Miss Harper Can Do It

By Jane Berentson

Book Overview

A winning debut novel about what happens when a young woman finds her life on hold Twenty-four-year-old elementary school teacher Annie Harper is left behind in Tacoma, Washington, when her boyfriend David, an army lieutenant, is shipped overseas. Struggling with the complex emotions tied to his absence, she begins writing a confessional memoir, imagining it as a moving account of "the woman at home." But instead of devolving into a tear-jerking tale of integrity and patience, Annie's life goes on without David in ways she didn't anticipate. She spends more time with her best friend, Gus, begins volunteering at a local retirement center, and adopts a pet chicken. Even as she misses David enormously between his sparse e-mails and choppy phone calls, she struggles with conflicted feelings about their long-distance relationship, her own identity and family history, and the ideological underpinnings of a war that's exerting such a force on her life. Told through the draft chapters of Annie's memoir-in-progress, Miss Harper Can Do It is a funny and poignant story of what it means to be loyal versus what it means to be in love. In Annie, Berentson has rendered a quirky young woman who copes with loss and stress in unexpected ways, only wavering briefly on the brink of self-pity and never losing her sense of humor.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 067002077X
• ISBN13: 9780670020775
• Release Date: April 2009
• Publisher: Viking Books
• Length: 324 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.3"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Wonderful, Romantic, Funny!

Berentson is a welcome addition to great story teller's today. If you like Nicholas Sparks you will love Jane Berentson. Miss Harper Can Do It is a wonderful story."

Poignant, Funny, and Evocative

MISS HARPER CAN DO IT is a wonderful novel from a debut author with a fresh voice. It is witty and poignant, laugh-out-loud funny and tear-jerking. Berentson's writing is vivid and evocative, touching all the senses in turn. I look forward to many more books from this talented author!

ISSUES OF LIFE, WAR AND LOVE

First time novelist Jane Berentson has created a very likable character in Annie Harper. She's someone with whom we can laugh, shed a tear, and identify. Sometimes her struggles and questions are ours. At 24 Annie is an elementary school teacher in Tacoma, Washington. She's unmarried but very much attached to David who is being sent to Iraq. He'll be gone for a year, 365 lonely days and nights for Annie. In order to fill her time she decides to write a memoir recounting these days of stress, coping, and making-do. Her original title is "Wartime Alone Time: When Abstinence Fights For Freedom." However, that title will frequently change as she narrates this year of her life in chapters. Her mother is stalwart, at the ready to feed, hug, and comfort. However, Annie doesn't seem to want or need maternal tending. She agrees when her mother insists that she come by the morning David leaves. Clearly her mother has made plans as Annie finds "There was the special quiche she knows I love. Fresh melons all cut up. Kleenex strategically placed throughout the house in places I'd never seen it while growing up." The Kleenex was unused. Annie also spends time with an old school friend, Gus. He's a guy who knows her pretty well, knows her well enough to call her in the middle of the night to come and help him scrape painted pumpkins off the windows of the Dairy DeLite. Yes, this is the sort of thing that happens to Annie between the emails and sporadic phone calls from David. There are, of course, her students who have a gift for asking embarrassing yet straight to the point questions when they're not all speaking at once or creating minor mischief. The youngsters are described neatly and well by author Berentson. As much as Annie thinks the days will never end they do as she volunteers at a retirement center and gets a pet - believe it or not, a chicken. What Annie had thought would be a tedious, slow year holds many surprises for her as she struggles to identify her feelings about life, war, and love. Jane Berentson's debut novel will leave readers wanting to hear more from this talented author. - Gail Cooke

Love the 3rd Graders!

When Annie Harper's boyfriend David is shipped to Iraq she knows she's in for a difficult year. With that in mind she decides to write a book about the year. She imagines being interviewed by Katie Couric (if nothing else she has a lively imagination) and having dinner at the White House where she will convince the President to reimburse her for her much needed therapy sessions. Each chapter of this book starts with a new title she's considering for her memoirs - starting with "Wartime Alone Time: When Abstinence Fights For Freedom" and going on to "Shout Across the Ocean" and "Dreams From the Homeland". She tries going to a knitting support group David tells her about but it doesn't work out. Besides the fact that she doesn't knit, she really has nothing in common with the other members. So she settles down to writing her book. She also sees more of her old friend Gus and his girlfriend. And to make herself less lonely she gets a very unusual pet - a chicken she names Helen! My favorite parts tho involve her interactions with her 3rd grade class. They really are humorous and keep Annie grounded. This book is both serious and extremely funny at the same time. And eventually the title makes sense but not in the way you expect. Enjoy!

Writing for Insight and Enlightenment

Annie Harper's boyfriend has been deployed to Iraq and she is left with the task of sustaining and remaining in this relationship during his absence. Through the chapters of her book with the ever changing title, she records her memoirs in an unfiltered, imaginative and true but not always factual manner. Sharing her off-beat and creative approach to life with the readers of her future best seller, Annie sorts through a complexity of expectations, emotions and relationships, gradually discovering the truth of who she is and the voice she needs to express it. Jane Berentson has a eye for the hidden depths of the mundane and the ability to bring the reader into the midst of the characters' lives. This is an delightful, funny and very believable book that left me wanting to teach third grade, resurrect my journal and get a pet chicken.