Book Summary and Reviews of Go Gentle by Maria Semple

Reader Reviews

Write your own review

Janine_S

A look into the life of the mind and heart
This is a book about the conflict between the life of mind versus the life of the heart. Filled with humor, intrigue and contemplation, this is a messy look into one woman trying to make sense of her life. Audora Hazzard (what a great name!), a former TV comedy writer turns to Stoic philosophy (actually a very good choice these guys had a moral sense needed in our times) for her truth. Summoned anonymously to the Lionel Lockwood mansion, she becomes the family's philosopher. Along the way she gathers three divorced women who live in her NY building into an intellectual "coven" forswearing love.

But ops! when a handsome intriguing man comes along, she starts to fall in love. And, she's pulled into an international "arms deal" (this is very clever!) while trauma from her past is revealed. While the story gets a bit convoluted in the telling, nonetheless Audora is a fascinating character. I loved all the Stoic philosophy stuff (I actually read Epictetus and Senaca and found them very insightful) - how clever. And those scenes in which Audora uses the philosophy are so very good! I'm not sure how the trauma aspect of Audor's life contributes to the story even though it's a way to explain a character, but anything dealing with Audora is fine by me. Loved her!

The supporting characters in this book were a lot of fun too. The Lockwoods and Ravi would crack me up at times. The author surrounded Aurora with a great cast.
This was a fun read. Very clever and subtle things occur - so pay attention as you read, you don't want to miss any of these.

I’d like to thank NetGalley and G.P. Putnam & Sons for allowing me to read this ARC

labmom55

Left me feeling like a ping pong ball
Go Gentle started off on a truly high note. As an older woman, my friends and I have often discussed something similar in concept to the Coven that Adora has with her friends. I found it even more interesting that Adora was a philosopher, a Stoic. But then it looked like Semple was doing a U turn into romance and I was “what the hell?” This was followed by a flashback to a bad experience in Adora’s past which basically explains why she had been leery of men.

Adora was an interesting main character. I liked her best when she was trying to be a good mother to a teenager. I wasn’t crazy about her when she acted like a love sick teen. I felt like a ping pong ball. The book bounces between romance, mystery and art heist-thriller. Different sections felt like they’d been written by different authors. There is humor, but it didn’t always work for me. I appreciated learning more about Stoicism. Much to say about misogyny, politics and repatriation of art.

Overall, the plot tends to the bonkers and I found I had to just go along for the ride. The ending was definitely over the top. While I adored “Bernadette” this one worked less well for me.

My thanks to Netgalley and Putnam for an advance copy of this book.

Other books by Maria Semple at BookBrowse