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Joy for Beginners
At an intimate, festive dinner party in Seattle, six women gather to celebrate their friend Kate's recovery from cancer. Wineglass in hand, Kate strikes a bargain with them. To celebrate her new lease on life, she'll do the one thing that's always terrified her: white-water rafting down the Grand Canyon. But if she goes, each of them must promise to do one thing in the next year that is new, or difficult, or scary—and Kate gets to choose their challenges.
Shimmering with warmth, wit, and insight, Joy for Beginners is a celebration of life: unexpected, lyrical, and deeply satisfying.
Shimmering with warmth, wit, and insight, Joy for Beginners is a celebration of life: unexpected, lyrical, and deeply satisfying.
269 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2011
About the author
Erica Bauermeister
14 books2,637 followersErica Bauermeister is the NYT bestselling author of five novels -- The Scent Keeper (a Reese's Book Club pick), The School of Essential Ingredients, Joy for Beginners, The Lost Art of Mixing, and a new novel, No Two Persons, due out in May of 2023. She has also written a memoir, House Lessons: Renovating a Life and is the co-author of two readers' guides: 500 Great Books by Women and Let's Hear It For the Girls. She currently lives in Port Townsend, Wa with her husband and 238 wild deer.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,544 reviews
August 11, 2011
I love Bauermeister's writing! I don't know how she manages to do it. Every word is perfect, every description tangible, every moment striking. There are many books I have given 5 stars too - usually because the story is fun or enjoyable, not necessarily because the writing itself is so incredible. I loved Bauermeister's first book and am equally enthralled with her second.
Now that's not to say that this book is easy. Far from it, for me anyway. The author explores all manner of loss and betrayal and sadness. I don't like sad books but these I can handle because the sadness is always tempered with love, friendship, joy, and hope. You aren't left feeling desolate, and it's not that every story has a happy ending either, but the reality of life continuing on and that one can get through is always present. Just like in School of Essential Ingredients, the book is broken into sections by character, with each section its own miniature novel. Bauermeister's writing always leaves me with the desire to hold my husband and children, wanting to cherish them against the inevitability of life.
Bauermeister's writing is fluid and effortless, her descriptions magical. It might not be the kind of book everyone would enjoy but I would recommend it for its sheer excellence. It's a book that leaves me breathless and wishing I could write like Bauermeister, knowing I never could, and yet not saddened by that thought at all.
Now that's not to say that this book is easy. Far from it, for me anyway. The author explores all manner of loss and betrayal and sadness. I don't like sad books but these I can handle because the sadness is always tempered with love, friendship, joy, and hope. You aren't left feeling desolate, and it's not that every story has a happy ending either, but the reality of life continuing on and that one can get through is always present. Just like in School of Essential Ingredients, the book is broken into sections by character, with each section its own miniature novel. Bauermeister's writing always leaves me with the desire to hold my husband and children, wanting to cherish them against the inevitability of life.
Bauermeister's writing is fluid and effortless, her descriptions magical. It might not be the kind of book everyone would enjoy but I would recommend it for its sheer excellence. It's a book that leaves me breathless and wishing I could write like Bauermeister, knowing I never could, and yet not saddened by that thought at all.
March 26, 2013
Normally I would never rate a book in the "chick lit" genre more than 4 stars. But, this book made me do something I've never before done; I re read it the same week I finished it. I felt like the characters were calling me back to get to know them better. And, when I read about the six women again, I realized that they all had something to tell me. Each chapter is about one of six friends who are in a pact to complete a personal challenge. Caroline is recovering from a husband who traded her in for someone who is, "...all round curves and glossy surfaces." Daria has been carrying around a mother's disapproval for her entire life. Sara has been drowning in the joyful, but consuming, role of motherhood and has lost her identity. Hadley is a widow who has let her life strangle her. Marion is an empty nester and going through menopause. Ava lost her mother to cancer when she was 10 and still needs closure. And, Kate is the cancer survivor who is afraid to go rafting down the Grand Canyon.
As each of theses women faces the challenge that their friend,Kate, dreamed up for them, I realized that what they each really needed was some purging and creating. Purge old garbage and create new space. For instance, Carolyn had always "...loved the idea of filling the shelves of her life with the roles of daughter, friend, girlfriend, wife, mother..." her friend, Marion, says to her, "I'm just thinking ... that it might be nice to figure out how you want to live." Then, as Carolyn gets rid of her ex's things she, "...realized with a sense of small quiet surprise that roles in her well stocked bookshelf of life were leaving, had left, one by one as they had come."
This book just happens to speak to me right where I am at as a 48 year old woman with college aged kids. I also particularly liked Carolyn's character and her discussion about the word "marriage" and the idea that it can be a noun - something that can be shed like a coat or put on a shelf, or, it can be used as a verb - as in an action word; the act of being entwined.
As each of theses women faces the challenge that their friend,Kate, dreamed up for them, I realized that what they each really needed was some purging and creating. Purge old garbage and create new space. For instance, Carolyn had always "...loved the idea of filling the shelves of her life with the roles of daughter, friend, girlfriend, wife, mother..." her friend, Marion, says to her, "I'm just thinking ... that it might be nice to figure out how you want to live." Then, as Carolyn gets rid of her ex's things she, "...realized with a sense of small quiet surprise that roles in her well stocked bookshelf of life were leaving, had left, one by one as they had come."
This book just happens to speak to me right where I am at as a 48 year old woman with college aged kids. I also particularly liked Carolyn's character and her discussion about the word "marriage" and the idea that it can be a noun - something that can be shed like a coat or put on a shelf, or, it can be used as a verb - as in an action word; the act of being entwined.
May 26, 2011
A few years ago, a new phrase burst into our vernacular: the bucket list, based on a movie in which two men confront their limitations and prepare a list of things they must do. The list is predictably exotic: skydiving, flying over the North Pole, eating dinner at Chevre d’Or in France.
In Joy for Beginners, it’s the women’s turn to enact that list. On an uncharacteristically sunny day in Seattle, six women assemble to celebrate their friend Kate’s clean bill of health from breast cancer. Unbeknownst to them, right before arrival, Kate’s daughter had suggested an exhilarating white water rafting trip down the Grand Canyon. Her friends urge her on and she agrees to go on one condition: that she gets to choose a challenge for each of her friends to overcome.
