It was interesting to think back to the uncertain times leading up to and after the 2016 election, particularly from the POV of a marginalized group.

Cate can't understand how she finds herself 40 something, divorced, and unlucky in both love and career when everyone else seems to have the whole "adulting" thing down. Just as her career takes a turn for the better, she walks in on her best friend being brutally attacked, and then must deal with the fallout.

The concept of the book is interesting enough - how far we'll go for those we love, and I liked the sort of coming of age in midlife plot. Other than that, the plot seems wandering at times. Some threads are set forth and then never tied up.

I had trouble connecting with this one, but the writing was beautiful and I'd read more by this author.

To say that Right After the Weather is a book that’s sort of out of my wheelhouse is a bit of an understatement. Narrated by Cate, a 40-something lesbian, living and working in Chicago on the eve of Donald Trump’s presidency, Right After the Weather is, on the surface, something I wouldn’t normally be interested in. Honestly, I decided to read it because the book’s blurb mentioned a parallel universe. (spoiler alert-there’s no parallel universe). Instead of some quirky science fiction, I found a beautifully written story of a woman trying to find her place and happiness in a world that’s gone a bit topsy turvy.

Reading Right After the Weather is like sitting and watching a river slowly flow by. Sometimes it’s quiet and smooth with just a peaceful gurgle; other times it hits a rock and the sound of the splash takes you by surprise. There doesn’t seem to be much happening, but you don’t want to step away from the book because the beauty of it draws you in. This was my experience with Right After the Weather.

Carol Anshaw’s writing is truly beautiful. It’s also ironic and hilarious. The book’s heroine, Cate, is approaching middle age but still acts and thinks like someone much younger. She’s living with her ex-husband (who bought her apartment for her), she still hasn’t made much of a splash as a set designer (when the book opens she’s working on a play that even she admits is horrible), she’s involved with Maureen, someone Cate chooses because it seemed like the responsible thing to do after breaking up with the love of her life, Dana (because Dana is for all intents and purposes married to someone else), and she’s still taking money from her parents to make ends meet. Cate’s a mess and I absolutely loved her.

I loved every minute with Cate, from her walks on the beach with her dog, Sailor, to conversations in the car with her best friend Neale. With her dry sense of humor, Cate makes observations that had me laughing out loud. The people that surround Cate are almost cartoonish in their design. Graham, her ex has become paranoid in a true tin hat fashion. He holes up in her guest bedroom Skyping with strangers that encourage this behavior. When Trump is elected, this sends Graham into a tailspin. Then there’s Cate’s mother who is openly disappointed in Cate’s lesbianism and career choice (she literally says this to Cate at Thanksgiving). Maureen, Cate’s current lover, keeps bottles of Xanax and other fashionable drugs on hand “just in case” while Cate’s former lover Dana is pulling her into her restaurant’s freezer for some sexy times. They’re all crazy and out there and wonderfully so.

As Cate is juggling all of this craziness, her life changes. She’s offered the set design job on an off-Broadway show and she makes a life-altering decision to save a friend, all while America is going through a great upheaval. I loved how Anshaw shows this woman, who is queer and involved in the arts and a symbol of a woman we see walking in Women’s Marches across the country, is honest enough to say “hey, these things are super important, but so is my life and I’ve got to figure it out”.

In many ways, Right After the Weather is a tribute to all of us that feel guilty about focusing on ourselves instead of bigger things. Through Cate, Anshaw is giving readers the okay to be inwardly focused and maybe a bit selfish. This makes Cate-who seems different than this reader-incredibly relatable and reminds me that maybe we aren’t that different after all.

4 stars for Right After the Weather.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for honest feedback.

I liked Right After Weather. The prose, the writing style, the spoken language were all a little different than I am used to reading, but in a unique and positive way. It flowed easily and effortlessly to me, and because I was so curious and eager to continue reading to see what would unfold, I found myself happily submerged. To me, the characters and relationships were the best part of the book. I was intrigued and curious, and loved the intricacies and raw emotion.

