2014 Book Review #27: Still Life with Bread Crumbs

I finished this book over the weekend and although I have read 3 other books by this author and loved them, this was one that I can't say I "loved".

But....it was well written.  She is an excellent writer.  I used to read her newspaper column years ago when she was a journalist for the NY times. I always really enjoyed her articles.

STORY SUMMARY

Rebecca Winter is a famous photographer whose career is currently at a standstill.  She is divorced and has a young adult son, Ben who continues to live in NYC.  Her parents are still living and well into their 80's;  her mom (Bebe Winter) is in a nursing home for people with memory loss. Her relationship with her mother has never been the "warm and fuzzy" kind.

Rebecca has recently fled Manhattan for the rural parts of upstate NY.  She is renting a small cabin in the woods and one day she meets a roofer in the woods, named Jim Bates.  She soon discovers that life is sometimes different and that it isn't always what it seems to be when she's looking through a camera lens.

She finds a series of white crosses and other mementos placed throughout the woods while on hikes. She begins to take photos of them and soon a gallery wants them for an exhibit.

BUT...why does Jim get upset over this?? 

Will Jim and Rebecca ever fix their friendship??

MY THOUGHTS

This story was good, but the way the plot was written seemed so disjointed to me. I understand that the author was using the voice of Rebecca as though she was thinking out loud.  But it tended to be all over the place and I didn't like that style.

On a literary level though, this book is excellently written. The use of language is exquisite as well as the descriptions throughout the book.

It is a quick moving story of love, and the life of a woman.  A woman who realizes that her life is like a story.....with many layers and levels...and can be more exciting than she ever could have imagined.  There are some very funny sections to this book and I loved those!  I definitely felt for Rebecca and could relate to her relationship (a strained one) with her mother, as mine was often strained with mine.  One does learn to move on and appreciate the things that are common among you as women.

In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 17 and older.

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this an 8.