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    A Simple Thing: A Novel
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    A Simple Thing: A Novel
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    A Simple Thing: A Novel
    Ebook328 pages5 hours

    A Simple Thing: A Novel

    By Kathleen McCleary

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    A Simple Thing is a lovely, truly heartwarming novel about the drastic measures two mothers take to keep their families safe. Kathleen McCleary, the critically acclaimed author of House and Home, tells the intertwining stories of Susannah Delaney and Betty Pavalak. Susannah moves her family to remote Sounder Island—a primitive retreat with no electricity—to escape television, the internet, and the dangerous, corrupting influences of the modern technological world. Decades earlier, Betty also came to the island to escape her demons. A Simple Thing is a poignant and unforgettable novel in the vein of Jacqueline Sheehan’s Lost and Found and The Art of Saying Goodbye by Ellyn Bache. It is a tale of family and friendship that Kristin Hannah fans will take into their hearts.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateJul 24, 2012
    ISBN9780062106247
    Unavailable
    A Simple Thing: A Novel
    Author

    Kathleen McCleary

    Kathleen McCleary is a journalist and author whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Ladies' Home Journal, More, and Good Housekeeping. Her second novel, A Simple Thing (2012), was recently nominated for the Library of Virginia Literary Awards. She has taught writing as an adjunct professor at American University and now teaches with Writopia Labs. She lives in northern Virginia with her husband and two daughters.

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    Reviews for A Simple Thing

    4/5

    43 ratings15 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I think this is going to be my favorite book of the year! This was an amazing story in so many ways. If you were to ask me "What kinds of books do you like?" I say - this kind! Beautiful writing, excellent character development, outstanding scenery descriptions! Absolutely couldn't get any better. I loved this book! I just read and read but didn't want it to end. This book kind of reminded me of another one of my favorite books - "Still Life With chickens" which I have read twice! I have a feeling I will be re-reading this one sometime.This book was just about - life. I got it, I understood it, I agreed with it! I am a real "scenery type person". I want to feel like I can just walk into the book, I want to feel like I am right there. I want to look it up on a map and know that I could go there and actually feel like I had been there before. This book made me feel all those things. I did look up those islands on Google maps and found them. I even looked up houses for sale in the area just to get a feel for what it was like. I know, I know I'm a strange person! But that's what I do for fun! LOLThis story really made me feel like I had been there. I could very easily picture everything, the cabins, the shore, the boats, the people, the kitchens, everything. All through the book Susannah kept thinking that she was a terrible mother. And everyone else kept saying that she was too overprotective. But I didn't think that at all! If I found my 14 yr. old daughter passed out drunk and had to take her to the hospital - I would take them all to an Island too! I don't think she was too over protective at all. I think she was just right. This book really made me think about my choices as a mother. I think I would have done all the same things as Susannah did.The character development for the teen daughter, Katie, was excellent! I have never believed in hitting kids, but I would have found it very difficult to resist smacking the heck out of that girl! Seriously! What a brat with a mouth (the worst kind!).At one point in the book I had to stop reading - I knew it was going to be sad and it was just not a good time for me to be crying!As I read on, I thought I was going to be disappointed in the ending - but I wasn't - the ending was great! Sad, and with a twist!I am going to say - that if you like books about life, if you like books about family, about starting over, about island life, about friends helping each other - this is the Must read of the year!Slight warning - some swearing, and adult situations. But I just don't think a teenager would be interested in reading this, it is definitely a woman type book.