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Fixed on Fiction

Still Life with Bread Crumbs

Fixed on Fiction met on January 14th to discuss Still Life With Bread Crumbs by Anna Quindlen. Here is a summary of the novel courtesy of Goodreads-

Still Life with Bread Crumbs begins with an imagined gunshot and ends with a new tin roof. Between the two is a wry and knowing portrait of Rebecca Winter, a photographer whose work made her an unlikely heroine for many women. Her career is now descendent, her bank balance shaky, and she has fled the city for the middle of nowhere. There she discovers, in a tree stand with a roofer named Jim Bates, that what she sees through a camera lens is not all there is to life.
 
Brilliantly written, powerfully observed, 
Still Life with Bread Crumbs is a deeply moving and often very funny story of unexpected love, and a stunningly crafted journey into the life of a woman, her heart, her mind, her days, as she discovers that life is a story with many levels, a story that is longer and more exciting than she ever imagined. 

Interestingly, Still Life with Bread Crumbs did not receive any thumbs down votes among group members! We ended up with five thumbs up votes and five so-so votes. Here are some of the initial comments readers made while explaining their votes-

  • This wasn’t really my style… a little far-fetched.
  • Humorous. I like her writing style. I could envision the whole thing. I loved that she was a photographer- I felt like I could see those images she was describing. The mystery of the white crosses threw me- I knew it was foreshadowing but I couldn’t figure out what.
  • I had a hard time getting into it. I do like far-fetched in a romance story. In fact, I don’t think it was romance-y enough for me.
  • Quindlen had excellent descriptions and turns of phrases. The ending seemed unrealistically happy and the first world problems were difficult for me.
  • I enjoyed it and I could identify with Rebecca as a photographer.
  • I love Quindlen’s Non-Fiction, but not so much with her Fiction…although this one is better.
  • At about page 8 I figured out it was a romance novel without the sex. I didn’t care for Rebecca complaining about poverty. I really liked the love story. It was predictable. It was trite. But it was enjoyable.
  • Predictable but I do like romance novels. I liked the discussion of aging parents and marital troubles.

Other Thoughts-

  • Rebecca was 60, but this felt like a coming-of-age story.
  • Rebecca aged very gracefully. Being in good health is more attractive as you get older.
  • I really liked Quindlen’s humor. She understated a lot of things.
  • (On Rebecca’s move to the country) Meeting people is more difficult when you move. But social media does allow us to keep in touch now.
  • It’s hard to believe that Jim wouldn’t have gotten in touch with Rebecca. Also, why didn’t Rebecca mention the white crosses to him?
  • (On Rebecca and Jim) They are more different than not, you wonder if they would last in the long run. Not impossible.

And a few notes from a reader who wrote in her response to Bread Crumbs-

  • I didn't have any expectations one way or other except that it initially looked "bland." Silly me. I enjoyed it most as a character study of a woman with whom I could identify, her age, her career & relationship/marriage experiences and issues. I appreciated Rebecca Winter for not being whiny amidst being down, troubled, and worried about her finances and future. I keenly felt her loss of "magic touch" with her creativity and popularity as an artist, having to face that success and popularity aren't always as attributable to one's own efforts and talents as we might have once believed.  I enjoyed the book more for this than as a romance that ended happily ever after.
  • I enjoyed the writing, the keen insights and observations, the almost understated tone of quiet steadiness that ran throughout the narrative.
  • I liked the way she resolved minor plot points in the moment, saying what would happen in the future with this or that person or relationship, things that might otherwise go unexplained, things, that I the reader might forget but am grateful to be aware of.

This is just a small sampling of the comments made at our discussion. If you would like to share additional thoughts on Still Life with Bread Crumbs, please feel free to do so in the comments section below.

 

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