How the Light Gets In

A Novel

De: Joyce Maynard

Narrado por: Joyce Maynard

Duración: 16 h y 38 m

Resumen del Editor

From New York Times bestselling author Joyce Maynard comes the eagerly anticipated follow-up to her beloved novel Count the Ways—a complex story of three generations of a family and its remarkable, resilient, indomitable matriarch, Eleanor.

Following the death of her former husband, Cam, fifty-four-year-old Eleanor has moved back to the New Hampshire farm where they raised three children to care for their brain-injured son, Toby, now an adult. Toby’s older brother, Al, is married and living in Seattle with his wife; their sister, Ursula, lives in Vermont with her husband and two children. Although all appears stable, old resentments, anger, and bitterness simmer just beneath the surface.

How the Light Gets In follows Eleanor and her family through fifteen years (2010 to 2024) as their story plays out against a uniquely American backdrop and the events that transform their world (climate change, the January 6th insurrection, school violence) and shape their lives (later-life love, parental alienation, steadfast friendship). With her trademark sensitivity and insight, Joyce Maynard paints an indelible portrait of characters both familiar and new making their way over rough, messy, and treacherous terrain to find their way to what is, for each, a place to call “home.”

©2024 Joyce Maynard (P)2024 HarperCollins Publishers

Layered, deep and rich deeply emotive story of a mother’s love and struggle

The narration was wonderful and the characters were so well developed. One feels that they can sense and understand each character’s experience. The flow of the storyline against the backdrop of America in a specific era of American history was realistic, relatable and engaging.

Many interesting characters

Though at times I felt the book became a bit repetitive the story always brought me back. There was always a turn or a twist to make me want to keep listening to see what would happen in the life of one or another of the people. The book is long but I do highly recommend it.

It takes a lifetime to learn to forgive

Joyce Maynard’s story “How the Light Gets In” and the one that started it all, “Count the Ways,” is a beautiful story of a family like so many. Nothing special and yet everything extraordinary. I loved it. I will deeply miss spending time with the main character, the flawed and perfectly broken Eleanor, and her oh-so-human children, everyone else too. The story of the estrangement between Eleanor and her daughter has been a healing balm for me. Just knowing there are so many others out there like me — gives me hope.

Raw discussion of real life wrapped lightly in fiction

This novel touched me on so many levels: as a parent primarily with many family intricacies; connecting with social/political events; as a music lover; and downright as a damn good story. There were a couple of times that I wanted to stop listening to this book (not because of the narration, the audio version is great) as it touched many chords going on with my life that at times I didn't want to explore but ultimately kept with the story. Bravo!

Loved this book!

Count the Ways was a fabulous read—but I don’t think you need to read it before this one. Wonderful story and the weaving in of real current events during the story was a plus. Love her books!

Exceeded my expectations!

Loved, loved the narration by the author, Joyce Maynard! Loved the story and how it flowed so beautifully from her previous novel. Read it… you won’t be disappointed.

Great sequel, but this book could stand alone!

Like Count the Ways, I got so immersed into the characters. Eleanor is so humble and honest about her struggles and tries to understand what her children are struggling with but lets them figure things out on their own most of the time. I remember being so mad about how Cam was portrayed as the 'favorite' parent in Count the Ways, but Eleanor did what she thought was best for her children. It seems like she made so many sacrifices in both books, but what a tremendous, successful life she had. These books will stay with me!

Wonderful story telling!

I could not get enough of this book, I never wanted it to end. This book was at times heart wrenching and at other times made my heart full to bursting.

very good sequel

I looked forward to this sequel to “Count the Ways”, a book that I really loved, and, I thought the author did a satisfying job bringing the characters alive. Unfortunately, I thought there was way too much political references and repetition Some editing would have helped. The epilogue and audio narration was satisfying.

So close to home

Joyce writes an amazing sequel to her first Eleanor book. I love almost everything about this family from their quirkiness and dysfunction to their deep love and commitment to one another. There were times I was laughing out loud as I listened and times I was ugly crying and loved every minute of it. This story hits close to home in so many ways; and I love how relatable Eleanor and her family are. I love that Joyce uses so many real world, current events to describe what these characters lives are like. Being a life long New Englander, I can really appreciate how life is like in Acresville and its surrounding areas. Thank you Joyce, I will miss Eleanor and her family a lot.
Until next time…
Jen C, Cape Cod Ma