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      When I first picked up this book I wondered if it was going to be one of those character-driven novels where there is a lot of talking, very little actually going on, and by the end of which you're wondering what is it exactly you've just read. I am not too big of a fan of those. But "A Simple Thing" turned out to focus both on the characters and on plot. From the very first chapter it was obvious that Susannah is a woman who is not afraid to act, even if fear is what propels her. She, as well as her children, made things happen, and I liked that about them as much as I liked that Susannah recognized her mistakes and was willing to correct her course when necessary. She may seem flighty to some, but to me she is a woman figuring it out as she goes, and I feel that this makes her relatable for most people. Betty, the second protagonist, is her antipode in many ways, a solid, sure woman who makes plans and follows them, even if she realizes later on that she has made a mistake somewhere. The blurb on the back cover suggests that both Susannah and Betty undergo a transformation but I found this misleading. Suzannah is the one discovering herself and while Betty's story often mirrors that of the younger woman she has already recovered from the pain of her past and is now there to sympathize, listen, and provide a gentle nudge in the direction of healing. There are a few good messages woven into this novel, and one of my favorites is the one that talks about the necessity of nurturing oneself. We forget about that much too frequently and it really is a universal truth that applies to both men and women, although women are the ones who need reminders most frequently. Susannah getting in touch with her artistic side after a hiatus of many years was the turning point of the book for me, echoed by Betty's recollection of the time whine she remembered that she was more than just a woman who took care of everything and everyone. The parallels between these two women's lives were eery at times, and while they are very different people their stories somehow anchored each other, showing that no matter how different the people the same principles of recovery apply.For the most part this was a very enjoyable book filled with interesting characters (Barefoot stole every scene he was in and Katie definitely made things interesting with her indomitable spirit) and sage advice on subjects such as guilt, responsibility, knowing when to hold on and when to let go, and it worked for me until almost the very end when a dramatic event seemed to be too over the top to fit in with the rest of the story while remaining its climax. That chapter was well-written but it was just too much for me, although it did help Susannah put a lot of things in perspective and move forward with her life. Throughout the book this was a relatively subtle story with the struggle mostly internal and turning it almost into an adventure story at the eleventh hour seemed incongruent.A friend offered me an ARC of this book when she somehow got two copies and I'm glad that she did. It is a solid novel and I won't hesitate to pick up other novels by Kathleen McCleary should I happen upon them.
    • 4/5
      I don't read a lot of domestic fiction. Too often it's about the problems of suburban housewives/mommies or families with a much higher than average income and I just don't really relate having been neither of those categories. I was an urban mommy and have never had a stratospheric income. I decided I was interested in A Simple Thing because the story sounded different and also because it takes place on one of the San Juan Islands - one of my favorite places in the Pacific Northwest. As I child I was in a camp at the Seattle Zoo and one of thing things we got to do was go camping for a weekend in the San Juans and I've never forgotten the experience.A Simple Thing did not disappoint. A good read with issues of anxiety, mourning, death, learning to trust, marriages ending or renewing, a new awareness of self threaded throughout. I loved that there were two stories here - that of Susannah and of Betty. The friendship that develops between the two women in the book and the ways their stories intertwined really works for the reader. They both gave me some things to think about. Highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      This book, while a quick read, is so similar to all the other books out there: parents who just don't get along anymore, kids who are troubled, a move to the middle of nowhere to save the marriage, the kids, the sanity, etc. and then something life changing happens and everything is suddenly all better.As I said before the book was a quick and entertaining read, but nothing really noteworthy or unique.
    • 4/5
      Kids don't come with a manual. Frankly, even if they did, they wouldn't have read it so it wouldn't matter anyway. Marriages and relationships also don't come with a manual. I'd make a crack about husbands not reading one either but that's just too easy. Since there's no right answer to raising children or being a good partner, most of us just muddle along the best way we know how. Susannah Delaney, in Kathleen McCleary's newest novel, is trying to do just that, even while she deals with her own complicated childhood history. Susannah's young teenaged daughter Katie seems to be going off the rails, running with the wrong sorts of people at school, drinking, and becoming closed off and sullen with family. Son Quinn, a quirky kid interested in animals and science and other things most kids don't care much about is being bullied unmercifully at school. Both of these things combine to drive Susannah to a desperate act: pulling the kids from school and their Virginia home to spend the rest of the year living on remote Sounder Island, one of the San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington, an island without