Unlike an adventurous male version, the challenges are far more targeted and subtle. For example, the recently divorced book store owner, Caroline, is asked to sort through her ex-husband’s library and dispose of all the books he left behind, clearing the decks (or the shelves!) for a new life. Daria, a gifted but restless potter, is directed to mold loaves of bread as a way of getting past emotional damage done by a hypercritical mother. Another friend, Ava, who was most reluctant to visit Kate at the hospital, as a result of flashbacks to her own mother’s battle with cancer, is asked to do the sixty mile breast cancer fundraising walk. And so on.
If this sounds a little formulaic, it’s because it is. Each woman, in turn, must confront her deepest fears and ask herself: what is holding me back? What am I most afraid of? What obstacle must I overcome to grow and thrive? What does it truly mean to be alive? As each discovers, hidden terrors need not be physically demanding ones, such as whitewater rafting. Often the little things that seem simple on the surface (making bread, tackling an overgrown garden, getting a tattoo) are indicative of more daunting issues.
Each chapter comes with its own back story; we get to meet each friend, one by one, learn the task that she has been assigned by Kate, and see how she is capable of accomplishing that task – whether it’s connecting with the right man, gaining a degree of added independence, or delving into herself to face her fears. Unlike real life, there is resolution for each and every woman. By the time Kate takes her own journey down the river – a metaphor, of course, for life – she is able to recognize her own cathartic role in the lives of her friends. “She had been a river, Kate thought, the thing that took them close to death made them suddenly, courageously, honest.”
Joy for Beginners is a book for a select audience, primarily women who enjoy inspirational tales about how the power of sisterhood can help transform lives. Its message is a powerful one: by taking risks and opening up to joy, one can surmount any personal obstacle including dealing with divorce, accepting a mother’s failings, embracing independence, acknowledging hidden talents, and choosing to live with confidence. At the end, it’s likely that each woman will question, “What is the one thing in life that I need to deal with to live more fully?” And that, of course, is the point.
In Joy for Beginners, it’s the women’s turn to enact that list. On an uncharacteristically sunny day in Seattle, six women assemble to celebrate their friend Kate’s clean bill of health from breast cancer. Unbeknownst to them, right before arrival, Kate’s daughter had suggested an exhilarating white water rafting trip down the Grand Canyon. Her friends urge her on and she agrees to go on one condition: that she gets to choose a challenge for each of her friends to overcome.
Unlike an adventurous male version, the challenges are far more targeted and subtle. For example, the recently divorced book store owner, Caroline, is asked to sort through her ex-husband’s library and dispose of all the books he left behind, clearing the decks (or the shelves!) for a new life. Daria, a gifted but restless potter, is directed to mold loaves of bread as a way of getting past emotional damage done by a hypercritical mother. Another friend, Ava, who was most reluctant to visit Kate at the hospital, as a result of flashbacks to her own mother’s battle with cancer, is asked to do the sixty mile breast cancer fundraising walk. And so on.
If this sounds a little formulaic, it’s because it is. Each woman, in turn, must confront her deepest fears and ask herself: what is holding me back? What am I most afraid of? What obstacle must I overcome to grow and thrive? What does it truly mean to be alive? As each discovers, hidden terrors need not be physically demanding ones, such as whitewater rafting. Often the little things that seem simple on the surface (making bread, tackling an overgrown garden, getting a tattoo) are indicative of more daunting issues.
Each chapter comes with its own back story; we get to meet each friend, one by one, learn the task that she has been assigned by Kate, and see how she is capable of accomplishing that task – whether it’s connecting with the right man, gaining a degree of added independence, or delving into herself to face her fears. Unlike real life, there is resolution for each and every woman. By the time Kate takes her own journey down the river – a metaphor, of course, for life – she is able to recognize her own cathartic role in the lives of her friends. “She had been a river, Kate thought, the thing that took them close to death made them suddenly, courageously, honest.”
Joy for Beginners is a book for a select audience, primarily women who enjoy inspirational tales about how the power of sisterhood can help transform lives. Its message is a powerful one: by taking risks and opening up to joy, one can surmount any personal obstacle including dealing with divorce, accepting a mother’s failings, embracing independence, acknowledging hidden talents, and choosing to live with confidence. At the end, it’s likely that each woman will question, “What is the one thing in life that I need to deal with to live more fully?” And that, of course, is the point.
May 9, 2011
When I first read the synopsis of this book, it sounded like something I would really enjoy. I liked the premise, the thought of character development and growth; however, I found little of that in this book. I kept on trying to like this book, but it just didn't work for me. I think that Erica Bauermeister had a really good plot idea, but the book was too short for it to ever develop. Seven women's stories are told in this book, each getting their own chapter to highlight their adventure that Kate chose for them. Each woman had the possibility of a unique story, but they never grew. You got a little back story on each woman, her task, and then her completion of the task. Every woman's task tied up nicely, with them finding a man/gaining insight/overcoming a fear. It was too formulaic and predictable.
My other problem with this book was the writing. I felt that the writing wasn't organic, that Bauermeister was trying too hard to express the character's feelings. It was too decadent at times, the words and language trying to convey too much. Also, the chapters were a bit too choppy for my liking. Some paragraphs were only three or four sentences, and then break away to a new thought. It wasn't something I really ever connected to because the writing was too distracting for me.
I really wanted to enjoy this book, and while the premise of the book still appeals to me, it's not something that I will be reading again.
My other problem with this book was the writing. I felt that the writing wasn't organic, that Bauermeister was trying too hard to express the character's feelings. It was too decadent at times, the words and language trying to convey too much. Also, the chapters were a bit too choppy for my liking. Some paragraphs were only three or four sentences, and then break away to a new thought. It wasn't something I really ever connected to because the writing was too distracting for me.
I really wanted to enjoy this book, and while the premise of the book still appeals to me, it's not something that I will be reading again.
July 29, 2023
I can’t help myself, I love her writing! I don't know how she manages to do it. Every word is perfect, every description tangible, every moment striking.
I am grateful to her for bringing these stories to me (yes, that is how I feel), and thus, sharing with you.
I feel like these women, her beautifully written characters, are the best friends I want in my life.
Each one is given a challenge. At first it feels like they are going to fulfill the challenge because they feel an obligation to do so, but what happens to these women because of the challenge is the story worth reading.
