(55) Labor Day by Joyce Maynard

 
Labor Day
By: Joyce Maynard

Paperback: 272 pages 
Publisher: Harper Perennial; Reprint edition (August 3, 2010)

*copy provided by publisher for review on the TLC book tour

Labor Day is an enthralling and quick read that reads from thirteen-year-old Henry's point of view.  Henry is a young boy on the verge of adolescence who is lonely, friendless and more or less isolated, living with his mother who does well to leave the house every six weeks to get groceries.  Henry does visit his father and his new family, however the bond of closeness is missing.

It is during one of those rare ventures into town, during summer vacation, that Henry meets a man bleeding and in need of a ride.  It is without hesitation that Henry and his mother, Adele, take Frank home with them.  They soon learn that Frank has escaped from prison where he was being held for murder.  Henry knows that life is about to change, yet feels no fear or trepidation.  However, this is just a tip of the what the story entails.  Full of emotion, reality and life, Labor Day is a story that will long remain with the reader after is has been read.

One unique aspect to this story, for me, was the fact that there is no true dialog in the traditional sense.  This was a bit awkward for me, however did not take too terribly much away from the story itself.  I loved the flow and prose with which Joyce Maynard crafted this story and her ability to draw the reader into these characters.  This is my first peek into Ms. Maynard delightful work and I eagerly await reading more by this talented and inspiring author.

*overall rating 4/4

About Labor Day:

With the end of summer closing in and a steamy Labor Day weekend looming in the town of Holton Mills, New Hampshire, thirteen-year-old Henry—lonely, friendless, not too good at sports—spends most of his time watching television, reading, and daydreaming about the soft skin and budding bodies of his female classmates. For company Henry has his long-divorced mother, Adele—a onetime dancer whose summer project was to teach him how to foxtrot; his hamster, Joe; and awkward Saturday-night outings to Friendly's with his estranged father and new stepfamily. As much as he tries, Henry knows that even with his jokes and his "Husband for a Day" coupon, he still can't make his emotionally fragile mother happy. Adele has a secret that makes it hard for her to leave their house, and seems to possess an irreparably broken heart.

But all that changes on the Thursday before Labor Day, when a mysterious bleeding man named Frank approaches Henry and asks for a hand. Over the next five days, Henry will learn some of life's most valuable lessons: how to throw a baseball, the secret to perfect piecrust, the breathless pain of jealousy, the power of betrayal, and the importance of putting others—especially those we love—above ourselves. And the knowledge that real love is worth waiting for.

In a manner evoking Ian McEwan's Atonement and Nick Hornby's About a Boy, acclaimed author Joyce Maynard weaves a beautiful, poignant tale of love, sex, adolescence, and devastating treachery as seen through the eyes of a young teenage boy—and the man he later becomes—looking back at an unexpected encounter that begins one single long, hot, life-altering weekend.

About Joyce Maynard:

Joyce Maynard first came to national attention with the publication of her New York Times cover story “An Eighteen-Year-Old Looks Back on Life” in 1973, when she was a freshman at Yale. Since then, she has been a reporter and columnist for The New York Times, a syndicated newspaper columnist whose “Domestic Affairs” column appeared in more than fifty papers nationwide, a regular contributor to NPR. Her writing has also been published in national magazines, including O, The Oprah Magazine; Newsweek; The New York Times Magazine; Forbes; Salon; San Francisco Magazine, USA Weekly; and many more. She has appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, CNN, Hardball with Chris Matthews, Charlie Rose, and on Fresh Air. Essays of hers appear in numerous collections. She has been a fellow at Yaddo, UCross, and The MacDowell Colony, where she wrote her most recently published novel, Labor Day.

The author of nine books of fiction and nonfiction, including the novel To Die For (in which she also plays the role of Nicole Kidman’s attorney) and the bestselling memoir, At Home in the World, Maynard makes her home in Mill Valley, California. Her novel, The Usual Rules—a story about surviving loss—has been a favorite of book club audiences of all ages, and was chosen by the American Library Association as one of the ten best books for young readers for 2003.

Joyce Maynard also runs the Lake Atitlan Writing Workshop in Guatemala, founded in 2002.

You can visit Joyce Maynard at her website

Other wonderful blogs also on tour with Joyce Maynard and TLC are:

Thursday, July 22nd: Jenn’s Bookshelves
Monday, July 26th: Café of Dreams
Wednesday, July 28th: Rundpinne
Monday, August 2nd: Book Chatter
Tuesday, August 3rd: Jo-Jo Loves to Read!
Wednesday, August 4th: excess baggage
Thursday, August 5th: Peetswea
Friday, August 6th: Stiletto Storytime
Monday, August 9th: Alison’s Book Marks
Tuesday, August 10th: Lisa’s Yarns
Wednesday, August 11th: Bookstack
Thursday, August 12th: The 3 R’s: Reading, ‘Riting, and Randomness