A set designer with a master’s degree, but an unsteady income, Cate, at forty-two, gets by—barely—only because her ex-husband bought her a condo and her parents still give her money. Still, she is working on Plan C which involves a new relationship with Maureen and the possibility of working with a renowned playwright and director Off-Broadway even as her old relationships simmer on the surface. Her ex-husband, Graham, separated from his third wife, has taken residence in her guest room and spends his days online discussing conspiracy theories, while she can’t shed feelings for Dana who is firmly committed to her girlfriend despite their passionate affair.

Cate’s singular constant is Neale, her best friend since childhood. When Cate arrives at Neale’s house to pick her up for a yoga class and sees her being brutally attacked, Cate responds with equal savagery. That moment of violence ripples through all Cate’s relationships, challenging her very assumptions about herself and her closest confidants.

Right after the Weather is highly character driven and low on plot, but the writing is spectacular, and the themes are thought-provoking. Set in the fall of 2016 and spring of 2017, the characters grapple with Trump’s victory and the associated issues it raised.

That Cate is in theater as a set designer shows an interesting profession but more than that, the act of designing a set can be seen to parallel that of presenting a particularly curated face, one that Cate has to defend when her story becomes public. Faced with such a clear delineation between before and after, Cate, Neale, and the other characters in their orbit must renegotiate not only what they mean to each other, but their very identities.

For fans of Ottessa Moshfegh, Binnie Kirshenbaum, and Jen Beagin.

Thanks to Atria and Netgalley for the ARC of this upcoming novel. I have to say though that it did nothing for me. I found it mildly interesting, well-written enough, but neither the characters or the storyline made me want to keep reading. I’m sure it has its audience, but not me.

At it's core, Right After the Weather is a glimpse into the life of Cate, a 40-something lesbian, working as a Chicago set designer. Set against the backdrop of an emotionally charged 2016 presidential election, and a newly elected President Trump, the book is divided into two sections...before and after the incident...the incident, of course, being the assault of Cate's best friend, Neale.

Cate, whose character was very well-developed, was quite hard to get behind from a reader's standpoint. She's a middle-aged woman still taking money from her parents, in a relationship with a very questionable woman, having an affair with somebody who is incredibly unavailable, and allowing her ultra-paranoid ex-husband to live in her spare bedroom. Her choices are, frankly, those of someone much younger and less mature. Beyond that, we also get many passages of Cate's highly judgmental thoughts regarding people's home decor...thoughts which make her even less likable. The rest of the characters, from her bestie, Neale; to her current fling, Maureen; to her ex-husband, Graham...they seem like after-thoughts. None are written with any depth and gradually seem to just disappear from the novel, taking their back stories with them, and leaving many unanswered questions.

The writing is beautiful. Truly, some of the best I'm read...but even the engaging verbage can't hide the lacking plot line. One would assume the conflict (the assault and it's aftermath) would dictate the plot and theme. But no. Everybody just goes on their merry ways...with next to no growth or change forthcoming.

For those concerned about yet another novel where the author's politics are shoved down our throats...I wouldn't say that's an issue here. Yes, the characters are liberal and understandably upset about Trump's presidency...but it felt organic here. I didn't necessarily feel these were the author's thoughts, but the actual character's. Whatever the reason, I didn't find it offensive...and I'm no fan of Trump. (Not that I was a fan of Hillary either.)

The conclusion? Well, there isn't one. Cate's story is left indeterminable, but with perhaps a tiny thread of hope.

So, my final thoughts:
If what you're looking for is a brilliantly written, super slow-burning, character study...this would be an excellent choice for you. However, if what you fancy is something with a bit more heft and grit, I dare say this book might bore you silly.

2.5 stars rounded up, thanks to the amazing writing.

**Many thanks to the publisher for my advanced copy.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a many layered story of Cate, a 40 something lesbian who has a job designing sets for plays, and her relationships with quite a few people in her life.