My challenge to you is to not only read this novel but to revel in the friendship, share in the joy and lend a shoulder in their sorrows. To not be afraid to try something new and maybe just a little frightening, but most of all to be the best friend you can possibly be.
If you cherish beautifully written women’s fiction this is a novel that has to be on your must read list.
This novel, which I happily picked up in Port Townsend, Washington, and was graciously signed by the author, will remain in my personal library for now.
(Update: I have since given it away...but happily donated to My Little Free Library Shed readers.)
I am grateful to her for bringing these stories to me (yes, that is how I feel), and thus, sharing with you.
I feel like these women, her beautifully written characters, are the best friends I want in my life.
Each one is given a challenge. At first it feels like they are going to fulfill the challenge because they feel an obligation to do so, but what happens to these women because of the challenge is the story worth reading.
My challenge to you is to not only read this novel but to revel in the friendship, share in the joy and lend a shoulder in their sorrows. To not be afraid to try something new and maybe just a little frightening, but most of all to be the best friend you can possibly be.
If you cherish beautifully written women’s fiction this is a novel that has to be on your must read list.
This novel, which I happily picked up in Port Townsend, Washington, and was graciously signed by the author, will remain in my personal library for now.
(Update: I have since given it away...but happily donated to My Little Free Library Shed readers.)
May 10, 2012
Post Listen Review: Can I give this one negative stars? I complain a lot about the romance books I have to hear to listen to all the audiobooks in the library but at least those don't take themselves as seriously as this one does. It is called Joy for Beginners but it gave me pretty much the opposite emotion.
People in my generation tend to get a lot of flack for being self absorbed but I have to tell you that we have nothing on these women in this book. I will give a short plot summary and point out some of the parts in which I can back up my claim.
So the plot is pretty simple. A woman has survived breast cancer and has a dinner party to celebrate. Her daughter has given her a challenge to go white water rafting in the Grand Canyon which the woman is at least somewhat afraid of doing. The other women at the party think it is a great idea and that the cancer survivor should do it. She agrees but only if she can give each of the other women some kind of a challenge too. Sounds ok enough but there are some issues here.
I knew that I wouldn't like this book right away because someone brings a wooden salad bowl to a house party. If I have a house party, bring some burgers or cookies or something and leave the salad at home. Especially if I have just survived cancer and can now eat whatever I want again. (Apologies to anyone who is a huge fan of wooden salad bowls) But ok that is sort of a minor thing.
The woman has this party and she wants to call it a get together or something like that to which one of the women responds, "Let us call it a victory party. You wouldn't want to spoil our fun now would you?" Um let me think... did you survive cancer? No? Then let me call my party whatever the hell I want to.
Then because this woman has survived cancer she is supposed to have some kind of insight into the soul or whatever so she will choose exactly the right challenges so that the women will be "complete" or whatever. How self absorbed is she to think she should mess around with all her friends lives?
The challenges are mostly dumb. The first one is for this lady to clean out all her ex-husband's books so she can get on with her life I guess. She does it and then her friend goes, "You know what's going to be hard? The beach house." To which I want to say, shut up you have a beach house, life is not that bad. And she keeps thinking back to how her husband didn't used to be about money but now all his books are about selling stuff. How do you think you got the beach house???
The reason this woman's husband left her was cause he cheated on her but she turns to her friend at the beach house and asks her why she thought people broke up. The friend says that "love is like those waves. You have to wait for it to hit you over and over. People just forget to wait." That is not what love is like at all. Love feels (at least to me) like a fact. I don't sit around waiting for a wave of love to hit me as I look at my wife, it's already there and always will be. I know I love my son, not a question of waves. That was a horribly bad metaphor.
Then there was a challenge to clean up a garden. They say in there somewhere you can tell more about a person from their garden than from any other way or something. Hello what??? Not everyone I know has a garden. In fact most people I know don't have gardens. And here is what you can tell about me from my being in a garden. I need an anti-histamine stat.
There is a challenge about making bread. What that really should have been called was date this guy who is a baker and will help you get over your mother issues.
A semi-reasonable challenge was to get a tattoo. I don't really remember what happened there cause I tuned out of that story mostly. She got the tattoo though.
Another challenge was traveling. That one should have been called, go to a foreign country, get kissed by some random guy and then you will realize you are more than just a mom. I didn't notice her telling her husband about getting kissed though. A bit unfair since the guy was all for her going.
The three day walk challenge seemed like the only one that fit cause the woman's sister never saw her when she was sick so she had to do the three day walk. But the sister asks her if she was given that challenge to punish her. The cancer survivor says no and then the sister says, then you are not angry with me? And she says, I didn't say that. So to me that means that she was punishing her. Not that she didn't deserve it. But be honest.
And finally the woman who survived cancer went white water rafting.
She gets angry and upset at one point and all her emotions come out but then she feels that the water "must be coming out of her" as it rushes along. That is the most self absorbed thing I ever heard. You think you are a river? The river does not care about you. It will gladly kill you or leave you alone, the water does not come from you. Sorry you had cancer and you have every right to be angry but you are not a freaking river!
To sum up, I am not in favor of anyone having cancer but just because you have had it doesn't mean you know everything. And if you can afford beach houses and gardens and foreign travel and whatnot, you are probably not as bad off as you think you are in the first place.
I am so looking forward to the next book where someone gets murdered. It will bring me a lot more Joy I am sure.
Pre-listen Guess: I wanted to sign up for advanced mirth but apparently this book is a prerequisite.
People in my generation tend to get a lot of flack for being self absorbed but I have to tell you that we have nothing on these women in this book. I will give a short plot summary and point out some of the parts in which I can back up my claim.
So the plot is pretty simple. A woman has survived breast cancer and has a dinner party to celebrate. Her daughter has given her a challenge to go white water rafting in the Grand Canyon which the woman is at least somewhat afraid of doing. The other women at the party think it is a great idea and that the cancer survivor should do it. She agrees but only if she can give each of the other women some kind of a challenge too. Sounds ok enough but there are some issues here.
I knew that I wouldn't like this book right away because someone brings a wooden salad bowl to a house party. If I have a house party, bring some burgers or cookies or something and leave the salad at home. Especially if I have just survived cancer and can now eat whatever I want again. (Apologies to anyone who is a huge fan of wooden salad bowls) But ok that is sort of a minor thing.