electricity and only a handful of residents. In doing this, Susannah leaves behind her husband Matt, a man she has loved since she was a child and whom she risks losing completely as she struggles to do the best thing she can for her children. But Susannah isn't just trying to rescue her chidren by moving to Sounder Island, she's also trying to face the long ago drowning death of her baby sister Jane, to forgive herself for not being able to protect Jane, and to forgive her mother for putting her child in harm's way. Susannah has spent her entire motherhood trying to protect her own children from all the things that could be dangerous to them, to shelter them from her worst nightmares, to be the mother that she blames her own mother for not being. But Katie, at least, is now rebelling against her mother's intense and worried love and the fears that have driven them all the way across the country to this remote place.The woman who rents a cottage to the Delaneys is Betty Pavalak. She's a long-time widow whose son and grandchildren live on Sounder too. She is a charming and friendly neighbor who has her own ghosts of the past. Sounder Island was her own way to try and repair a floundering marriage so many years ago. She moved to the island so that her husband would be able to live away from the city and the paper-pushing job that was destroying him and so that he would be less likely to stray from their marriage. Despite his flaws, Betty stilled loved her husband and didn't want to lose him even starting to accept the idea that they would not be able to have children. And once on Sounder, she managed to become pregnant and have a son even if she couldn't change the fiber of who her husband was. But she also managed to come to peace with the path of her life as her husband worked most of the year in Alaska and she stayed behind on Sounder with their son and raised him alone.The narrative slips seamlessly between both of these women who looked to this small island to heal themselves and their relationships. It also moves from present to past and back again as both Susannah and Betty's whole histories unfold. Susannah has to learn to accept her past before she can embrace her present. As she struggles with Katie's continued rebellion and with Matt's growing emotional distance and hurt at her unilateral decision to disappear for the year, she has to learn truths about herself before she can ease up and let life unfold at its own pace, making not only her family happier but herself as well. Betty, on the other hand, uses her wisdom and the care that she has spent the years cultivating to help Susannah and to add immeasurably to the lives of all those on the island whom she loves.This is a novel of not just survival but of coming through hardships stronger than before. It is about learning to let go when necessary and to let love and trust carry the day, even if doing so is one of the hardest things ever. The back stories of both the women are engrossing although they are quite disparate in experience. Some of the issues raised, such as Quinn's being bullied disappear handily and while there's really no chance for him to be bullied on the island, the emotional ramifications of the bullying also disappear pretty easily. And given that Matt has been privy to Susannah's thoughts and feelings since before the accident that resulted in Susannah's sister Jane's drowning death and then also for so many years afterwards, he seems to have hit his breaking point sort of out of the blue now that she's not at home. But their marital woes are ultimately fixed fairly easily once Susannah faces her past and absolves herself of responsibility for Jane's death. Some of the emotionally laden situations are not developed to the extent that they might have been but in general, this novel of two women trying to make the right and best life they can for those they love is a quick and pleasing read.
    • 4/5
      A Simple Thing is at its heart the story of two women, Susannah Delaney and Betty Pavalak, and an island. Their arrivals on Sounder Island are separated by many years but their reasons are basically the same... they want to save their children and themselves. Susannah's teenage daughter is spiraling out of control and her son is suffering greatly at the hands of bullies at school. She feels that unless something drastic is done, there will be horrible consequences. So she decides to take her children to Sounder Island for a year and leave her husband at home in Virginia. Sounder is a remote island off the coast of the Pacific Northwest that is only accessible by private boat from another island. There is no electricity, no internet, a one-room schoolhouse and no malls or movie theaters - pretty much the complete opposite of their previously overscheduled overstimulated suburban lives. Susannah has a history with the island and a long-buried secret that has haunted and shaped her. Betty came to Sounder in the 50's in an effort to save her failing marriage and ended up making a home there for her son and herself. This is a great beach read and a very interesting story. Some of it may seem to be more than a little far-fetched to the everyday person but it's fiction not a how-to manual, so that was alright with me.
