Title: A Window Opens
Author: Elisabeth Egan
Published: August 25, 2015 by Simon and Schuster
Pages: 384
Source: Publisher at BEA
Rating: 4/5
Goodreads
In A Window Opens, beloved books editor at Glamour magazine, Elisabeth Egan, brings us Alice Pearse, a compulsively honest, longing-to-have-it-all, sandwich generation heroine for our social-media-obsessed, lean in (or opt out) age.
Like her fictional forebears Kate Reddy and Bridget Jones, Alice plays many roles (which she never refers to as “wearing many hats” and wishes you wouldn’t, either). She is a mostly-happily married mother of three, an attentive daughter, an ambivalent dog-owner, a part-time editor, a loyal neighbor and a Zen commuter. She is not: a cook, a craftswoman, a decorator, an active PTA member, a natural caretaker or the breadwinner. But when her husband makes a radical career change, Alice is ready to lean in—and she knows exactly how lucky she is to land a job at Scroll, a hip young start-up which promises to be the future of reading, with its chain of chic literary lounges and dedication to beloved classics. The Holy Grail of working mothers―an intellectually satisfying job and a happy personal life―seems suddenly within reach.
Despite the disapproval of her best friend, who owns the local bookstore, Alice is proud of her new “balancing act” (which is more like a three-ring circus) until her dad gets sick, her marriage flounders, her babysitter gets fed up, her kids start to grow up and her work takes an unexpected turn. Readers will cheer as Alice realizes the question is not whether it’s possible to have it all, but what does she―Alice Pearse―really want?
My review:
I've read several "woman trying to have it all" type stories this year, and this one is certainly one of the best! The characters in this were very well done, I particularly loved the storyline involving Alice's father. Alice was a character that completely immerses you into her world, and you feel every emotion right along with her. I also loved the part that books played in this novel. We had the best friend who owns a struggling bookstore, the job as book reviewer for a magazine that Alice has at the book's beginning, and the new start-up company focusing on books where Alice is eventually employed. I could not stop reading as Alice juggles so many balls in the air, to find out how things end. The only nit picking I would give would be the way her husband handles his addiction (not believable to me that he would not need some type of help), and the company Scroll was so unusual that at times I got a bit bored with the work processes. These are very minor faults, because overall this book was a treat.
You might think this subject has been done to death, but you would be missing out on a great read by not picking this book up. Alice Pearse is a character not to be forgotten.
This book is part of the BookSparks summer reading challenge. While I did not receive my copy from them, I will still link my review to the challenge.
Nice review, I enjoyed this one too. I think you are right about the husband and his drinking difficulty, although it did seem situational. Great debut novel.
It just seemed that his problem took care of itself in too tidy of a manner, but I guess that would have added unneeded extra to the novel that wasn't really on point with the plot.
I feared this topic had been done to death when I first saw this book and therefore didn't request it. But, now have seen so many good reviews that I'm thinking of giving it a try! Plus, I'm interested in the inner workings of the publishing industry and where it could be going.
It was very well done. A lot of the previous books that I've read I would consider more in the chick lit genre, but this was literary fiction (maybe bordering on women's fiction).