The Folded Clock by Heidi Julavits is self-absorbed and absorbing, reflective, boring to some but not to me, diary of a young woman's thoughts with each date starting "Today I..." and continuing with an anecdote or meditation about her life, i.e. I walked by here when I was on my way to have an affair with the man who became my second husband, or I swam for hours on the last day of our Maine vacation in t he little town where I have summered most of my life, or I went to see my therapist who did not answer the door or I fought with my husband when we were in Berlin. and she continues to muse on these beginnings for a few pages before we willy nilly move on to another date, not necessarily chronological. As a writer, and one not given to this kind of introspection, I found her entries fascinating. I listened to the book on CD and my husband did not share my enthusiasm even though she's funny at times and off the wall with her neuroses. It was a voyeurish excursion but the worries and obsessions about aging and death and friendship which concern her are shared by many women and I was sorry to have the book end. I'd buy another installment. ( )

From the author reading I went to I got the impression that this book was super funny. But I was deeply disappointed. It amounted to no more than a writing exercise anyone who writes as a hobby sooner or later undertakes. I did not find any original thoughts or images. The subject matter consisted of everyday musings I am not tempted to read anything else by this author. ( )

3.5 "Today I wondered 'What is the worth of a day?'" An intriguing first line and one that strikes a personal note, when I think of the ways we measure our time and accomplishments. The "Today I..." motif repeats as this diary by Julavits spans 2 years of her life: alternating between time in NYC, her primary home; Maine, her summer home; and Germany where her husband was attending a foreign policy summit for a couple months. Time is fluid in this diary, with dates skipping all around, which took me a little while to pick up on in the audio version. I thought I accidentally had my playlist on shuffle! But I think that is part of her point -- we tend not to reflect chronologically. I was torn between admiration for some of her creative observations and flights of fancy (no wonder she is a writer if she can spin a whole riff on buying something at the store!) and irritation for how involved some potential (yet nonexistent!) scenarios spun off into neurotic worrying and anxiousness. Her life is definitely not dull -- she travels with her husband and children and includes some of these adventures, but it is her interior life that is so rich. Mundane takes on meaning which isn't a bad way to think for awhile. ( )

This is a collection of stuff from Heidi Julavits' diary. The most interesting writings here, to me, are those that either deal with her writing on sexuality and sex, or that which deal with everyday-meets-bizarre stuff.

I wasn't expecting anything before reading this, yet while reading, I seldom chuckled (a good thing, really), sometimes showed others quotes and mostly, I quickly read through the entries, that basically weren't for me. The best I can say about those entries, is that they weren't attention seeking. I can't remember much of this collection, but was left with an OK feeling and a little sense of needing Montaigne afterwards. ( )

What a great book! It's a diary, although the years are not specified and the dates are not consecutive.

Each of the entries starts "Today I ..." and what follows is a riff and whatever it was she did or thought on that day - almost like she's writing Jazz. Some entries are funny (meeting an elderly famous person when she's wearing a bathing suit), some self-reflective (why is her dieting husband threatening?), and metaphoric (if the barn stands without the rocks for support, her marriage should withstand the slip of paper the wedding vows were written on.) along the way we encounter her children, current husband, first husband, friends and acquaintances who pop up on various days.

The last entry was begun early in the writing, but finished at the end. It, too, is a great "folded" riff and makes a great ending to this memoir. Heidi - Ifeel like I know you!
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