The woman has this party and she wants to call it a get together or something like that to which one of the women responds, "Let us call it a victory party. You wouldn't want to spoil our fun now would you?" Um let me think... did you survive cancer? No? Then let me call my party whatever the hell I want to.
Then because this woman has survived cancer she is supposed to have some kind of insight into the soul or whatever so she will choose exactly the right challenges so that the women will be "complete" or whatever. How self absorbed is she to think she should mess around with all her friends lives?
The challenges are mostly dumb. The first one is for this lady to clean out all her ex-husband's books so she can get on with her life I guess. She does it and then her friend goes, "You know what's going to be hard? The beach house." To which I want to say, shut up you have a beach house, life is not that bad. And she keeps thinking back to how her husband didn't used to be about money but now all his books are about selling stuff. How do you think you got the beach house???
The reason this woman's husband left her was cause he cheated on her but she turns to her friend at the beach house and asks her why she thought people broke up. The friend says that "love is like those waves. You have to wait for it to hit you over and over. People just forget to wait." That is not what love is like at all. Love feels (at least to me) like a fact. I don't sit around waiting for a wave of love to hit me as I look at my wife, it's already there and always will be. I know I love my son, not a question of waves. That was a horribly bad metaphor.
Then there was a challenge to clean up a garden. They say in there somewhere you can tell more about a person from their garden than from any other way or something. Hello what??? Not everyone I know has a garden. In fact most people I know don't have gardens. And here is what you can tell about me from my being in a garden. I need an anti-histamine stat.
There is a challenge about making bread. What that really should have been called was date this guy who is a baker and will help you get over your mother issues.
A semi-reasonable challenge was to get a tattoo. I don't really remember what happened there cause I tuned out of that story mostly. She got the tattoo though.
Another challenge was traveling. That one should have been called, go to a foreign country, get kissed by some random guy and then you will realize you are more than just a mom. I didn't notice her telling her husband about getting kissed though. A bit unfair since the guy was all for her going.
The three day walk challenge seemed like the only one that fit cause the woman's sister never saw her when she was sick so she had to do the three day walk. But the sister asks her if she was given that challenge to punish her. The cancer survivor says no and then the sister says, then you are not angry with me? And she says, I didn't say that. So to me that means that she was punishing her. Not that she didn't deserve it. But be honest.
And finally the woman who survived cancer went white water rafting.
She gets angry and upset at one point and all her emotions come out but then she feels that the water "must be coming out of her" as it rushes along. That is the most self absorbed thing I ever heard. You think you are a river? The river does not care about you. It will gladly kill you or leave you alone, the water does not come from you. Sorry you had cancer and you have every right to be angry but you are not a freaking river!
To sum up, I am not in favor of anyone having cancer but just because you have had it doesn't mean you know everything. And if you can afford beach houses and gardens and foreign travel and whatnot, you are probably not as bad off as you think you are in the first place.
I am so looking forward to the next book where someone gets murdered. It will bring me a lot more Joy I am sure.
Pre-listen Guess: I wanted to sign up for advanced mirth but apparently this book is a prerequisite.
November 14, 2015
I greatly enjoyed this charming book about a group of Seattle-based women whose lives intertwine. Aged from about 35 to 55, the women are connected as relatives, friends, neighbours or colleagues. Generally speaking they can be relied on to be there for each other when things get tough. Most recently they have been there for Kate, supporting her as she underwent surgery and chemotherapy in a grim battle against breast cancer. At a dinner party to celebrate Kate's remission, they are all given a challenge by her, to do something different and find new things in their lives. Kate issued the challenges because she saw the need for each of them to find new ways of being happy and receiving joy into their hearts.
For example, Sara is a stay-at-home mother, who's determined to be Super-Mom. She and her husband are raising three children, including toddler-aged twins, and her hands are always full. She puts her own needs right at the bottom of every To-Do list. So Kate's challenge to Sara was to take a trip away by herself. Ava is a highly successful businesswoman, a perfumier living in LA, and her challenge was to reconnect with her childhood haunts, and rediscover the joys of Home.
Above all the book is about finding pleasure through re-connecting with the senses. Widowed at an early age, Hadley finds her self-imposed austerity is broken down thanks to Kate's challenge when she discovers a passion for gardening, with its abundance of colours and scents. Daria, a professional potter, is connected to the earth through the feel of clay, but she discovers a whole new field of sensory delights as she learns to bake bread. And through those new sensations, the women heal or make peace with their pasts, or set new directions, all designed to enhance their lives.
Bauermeister's pleasant prose makes for easy reading. The tone is definitely positive throughout. Although there are some grim moments, the story is intended to be uplifting, which is how I experienced it.
**Checking on the internet just now, it seems this book may have been published at some time with a different title: A Year of the Unexpected. I don't understand this change, but it presumably is due to different markets. The author's website calls the book Joy for Beginners.
For example, Sara is a stay-at-home mother, who's determined to be Super-Mom. She and her husband are raising three children, including toddler-aged twins, and her hands are always full. She puts her own needs right at the bottom of every To-Do list. So Kate's challenge to Sara was to take a trip away by herself. Ava is a highly successful businesswoman, a perfumier living in LA, and her challenge was to reconnect with her childhood haunts, and rediscover the joys of Home.
Above all the book is about finding pleasure through re-connecting with the senses. Widowed at an early age, Hadley finds her self-imposed austerity is broken down thanks to Kate's challenge when she discovers a passion for gardening, with its abundance of colours and scents. Daria, a professional potter, is connected to the earth through the feel of clay, but she discovers a whole new field of sensory delights as she learns to bake bread. And through those new sensations, the women heal or make peace with their pasts, or set new directions, all designed to enhance their lives.
Bauermeister's pleasant prose makes for easy reading. The tone is definitely positive throughout. Although there are some grim moments, the story is intended to be uplifting, which is how I experienced it.
**Checking on the internet just now, it seems this book may have been published at some time with a different title: A Year of the Unexpected. I don't understand this change, but it presumably is due to different markets. The author's website calls the book Joy for Beginners.