    • 5/5
      I am so excited when I find books that really speak to the heart of things I had to endure in my personal life before I found God and this is the perfect example, A Simple Thing by Kathleen McCleary. The subject matter is true to life in this imperfect world but yet the story speaks volumes to those of us hurting in so many different ways, that it doesn't have to stay that way. There is hope and there are ways to deal with those extremely painful times and move forward.Sounder Island is that place for two remarkable women who come to this isolated island for a much more simple life, a place for solitude and a place to deal with things in their own way. Susannah Delaney is having issues in three very different but understandable ways. Her daughter, Katie at 14 is pulling away from her overly controlling mom by sneaking out late at night, attending parties her mother knows nothing about and drinking while seeing a older boy that both parents know is influencing her in negative ways to rebel. When her drinking gets out of hand, almost killing her, Susannah feels that a change in environment is the cure. Her youngest son, Quinn is the subject of being bullied and when he comes home from school, badly beaten up, she feels her decision to move the family to Sounder Island is the right one.However for two very active kids, they aren't looking forward to complete isolation on the island at a cottage with no electricity, indoor plumbing and living off the land. Yet is Susannah doesn't take action, she believes she will lose one, if not both of her children to a lifestyle she can't control. However, her husband Matt, doesn't believe that running away with the kids is the answer, but Susannah is firmly convinced that the next 9 months will be life-saving to her kids. If Matt won't support her, she'll go anyway. So she pulls the kids out of school and makes plans to rent a cottage and live there until the end of the school year.Betty Pavalak has moved to the island as well to avoid a very painful past. When her husband Bill wanted a change of pace from his day to day, nine to five, life style, he attempted to convince Betty to move to Alaska so he could pursue a life of a fisherman and provide a more stable financial life for them, but Betty didn't want to give up her family, friends or her job, for the excitement Bill wanted in Alaska. But when she miscarries three of her children, she wonders if a change of pace might just be the thing to restore the distance between her and Bill. However when she compromises and settles for a life in Sounder Island instead, Bill is content, but his commitment to his marriage wavers and Betty soon learns that Bill is having an affair. She doesn't know what to do anymore and feels that she can't live with Bill any longer but doesn't want to divorce him either, now that she learns she is pregnant again. Will she be able to find the peace and love she so desperately needs?I received The Simple Things by Kathleen McCleary compliments of William Morrow, a division of Harper Collins Publishers for my honest review and I have to say, this book captivated me in a different way than I thought possible. It takes a hard look at the unfortunate set of circumstances each of these women have been dealt in life, and shows you how each of them weathered through them to get to the other side. While faith is rarely mentioned, it does portray each set of problems in very real ways in my opinion. While the choices are not easy made, they do move forward at their own pace, dealing with a wide range of emotions that really tugs on your heart strings. I could relate to so many of their issues, even though teenage drinking wasn't an issue for me. This is a very real and believable book that I think women can honestly relate to. For that reason, I give this a 5 out of 5 stars. While I don't condone the decisions some of these women made, its the believability and vulnerability of the characters, Kathleen McCleary creates that I enjoyed the most and I loved how the story is told from both Betty and Susannah's perspectives in alternating chapters.
    • 4/5
      A Simple Thing by Kathleen McCleary examines the extreme measures two women take to protect their children. The novel is a William Morrow imprint of Harper Collins Publishing.Hopes nearly dashed by her daughter’s online scandal and suspension from school, Susannah Delaney moves her sweet son and sullen daughter to a remote island off the Oregon coast. So begins A Simple Thing by Kathleen McCleary.Thirty years ago, Betty Pavalak relocated to Sounder Island as well to raise her son while her fisherman husband was away. Drastic measures must be taken when your family is foundering. Sometimes protecting your children outweighs working on your marriage. Suffering brings both women to Sounder Island. The bond they develop is an unlikely balm for their troubles and a bolster to their identities.Sounder Island, six square miles of rich forest and beautiful beaches west of Vancouver, seems light years away from the Delaney’s busy suburban life in Virginia. Susannah’s son, Quinn, is clearly excited about the move, but Katie, thirteen and bound to be resentful, complains that their new life is just, “water, island, water, island…” Living on an island with no electricity becomes not just a respite from the hectic, problematic life they lived before, but also a challenge. Storing food in a cold cellar because no refrigerator is available tests their adaptability. You will meet a crotchety old hermit suspicious of the newcomers and a handsome one-room schoolhouse teacher. Be prepared to fall in love with Barefoot. McCleary’s characters are layered and imbued with humanity for the mistakes they fear and the courage they display. Long distance marriage and its effects on children as well as spouses is a major theme. The book explores its complications and implications. Although the author handles each character’s voice clearly and with grace, the multiple characters introduced in flashbacks confused this reader. A discrepancy in the story happens when the teacher states that he doesn’t pass on to the parents what students confide in him and then proceeds to give Susanna much detail about Katie’s problems.A Simple Thing is a wise mediation on love and the implications of the difficult decisions it demands.I thank William Morrow Paperbacks, a division of Harper Collins, for the advance release copy.Reviewed by Holly Weiss, author of Crestmont
    • 4/5
      I knew right away that I was going to enjoy this book. I was eager to learn what was in store for Susannah and her children when they got to the island. Then I got caught up in Betty's story, her self determination and her refusal to be a victim. I was happy when Betty finally found someone as interesting and worldly as Barefoot, and I cried tears for Betty's loss and then for her ability to endure and to hold in her heart all the joy that Barefoot brought into her life. I enjoyed Susannah's story also. She and her children were able to wade through the difficult water of their own pain and come out stronger on the other side. When I finished "A Simple Thing", I felt the satisfaction I always feel when I've read a wonderful book.
