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When It Happens to You
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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About this ebook
A stunning novel in stories in the tradition of Jennifer Egan by the iconic actress Molly Ringwald
Tales of love, loss, and betrayal are at the heart of When It Happens to You, the debut novel in stories from actress and author Molly Ringwald. A Hollywood icon, Ringwald defined the teenage experience in the eighties in such classic films as Pretty in Pink, The Breakfast Cluband Sixteen Candles. Ringwald brings the compelling candour she displayed in her film roles to the unforgettable characters she has created in this series of intertwined and linked stories about the particular challenges, joys and disappointments of adult relationships. Her characters grapple with infertility and infidelity, fame and familial discord in a magnificent debut that will resonate broadly, particularly with fans of Melissa Banks, Meg Wolitzer and Lorrie Moore.
'When It Happens to Youis absolutely lovely, a smart, emotionally sophisticated, intricately dovetailed novel of stories. World, I'm telling you now: Molly Ringwald is the real deal' Lauren Groff, author of Arcadia
'Molly Ringwald understands how families work and uses her considerable talents to make them come alive on the page' Gary Shteyngart
Tales of love, loss, and betrayal are at the heart of When It Happens to You, the debut novel in stories from actress and author Molly Ringwald. A Hollywood icon, Ringwald defined the teenage experience in the eighties in such classic films as Pretty in Pink, The Breakfast Cluband Sixteen Candles. Ringwald brings the compelling candour she displayed in her film roles to the unforgettable characters she has created in this series of intertwined and linked stories about the particular challenges, joys and disappointments of adult relationships. Her characters grapple with infertility and infidelity, fame and familial discord in a magnificent debut that will resonate broadly, particularly with fans of Melissa Banks, Meg Wolitzer and Lorrie Moore.
'When It Happens to Youis absolutely lovely, a smart, emotionally sophisticated, intricately dovetailed novel of stories. World, I'm telling you now: Molly Ringwald is the real deal' Lauren Groff, author of Arcadia
'Molly Ringwald understands how families work and uses her considerable talents to make them come alive on the page' Gary Shteyngart
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Author
Molly Ringwald
Molly Ringwald’s writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Guardian, and Vogue, and she is the author of the bestselling novel-in-stories When It Happens to You. She previously translated Lie with Me, a novel by Philippe Besson.
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Reviews for When It Happens to You
Rating: 3.754545458181818 out of 5 stars
4/5
110 ratings17 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Very well-written, much better than I expected. Molly Ringwald, you are one impressive woman.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Each of the eight stories in this collection stands on it own; yet all are interrelated. The first story centers on a family in the midst of a marital crisis. The other stories are about friends, relations, or neighbors of that family. The stories are about betrayal or unmet expectations from those we love, or expect to love us. While that sounds dreary, it isn't. Because the characters learn to accept their lives and move on, or to forgive, or find other ways to have their needs met. In the end I felt this was a book about resilience. I read this based on a review by a fellow Shelfarian, and admittedly because I was very curious about a book written by a former member of the Brat Pack. As a debut effort I found it well done. I'd be interested in reading more should Ms. Ringwald write another.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Good book. It kept me interested in finding out what would happen next. I was surprised at how well Molly Ringwald wrote. I had no idea writing was a talent of hers.
This book intertwines different people and their life challenges. Although we learn how the main characters work through and resolve their issues, we don't see this with the lesser characters in the book. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Favorite passage: Because for all the wisdom you will have accumulated up to that point, in all the years you have been alive, your heart is just a muscle like any other Full of blood and veins, hungry for oxygen. Your heart doesn't think. Your heart is stupid. It doesn't consider the relativity of tragedy when it breaks.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Really enjoyed this collection of interrelated stories by -- yes -- actress Molly Ringwald. There is a wonderful sense of knowing, of understanding, in these stories mainly revolving around a couple and their daughter. There are some predictable moments, but perhaps only predictable because the human behavior she portrays is so predictable. Hope she is writing more as her insights into emotions and relationships is quite enjoyable.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5During my reading of When It Happens to You, I would momentarily forget that Molly Ringwald. I am afraid to admit that I was judgmental about this book because an actress wrote it, and such an iconic one at that. I expected it to be a fluff piece, something without any real substance, a la Lauren Conrad's L.A. Candy series. I was pleasantly surprised that this was not the case at all.