August 1, 2012
I must preface my remarks by saying that I read this book AFTER having just finished Les Miserables, Jesus Land and Love and Other Demons. So, it can't really hold a candle to ANY of those really wonderful works of literature. This does get FIVE stars for being the chickiest chick lit I have ever laid eyes on. It's about seven women living very conventional woman-y lives--all in or just out of relationships, or suffering from woman diseases (breast cancer), or doing woman-y things. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it was just OVER THE TOP conventional girl stuff. Each woman was assigned a challenge to complete by the woman with the breast cancer, everything from learning to bake bread to getting a tattoo to shooting the rapids in the Colorado River to doing a breast cancer walk. Big deal. And supposedly they learned "deep life lessons" as they did their little adventure. Blah, blah, blah. LOTS of navel-gazing back story. Sort of like the author made up a bunch of character studies for various fiction classes and stuck them all in the same book. Mildly interesting sometimes. I didn't hate it so passionately that it sinks to the level of a one-star or zero-star horrid book, but neither would I recommend it.
August 13, 2011
I wanted to like this book. The premise is interesting. I like the idea of all different kinds of belated adventures for women later in life.
I did not enjoy the writing at all. It just screams "trying too hard". It's incredibly flowery and paints very odd descriptions--sometimes I felt like the author was doing writing exercises to come up with these bizarre descriptive passages. (Perhaps the writing exercise would say "combine these two words to describe a scent that evokes this kind of feeling". Like Madlibs for writers.)
Some of their stories drag, and it was hard to finish this book. My Kindle's "percent read" bar seemed stuck at 92% forever.
I did not enjoy the writing at all. It just screams "trying too hard". It's incredibly flowery and paints very odd descriptions--sometimes I felt like the author was doing writing exercises to come up with these bizarre descriptive passages. (Perhaps the writing exercise would say "combine these two words to describe a scent that evokes this kind of feeling". Like Madlibs for writers.)
Some of their stories drag, and it was hard to finish this book. My Kindle's "percent read" bar seemed stuck at 92% forever.
October 7, 2019
The story line might qualify as chick-lit but more mature. Hen-lit? Many elements of the story were things that feed womens' souls ... gardening, baking, babies, pottery, good men and most of all, women friends. Less about striving and worldly success. The end was too over the top ... but generally, nice cozy read for women of a 'certain age'.
May 28, 2012
I didn't find anything joyful about it.
April 3, 2024
I usually read fast paced plot driven books, so this one about the lives of 6 women was quite the change. I loved her writing and the story about friendship, life and relationships.
July 11, 2011
A group of friends amassed over the years by circumstance with as much diversity as similarities jump over one more hurdle in life. The conquering of Breast Cancer is no small feat and the journey not solitary, so on the night of her victory dinner Kate gives each of the friends that brought her to this destination the gift of a challenge. Each challenge is designed especially for it’s recipient, and like many gifts not always appreciated at the time of it’s giving. At the onset these women view completing their challenge only to appease their friend, but in the act of doing, each of them will learn something about themselves that otherwise might have stayed hidden. So while Caroline, Marion, Daria, Hadley, Sara and last but not least Ava begin their personal adventure Kate will go on one of her own.
Erica Bauermeister might be a new author to me but by the end of the first chapter she was a new acquaintance and by the end of her tale a life long friend. I absolutely loved her storyline and being a woman it became very personal to me and as I read it my view of life and friendship changed and deepened. Her use of beautiful descriptive prose in her narrative made me smile and also increased my enjoyment of the read and I found myself looking intently for the next adventure in the novel and how the author’s creative words would describe it, I was never disappointed. Her characters are made even more special by the mere fact of their everydayness, their next door neighborness and their best friendness and I found myself jealous of their camaraderie and even their anger over their particular challenge at it’s giver. I also found each of the characters portrayed so well that by the end of the novel I was tempted to go out and greet them myself in my own hometown.
My challenge to you is to not only read this novel but to revel in the friendship, share in the joy and lend a shoulder in their sorrows, to not be afraid to try something new and maybe just a little frightening, but most of all to be the best friend you can possibly be.
If you cherish beautifully written women’s fiction this is a novel that has to be on your must read list.
Thank you Ms. Bauermeister for an incredible trip and I plan to take another one with you very soon.
Erica Bauermeister might be a new author to me but by the end of the first chapter she was a new acquaintance and by the end of her tale a life long friend. I absolutely loved her storyline and being a woman it became very personal to me and as I read it my view of life and friendship changed and deepened. Her use of beautiful descriptive prose in her narrative made me smile and also increased my enjoyment of the read and I found myself looking intently for the next adventure in the novel and how the author’s creative words would describe it, I was never disappointed. Her characters are made even more special by the mere fact of their everydayness, their next door neighborness and their best friendness and I found myself jealous of their camaraderie and even their anger over their particular challenge at it’s giver. I also found each of the characters portrayed so well that by the end of the novel I was tempted to go out and greet them myself in my own hometown.
My challenge to you is to not only read this novel but to revel in the friendship, share in the joy and lend a shoulder in their sorrows, to not be afraid to try something new and maybe just a little frightening, but most of all to be the best friend you can possibly be.
If you cherish beautifully written women’s fiction this is a novel that has to be on your must read list.
Thank you Ms. Bauermeister for an incredible trip and I plan to take another one with you very soon.
July 29, 2011
I am really surprised at all the rave reviews this one received. I found it a bit dull and slow. None of the characters were that interesting or compelling.
December 2, 2017
3.5 Stars Loved the author’s writing, so touching! Just wished there were a few less characters to keep track of, but really good overall!
December 16, 2022
I am surprised, once again, that I was so underwhelmed by a writer so highly regarded.
Bauermeister worked way too hard at "beautiful" sentences and spent too much time fawning on books. Here's a sentence: "New books have meanings clean as new sheets." Huh? And a sentence about the sand falling out of old beach read books. As if that would be a precious moment, and as if all beach reads are read at the beach.
But my biggest complaint about this book is its author's myopia, as expressed, for example, in this sentence: she was "almost hoping for a disaster that would make her unable to leave - a snack assignment for the soccer team..."
Can a writer be so buffered from reality that she can place the word disaster next to 'a snack assignment for the soccer team'???? No wonder the (lamentable) term "white privilege" has taken center stage in our culture.
