Story
Description:
Berkley
Trade|June 5, 2012|Trade Paperback|ISBN: 978-0-425-24742-6
A Library
Journal Best Book of the Year
What would you
do with a second chance at life?
Having survived
a life-threatening illness, Kate celebrates by gathering with six close friends. At an intimate outdoor dinner on a warm
September evening, the women challenge Kate to start her new lease on life by
going white-water rafting down the Grand Canyon with her daughter. But Kate is reluctant to take the risk.
That is, until
her friend Marion proposes a pact: if Kate will face the rapids, each woman
will do one thing in the next year that scares her. Kate agrees, with one provision – she didn’t
get to choose her challenge, so she gets to choose theirs. Whether it’s learning to let go of the past
or getting a tattoo, each woman’s story interweaves with the others, forming a
seamless portrait of the power of female friendships. From the author of The School of Essential
Ingredients comes a beautifully crafted novel about daring to experience true
joy, starting with one small step at a time.
My Review:
Kate is home
again after just surviving breast cancer.
To celebrate she invites six of her closest friends to come and share in
an intimate dinner. Kate was hit very
hard when she discovered she had breast cancer.
The evening of
the dinner arrived and each friend: Daria, Ava, Sara, Marion, Caroline, and
Hadley each arrived at Kate’s door with some part of the meal. While in the kitchen, one of her friends sees
a pamphlet on the fridge about white-water rafting in the Grand Canyon. She brings it to the table with her and asks
Kate to explain. Kate tells the group
that her adult daughter is going on the trip.
The women all agree that it’s a fabulous opportunity and think that Kate
should go with her to celebrate her second chance at life. It takes a little bit of convincing but Kate
finally relents and agrees to go with her only after Marion declares that if
Kate is going to be brave enough to white-water raft, then each of the six of
them will do one thing in the next year that scares her. Of course, Kate thinks this is a marvelous
idea and adds that since she didn’t get to choose her challenge, she herself
will pick everyone else’s challenge.
I found I could
relate better to some characters better than others. My favourite challenge was Sara’s trip to
Italy as I’ve learned a lot about that country, love Italian food, have a
long-standing pen pal there, and would love to visit someday myself.
Joy for Beginners is a great representation of being able to find joy
and learning to feel and embrace that joy.
It’s a story of love, friendship, heartbreak, hope, and remembering that
life is for living especially if given a second chance.
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