When It Happens to You is a novel to through short stories. The common thread in the narratives is the deteoriation of a family due to infidelity. It is a great visceral piece of writing with the strongest stories being My Olivia, where a mother deals with her young son's want of being a girl and Ursa Minor, which is about an elderly widow remembering her life while forging a cute relationship with a little girl.
The title short story has a quiet powerful element to it as it is told from the wife's point of view via a makeshift letter to the woman who had the affair with her husband, which happend to be her daughter's violin teacher.
When It Happens to You is a great book and shouldn't be neglected if, any of you were like me, and prematurely judge the book by its author. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Molly Ringwald's book is a collection of 8 short stories with intertwining characters. These stories focus on love and loss, identity, trust, families and self-introspection. This collection covers a great deal of topics, but is handled deftly by serving them to us in small bites via the short story format. This is a quick read, but the beauty of this short story collection is the ability to savor each story independently and then collectively by spreading them out.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5"When it Happens to You" is a series of short stories that are interconnected from the perspectives of diferent characters in relationship to one another. I love books like this, as they allow the reader to view the emotional lives of different characters and take different perspectives on events as they are retold by other characters. The primary story revolves around a couple on the brink of divorce after the husband is caught cheating. Their daughter is caught up in the conflict and her emotional reactions play out with the neighbor and others in her life. Another short piece involves the daughter's friend, Oliver/Olivia who is a transgendered child, whose mother struggles with how to parent him/her appropriately. Other stories touch on topics such as aging, unresolved conflicts between mothers and daughters, and infertility (and the ethical concerns of embryos). I thought this was a wonderful book which was too short! Molly Ringwald's writing was wonderful, empathic and insightful. I was sorry to see this book come to an end!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When It Happens to You is the a mixture of heartbreaking and thought-provoking stories. The lives of the characters all overlap, but not extensively.There is marriage infidelity, frozen embryos, a financially strained relationship, a drug-addicted actor, and a single mother whose son believes he is a girl. All these life struggles keep you on your toes and holding your breath to see how the characters will react as the novel develops.I enjoyed this book because I found myself fighting to find my own solutions to the problems in the stories. So many times I thought "What would I do in that situation?" In the end, though not all the problems were resolved, the When It Happens to You stopped each tale in the best way possible.This was a quick read for; it only took me about a day to finish it. I really liked this book, and am tempted to read it again.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ringwald employs a unique approach by making this a novel of inter-related short stories about love, infidelity, relationships that define who we are and what we become. Her characters are all so real and the varying perspectives give everyone a chance to find a bit of the what makes us all human.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I really enjoyed this wonderful collection of related stories.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5"A Novel in Stories" that tends to be quite conventional and often sentimental, and it has a particularly trite and mushy conclusion. I'm not particularly complaining since I got it for $2.99 on Kindle, but I'd have been disappointed if I'd paid full price in treeware.Still, I'll give it 3*** on account of the third story, "My Olivia," about a six-year-old transgender child, which tends to be as conventional as the rest and may well come off as a bit simplistic to those familiar with the issue of gender dysphoria in children, but it's still a useful contribution to the popular literature. Generally you won't be able to cherry pick the stories, but "My Olivia" tends to be much more stand-alone than some of the others, though it would help to read the book's two earlier stories first and in order for the sake of the recurring characters.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A couple stories into When it Happens to You, it is easy to dismiss Molly Ringwald as nothing more than a celebrity author. Yes, she's a good writer—surprisingly good in fact—but she's not doing anything original. Those first couple stories reminded me all too much of the suppressed-woman-coming-of-age-midlife story that has blanketed literary magazines and been the focus of so many creative writing workshops since the 70s. It's been done, Ms. Ringwald, and while you're good at it, sorry, but you're not as good as the many greats that have preceded you. Two stories down and so many more to go—if they'd continued like this I probably wouldn't have made it.Then Ringwald surprised me. Out of nowhere she presents one of the most original, heartrending stories I've read in years. Gorgeous. Amazing. Well played in