Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Review: A Watershed Year by Susan Schoenberger

A Watershed Year by Susan Schoenberger tells the story of Lucy, a young professor in her thirties who has recently lost her friend, Harlan, to cancer. Before dying, he set up a series of emails to arrive in her inbox in the months following his death - in these emails he delivers advice to his friend and speaks things previously unsaid between the two. When he tells Lucy she would make a wonderful mother, Lucy begins exploring adoption and begins her journey to motherhood. This beautiful story is a about Lucy's loss of Harlan and the insight be delivers in these emails and about her experience trying to adopt and bond with a young boy; but more than all that it is about Lucy's self-discovery and how both the loss of Harlan and the process of getting her son drive that self-discovery.

Lucy's relationship with Harlan is interesting in that it is told almost completely in reflection - Harlan dies right at the beginning of the book so his character and relationship with Lucy is told as she looks back on their time together and feels the loss of his death. Their relationship is firmly in the "friend" category but it veers at times towards a more romantic place which helps to explain why their relationship - and therefore his postmortem advice- has such a powerful impact on Lucy. It is almost as if this tremendous loss and the advice from her trusted friends propels her life forward at time when she is otherwise "stuck". Her desire to become a mother is crystallized when Harlan emails that he feels she is destined for motherhood and so she begins the adoption process.

The book really has two main threads - Lucy's relationship with Harlan and then her road to adopt and the relationship with her adoptive son. They are obviously linked in that Harlan essentially prompts her move to adopt. In facing the challenges of a foreign adoption, Lucy relies on much of what she has learned about herself from facing Harlan's illness and loss. Of course, motherhood brings a host of new realizations. For example, after the difficult trip home from Russia with her newly adopted son, Lucy leaves her carry-on unattended in the airport when she suddenly realizes she has lost sight of her son in the chaos of the baggage claim area. When she has found her son, a woman comments to Lucy that she shouldn't leave her bag unattended:
 Lucy had almost nothing left, just a shallow well of shame to berate herself for losing track of the one thing she would always-always - have to remember.
Clearly, leaving her bag unattended was the least of her problems and the enormity of being someone's mother hit her.

A Watershed Year is beautifully written and moves very quickly. Even though Lucy is reflecting and discovering, the story is not necessarily told from inside Lucy's head but instead in dialogue and action. In addition to being so well written and to moving quickly with a likable main character, this book is thought provoking (which makes it an excellent choice for bookclubs). I found myself considering a number of things after finishing this novel - what would it take to spur me to take action on certain areas of my life? Would it take the loss of someone close to make me consider what I really wanted and what I was willing to do to get it? What messages would l leave for someone close to me?  

How might you answer some of these questions?

You can read other reviews of this book by checking out the blogs on the TLC Book Tour and also read more about the author (including what sparked the idea for the novel) on Susan Schoenberger's website.  

Thank you to Trish from TLC Book Tours for including me on the tour and for providing a review copy of this book.

12 comments:

  1. This sounds like a thought-provoking, moving book. I think I would be beside myself if I got notes beyond the grave.

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  2. Many thanks, Colleen, for taking the time to write such a thoughtful review. And BermudaOnion, I hope you give it a try! As difficult as the subject matter sounds, there's a lot of humor and quite a few light moments in the book.

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  3. This is already on my list and I'm quite eager to read it. In fact, as soon as I finish the final edits of my novel, I plan to crack the spine and dive in. Lovely review, Colleen!

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  4. Wow, this book certainly gave you a great deal to think about! I can see book clubs really getting into this one.

    Thanks for being on the tour! I'm featuring your review on TLC's Facebook page today.

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  5. I loved this one, too! Great review. :)

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  6. I will be reading this one very soon so I am glad to see your review!

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  7. Interesting premise for a novel. It reminds me a bit of Tuesdays With Morrie. Thanks for the in depth review.

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  8. Sounds like a very interesting book. I love the idea of receiving e-mails with advice from a friend after his death.

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  9. I'm conflicted because the premise seems a bit weird to me. Setting up a series of emails? I'm sure it works beautifully though.

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  10. This sounds really interesting -- although I admit that the dead friend is sort of off-putting to me. Your review doesn't make it sound depressing, though :)

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  11. Thanks for all the great comments here. I know the premise sounds a bit dark, but the book has quite a bit of humor and lightness to it, with characters such as the 101-year-old great-grandmother. Hope all of you will give it a try.

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  12. I loved your review of this one Colleen. This certainly does sound like an excellent book club choice. It sounds like quite an affecting read.

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