This book was just okay for me. Despite the many characters and possibilities for storylines, there really wasn’t much going on. When there is a major thing that happens about halfway through the book it is barely described. It just seems like there could have been more stories told.

I found the parts about her job incredibly boring and skimmed those towards the end. Overall not quite my thing.

Carol Anshaw has written a good deal of fiction, but this is the first time I have read her work. Right After the Weather turned up on Net Galley when I ran a search for humor; thanks go to Net Galley and Atria Books for the review copy. This book will be available to the public October 1, 2019.

Cate is a set designer working in Chicago. She’s divorced and looking for the right woman to settle down with. She’s in her early forties, and the clock keeps ticking; Dana is the one she wants, but she wants to be more than Dana’s woman-on-the-side, and Dana isn’t leaving her girlfriend for Cate. Cate meets Maureen who is actually fairly awful, but Maureen makes her life easier and wants her desperately, and so she is trying to persuade herself that Maureen is the woman she wants. Meanwhile her ex-husband, a nice guy that she dumped when she came out, is camped out in her apartment. All of these things make it hard for Cate to move forward. Her role model is her best friend Neale, a single mother that lives nearby, but all hell is about to break lose at Neale’s place.

Alternately with Cate’s narrative, we have infrequent but unsettling blurbs from a different point of view. Nathan and Irene are addicts, “casual sociopaths.” Every now and then there’s a page or two-- distinguished by a different font—that articulates their priorities and plans, such as they are. Anshaw is clever as hell, planting these tiny landmines that let us know that at some point, Cate and our criminals’ lives will intersect; at the same time, when it comes to people like this, less is more, and so they pop into the story just long enough to leave me feeling a little jarred, and then it’s such a relief to return to Cate’s story that I immediately forget about these other guys. The author plays fairly in letting us know that something is coming, but it takes awhile before I start anticipating what their role in this story will be. It’s so much easier to not think about them.

There’s some very uncomfortable material about Maureen about ten percent of the way into the story, and if I hadn’t had a review copy I might have stopped reading. However, that business gets put into context right away, and the rest of the story, though edgy, isn’t in that same out-of-bounds zone. Instead, Anshaw makes me laugh out loud several times with her dry humor and the perception that goes with it; in particular the scene with Cate’s mother is uproariously funny. I am ordinarily not pleased by bad-mother humor because it’s becoming a cliché, but when Anshaw goes there, she outclasses others and there’s no putting this book down.

I would read this author again in a heartbeat.

A fascinating fictional portrait of two different worlds on a collision course...and what happens after the impact. Rich and thoughtfully conceived characterizations shine in an intelligent, nuanced novel.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Simon & Schuster through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This is a story about a gay woman, Cate, and her past, current and resurrected relationships. The relationships include lovers from both genders, husband, parents, and siblings. Cate is a struggling set designer. She gets a big job with a new play about Woolf and Vito, which I found interesting learn about Woolf and Vito. The plot initially bounces between Cate’s relationships and her career struggles until a friend Is assaulted and Cate witnesses it. Thereafter, the story focuses on the impact of the assault on all parties.

The book addresses relationships, jealousy, therapy, addictions, violence, and politics all with some humor. There is a strong current of politics leaning the Democratic way and anti-Trump. The one constant throughout the book is the relationship with Sailor, Cate’s ex-husband’s dog. Sailor is Cate’s constant to the end.

The book was steady and acceptable. I had high expectations based on the letter at the beginning of the book that Carol Anshaw is an “in-house favorite.” But it didn’t really touch me much although I did find some humor.

I don't understand why this book is advertised as similar to Ask Again, Yes. It's not similar at all in terms of storyline or writing style. Unfortunately, I DNF'd 75 pages into it. The story wasn't going anywhere and I just couldn't get into it. Disappointed.

Right After the Weather is about a woman finding her place - in her family, in her former marriage, in her friendships.

