Sarah Payne Stuart

I really wanted to like this book and would happily give it a 2.5, but not 3 stars. I enjoyed parts of it - the tales of Concord past and some present. Stuart has a way of tying a past story into her present tale - usually with a single sentence observation - a technique that she used effectively. I enjoy it when I hear comics do that as part of their bit and I liked it here too.

What I didn't like or became tiresome to me was all the Yankee neuroses laid bare. It just didn't appeal so much to me. What is odd is that I didn't mind reading about the quirks and neuroses of the Transcendentalists, but I wasn't wild about reading about the author's own neurotic behavior. An inconsistency, I admit.

… (mehr)

There are problems with this book. It is horribly self-indulgent. There are plenty of parts that are not very interesting. What this book does have, however, is one of the best and clearest expressions of New England guilt that I have ever read. Stuart gets it. She feels that incessant, narcissistic guilt that plagues the New Englander, and then feels guilty because she knows the guilt is narcissistic. I am a New Englander of Puritan extraction. I know that guilt. I've lived that guilt. Stuart is an astute reporter on it. The problem is, it's rather hard to appreciate. Heck, I wouldn't expect anyone who is not a New Englander to even be interested.

And then there's the parts of the book that are just straight up boring. I don't care about the author's efforts to deal with her sons as teenagers-- they come across as desperate and whiny. It's also hard for me to really get into or understand the constant need to move, even if (especially if!) you're happy where you are. Dealing with the insecurities of moving home is a topic that I would expect to find interesting. After all, I've always equated adulthood and success with being anywhere but where I grew up. Unfortunately, there are just too many ponderous details to make the investment in reading this book worthwhile.… (mehr)