The book was a comfortable read. There was lots in the book that I could relate to. Could easily relate to. I'm happy to report that I had an easier life than Mimi did, at least the years leading up to college and during college. However, there are so many universal themes to coming of age stories of girls who were born in the 1950s.
I expected the book to be a little bit more about water management and how dams can be manipulated to flood low lying areas. I was a little disappointed with the way it was relegated to a very minor sub-plot, after a much more significant build-up at the beginning of the novel. The floods and the study of the dam were more of a vehicle to prove how smart Mimi was as a youngster and as a means to manipulate the lives of some of the characters.
I wondered what kind of rating I should give Miller's Valley. I enjoyed reading it, but I didn't really love it. The character of Mimi went to the University of Pennsylvania, just a few years earlier than I did. You'd think that would make me love a book. But Mimi was so busy working and studying (pre-med) super hard that there wasn't much at all about the University. Her mother liked to brag that Mimi was at an Ivy League school rather than "State" (which they never referred to ask Penn State - I found that interesting), but otherwise there was nothing that made me feel like that part of the novel was set at my alma mater. As a young married, Mimi and her husband lived in an apartment in Philadelphia that from her description could very easily be my daughter's apartment in Philadelphia today. But again, the Philadelphia portion of the book did not have a Philadelphia feel. I was considering giving Miller's Valley 3 stars. Maybe 3.5 would have made more sense, had there been half stars. But alas, there aren't.
When I turned the last page, I read thru the discussion questions. And that's when something about the book struck me in the head ... and in the heart. All of a sudden, my head was filled of thoughts of my own life... and I knew that this was a 4 star book for me.
1. Miller's Valley begins with an epigraph from James Baldwin; "Perhaps home is not a place but simply an irrevocable condition." Think about what home means to you. What does home mean for Mimi? Do you equate home more with people or places?
10. Think about a time when you had to leave home. Did you go back? Why or why not?As did this paragraph taken from the description of the book.
Miller’s Valley is a masterly study of family, memory, loss, and, ultimately, discovery, of finding true identity and a new vision of home. As Mimi says, “No one ever leaves the town where they grew up, even if they go.” Miller’s Valley reminds us that the place where you grew up can disappear, and the people in it too, but all will live on in your heart forever.I'm in the process of selling the house that has been home to one member of my family or another for over 80 years. I've never really ever had to consider "leaving home" because no matter how far I roamed, or for how long, home was always there. As were my parents. Once my parents died, the house was still there. And strangely, I've always felt closer to them in the house than anywhere else. I miss them less when I'm there.
My brother, my adult kids and I have been having a tough time coming to terms with the loss of "home." Of the 5 of us, only my son lives in the area. It shouldn't feel like such a loss to us. Yet it does.
Different books effect us in different ways. It wasn't until I read the lines quoted above that I started to think about the connections I might have with the book to "loss of home." When you read something counts almost as much as what you're reading.
If you've enjoyed Anna Quindlen in the past, you'll probably enjoy this most recent book of hers.
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