The Rest of Us: A Novel
by:
Jessica Lott (author)
A gorgeous literary debut about second chances, The Rest of Us is an indelible love story that explores the legacy of an affair between a young student and her older professor. As a college student, Terry fell madly and destructively in love with Rhinehart, her famous poetry professor, tumbling...
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A gorgeous literary debut about second chances, The Rest of Us is an indelible love story that explores the legacy of an affair between a young student and her older professor. As a college student, Terry fell madly and destructively in love with Rhinehart, her famous poetry professor, tumbling into a relationship from which she never fully recovered. Now, fifteen years later, she’s single, still living in the same walk-up she moved into after college, and languishing as a photographer’s assistant, having long abandoned her own art. But when she stumbles upon Rhinehart’s obituary online, she finds herself taking stock of the ways her life has not lived up to her youthful expectations and grows disproportionately distraught at the thought that she’ll never see him again. She is shocked when a few weeks later she bumps into Rhinehart himself: very much alive, married, and Christmas shopping at Bloomingdale’s. What ensues is an intense and beautiful friendship, an unexpected second act that pushes Terry to finally reckon with the consequences of their past and the depth of her own aspirations—and to begin to come back alive as an artist and a woman. Set in New York’s vibrant art world, The Rest of Us is a captivating read and is as much a love letter to the city and the struggles of its artists as it is a sharp and stirring novel of the heart.
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Format: hardcover
ISBN:
9781451645873 (1451645872)
ASIN: 1451645872
Publish date: 2013-07-02
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Pages no: 304
Edition language: English
3.5 Stars I liked it. I got pulled in even though I wasn't a biggest fan of the main characters. Terry reminded me of a friend that I had who always compared current boyfriends/relationships to a previous relationship. She had also stalled with her career sort of stuck not really knowing what direct...
Rhinehart was Terry’s big love, introducing her to womanhood, encouraging her inspiration but, ultimately, breaking her heart. When she reads his obituary, she’s forced to accept that her feelings remain unresolved. But the obituary was a silly mistake and a brief meeting in a department store bring...
This story was a very emotional one and I went through a range of emotions, joy, frustration, confusion and sadness. The setting of the story and the personalities of the characters were well thought out, I felt this novel had a classic quality. It questions choices we make in our lives, both when...
Originally published on my blog at therelentlessreader.blogspot.comThe Rest of Us is described as a novel about second chances. While that is certainly true, I found that it's even more about relationships. The people in our lives have an impact on us that we can hardly begin to imagine.Terry and Rh...