The Rest of Our Lives

★★★★★★★★½☆ 8.5/10

240 pages

What’s it about?

Tom Layward and his wife, Amy, are getting ready to be empty nesters. Their daughter, Miri, is leaving New York to attend college in Pittsburgh, and their older son, Michael, is living in L.A. When the morning comes to take Miri to college, Amy and Miri have a disagreement, and Amy decides not to make the drive. Tom and Miri take off on their road trip alone. Once Tom has gotten Miri settled in her dorm room, he decides to get in the car and keep driving West.

What did it make me think about?

Life.

Should I read it?

This is a unique and different road trip story. Tom is a likable guy who seems to be at a juncture in his life. His wife Amy had an affair twelve years ago, and he decided to stay until the kids were grown, and then he would give himself permission to leave. But now that the time has come, even Tom doesn’t seem sure what he will do.

This was long-listed for the Booker Prize- which is not a guarantee I will like the book. In fact, the Booker Prize is sometimes a kiss of death for me. Reviews seem to be split on this selection. But I really enjoyed this story. If you are looking for a lot of plot, then this book is not for you. If you are content to sit back and let the story unfold, then there is much to appreciate about this novel. So many keen observations, “The Naftalis have very good taste, modest, and old-fashioned. They only show off in code, you have to know what you’re looking for.” This is a quiet story with a sense of humor. It snuck up on me.

A passage I marked

“ You fall in love with somebody when you’re twenty-six, and you see them in all kinds of different lights and according to their potential, but after years and years of marriage, and shared parenting, and all the other shared decisions, you have to make just to get through the days, you accumulate a lot of data about that person that after a while just seems….more or less accurate. If you continue to have illusions, that’s your fault. So if you stay married, it’s because you’ve accepted that this is what they’re like, and what your life with them is like, and you stop expecting them to do or give you things you know perfectly well they’re unlikely to do or give you. It’s like being a Knicks fan.”