Rating: 
Summary: BEST BOOK I HAVE EVER READ!
Review: This was a wonderful book! I enjoyed her writing and getting into her head. I have never enjoyed a book quite so much! And I am so glad she had the courage to write it.
Rating:
Summary: courageous, compelling, engaging and completely accessible
Review: If you were to believe the reviews you would think that Joyce Maynard had, unprovoked, attacked one of the great men of our time. Untrue. She has written, in a completely unpretentious manner, a poignant, deep memoir in which a very bright woman looks back at her life and reveals truths that most of us would rather never have to face: Salinger hurt a young, vulnerable, adoring child (she was only 18 at the time of their love-affair) and then for reasons that make no human sense, abandoned her suddenly and without explanation. Reading through the entire book in one sitting (it is that fascinating) I was surprised to discover that, much like a detective novel, there is an absorbing sub-plot: she was not the only one. Salinger seems to have had a predilection for very young women. I don't believe anybody knew this before Maynard revealed it. And yet I haven't seen any reviewer mention this. Nor does Maynard flinch at giving us an in-depth portrait of a very disturbed family, her own. Very few people could ever have the courage to writer about their mother the way Maynard does about hers. When Linda Sexton does the same, she is praised; when Maynard does so, the reviewers mention it with a sneer. I thought the book was wonderful, compelling, honest, and right on target. I have recommended it to everyone I know. If you enjoyed "The Kiss" you owe it to yourself to read this: it is a thousand times more honest.
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Summary: Open Honest Look at Exploited Youth
Review: After listening to Ms. Maynard recount her life as a young impressionable and somewhat naive teen, her first encounter with J.D. Salinger, and later relationship with the demented and bizarre recluse, and the unfolding of her life after the great writer of Catcher in the Rye so coldly abandoned her without explanation or cause, I felt moved beyond words. I have seen and heard reviews mixed as to whether she should expose J.D. as she has done here (so clearly). Many say he deserves his privacy. I say, Joyce Maynard deserves her freedom to tell the story that affected every aspect of her life for nearly twenty-five years. This book which is read by Joyce Maynard, had me reflecting on my own life, first marriage and relationships. I say "Bravo" Joyce for finally facing the demons, and looking them straight in the eye! I want to hear from you again in twenty five years from now to hear how it all turns out for you!
Rating: 
Summary: Why didn't someone else write this book?
Review: There is some interesting information in here about J.D. Salinger. Unfortunately, there is also a lot of information about Joyce Maynard -- and who cares?! She should have let some Salinger biographer have the interesting stuff and kept the rest locked away for good.
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Summary: Don't tell anybody the secrets
Review: As a fellow boomer, I enjoyed and related to Ms Maynard's early 70s memoir, "Looking Back." We now learn that what she wrote on those pages was, while perhaps accurate, not exactly truthful. In "At Home in the World" she seemed determined to tell the truth. The lesson we learn is that truth has a steep price. It is particularly expensive for Mr. Salinger, who appears to have had the misfortune to have been, although seriously eccentric, mostly human. His biggest mistake was that of bad judgment. He trusted Ms Maynard. This is not to say that Ms Maynard's decision to write about her relationship with him, and the resulting consequences, was wrong. At the time of their relationship she was a journalist of sorts, so Mr. Salinger's decision to place trust in an eighteen-year-old budding writer/journalist, seems today to be foolish. Reading "At Home in the World" is a lot like passing a horrible traffic accident on the road. You know you shouldn't look, but you do. You know it's a huge invasion of the victims' privacy, but you do it anyway. This book is a story of coming to terms with our middle age lives. It is a book about what made us what we are . It is a book about choices, good and bad. Where we were once filled with promise, we now must come to terms with the lives we have led. Ms Maynard does this beautifully. Her book makes you think, makes you reflect. Often it is disturbing. It is a compelling story of her search to make sense out of the complicated and twisting road we call life. I am sure that Ms Maynard's intention in disclosing extremely intimate details of her relationship with her former lover was honest. I am sure it was therapeutic for Ms Maynard to write this updated memoir. I am equally sure it will help a lot of people. She is a wonderful writer. I am sure the result will be beneficial to many struggling to make sense out of their lives. The truth is, and this is what makes life difficult and complicated, that all these good intentions do not make what she did right The problem is that in the process of purging her own demons, she felt it necessary to violate the sanctity of her former lover's most sacred right, the right to be secure in the secrets he unveiled to her. In "Metal Firecracker", Lucinda Williams, in a song about a broken intimate relationship, pleads: "All I ask, Don't tell anybody the secrets, Don't tell anybody the secrets, I told you." Mr. Salinger probably did not specifically make this prayer to Ms Maynard, but anyone who has ever been in a serious relationship understands it is understood. Anyone who reads "At Home in the World" will know that it is not a book about Jerry Salinger. It is not, in a strict sense, a kiss and tell book. It is however, a shame. A shame on Ms Maynard for telling his secrets. And shame on us for wanting to know.