These kinds of books are always interesting to me. It's very slice of life. While there is plot and some excitement, ultimately it's about one person and the day to day. Cate is interesting - I see part of myself in her.

This is an enjoyable read but it's not thing to change my life.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review.

“All the time people send her videos of rescued dogs and how happy they are now. Like a dog so frightened by his pat that he stands facing a yellow wall, his nose an inch away. He just stands there. Then he’s shown in his new happy home playing with another dog. “Isn’t this heartwarming?” the sender will say. But all Cate can see is the dog staring at the yellow wall”.

This quote perfectly captures the complexity and raw human emotion that fills this book. Cate is navigating shallow and deep relationships while trying to find her place in the world, and seriously makes you wonder if the author came into your own head to grab those feelings. Absolutely fantastic character driven novel.

A month ago, I got an email saying "If you liked Ask Again, Yes, by Mary Beth Keane then you should try Carol Anshaw's Right After the Weather." Well, I loved Ask Again, Yes, so I jumped at the chance to review this novel, hoping to find a compelling story of love and forgiveness.

Instead, I got a flat one-dimensional tale of a forty-something divorced theater set designer. She's regretting her choices in life and looking to claw her way up to more stability. Maybe if I was a forty-something divorcee I could connect better and excuse the poor writing, but I'm not. I really could not get past the first few chapters, so maybe the book finds it's stride later, but I do not have the patience to wait around hoping for a miracle.

I could not get interested in this book. The story seemed disjointed and disconnected. The characters were not interesting, nor seemed interested in each other. Did not finish the book.

Though this is a slower book, I found myself enjoying the way the story unfolded. The writing is very good and engaging and the characters feel real, which really impacts how I connect to a book. Recommended!

Cate's life is a mess. She is barely getting by as a set designer. Her ex-husband has moved into her spare bedroom and is increasingly paranoid about government surveillance. She has a girlfriend, yet can't stop seeing someone else. And things are about to get worse... And the recent political climate!
Unfortunately, nothing seems to improve for Cate. The ending of this book echoes the feelings of many people in the world today - that things are hopeless, and there isn't any sign of anything turning around soon.

When I got an email requesting me to read this book I thought it sounded really interesting. Ultimately I just don't think I'm the right target audience for it. The writing itself was really good and it wasn't something that I just didn't enjoy reading. I just didn't really like the story. It dragged in places and it was half way through the book before it even got to the description mentioned in the email. None of the characters were likeable, including the main character Cate (she did kind of grow on me and it was easier to relate to her than anyone else). The struggles all characters were dealing with are believable and Anshaw was able to accurately portray the upheaval they all would have been dealing with as a result of the 2016 election. The main thing I hated about the book was that it just ended. My biggest pet peeve in standalone novels is no resolution at the end and this book did just that. Overall the story was ok and if the writing hadn't been so excellent I would've rated it 2 stars. For me the saving grace of the book was how well it was written.

Thank you to NetGalley, Atria Books and Carol Anshaw for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an onest review.

The description of the book sounded very interesting that's why I wanted to review it. Once I started reading I really tried to like this book but I found it hard to relate to the characters and never got captivated by the story. The story line seemed to go sideways and nothing appeared to be happening, I struggled through the book trying to find the connection with the characters but as the plot developed very slowly, I sadly never found it I am sure that other people may enjoy this book but it's just not for me. I found the pace too slow.

After reading 26% of the book, I am calling it quits. I still don't know where this story is going, but it is not taking me along for the ride. Cate seems to be the main character. She teaches and works in the set design field of plays, So far they seem to be gay plays which suits her as she is having a relationship, or at least the start of it, with Maureen, while trying to get past Dana, who appears to be stalking her and trying to get back into Cate's life.
Cate's ex hubby Graham has moved in with her after his third marriage failed.
Other than that, I have no idea where this is going, but I'm done.
thank you NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.