The Gift of an Ordinary Day: A Mother’s Memoir
- ISBN13: 9780446409483
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
The Gift of an Ordinary Day is an intimate memoir of a family in transition-boys becoming teenagers, careers ending and new ones opening up, an attempt to find a deeper sense of place, and a slower pace, in a small
Poised on the threshold between family life as she’s always known it and her older son’s departure for college, Kenison is surprised to find that the times she treasures most are the ordinary, unremarkable moments of everyday life, the very moments that she once took for granted, or rushed right through without noticing at all.
The relationships, hopes, and dreams that Kenison illuminates will touch women’s hearts, and her words will inspire mothers everywhere as they try to make peace with the inevitable changes in store.
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I didn’t care for this memoir. I found it overly earnest and plodding. When the author is discussing her son’s problems in school, and over-explaining that he *is* intelligent, I just found it cringeworthy.
Rating: 2 / 5
The Gift of an Ordinary Day: A Mother’s Memoir
When I read a book knowing I am going to review it, and when I start to realize that it might not be a totally positive review, I start to feel guilty. Well, I felt guilty early on with this memoir. Katrina Kenison sounds like a wonderful mother, her husband and sons fine men. But this book was not an enjoyable read for me.
There are quite a few reasons for that. First of all, there isn’t much substance here. The book is about two things—a move from a Boston suburb to a small New Hampshire town, where a house is built for the family, and the teen years of the sons, Jack and Henry, with a lot of emphasis on Henry’s college search. That did not, in my eyes, need a close to 300 page book to tell. There was nothing terribly dramatic about either story—the house took a long time to built, Henry searched quite a while to find the right college for him, but those are not the stuff of compelling memoirs.
Therefore, two other themes fill up the book. The author has special, touching moments all the time, and they are described in lots of detail. Lots tie in with the houses—the last night in the old house, the first night in the new house, the last night in the grandparent’s house where they live while the old house is being built—you get the picture. The other theme is bringing up reflections from other authors of similar books. I don’t think Kenison ever read a self-reflecting book she didn’t like, and they all are mentioned here—spiritual teacher Joh Kabat-Zinn, Danwn Markova, Joseph Campbell,E.B. White, Mary Antin—and those are just a very few.
There were parts of this book that did engage me. Mainly they are the parts telling about conflicts and family life with her sons, without any stopping for deep reflection. Her son Jack goes through a tough period at 13, wearing black and getting a bit defiant and angry, and this is written about very clearly. It’s an encouragement how he comes out of this period, and I saw a glimpse of what this book could have been. However, I understand you can’t write about the personal parts of the lives of teens that much, and I respect that she didn’t, but that creates a dilemma—it’s hard then to write much of a book about parenting teens, or specific teens anyway.
I might look for this author’s book about her sons’ younger years. I have a feeling it will too annoy me a bit, but maybe there will be more of the kind of writing I did like here.
Rating: 3 / 5
The Gift of an Ordinary Day: A Mother’s Memoir
What began as a book that I had looked forward to reading, quickly turned into a book that I thought would never end.
Like Kenison, I too was having a child go off to college and another starting high school, a job in transition, financial instability, the prospect of selling a home and moving into a new area. I felt that finally, a here is a woman’s book that I could relate too. But, unfortunately, this memoir has shown me that no two people live the same life. There was no learning or empathy for what she had gone through. Her bemoaning grew tiresome and quite irritating when she put more pages into a friend with shingles that needed her , which I still question, then into a friends child that was killed. The balance just wasn’t in this book.
Though memoirs can be a bit self indulgent, this one rattled on a little too long . What exactly was Kenison trying to convey to the reader. That you too, while living under someone else’s roof can send your children to private schools and build the home of your dreams. Sorry, but the oh poor me attitude was totally lost on me.
Rating: 3 / 5
The Gift of an Ordinary Day: A Mother’s Memoir
Maybe it’s just because I’m at a different stage of my life, with one child in elementary school and another still in preschool, or maybe it’s that I’m from a different cultural demographic but I could not find a common chord anywhere in this book by Katrina Kenison.
I felt that the author spent far too much time simply complaining about how tough her life is. Boo hoo she has too much house and boo hoo her kids are growing up and boo hoo she lost her job. She needs to get out of her privileged existence and maybe spend less time contemplating how hard she has it and perhaps spend time helping others who are truly in need. Then she could go home and truly appreciate the important things she has and I never felt that she truly appreciated what was important.
I really was insulted by the whole chapter about her son’s SSAT scores and how his low scores meant he couldn’t go to the local exclusive private boarding schools for high school. Please go cry me a river. You have a healthy child who will be able to go to college and get a job and become a taxpayer.
I didn’t find the author interesting, her writing voice didn’t speak to me and the book was far too long.
Rating: 2 / 5
The Gift of an Ordinary Day: A Mother’s Memoir
This book frustrated me greatly, due to the author’s examining and re-examining her thoughts and feelings about things large and small. I guess I just don’t have the patience required for this type of memoir, which felt quite self-involved and tautological.
The language in the book is painstakingly crafted, like poetry. I am struggling to describe my reaction to it. Ironically, in trying to parse so carefully here in this review, I notice myself falling into the author’s writing style…feel the feeling, but then–this is important– polish it, buff it up, and make it presentable, even pleasant.
Let’s just say I prefer down-to-earth, honest, realism. I felt like the author’s flowery, poetic, carefully selected language was like a six-foot electric fence between me, the reader, and her real feelings.
And as a down-to-earth mother of two teenage boys myself, my BS detector was going wild. It happened throughout, but here’s an illustrative example: the part about the two teenage boys arguing about who gets the chaise lounge every day after lunch because it’s the best place to read? Um…yeah.
At book’s end, the author says, “Pondering my own life required solitude.” I must admit that statement puts me off. A married woman, a mother, in solitude? While “pondering life?” For months and years? Yikes.
Rating: 2 / 5
The Gift of an Ordinary Day: A Mother’s Memoir