    • 5/5
      This was by far my favorite book I have won. The story flowed along beautifully and I couldn't put it down.It's about a mother trying to save her children from the trials and tribulations of society today and I think to find a little reprieve for herself too. She packs up the children and moves them to a remote island to get away from it all. She leaves her husband back at home in the process but each needed a break. Once gone, I think everyone realizes what is important and just what family can do together.
    • 3/5
      A quick read for summer......Susannah, the mother, leaves Matt, her husband, and goes to live on a remote island with her two children just because she thinks they should be living a more simple life. She is having trouble with her daughter Katie (who doesn't have problems with teenagers! ) and her son Quinn is being bullied and she thinks this is a quick fix and this move for 9 months will solve all the problems. And her husband just lets her go. However, some of the characters are strong and the book moves along pretty good.
    • 4/5
      I thought this was a well written quick summer read. The characters were interesting and well formed. I loved the Island location and the notion of someone actually running away from their problems.***SPOILERS***When I read the squib on this on the early reviewers site they talked about a woman who flees to Island life to protect her family - a daughter who is experimenting with alcohol and sex and a son who is being bullied. And i thought. YES. a book not centered around a tragic death! These things are dramatic and easy to relate to and I think have enough emotional impact to drive the plot of a book. But as you know if you have read the book - early on we realize the characters are driven to these behaviors indirectly because of not one but two deaths.Blergh. I'd like to read a book once in a while that DOESN'T have a child die in it. It is exhausting and I just really would like to see a new plot device. There are so many other things that can happen to a person in their life - I hate constantly playing and replaying the worst possible scenerio which for me is such a hideous thing to be forced to contemplate again and again.
    • 4/5
      This is a story a bout a woman in crisis. No.. it's more than that. This is a story abouta family in crisis. Well, it is more than that, too. I better start over. Betty and Susannah are two women, born a generation and a continent apart come together in a little tiny bit of paradise. Betty, the older, long ago came to terms with her life. With what she expected, wanted in fact, and what it became. She was content. She had all she needed and all, she realized, that she really wanted. Susannah is in the prime of her life, and is raising her two son and her daughter, loving them andprotecting them. Perhaps she was protecting them a little too much, or maybe it was not quite enough?How does any mother know? When Susannah's daughter Katie seemed to always be in trouble, and her son Quinn always seemed to be unhappy, she felt it was time to take a stand and try to put things right. Her husband Matt accused her of running away from her troubles, but she felt that she was running towards an answer for them all. But she found that it wasn't so easy to find answers on her own. It was luck, or perhaps Divine Intervention that took her to Sounder Island. On Sounder she found friends, strength and relief of pain she had carried with her for most of her life.This is a soft and gentle read, perfect for a summer afternoon. Recommended for those who are fans of this genre, or those who just need a gentle read.
    • 3/5
      I wonder if all of these characters were say, living in San Francisco, they would interact, develop, fall in love in the manner that is forced by the isolation of an island with such mystical forces. I felt like this was a story about people quick to change and also slow to change. While I found some of them engaging, I found others down right Boring. Thus the 3 stars. A Simple Thing would have gotten less stars, but there were parts that I found entertaining. Thanks for the read.
    • 3/5
      Susannah Delaney has worried herself sick over her children; her son is Verminophobia with a social anxiety disorder and her daughter is just a normal teenager. Suzanne's fears relate back to the death of her baby sister in a boating accident and believes to keep her children save she must remove them from the evils of suburbia. She decides to move to an isolated, rustic island off the coast of Washington State where she rents a cabin from Betty Pavalak who came to the island of Sounder 50 years ago to save her marriage. Betty and Susannah become friends and share their years of guilty feelings.Susannah is emotionally out of control and a character which readers will want to shake and tell her "to get over it" and seek professional help. If the book's only focus was Susannah, I may have given up on the book but Betty's story was touching and romantic. Being a women of her generation, I understand her life's decisions. Ms. McCleary's writing will keep you reading this story of two women who only want the best for their children.