I thoroughly enjoyed Thompson's writing style and use of language, his awareness of the phrases that identify the lives and idiosyncrasies of the upper middle-class. The subject matter reminds me of much of John Cheever's writing about people living in the same geographic area. ( )

The cover is deceiving. For me, it teased me into thinking this was the next Cheever or Updike. But it is not. Anders is an incredible character, making questionable decision after questionable decision, but in a way, resembles you and I. Thompson's prose is strong, his paragraphs are long, effectively trapping the reader inside the story which offers a brief glimpse of how Anders feels his life is going. The strongest book I have read in 2014 by a long shot. ( )

Wow! An excellent book and the closest thing I've read to Updike. An amazing first novel (in my opinion). My only complaint (but not really) is that it was too short. A sad book without a lot of heroes and a little too close to life (at times) to be called fiction. ( )

In his early sixties, Anders Hill is late for his mid-life crisis, but finds himself quitting his job and divorcing his wife. After being completely cut off from his old life and re-establishing himself in an empty condo, Anders makes the mistake of showing up at the holiday party his former circle of friends has been attending for years. Before the night is through, Anders will meet his wife's new flame, find himself outcast with the host's teenage son and set forth on a path fumbling toward late adulthood.

Though the basic premise of The Land of Steady Habits is one we've seen before, it's clear from the first page of the novel that the writing is what sets the story apart. In dry, but deep third-person prose and chillingly honest dialogue, Thompson follows Anders through his late life unraveling without the overuse of tropes or devices.

Continue reading: www.rivercityreading.com ( )

The characters just plain grew on me---I listened to the audio and that always changes the flavor of a book to me. Watching Anders struggle through so many things and everything that happened along the way was really helped by the transitions into events that happened when he was younger. I'm not even sure why I liked it as much as I did but I kept wanting to see what would happen next and that's always good. ( )