Living Room

by Rachel Sherman

Book Overview

The follow-up to her highly praised debut story collection, The First Hurt , Rachel Sherman's Living Room is a beautiful and disarmingly direct portrait of a family in trouble. With the tone of a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1890447536
• ISBN13: 9781890447533
• Release Date: October 2009
• Publisher: Open City Books
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

`The idea would be to play up the outside, making it almost lie a surreal version."

Rachel Sherman's novel is as simple and powerful and as bleak as the winters on Long Island as she follows the misdirected lives of three women. Fifteen-year-old Abby is stumbling through life. Her partner in crime is Jenna who continually flashes her lacy bra while both clandestinely smoke cigarettes outside of Abby's bedroom window. We first meet them as they are walking to the Living Room, the secluded area made up of a couch, old red leather cracking white in places, "as if a cloud were being suffocated, trying to get out." No one owns the living room and it , it is too far out to worry about teachers. It is a spot in the woods neat the school where some the boys hang out. Years ago, they carried their parents' basement furniture behind the school and put it beneath a bunch of ceiling-like trees. It is here that the vulnerable Jenna and Abby finds solace with Alec and Chess, a boy from school touches her, his kisses hard and deep, his tongue searching for something inside her. Burdened by her home life, her mother Livia is unable to communicate with her daughter and her distracted father Jeffrey, while Abby emails her ailing grand mother Headie who has just been given a new computer by Jeffrey. Holed up in her apartment, Headie sends emails to her family and remembers life with her two husbands, "two rings, two men, one bigger than the other." Gene was a sweet man and never asked for much even though she had never really loved him., And later, Allen who seduced her, both of them together in the back room of the store, knocking against the winter clothes.. The most heart-wrenching character, Headie gradually deteriorates, lying on her bathroom floor and watching the dancers twirling, still colorful, and still faceless. In her closet there hangs the pink and white nightgown she plans to be buried on when she dies, with a note pinned to the hanger: "Bury me in This." Meanwhile, Livia eats like a fat man, gorging herself on pre-made onion dip and chips, noting only her dreams into a Word document, not even sharing them with her husband Jeffrey. Dragged down by dreams colorful and filled with wishes, Livia's journey is one of quiet conflict and an absolute sense of human frailty in the face of Jeffrey's detachment. Later when Livia offers to redecorate the house of Simone and her partner Gail, there's a hint of attraction perhaps envy at their seemingly perfect lives, particularly for the beautiful Gail sun-kissed with apple cheeks, blue eyes and smooth skin., and barefoot with a thing gold ankle bracelet. Sherman's characters are all spectators dancing on the edge of the stage. Headie, as if the dancers are above her, are looking at them as an audience member. Livia who remembers how Jeffrey once was - who slept with her, and watched her and loved her. And she wonders about her daughter always hiding from her. While Abby has secretive liaisons with Jenna and drinks a vodka, almost killing herself with alcohol, she stubbornly clings t

A good read

This is a good read, the first in a while that I read straight through. A beautifully written book about three generations of women, the compromises they make in life, the secrets they keep and the collateral damage it has on others. Rachel Sherman does a masterful job drawing portraits of the main characters and the secondary characters as well. The women are complex with complex desires and weaknesses that they don't fully comprehend and, as in real life, there are no easy answers. The author uses interesting imagery throughout the book, particularly when the women find themselves drawn low to the earth (or the floor) as they deal with their secret longings. The women's stories come to a dramatic head through various turns of events where secrets are revealed with a mixture of surprise, denial and acceptance.

a must read

This is a totally engaging book. The author obviously understands the inner lives of women of different generations and makes the reader care about their needs and longings. I also recommend the collection of short stories (The First Hurt) by this same author.

My favorite book all year

I finished this book several weeks ago and still find myself thinking about--even missing-- the three women who are the main characters of this story. The book weaves the lives of a mother, grandmother, and grandaughter over the course of one day in which each of them faces situations that challenge their sense of who they are in the world, and in their family. The story touches on universal themes of womanhood, identity, family, and romance without being at all heavy or too sentimental. It feels completely real and relatable, which is why even after the book is over, the characters stay with you like old friends. There are moments it's hilarious, and moments that break your heart.

A Fantastic Read

Rachel Sherman has written an intriguing study of three generations of women that instantly grabs the reader and won't let go. I found myself thinking about these characters long after I read the final chapter. Living Room offers unique insights into the nature of mental illness, aging and adolescent angst without being either morbid or sentimental. There were parts where I laughed out loud, and others where I nearly cried for these women. If you are looking for a book to capture you, Living Room is it.