Object Lessons Author:Anna Quindlen A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR — "Elaborate and playful...Honest and deeply felt....Here is the Quindlen wit, the sharp eye for the details of class and manners, [and] the ardent reading of domestic lives." — -THE NEW YORK TIMES — It is the 1960s, in suburban New York City. Maggie and her family, are in the thrall of her powerful grandfa... more »ther Jack Scanlan. In the summer of her twelfth year, Maggie is desperately trying to master the object lessons her grandfather fills her head with. But there is too much going on to concentrate. Everything at home is in upheaval, her grandfather is changing, and Maggie is unsure if what she wants is worth having....« less
Interesting family dynamic. Very intense characters and growing pains for each generation. A long summer and all that happens, life, love, happiness, sadness and death. Such is life in all it's glory. Very interesting book/
This was a quick read and a pleasant story. Though most of the reviews I read before I got the book talked about the lessons of growing up learned by the child in the book, it was the combination of the child's experience with the parents' realization that we're always growing up that I found intriguing.
Also a great book. Quindlen is a great author, and this book is no exception. It is told through the eye of a 13 year old just on the brink of becoming an adult. This book will remind you of what is was to still have the wonder of a child but see the world with adult eyes.
Set in the 1960's, "Object Lessons" concerns three generations of a rich Irish clan who live in an established inner suburb of New York City....The patriarch, John Scanlan, is a lively figure....One of his sons, Tom, rebels by marrying a handsome, lower-class Italian girl. It is their daughter Maggie who is trying desperately to master some object lessons during her 12 year old summer.....Quindlen is at her best writing about the dislocations of growing up, the blows a child does not see coming.