Who would want to read about people for whom such an event as an unexpected request to provide snacks for children so privileged they get to be delivered in a warm vehicle to a groomed soccer field, wearing hundreds of dollars worth of flashy uniforms and shin pads and specialized shoes to have fun for a couple hours and then be fed food they don't need.... could that really be a "disaster" in anyone's life, no matter how last-minute the "assignment"?
How about the "challenges" for Kate's friends. Wait. Let me wake up.
Any ten year old could easily surmount these challenges. It's a life challenge to clean out an ex's books from - get this - her TWO houses. Woe is she, for SURE. (And the woman's heartbreak, because after all, books need good homes. Gag.)
Another character is going to learn to make...wait for it...BREAD.
Life challenges??? How about riding your bike across America ALONE? The challenges in this book were a complete joke - a weekend lark - and made me embarrassed for these women and their pampered sensibilities.
I had emergency surgery and afterward, I did things that used to intimidate me, such as diving off the high dive board. This is also laughable, but I didn't write a book about it. Because I have some awareness of how lucky I am in the grand scheme of things. Bauermeister apparently doesn't, according to these characters. My little Yay me! I'm braver now! moment was Kate's apex of courage: she finally found deep within herself, after surviving cancer, the courage to jump off a rock into a river, along with a bunch of other people doing the same thing. Wow.
Even the book's title spotlights the bubble these people live in (along with their creator). Women so pampered and far from any real disaster or struggle with their multiple houses and their ability to not work after losing a husband (like the character who then hid in her house while her garden almost swallowed the place, making that a ...oh my gosh such a watershed challenge...to GET THAT GARDEN UNDER CONTROL) whereas most young women who husbands die have to 1) take care of children and 2) earn a living. But her life challenge was to crawl out of her bedroom and garden. Gosh darn it!
These way over-stressed people have to learn from the very ground up how to experience joy. Because their lives are so saturated with DISASTER.
Edit: I did not read this two times. That's an error I don't know how to fix on the Goodreads form. Once was painful enough.
Bauermeister worked way too hard at "beautiful" sentences and spent too much time fawning on books. Here's a sentence: "New books have meanings clean as new sheets." Huh? And a sentence about the sand falling out of old beach read books. As if that would be a precious moment, and as if all beach reads are read at the beach.
But my biggest complaint about this book is its author's myopia, as expressed, for example, in this sentence: she was "almost hoping for a disaster that would make her unable to leave - a snack assignment for the soccer team..."
Can a writer be so buffered from reality that she can place the word disaster next to 'a snack assignment for the soccer team'???? No wonder the (lamentable) term "white privilege" has taken center stage in our culture.
Who would want to read about people for whom such an event as an unexpected request to provide snacks for children so privileged they get to be delivered in a warm vehicle to a groomed soccer field, wearing hundreds of dollars worth of flashy uniforms and shin pads and specialized shoes to have fun for a couple hours and then be fed food they don't need.... could that really be a "disaster" in anyone's life, no matter how last-minute the "assignment"?
How about the "challenges" for Kate's friends. Wait. Let me wake up.
Any ten year old could easily surmount these challenges. It's a life challenge to clean out an ex's books from - get this - her TWO houses. Woe is she, for SURE. (And the woman's heartbreak, because after all, books need good homes. Gag.)
Another character is going to learn to make...wait for it...BREAD.
Life challenges??? How about riding your bike across America ALONE? The challenges in this book were a complete joke - a weekend lark - and made me embarrassed for these women and their pampered sensibilities.
I had emergency surgery and afterward, I did things that used to intimidate me, such as diving off the high dive board. This is also laughable, but I didn't write a book about it. Because I have some awareness of how lucky I am in the grand scheme of things. Bauermeister apparently doesn't, according to these characters. My little Yay me! I'm braver now! moment was Kate's apex of courage: she finally found deep within herself, after surviving cancer, the courage to jump off a rock into a river, along with a bunch of other people doing the same thing. Wow.
Even the book's title spotlights the bubble these people live in (along with their creator). Women so pampered and far from any real disaster or struggle with their multiple houses and their ability to not work after losing a husband (like the character who then hid in her house while her garden almost swallowed the place, making that a ...oh my gosh such a watershed challenge...to GET THAT GARDEN UNDER CONTROL) whereas most young women who husbands die have to 1) take care of children and 2) earn a living. But her life challenge was to crawl out of her bedroom and garden. Gosh darn it!
These way over-stressed people have to learn from the very ground up how to experience joy. Because their lives are so saturated with DISASTER.
Edit: I did not read this two times. That's an error I don't know how to fix on the Goodreads form. Once was painful enough.
June 28, 2011
(fiction) Joy for Beginners – what a lovely title. Still, I was afraid as I started reading this book that is was going to be too much women's lit for me, all that touchy-feely stuff, too much about emotions and high drama of the OMG kind.
Kate didn't succumb to cancer after all, and her daughter signed both of them for a rafting trip down the Grand Canyon, something Kate really didn't want to do, something she would do to please her daughter; pleasing others is what she did best. At her victory-over-cancer party, Kate decided that she would challenge each of her friends with a task they wouldn't want to do, something emotionally if not physically risky. And after all that Kate had endured, how could they say no?
Adults need to have fun so children will want to grow up.
I loved this book. Yes, it is about relationships, mostly about the friendships women create with one another, flaws and all. The characters are beautiful souls doing the best they can, sometimes failing, sometimes soaring. The writing is descriptive but not florid – I could smell the bread and feel the wet clay.
A favorite quote, but no background because that would tell too much:
It was a little like the Oklahoma land rush, only with better bras.
Joy for Beginners is a perfect read for a warm summer day, for reflections on friendships and how they carry us over the bumps in our lives.
I was given an uncorrected proof of the book by the publisher, for which I am grateful. However, that means that the quotes may have changed in the published edition.
Kate didn't succumb to cancer after all, and her daughter signed both of them for a rafting trip down the Grand Canyon, something Kate really didn't want to do, something she would do to please her daughter; pleasing others is what she did best. At her victory-over-cancer party, Kate decided that she would challenge each of her friends with a task they wouldn't want to do, something emotionally if not physically risky. And after all that Kate had endured, how could they say no?
Adults need to have fun so children will want to grow up.
I loved this book. Yes, it is about relationships, mostly about the friendships women create with one another, flaws and all. The characters are beautiful souls doing the best they can, sometimes failing, sometimes soaring. The writing is descriptive but not florid – I could smell the bread and feel the wet clay.
