Like Normal People

This is a terrific book. Bender chooses to focus her story on those family members whose lives, in some fashion, revolve around Lena, rather than on Lena herself. This works brilliantly: most readers, after all, are going to identify themselves as "normal people." It's very easy to visualize ourselves living a life like Ella's, Lou's, Shelley's, Vivien's, with a loved one who presents challenges such as those presented by Lena. Yet Lena too seems "normal" in many ways: she is curious, lively, loving, jealous. The book catches us in its narrative movement and reading on becomes irresistible, but unlike lightweight plot-driven fiction, this one is also well written. Some critics can find an infelicitous phrase here and there, but most readers are more likely to be struck by the freshness of the prose. And the book ends in an utterly satisfying way too! Not with a major climax, but with a reasonable--and fitting--finale. Book groups ought to read this novel; I hope mine will.

I enjoyed this story very much. It's tender and funny, and it contains some very lovely imagery. I'd definitely recommend it.

Proving that a novel can be beautifully written and accessible to a mass audience, Karen Bender's deceptively simple story, focusing on three generations in the same family, each searching for what is "normal," is a triumph of storytelling and craft.Not many first novelists can manage the shifts in voice that Bender does, from the 80-something Ella to the 12-year-old Shelly, she depicts realistically and empathetically, the lives of these women who rise to the occasion.Thoughtful, tender, and moving. Karen Bender is already approaching a mastery of her craft.

I thought this was a warm, incredibly touching portrait of three generations of women. Although some reviewers below have suggested that Bender doesn't breathe life into her characters, I thought that her depiction of the mentally-handicapped Lena and her husband, Bob, were some of the realest, most honest portraits of the mildly retarded that I've ever read. Particularly the material dealing with their sexuality - I know from friends with mentally handicapped family members that this can be, as it for Ella, one of the most challenging issues "normal" people have to deal with. And the portrait of Ella, the caretaker who must learn how to be dependent as she ages, rang incredibly true for me, as it must for anyone with a strong-willed aging parent or grandparent. The book is absorbing, easily read, and immensely touching -- a great beach takealong.Yes - this is clearly a first novel - some of the subsidiary characters, such as Lou (Ella's husband) and Vivian, her "normal" daughter, never quite come to life the way the three main characters do. Indeed, one gets the feeling that the book could have easily been longer -- Bender had more stories to tell about this family, but the structuring device (flashbacks within a single day of "real time") limited her ability to quite tell the story.Still, one of the most engaging books I've read in a long time.

This shapely, loving, glowing novel moved me so much; all the way through I kept thinking, "Well, THIS scene must be the climax, it's so heart-wrenching (or it's such an epiphany, or the writing is so darned beautiful)" -- but what a payoff in the final pages! The characters are funny and vain and hopeful and tender and utterly believable, especially the 45-year-old retarded Lena and her control-freaky mother, Ella -- but 12-year-old Shelley is also rendered with great sensitivity. This novel has everything: unflagging plot, memorable characters, layers of meaning and complexity, and beautiful, sometimes quirky, always unexpected writing.