple's next book. I thoroughly enjoyed this story as well. The author verges on being too clever for her own good, but always manages to finish with just the right amount of earnestness. I will have to admit that her observances are sometimes better than her plot.
Quote-
"It wasn't the end of Bucky that had Eleanor living in Technicolor. It was being a sister again. There was no relief deeper than being loved by the person who'd known you the longest. Eleanor's heart giggled with mad abundance: so much to share, so much goodwill, so many notes to compare, so many ways to help and be helped. She went out into the world, everything a performance for her coconspirator, Ivy. It was Eleanor at her vibrant best."
If you liked this try-
Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson
Dietland by Sarai Walker
The Good Luck of Right Now by Matthew Quick
I listened to the audiobook. I really enjoyed the narrator and found the book very entertaining. I wonder if I would have enjoyed the book as much had I read it. I think I would rate this a solid 3 1/2 stars.
I'm considering taking this down to a 1-star. The book has possibilities. Or rather, it had them until she wrote the darn thing. Eleanor's not a believable character. Not as a mother, wife, or sister. Not even as a dog owner. I kept having hope that the book would get better. It had highlights. She's got that one terrific paragraph, about being her best self, but that's the rare bit of excellent writing. Either get this book from the library, or, better yet, just read the quotes page on Goodreads, which will be so much better than the whole experience. It almost had three stars, but the fact that the plot line dies an agonizing death, ever so slowly and melodramatically, like a bad actress in a 4th grade play, means that my disappointment level in the book was so great that I had to subtract stars.
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