A favorite quote, but no background because that would tell too much:
It was a little like the Oklahoma land rush, only with better bras.
Joy for Beginners is a perfect read for a warm summer day, for reflections on friendships and how they carry us over the bumps in our lives.
I was given an uncorrected proof of the book by the publisher, for which I am grateful. However, that means that the quotes may have changed in the published edition.
September 21, 2011
Joy for Beginners isn't a book that will change your life, but it might change your attitude. It tells the tale of seven friends who have shared life, child rearing, love, divorce, near death and recovery together. Kate is one of the seven friends and has recently fought a battle with breast cancer. Her friends encourage her to go on a white water rafting trip with her daughter and she agrees - but only if they each agree to do one thing that scares them. They agree and Kate tells them she'll chose their tasks for them.
One thing I love about this book is that there is a part of me that wants to do nearly every task these women are given. Do I long to learn to make bread, get a tattoo, rid my life of unnecessary clutter and more? Yes. Am I likely to tackle all (or even one) of these things this year without a cadre of friends cheering me on? No.
Joy for Beginners beautifully shows how friendship can be a saving grace in a woman's life and could even be a road map for how to love friends through hard times and tough places.
This book isn't deep reading. It's almost what I would classify as chick lit. My chief complaint? I wanted more time with these women. I wanted to know more backstory, more details. Even so, I'm giving it four stars because it's worth reading. It might make you look at your friends with new eyes. It might make you thankful for the life you're living right now. It might even make you sign up to go white water rafting...
One thing I love about this book is that there is a part of me that wants to do nearly every task these women are given. Do I long to learn to make bread, get a tattoo, rid my life of unnecessary clutter and more? Yes. Am I likely to tackle all (or even one) of these things this year without a cadre of friends cheering me on? No.
Joy for Beginners beautifully shows how friendship can be a saving grace in a woman's life and could even be a road map for how to love friends through hard times and tough places.
This book isn't deep reading. It's almost what I would classify as chick lit. My chief complaint? I wanted more time with these women. I wanted to know more backstory, more details. Even so, I'm giving it four stars because it's worth reading. It might make you look at your friends with new eyes. It might make you thankful for the life you're living right now. It might even make you sign up to go white water rafting...
August 21, 2012
This book was too predictable and too perfect. The character, Kate, chooses challenges for each of her friends who had supported her through a bout with cancer. Magically, she manages to choose just the perfect challenge for each friend, even though some of them were secret longings within a friend's own mind. How could she have known these so perfectly?
Of course, each challenge resulted in just the right amount of work, introspection, revelations, and empowerment. Too cliche, too perfect, and even the writing bothered me with too many metaphors and similes. It's unusual that supposed "good writing" bothers me, but in this book I felt it was way overdone.
I gave it three stars because there were parts that kept my attention and interst, such as the rafting ride through the Grand Canyon. That part was interesting and was maybe a zillionth of a microgram less perfect than the other portions. I was leaning toward two stars, but the parts that I found interesting got it up to three.
Later: I can't leave it at a 3. As I think about it, a 3 might imply that I would recommend this book to anyone. I'm moving my rating back to a 2.
Of course, each challenge resulted in just the right amount of work, introspection, revelations, and empowerment. Too cliche, too perfect, and even the writing bothered me with too many metaphors and similes. It's unusual that supposed "good writing" bothers me, but in this book I felt it was way overdone.
I gave it three stars because there were parts that kept my attention and interst, such as the rafting ride through the Grand Canyon. That part was interesting and was maybe a zillionth of a microgram less perfect than the other portions. I was leaning toward two stars, but the parts that I found interesting got it up to three.
Later: I can't leave it at a 3. As I think about it, a 3 might imply that I would recommend this book to anyone. I'm moving my rating back to a 2.
July 18, 2011
Joy for Beginners follows seven women - Kate, Caroline, Ava, Daria, Marion, Hadley, and Sara. Kate has recently beaten breast cancer and is celebrating with her six best girl friends. As part of her celebration Kate has agreed to go with her daughter white water rafting down the Colorado river, something that completely terrifies her. So, Kate assigns each of her friends a task to complete as well - either something that scares them or something very outside their comfort zone. The premise of the story looks interesting with each woman's story told in one chapter. But, after absolutely LOVING The School of Essential Ingredients, I was very disappointed with this novel. The writing is extremely descriptive and over-the-top emotional, which I recognized was similar to The School of Essential Ingredients, but somehow it just didn't work this time. Kate was a little too intuitive as to what each woman's task should be, and everyone completed their task just a little too perfectly. Overall, after her previous book I was very disappointed with this one.
March 18, 2011
Erica Bauermeister, author of the luminescent "The School of Essential Ingredients" has done it again. Her new book is told in multiple voices, all women, all having agreed to a challenge that they do one thing that scares them within one year. The catch was that their friend Kate, as part of her celebration for being declared clean of all cancer after 18 months, got to pick what that thing was. Many of the challenges seem benign--"get rid of those books", "learn to make bread"--but when the story of WHY the those were challenges draws the reader into the complex lives of these women and the things their inner selves are searching for. This book will break your heart and stitch it back up again as you cry, laugh, rejoice and embrace these women. This is one amazing book. My challenge to you it to read it, though the only hard part of that is putting it down once you begin.
February 15, 2016
This novel has also been published with the title "Joy for Beginners".
I enjoyed it very much; read slowly towards the end because I didn't want it to be over - it was one of those books that make you think "this is why I love to read".
The theme of the book is women being empowered through acceptance and encouragement by their friends. It inspires you to be a better friend and to appreciate your friends more!
I enjoyed it very much; read slowly towards the end because I didn't want it to be over - it was one of those books that make you think "this is why I love to read".
The theme of the book is women being empowered through acceptance and encouragement by their friends. It inspires you to be a better friend and to appreciate your friends more!
January 29, 2014
I could't finish this book because I couldn't get past the constant over-descriptive, post-coitial stretching, romance novel style of writing. She actually uses the word "nestles" in almost every chapter, at least up to page 128, which is as far as I got. Blech.
