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Entering Normal (Paperback)

by Anne Leclaire (Author) "NED IS SNORING, A THICK THUNDER THAT ROLLS UP from his chest ..." (more)
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
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Product Description

From Amazon.com

In Anne D. LeClaire's Entering Normal, two women are bound by the shared trials of motherhood: birth, hope, separation, and grief. Though Rose Nelson is an older woman still mourning her son, who died five years ago, and Opal Gates is a young single mother scrabbling to raise her 5-year-old son, the two women begin to cleave together.

Both move through their worlds in a dreamlike trance, only surfacing above their own self-absorption when confronted by the violence of life: infidelity, passion, jealousy, and death. Though emotionally clueless men bumble around Rose and Opal, they are never able to pierce through these women's barriers. Rose and Opal are too convinced of their own needs--Opal believes she needs no one, while Rose focuses only on her dead son. As the two begin to find each other, the reader awaits the moments of growth that allow them to see beyond themselves. As Rose entertains hope, so does the reader, "In the morning light, for one brief moment, she ... can almost believe that she has already experienced her lifetime's allotment of pain and grief." LeClaire's skill for describing human action succeeds here as well, as her characters fail and triumph with realistic probability. Alternately melodious and emotionally torturous, Almost Normal is a moving debut. --Nancy R.E. O'Brien --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.



From Publishers Weekly

An emotional wallop comparable to that produced by Sue Miller's The Good Mother or Jane Hamilton's A Map of the World awaits readers of LeClaire's latest (after Sideshow, etc.). In the small town of Normal, Mass., Rose Nelson has never ceased grieving over the accidental death of her teenage son, Todd. Years of unremitting grief and compulsive housecleaning have dismayed and frustrated her devoted husband, Ned, who tries to lose himself in work at the filling station he owns. Rose notices a peculiar itch around a mole that could indicate cancer, but tries to dismiss it because she doesn't trust drugs or doctors. At the same time, 20-year-old Opal Gates arrives in town with her young son, Zack, in tow. On the lam from her boyfriend, Billy, and her nagging mother in New Zion, N.C., stubborn, flighty Opal has landed in Normal because that's how far exactly three full tanks of gas have taken her chance and signs are central to her life. When she rents the house next door to the Nelsons, prudent Rose observes that "girls like Opal suck trouble to them" and resolves not to get involved. Though striving for independence and ambivalent about a new romance, Opal does seem fated to attract trouble. First, Zack breaks his arm when she sneaks out to the store while he's sleeping; then Billy, with Opal's parents' help, files a custody suit. The tentative friendship that slowly develops between Opal and Rose sustains both women as they face new obstacles and old demons, and the saga of these endearing (if at times frustrating) characters will hold readers' interest right up to the bittersweet ending. Agent, Deborah Schneider.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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NED IS SNORING, A THICK THUNDER THAT ROLLS UP from his chest. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

32 Reviews
5 star:
 (20)
4 star:
 (7)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:
 (1)
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Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (32 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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5.0 out of 5 stars Mom vs. Mom?, Jul 8 2004
By A. Hansen "AH Booklover" (Omaha, NE United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Entering Normal (Hardcover)
A wonderful story. I don't like to give away how stories are told but I have to say I wasn't expecting what happened in this book. I am amazed at how much I loved these characters. This is one of those books you don't want to end. This was my first book by Leclaire and it will not be my last. She is a wonderful heartfelt writer that makes me excited to find her books.
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5.0 out of 5 stars an excellent read., Mar 28 2003
By A Customer
i have recommended this book to all the avid readers i know. it is flawlessly plotted, beautifully written, and hard to put down. what more can you ask?
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5.0 out of 5 stars Memorable Book and Memorable Characters, Mar 8 2003
By Nancy R. Katz "NancyK18" (NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Entering Normal (Hardcover)
Entering Normal by Anne D. Leclaire is one of those books that finds you reading late into the night and asking for more. As I was about to finish this book, I was sorry I couldn't be reading it for the first time. I was so sorry to see the pages almost turning themselves for a book which turned out to be a very memorable read.

Opal is the 20 year old unmarried mother of a five year old son named Zack. Refusing to live with her critical and overbearing mother any longer, Rose rolls dice from a Monopoly game and decides to fill up her car according to the number which appears. Wherever her car runs out of gas is where she is plannign on staying. And soon enough she finds herself and Zack entering Normal, Mass. Moving next door to Rose and Ned, Opal settles into hometown life spending time with her son
and making dolls for a toy store in town. Rose on the other hand isn't doing much of anything. Shrouded in grief from a tragic death five years before, Rose's feels as though she has little in her life to look forward to and ignores Opal and Zack. But when Opal needs Rose's help, Rose manages to set aside her grief. How these two women help each other to be there when life turns on a dime for them is the focus of this book which I really enjoyed.

The book packs many an emotional punch and shows readers how friends can and do become family. Rose and Opal are two wonderful characters who I miss already and will never forget. Similar to themes explored both by Jacquelyn Mitchard and Alice Hoffman, Anne D. Leclaire is a new to me author but one whom I plan on reading in the future.

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 		 Most recent customer reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Entering Normal~
Opal is tired of dealing with the dead-beat father of her 5 year old son Zach, and her overbearing mother, so she packs up the car and heads out of town, not sure of her... Read more
Published on Sep 24 2002 by Sandra Mitchell

5.0 out of 5 stars the emotions in this book will leap off the pages!
This was a beautiful story from beginning to end. The characters depicted were vivid and believable. I finished this book is a few hours - I couldn't put it down! Read more
Published on Aug 27 2002

3.0 out of 5 stars It was *just* okay...
I did not enjoy the amount of swearing Opal's character did. For example --the line says i like sex --instead of ending it like that where we all get the point it goes on to say... Read more
Published on Jul 4 2002 by jenwilliams_

5.0 out of 5 stars Engrossing
I couldn't put this book down. I totally related to Opal, and as a mother, have felt like her on several occasions. Read more
Published on May 17 2002 by creolegee

4.0 out of 5 stars A Brave Mother
This story tells of a desperate twenty-year-old mother, Opal Gates, who has made more than her share of mistakes in her life. Read more
Published on April 15 2002

5.0 out of 5 stars There is nothing normal here, this book is spectacular!
Opal Gates is a single mom with a five year old son. She believes in signs. One day at a family picnic, she envisions herself and her life going on forever just like it is, and... Read more
Published on April 9 2002 by Betti Trapp

5.0 out of 5 stars sympathetic,caring treatment of possibilities after loss
Opal Gates drives to Normal, Massachusetts as a result of the roll of a die. A believer of signs, this twenty-year-old single mother searches for the means to become both... Read more
Published on Feb 22 2002 by Bruce J. Wasser

4.0 out of 5 stars Compelling, but flawed
I agree with the reviewers who have written about the poor character development in this novel. Rose I found interesting, and not unlike a friend who has lost a son. Read more
Published on Feb 18 2002

2.0 out of 5 stars A Struggle
Not only was it a struggle to finish this novel, I found the struggle of the characters overcoming their problems very depressing. Read more
Published on Feb 18 2002 by Terry Bennett

5.0 out of 5 stars Breaking down the walls of the heart
I was a little disappointed to see so many people did not like this book. I for one found it to be one of the best I have ever read. Read more
Published on Jan 25 2002 by Paula Hess

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