Rating:
Summary: Boring, Self-Serving, WHINING tripe
Review: I bought this book with high expectations, even though I've never quite understood the adoration piled on the author at every turn by her devoted following. I liked "To Die For", but thought that the New York Times Magazine article was pompous and overblown. I've liked some of what Joyce Maynard has written, and had little interest in some of what she's written. I have several problems with "At Home In The World", starting with the tedious style in which Ms. Maynard chose to tell her story. The entire book - covering 4 decades - is written in present tense. Ms. Maynard's prose has collapsed into a dull monotone. It is painful to read through this book, not because of the subject matter (which, for the most part, is rather banal) but because of the stiff and lifeless writing. As for the story, it boils down to this: Ms. Maynard seems to think that her fathers drinking and her mothers professional frustrations--both of which, she admits, were largely private problems, hidden from all the world, herself included--caused her to make a long series of choices in life which were, from all appearances, just plain stupid: She fell in love with a repulsive recluse based on fan-mail he sent her (the fact that he was JD Salinger is meaningless in this context, since Ms. Maynard claims she knew virtually nothing of Mr. Salinger when they met--hadn't even read "Catcher In The Rye"); She turned down writing work over and over and over again; She agreed to marry her first husband 3 hours into their first date; She apparantly didn't use birth control even after agreeing with her husband that they wouldn't have a second child; etc etc etc.. Ms. Maynard is consistantly "shocked" into "dispair" by a long series of relatives, friends, and lovers who all come to the conclusion that they want nothing to do with her, but she never considers why others get fed up with her, and never once believes that such a consistant track record might imply a behavior problem in herself. "At Home In The World" presents a picture of a woman who views every situation as traumatic, every human as oppressive, every reaction as depressive, every social interaction as demeaning. A ponderous story told in a tedious manner.
Rating:
Summary: THIS IS THE MOST COURAGEOUS WRITING I'VE READ IN YEARS!!
Review: Joyce Maynard's "At Home in the World" is above all a brave statement of how one woman evolved from a life of quietly seeking approval from those closest to her to discovering the beauty which was in her all the time. Her effort shows the painstaking process of looking deep within her heart to hear the voice of truth and honesty. I was deeply moved to be able to share what seemed to be a journey of survival and hope in reconciling untold secrets. Along the way, I could not help but reflect upon my own happiness in life -- and hidden truths which seem to constantly hang in the shadows of my own existence. The courage which Maynard shows is the kind which I hope all women, young and old, will come to recognize and experience for its unyielding honesty. Some may be critical of Maynard's insight into the reclusive J.D. Salinger, and yet what is revealed? In one sense, nothing. In another, the soul of a recluse -- what else is new? Salinger's writing remains reputable with or without Maynard's insight into Salinger the person, not the writer. Conversely, it is Maynard who comes out looking the champion in reclaiming her life, and it is the insight which she shares which make us want to scream out, "Free at last... free at last... thank God Almighty! We're free at last!"
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Summary: Talented and sheltered writer stumbles through life
Review: This book is a recollection of Joyce Maynard teen, young- and adult years.Reared by two academics in rural New Hampshire she is bright, talented and taught to write and value the arts and learns very little else. She achieves success at an unprecedented young age by penning an essay published in the NY Times Magazine. It's downhill from there. She jets from this early success to Yale, drops out to enter a weird relationship with J.D. Salinger (read: fetish for young girls) to marriage to a man who could be a double for her father. I felt nothing but sorrow that she had to be influenced by such a selfish lecher as J.D. Salinger. Everyone enters into unfortunate relationships,but no one deserves to be subject to the brainwashing and mind control that Joyce did. She buys houses that need renovations she can't afford. She has a family, expands her family and continues publishing. Though she has a weekly column in the Times about family and life,she knows little or nothing about money or managing finances. Rather than a country wife who writes for fun, Joyce is relying on her columns to put bread on the table and is the sole support for her family. I was shocked that in that time frame, the 80's someone so talented could be this backward. This book was riveting in its detail ( how did she remember all this anyway? She was trained to do it, remember.)
Rating:
Summary: Anyone who has struggled
Review: Anyone who has struggled with relationships with the opposite sex; with poor self-image; with career development; with breaking out of the destructive patterns of his/her family of origin, will find much of value in At Home in the World. In a memoir that is powerful and absorbing, Maynard describes complex, often perplexing human behavior -- her own and others' -- in a haunting, understated way. Her intention, which has apparently been widely misunderstood, is not to point a finger in blame. Rather, At Home in the World is a clear-eyed look at how wonderful -- and how flawed -- we all are. It illuminates the experiences of an examined life, fully lived. At Home in the World is an astonishingly honest book. As I read, I felt the following: Surprise (at what Maynard was brave enough to reveal). Recognition. Trust. Admiration. I read At Home in the World in a day and a half, and immediately loaned it to a friend.
Rating:
Summary: Still playing the precocious child
Review: Maynard got her start nearly 27 years ago with her famous "young person looks at the world" essay that was really no different from the embarassing sorts of essays about the world most of us write in our teens. I remember it well, being about the same age as Maynard and remembering how puzzled I was at the time that she had been singled out for attention. She wasn't an outstandingly good writer, but she was cute and vulnerable looking, which was perhaps all Time and Newsweek were looking for. Problem is she hasn't developed much as a writer since then. Her novels aren't particularly distinctive or well crafted- at best they're run of the mill pulp- and her autobiographical writing is a never ending series of whines about how people mistreated such a gifted author while she hobnobs with the rich and famous. The unspoken message is always that she just hasn't been properly appreciated. With this book Mayanard again portrays herself as the poor victim, this time blaming J.D. Salinger for her troubles, making him both the source of her suffering as well as a great marketing point for the book. There are better ways to spend your money.
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