Rating: 
Summary: supermarket pasta salad.
Review: A Year and a Day is the typical, if not tired renditon of a coming of age teenage daugter and her coming of age brother dealing with the inexplicable suicide of their mother. Said mother 'speaks' to the daughter, espousing superficial, mostly, irrevalent insight and Hallmark-isms that she seemingly was unable to produce when alive. The genuineness of the book would have been enhanced by deleting the deceased mothers verbage, which was trite and poorly developed, and extremely sacchrine. I read to the end only to find out why the mother was in such despair and I was sorely disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: a touching, tender story
Review: A Year and a Day provides a chronicle of one person's search for answers to the questions that accompany an untimely death. Although the death in the book is a suicide, the same chorus of "why, why, why?" accompanies any unexpected death. The questions in this book are asked by 15-year old Alice as she tries to restore her life after it has been turned topsy-turvy by her mother's suicide.Alice's world--1975 small-town Iowa--is lovingly and deftly created. Midwestern readers of a certain age can enjoy reliving their days of small-town rhythms, slumber parties, detasseling corn, and Jell-o salads. (Iowa still leads the nation in per capita Jell-o consumption.) Readers can also note that some things have changed-e.g., a pregnancy out of wedlock being such a social stigma that Paula Eland has to be sent out of town during her pregnancy. And, coming of age, realizing that things are not always as they seem, that there are no easy answers are experiences common to humankind. It is frustrating to never learn the reasons for Mamma's suicide, but Alice comes to realize that there are not only no easy answers, sometimes there are no answers at all. Throughout the book Alice asks the unanswerable questions. Readers who have experienced such a loss will relate to Alice and may even hope that she finds the answers she is seeking. Yet we know in our hearts that the asking is part of healing and the echoes of the unanswered questions will last a lifetime.
Rating: 
Summary: seems like a year to finish
Review: As an enthusiastic motivated reader who enjoys books from nearly ever genre (as well as those that defy such labels), I found this book sorely dissappointing. And I didn't even expect that much to begin with. When the dead Mama returns to give out advice and information to her struggling daughter, it becomes clear that not only does Mama have nothing of any import to say (though she says it for pages upon pages) but that she's really wanting us, the readers, to take her advice to heart. The trouble is, the belaboured advice never hits upon any subject matter more deep or profound than comments on makeup, boys, family squabbles, and the like. The small-town descriptive passages are sweet and lovely, if you like that sort of thing. But ultimately this redemption isn't enough to make this book compelling.
Rating:
Summary: Intensely Moving
Review: Death is inevitable. It will come whether people want it to or not. What happens, though, when it's your own mother and not only did she want it to happen but she parked her car on a set of railroad tracks to ensure it? Without a word. Without any clear indication that she was even contemplating such an action. She always seemed so happy...didn't she? Loved to cook, made plans for the summer, played games and dressed up. Why? Why becomes a larger-than-life word when fifteen-year-old Alice Martin tries to understand and cope with her mother's suicide. Her outlook on life, as well as that of her brother's, changes dramatically with that one event. Lacking maternal guidance, they are forced to make choices, explore life and love on their own. Run away or stay...give up or go on. A constant internal battle. Hearing her mother's voice does not help the situation any. Alice expects her mother to answer her questions, explain things, give her advice. But a mother who barely understood how to cope with things herself is in no position to provide just the right words for an emotionally overloaded daughter. So Alice deals in any way she can, which sometimes is by not dealing at all. Her life has become a quest for answers, for a truth that may not even exist and may not matter anyway. Denial, desolation, sparks of hope and heartfelt longing are experienced by the reader as much as by the protagonist. Leslie Pietrzyk's research into suicide and its aftereffects breeds credibility and ignites an inner contemplation even for those who have not been touched by it personally.
Rating:
Summary: Quick, compelling read
Review: I got up early this morning to finish reading this book. It was engrossing, and well-written. Leslie Pietrzyk's writing is smooth and enjoyable, without any annoying snags or plot deviations. As a reader, you have to accept the voice of the dead mother as possible, but because Mama interjects into Alice's thoughts so seamlessly, I didn't question it. Although Alice is dealing with the suicide of her mother and looking for answers, I think this book can be applicable to anyone who has lost someone important to them. It's a fun read, and I highly recommend it to any type of reader.
Rating:
Summary: wonderful read
Review: I really loved "A Year and A Day". It was a wonderfully moving novel that really took me back in time to a kinder world. Who wouldn't have wanted to grow up in a small mid-western town? I found the charecters to be interesting and well developed. I enjoyed the rich details of the life Alice and her family lead - both happy and sad. I was glad that Mama didn't tell her everything she wanted to know. I wished that the book would have taken a year and a day to read because I really enjoyed being part of Alice's life. I liked this book better than the Lovely Bones.
Rating:
Summary: wonderful read
Review: I really loved "A Year and A Day". It was a wonderfully moving novel that really took me back in time to a kinder world. Who wouldn't have wanted to grow up in a small mid-western town? I found the charecters to be interesting and well developed. I enjoyed the rich details of the life Alice and her family lead - both happy and sad. I was glad that Mama didn't tell her everything she wanted to know. I wished that the book would have taken a year and a day to read because I really enjoyed being part of Alice's life. I liked this book better than the Lovely Bones.
Rating:
Summary: a beautiful, poignant story
Review: I stayed up late to finish reading this beautiful, poignant novel about a girl whose mother's suicide begins a year of searching, self-discovery, and, eventually, forgiveness and love. The small-town setting was wonderfully depicted. I especially liked the character of the sensitive bad boy, Joe! I look forward to reading Ms. Pietrzyk's next novel.
Rating:
Summary: Compelling and wonderful!!
Review: I wish I could give this book more than five stars. I loved it!
I started reading it and couldn't put it down. After I finished it, I couldn't get the characters out of my mind. I know at a future date, this will be a book I will want to read again. I can't really say what about the book grabbed me so quick and so hard, but it won't let go! I do know that I laughed out loud and cried more than once. Give it a try, I don't think you will be sorry.
Rating: 
Summary: "Everyone Lives Their Real Life in Secret"
Review: I'm surprised by the reviewer who complains that Alice's Mama gives her advice about makeup, boys, etc. Isn't the point that Alice, on the verge of womanhood, sorely misses her mother? And in fact I loved the scene where Mama instructs Alice in making up her face, and the detail of the lipstick, worn thin at the tip by Mama's lips. What Alice learns from Mama isn't trivial at all. It all adds up to something big, something Alice learns from Mama and by observing, through the lens of her grief, the town she has known all her life: "Everyone lives their real life in secret. You'll see." The novel has a slow start in the aftermath of Mama's death, with small-town Iowa neighbors from central casting bringing various colors of Jell-O molds and uttering platitudes to the stunned family. And, as one of the editorial reviewers pointed out, there's no shortage of books about eccentric mothers and abandoned daughters (there's an eccentric aunt here, too). But I stuck with it and the characters grew on me tremendously, particularly Paula Elam and Joe Fry--two of the sort you think you know, then realize you don't know what they're like at all. I liked this enough that I'm looking forward to going back and reading Pietrzyk's first novel.
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