Reading the blurbs about this book, I thought it might be another OLIVE KITTERIDGE, one of my favorites. And though Florence reminds me a bit of Olive, she is definitely her own person, an academic, respected feminist and writer, living alone, in New York City, happy only when she's by herself, at her computer, working on her memoir. And that's how the book begins. Unfortunately, she has a family, a daughter and son, a granddaughter and an ex husband, who demand some of her time, alas. The novel begins with Florence's son, Daniel, a policemen returns to New York where his wife, Janine, and daughter, Emily have been living for a few months. Florence is, of course, divorced. Her daughter-in-law, Janine, is having an affair with her mentor, Lev, so things are pretty messy. To give you an idea of Florence, her friends gave here a surprise party and Florence, after thanking her them for their kindness, announced she was going home to write, and none of her friends found this unusual...it was just Florence being Florence. The center of the book of course is Florence but also the growing relationship between a reluctant Florence and her granddaughter, Emily, especially towards the end of the book when Florence is diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease. She marshals on, refusing to make any concession for the disease, ignoring her family, but slowly allowing Emily to be part of her life. A decent read but not as good as I hoped.
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