The Way Life Should Be

This week I read The Way Life Should Be. At just under 300 pages and pretty fluffy story-wise, this wasn’t a hard book to finish in less than five days. However, it’s just the book I needed after reading Dreams From My Father. It was a simple fictional story about a likable character and it didn’t take too much thinking on my part.

In just the matter of a few chapters, Angela finds herself without a job and with a strong online flirtation, and all of sudden this New York City woman is headed to Maine. What I liked about this book, whether realistic or not, is the adventure and risk Angela takes. She may go to Maine for the wrong reasons, but she sticks around for the right ones. I liked her new friends – even if some were barely fleshed out – and I loved the sound of Maine. It really made me want to find this little island of hers (in the summertime) and take a walk on the beach. She took her life down a notch stress-wise, and when real life feels out-of-control with economic crises, layoffs, etc., you can’t help but envy her and wish for a little corner of peaceful Maine for yourself. Especially when it seems the residents of that little town don’t get bothered by much. They just live.

Obviously, life in small town is only feasible for some, and I would probably get bored quite quickly. But who knows? Maybe a little trip to New England is worth a thought.

Angela also cooks a lot in this book, and while some of the cooking scenes can drag a bit with the recipes written out long form, I do love the thought of the home-cooking and learning about her relationship with her little Italian grandmother who taught Angela her way around a kitchen.