A restless wife and
mother tries to reboot her life only to have her quest go awry.
What does a restless, middle-aged
wife and mother--a graphic artist and renowned animator of a legendary cartoon--have
in common with a Catholic-turned-atheist hand surgeon to the stars; a
makeup-wearing third grader named Timby, who got his name from an autocorrect
spelling of the name Timothy; a frustrated poet who works at Costco; and a dog
named Yo-Yo? They are the cast of quirky characters created by Maria Semple (Where'd
You Go, Bernadette?) in her comic third novel, Today Will Be
Different.
Semple sets Today Will Be Different in the supposed "least religious city in America," Seattle, where scatterbrained, middle-aged Eleanor Flood--resettled from New York--narrates her angst. She feels stalled in her life, unfulfilled and failing those she loves. She wakes one morning and vows, determinedly, to live in the moment and be her "best self." As on any other day, she makes breakfast for her doctor husband and drops Timby off at his progressive, politically correct elementary school before going to her weekly private poetry lesson. But Eleanor's noble quest to reinvigorate her life goes awry when, during the course of one day, she's faced with a string of mishaps--starting with Timby faking a sickness at school--which snowballs when she comes face-to-face with a former employee, an "ingratiating wannabe... sweaty ass-kisser" she fired 10 years earlier, who is now a famous, accomplished artist.
With a strong narrative voice, fast pace and her signature wit, Semple cleverly spins another raucously funny story wound around deeper implications about the unexpected ways life teaches us to find meaning.
Semple sets Today Will Be Different in the supposed "least religious city in America," Seattle, where scatterbrained, middle-aged Eleanor Flood--resettled from New York--narrates her angst. She feels stalled in her life, unfulfilled and failing those she loves. She wakes one morning and vows, determinedly, to live in the moment and be her "best self." As on any other day, she makes breakfast for her doctor husband and drops Timby off at his progressive, politically correct elementary school before going to her weekly private poetry lesson. But Eleanor's noble quest to reinvigorate her life goes awry when, during the course of one day, she's faced with a string of mishaps--starting with Timby faking a sickness at school--which snowballs when she comes face-to-face with a former employee, an "ingratiating wannabe... sweaty ass-kisser" she fired 10 years earlier, who is now a famous, accomplished artist.
With a strong narrative voice, fast pace and her signature wit, Semple cleverly spins another raucously funny story wound around deeper implications about the unexpected ways life teaches us to find meaning.
Little, Brown and Company, $27.00 Hardcover, 978-0316403436, 272 pp
Publication Date: October 4, 2016
NOTE:
This review is a reprint and is being posted with the permission of Shelf
Awareness. To read this review on Shelf
Awareness: Reader's Edition (October 18, 2016), link HERE