Rules for Visiting
Ratings11
Average rating3.8
15
Ratings11
Average rating3.8
NATIONAL BESTSELLER! NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY: O Magazine * Good Housekeeping * Real Simple * Vulture * Chicago Tribune NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE SUMMER BY: “The Today Show” * “Good Morning America” * Wall Street Journal * San Francisco Chronicle * Southern Living An INDIE NEXT LIST Pick Shortlisted for the 2020 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize Long-listed for the 2020 Tournament of Books "Fun, hilarious, and extremely touching."—NPR A beautifully observed and deeply funny novel of May Attaway, a university gardener who sets out on an odyssey to reconnect with four old friends over the course of a year. At forty, May Attaway is more at home with plants than people. Over the years, she's turned inward, finding pleasure in language, her work as a gardener, and keeping her neighbors at arm's length while keenly observing them. But when she is unexpectedly granted some leave from her job, May is inspired to reconnect with four once close friends. She knows they will never have a proper reunion, so she goes, one-by-one, to each of them. A student of the classics, May considers her journey a female Odyssey. What might the world have had if, instead of waiting, Penelope had set out on an adventure of her own? RULES FOR VISITING is a woman's exploration of friendship in the digital age. Deeply alert to the nobility and the ridiculousness of ordinary people, May savors the pleasures along the way—afternoon ice cream with a long-lost friend, surprise postcards from an unexpected crush, and a moving encounter with ancient beauty. Though she gets a taste of viral online fame, May chooses to bypass her friends' perfectly cultivated online lives to instead meet them in their messy analog ones. Ultimately, May learns that a best friend is someone who knows your story—and she inspires us all to master the art of visiting.
Reviews with the most likes.
really enjoyed reading this for many many reasons.
1. Reading is an excursion into the world that a character inhibits and it's
a really wonderful wonderful experience to go into the world of a character as fully
realized as May Attway is. She captivated my imagination from the first chapter itself.
2. as a tree-hugging nature enthusiast, I was delighted to google the various trees she talks about throughout the story.
3. the beautifully subtle, quiet, meditative and introspective prose of this novel.
4. The writing is also so astutely observational that I highlighted many passages in this book. perhaps the biggest sign of a great book (to me).
5. her father's memorial tree research Chapters were always a highlight. They had my heart.
This whole book was a joy to read.
I don't even remember how I came across this book but really really glad I did.
Mae is a gardener. She's forty and lives with her elderly father. In her life, she has had four strong friendships. She's come to the realization that she has neglected friendships in her life. An opportunity appears for Mae to take an extended time off work, and she decides to use that time to visit her four old friends.
This book is an extended reflection on things that are important to us in life, and each page is sprinkled with wise thoughts and curated facts that contribute to a life well-lived.
And here you have a pleasant surprise. Even if May has an old soul (she acts a lot older than her 40 years of age and definitely her thoughts on relationships and technology follow suit), she has lots of very valid points and in these strange pandemic times, I confess I thought about some of it often: the shallowness of social network and the depths of real friendship, the camaraderie and gentleness that one so easily overlooks, the real story behind people. it was sweet like a hot cocoa in a windy day.