so many regards. “My Olivia” found that special place between my heart and mind that only two other short stories had previously occupied—those having been written by Rabindranath Tagore and Zora Neale Hurston. Very good company to keep, in my opinion. Hello, Ms. Ringwald, and welcome to my world.After “My Olivia” I knew Ringwald wouldn't be able to top herself. She couldn't. And I was right. But now every thread of my attention was gathering together, receptive to what else she could do. And she certainly pulled some punches. Perhaps the first two stories of this collection were of the same caliber and I just hadn't been expecting it. Perhaps I missed something. I think, however, that Ringwald was setting the stage in those initial stories for everything else she had planned. Aside from “My Olivia,” my favorite piece was “When it Happens to You,” a short, but poignant piece that aptly gives the entire collection its backbone.Molly Ringwald didn't exceed my expectations as much as she shattered them. A perfect collection? Not at all, but certainly a great writer with a possible future (in writing). Here's to you, Ms. Ringwald: May those who read you because of your name find the beauty in your work and may the literati discover your talents despite your name.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I actually found the book riveting. Though not the best. I did find the characters to be relatable to some extent. While I could not empathize with any of them. I could still see them in a modern light. They seemed to have the same fears as most of us. The fear of being abandoned, looking bad in pictures, infidelity, not being loved, being different. They also worry about others such as in "My Dear Olivia," She was so worried about her son being outcast. I think we all worry about that. Being an outcast of society. I think in that story, however, The mother did the right thing. I did read the story though because it was written by Ringwald. So I think I was somewhat sullied into liking it because I kind-of sort-of look up to her in "Sixteen Candles." But on the whole a delightful book.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is a book about the lives of several people, generally centering around Greta, a woman who has her life turned upside down. Ringwald is able to weave together the stories of these characters in a way that keeps the book interesting throughout. This is not a book that tells a story from beginning to end. The story moves through time to pick out the highlights and low-lights of the characters' lives. This is an interesting way to tell the story because the author lets the reader fill in the blanks.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5If this had been written by someone else, I probably would have abandoned it early on, but because it was Molly Ringwald, I had to finish it: my adolescent self from 25 years ago would have been flabbergasted if I had not. And if I had abandoned it, I would have missed the chapter/story about a transgendered child, which was so well done, and so painfully heartbreaking. Ringwald can write, it's just that her subject matter isn't particularly interesting: the main meat of the story centers around a couple in their thirties dealing with infidelity. Their child seems like a shrill little monster, the whole situation is patently cliché (but aren't so many outside-of-marriage affairs?)and it was difficult to summon any sort of compassion for most of these characters.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5"It seemed to Greta that Theresa was one of those girls who spent all of her time being an imposition while obviously trying not to be an imposition. Almost everything Theresa said or did broadcast the message 'I won't take it for myself. You'll have to give it to me.'"Molly Ringwald's debut novel is described as a novel in stories and is really a short story collection in which the characters recur from one story to another - it reminded me of Jennifer Egan's A Visit From The Goon Squad, which I disliked for its self-important and experimental nature. I much prefer Ringwald's model, in which the characters are recurring although only tenuously, but time marches forwards rather than jumping about all over the place the way it did in Goon Squad.Without the writing ever being spectacular or showy, Ringwald repeatedly pinpoints moments of life with heartrending accuracy - Greta's desire to wear something a bit more flattering in case there are photos, Betty's grief still being so deep that she pours an extra cup of tea even though her husband hasn't been there to drink it in seven years. She writes with elegance about ageing and aimlessness, about a search for purpose and what happens when someone with extraordinary drive channels it in an unsuitable direction.The heavy focus on relationships and adultery is perhaps to be expected in a novel about betrayal, although it does get pretty depressing. The chapters vary in strength, but that might be because a given reader will empathise with certain characters but not others. This is very much a women's book - the men are generally negatively characterised (philandering, confused or dead).Worth a read; I found it engrossing and elegant, if somewhat disheartening.Side note: Molly Ringwald, author, is also Molly Ringwald, teenage star of films such as The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink. Which I'm glad I didn't know before I read the book, because I think I would have judged the writing more harshly.