{"id":91,"date":"2018-12-31T10:42:25","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T10:42:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=91"},"modified":"2018-12-31T10:42:25","modified_gmt":"2018-12-31T10:42:25","slug":"lone-star-book-reviewsby-michelle-newby-nbcccontributing-editor-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=91","title":{"rendered":"Lone Star Book ReviewsBy Michelle Newby, NBCCContributing Editor"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/span>Michelle Newby<\/span> is contributing editor at Lone Star Literary Life, reviewer for Foreword Reviews, freelance writer, member of the National Book Critics Circle, and blogger at www.TexasBookLover.com. Her reviews appear or are forthcoming in Pleiades Magazine, Rain Taxi, World Literature Today, South85 Journal, The Review Review, Concho River Review, Monkeybicycle, Mosaic Literary Magazine, Atticus Review, <\/span>and The Collagist.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lone Star Book Reviews
of Texas books appear weekly
at LoneStarLiterary.com<\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n
\n

Katherine Center,<\/span> the author of five novels about love and family: The Bright Side of Disaster, Everyone Is Beautiful, Get Lucky, The Lost Husband,<\/span> and Happiness for Beginners,<\/span> recently signed a three-book deal with St. Martin\u2019s Press. Her books and essays have appeared in Redbook, People, USA Today, Vanity Fair,<\/span> and Real Simple.<\/span><\/p>\n

People Magazine<\/span> calls The Lost Husband \u201cA sweet tale about creating the family you need.\u201d Library Journal calls Get Lucky a \u201cthoroughly enjoyable girlish romp,\u201d and Kirkus Reviews<\/span> likens Everyone Is Beautiful<\/span> to the 1950s motherhood classic Please Don\u2019t Eat the Daisies.<\/span> Center is a graduate of Vassar College and University of Houston\u2019s Creative Writing Program.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

KATHERINE CENTER<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Happiness for Beginners<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

FICTION<\/a><\/span>
New York: St. Martin\u2019s Press<\/p>\n

Trade paperback, 978-1410479167; e-book 978-1410479167<\/p>\n

320 pages, $15.99<\/p>\n

March 24, 2015<\/p>\n

Reviewed for Lone Star Literary Life by Michelle Newby, 3.29.15<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/a><\/span>Happiness for Beginners <\/span>Katherine Center <\/span><\/a>tackles the well-trod territory of a woman on the verge, but what matters is the telling and Center turns it into a fun, entertaining read that has a lot to say about our preconceived notions of others. And of ourselves.<\/span><\/p>\n

Helen Carpenter, a prim, proper, orderly thirty-two-year-old teacher, has just suffered the worst year of her life: a strained relationship with her younger brother, an estrangement from her mother, a miscarriage and a divorce. Deciding that she needs to toughen up and make a radical break with her comfort zone, Helen signs up for a wilderness survival course in Wyoming. \u201cThe plan\u2026was to drive out to Wyoming and have a brave adventure with a bunch of strangers that would totally change not just my life, but my entire personality. The plan was to set out alone into the world, conquer it, and return home a fiercer and more badass version of myself.\u201d Her younger brother\u2019s best friend, Jake, has signed up for the same course and Helen reluctantly agrees to a cross-country carpool. A near-miss in a hotel room on the way to Wyoming complicates matters when Jake confesses a crush and Helen, against her better judgment, begins to fall for him. This survival course tests them both in ways neither had imagined, and they emerge on the other side changed but not necessarily in the ways they anticipated.<\/p>\n

The characters in Happiness<\/span> are diverse and sharply drawn. Helen is immensely likeable. Her reaction when she realizes that everyone else in the survival course, including the instructor, is college-age: \u201cWhere were the grown-ups? The guys having midlife crises? The stockbrokers with lumberjack fantasies? The carpool moms with something to prove to their personal trainers?\u201d You will root for her and cheer each achievement and lament every setback. Center has a gift for snappy, engaging dialogue that frequently had me laughing aloud.<\/p>\n

A typical exchange between Helen and Jake:<\/p>\n

Helen: \u201cYou don\u2019t know about wine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jake: \u201cI do. I took a class.\u201d<\/p>\n

I frowned at him. \u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n

But then I figured it out, and just as he answered, I answered, too, and we said, in unison, \u201cTo get girls.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s right,\u201d he said. \u201cThe same reason I learned to juggle. And took swing dancing lessons. And read The Beauty Myth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou read The Beauty Myth to get girls?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSure.\u201d<\/p>\n

I put my hand over my eyes. \u201cYou used The Beauty Myth for evil?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot for evil,\u201d he said, looking over. \u201cFor good. A whole lot of good.\u201d<\/p>\n

The plot is well-constructed and impeccably paced. My only quibble with Happiness<\/span> is the conclusion in which all conflicts are a little too neatly resolved, childhood traumas are alleviated, and everyone seems on the verge of happily ever after. On the other hand, the conclusion reflects the main theme of the book: it\u2019s just as easy to see the bright side as the dark \u2013 our choice \u2013 and it\u2019s not success or failure that\u2019s important; it\u2019s the trying. What makes you happy?<\/p>\n

* * * * *<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michelle Newby is contributing editor at Lone Star Literary Life, reviewer for Foreword Reviews, freelance writer, member of the National Book Critics Circle, and blogger at www.TexasBookLover.com. Her reviews appear or are forthcoming in Pleiades Magazine, Rain Taxi, World Literature Today, South85 Journal, The Review Review, Concho River Review, Monkeybicycle, Mosaic Literary Magazine, Atticus Review, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=91"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=91"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=91"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=91"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}