July 12, 2020
I love this author! I read The Scent Keeper and loved Erica’s writing style so much that I wanted more! Joy for Beginners is such a wonderful story of women. They are moms, wives, friends, artists, professionals, and much more. In this book their lives intertwine together and they are stronger because of it!! So many life lessons and uplifting sentiments packed in this quick read, its of my favorite books!!
January 2, 2021
Life catches us unawares. One moment we are just breathing & suddenly the next moment, a sight, a smell or a memory or a longing creeps into our hearts, and we are fully aware of being alive.
This book is about those kinds of experiences of different women, in different stages of life, who had unconsciously had slipped into mere existence. They discover what it feels like to be alive again. They rediscover the simple but essential joy of being alive.
Erica Bauermeister's writing doesn't just make the readers visualize but as lso to feel each emotion as it courses through the story and the characters.
I loved it.
This book is about those kinds of experiences of different women, in different stages of life, who had unconsciously had slipped into mere existence. They discover what it feels like to be alive again. They rediscover the simple but essential joy of being alive.
Erica Bauermeister's writing doesn't just make the readers visualize but as lso to feel each emotion as it courses through the story and the characters.
I loved it.
January 19, 2022
Loved this compilation! It is a novel about a group of friends and the challenges ezch must meet. Each chapter focuses on one of the group and tells her story. It is encouraging and shy and painful and scary all in one. LOVED it.
December 14, 2022
Not for me. I don't really enjoy novels that don't tell a story, and this was definitely one of those books. I also found the book kind of ignorant and very limited in it's views. Just a bunch of middle aged, middle class, white women "living their lives to the fullest". Meh.
July 6, 2013
Terrific book. I bought this one because I had read Bauermeister's The School of Essential Ingredients and had enjoyed it. What Bauermister excels at is relationships. For me that is what this book is about whether it's the relationships between a husband and wife (good and bad), sisters, mother's and daughters or those that are in the midst of dealing with a possibly terminal illness there was one relationship you could connect with. The story is about Kate, a cancer survivor and her friends who are meeting for what Kate calls a get-together but what her friends call a victory dinner. They didn't want to have her going to a lot of work to hostess and used their role in Kate's victory to allow them to share the work of a dinner as they shared in her healing. During the dinner one of her friends see a pamphlet about white-water rafting and asks Kate about it. When they find out its something her daughter wants her to do they all challenge her to do it. She agrees but only if she can choose a challenge for each of them. As I started reading this book I wondered how the heck the author came up with the title, Joy for Beginners as none of the women seemed joyful, - drained, relived, a little aloof but not joyful. But as the author leads us through the women's stories I understood that somewhere along the line duty or some event or just life got in the way of that joie de vivre, the basic joy in living and that by completing the challenge Kate sets for them she helps them to see or find that joy in life. Kate's challenge is something her daughter asks of her - to go white-water rafting down the Grand Canyon and Kate is left wondering why when she has just come away from a near-death experience she would want to voluntarily risk her life? The joy she finds during the experience, that all the women find, is still with me as I write this review. This book didn't make me want to create a bucket list as some reviewers discussed (although I could understand where they came from) - what it did make me want to do is to find my joy and pull it into my daily life and my career.
October 10, 2013
This is a story of a friendship. Kate has had cancer and her group of friends have stuck around and supported her. At her celebratory dinner announcing her all clear, Kate drops a bombshell. Kate’s daughter wants her to go white water rafting. Kate agrees but only if each of her friends faces their own challenge which she sets for them.
While this is a gentle story that shows women’s friendships in a positive light and the great support they can be to each other, I struggled with the idea of anyone trying to tell anyone else what they should do for a challenge. Each of the chapters show one woman dealing with her particular challenge. Though I found the women well portrayed, I found it hard to relate to my experience of Venice to that in this book. Similarly I skipped through the chapter on getting a tattoo fairly quickly, whereas the one where Caroline has to get rid of her ex husband’s books hooked me in completely, even though I’ve never had an ex husband.
Sometimes I would have liked to have stayed longer with certain characters rather than be taken off to learn about the next character. As for the scene with the white water rafting, to me that is a completely incomprehensible idea and I can’t see why anyone would want to do it. But that just shows I’m not an adventurous person and I’m not convinced we always have to face up to our fears. So yes I liked it but didn’t love it as much as I expected I might, which perhaps says as much about me as it does this book. I'm sure a lot of other people will love it.
While this is a gentle story that shows women’s friendships in a positive light and the great support they can be to each other, I struggled with the idea of anyone trying to tell anyone else what they should do for a challenge. Each of the chapters show one woman dealing with her particular challenge. Though I found the women well portrayed, I found it hard to relate to my experience of Venice to that in this book. Similarly I skipped through the chapter on getting a tattoo fairly quickly, whereas the one where Caroline has to get rid of her ex husband’s books hooked me in completely, even though I’ve never had an ex husband.
Sometimes I would have liked to have stayed longer with certain characters rather than be taken off to learn about the next character. As for the scene with the white water rafting, to me that is a completely incomprehensible idea and I can’t see why anyone would want to do it. But that just shows I’m not an adventurous person and I’m not convinced we always have to face up to our fears. So yes I liked it but didn’t love it as much as I expected I might, which perhaps says as much about me as it does this book. I'm sure a lot of other people will love it.
March 2, 2011
Words cannot describe how much I loved this book. It was one of those books you never wanted to put down, but paced yourself because you never wanted it to be over.
The author had such a way with words that I felt like I could smell the fresh bread baking and feel the damp clay in my hands. The characters were brought on in a way that made most of them feel like you had known them all your life, and wish you actually had.
As Kate gives each of her friend challenges at her victory party, it made me wish I knew what my friends needed in their lives as clearly as she did. It makes me commit to be more attentive and more supportive of the people I am blessed to have in my own life.
This is definitely a book for women, but what a book! I can't remember when I have enjoyed a book as much as I did this one. Highly Recommend.
The author had such a way with words that I felt like I could smell the fresh bread baking and feel the damp clay in my hands. The characters were brought on in a way that made most of them feel like you had known them all your life, and wish you actually had.
As Kate gives each of her friend challenges at her victory party, it made me wish I knew what my friends needed in their lives as clearly as she did. It makes me commit to be more attentive and more supportive of the people I am blessed to have in my own life.
This is definitely a book for women, but what a book! I can't remember when I have enjoyed a book as much as I did this one. Highly Recommend.
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