Very, very interesting! Ordinary Hazards.is a book that takes place in one evening. Each chapter is a new hour. Reading this book reminded me of sitting down with a friend you haven’t seen in a long time. You and your friend have so much to say you jump from one thought to the next quickly so you don’t forget to tell them anything. This book is like that. I liked it!

This novel was just not for me. I made it about 30% through and had to put it down. For my taste it was too meandering with too many characters that all were overly quirky or unnecessarily dramatic. Reminded me of Anxious People which was one of my least favorite reads of last year, I forced myself to finish that and regretted it and decided not to press forward with this one.

I was amazed that this book was basically just one night. I was a bit hesitant to expect it to keep my attention due to that but it was a decent book. I thought that'd I'd be able to relate to the main character but I found it difficult to like her. I also found it difficult to sympathize with her. With that being said it wasn't hard for me to finish. I did want to keep reading to see where the story line was going and how it would end.

Mediocre-ville
This book and I weren’t destined for a great relationship. I struggled to get through a third of it, bored to tears, and then I set it aside for a bit. That usually doesn’t happen with me. I either DNF it, or I finish it right then and there. I will say that when I began reading it the first time, I had stuff going on that made it hard to concentrate. The book just didn’t do its job of distracting me. I read another book, then returned to this one, thinking I’d like it better once I could concentrate again. It says something that I had to reread the entire first third of the book! Turns out that I barely remembered any of it.

This isn’t a bad book, just mediocre. The language is fine, and there’s introspection, which I thrive on. Although the main character, Emma, looks back at scenes in her life, the whole story takes place in a bar, called The Final Final—the bar that people go to when all the other bars close. Emma is sad, lonely, and dropped out. She drinks while she reflects on her marriage, which is no more. Her drinking isn’t what the book is about (it’s not over the top), and I appreciate that we didn’t have to listen to a slushy mouth. She alludes to a tragedy, and I was curious to find out what happened. There was a bar fight that woke me up, but for most of the book I was bored. I did like the ending, and I did like the dog.

Complaint Board:

-Wait a minute. Who is that guy? What about that other guy? The book starts out with too many characters, and they aren’t fleshed out. It doesn’t work to give a name and a little history, if you aren’t going to have the people interacting with Emma and you don’t return to them for a long time. Even on reread it was hard to keep track of them.

-And I wasn’t crazy about the people in the bar anyway. Usually I go for the down-and-outers, but this time, not so much. They just weren’t interesting.

-There’s too much about business women and power. There’s an obnoxious power lunch, for example. Even though power isn’t the main gist of the book, it still felt in my face. It wouldn’t have been bad if the story criticized power, but instead, it made power seem like a virtue. And way too much airtime was given to a (random) woman who rose to the top, and too much about Emma’s father being successful, too.

-There’s too much talk about economics. BOR-ing! I don’t like economics anyway, so this made it doubly bad. We’re going along with some action in the bar, and suddenly, we’re pulled out and dropped into an Economics 101 class. A short lecture, yes, but annoying and tired. The story doesn’t know what it wants to be when it grows up.

-The kid is wrong. No kid would say this: “He eyeballed my tangles.” I roll my eyeballs in protest.

-To my surprise, I felt all judgy about Emma choosing work over family.

-I guess when it comes down to it, I just didn’t like Emma. It’s hard to be all rah rah about a book if you don’t like the main character.

-Emma pulled a stunt in the bar that was just plain nasty, which made her more unlikeable. She was portrayed as a nice guy, so what she did didn’t fit with her personality. I can’t decide whether to be annoyed with her or with the author for making her do it, lol.

So, hm….quite a lot of complaints. Still, I would say this book is a solid 3—the writing is decent and the story is mildly interesting. I did want to see how Emma’s story ended. The book just didn’t grab me—and I won’t remember it.

If you liked When All Is Said, which is also set entirely in a bar, you’ll probably like this one. I gave that book just 3 stars, too. Both that book and this one are pretty popular, so I urge you to read other reviews. I’m once again the outlier.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy.

Thank you to Netgalley and Anna Bruno for my copy of Ordinary Hazards for an honest review. This debut novel, is amazing. The subject matter is tragic but the way Bruno sets up the story is so good. We meet Emma, who is sitting on a bar stool at the Final Final dive bar in NY. As the night progresses we learn about Emma, her husband and her child. We also learn about her friends, her career and the local towns people. Each chapter is an hour in the night and each chapter is packed with a punch. I loved how Bruno was able to add so much subject matter without it being confusing or too much! I was moved by Emma’s story and I loved how this story was told. It was a 4 1/2 star book for me and I have recommended it to everyone. I have posted this on my Instagram page. I have also shared my review on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. I am so glad I was able to read this story. What a great debut novel. I can’t wait to see the next book by Anna Bruno.

Ordinary Hazards by Anna Bruno is a fascinating debut novel about a demise of a relationship. It's a slow burn of a novel, and it's totally character driven, so it may not be everyone's preference, but I definitely enjoyed it.

The Final Final is the kind of bar you either have you wish you had in your hometown. It's a place where the bartender knows your order, and someone will know your name when you go inside, if not everyone. When Emma goes into the bar, she is confronted with all of the memories of a relationship she had and lost. Readers get to go on that journey with her.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.

What a powerful examination of a life. Emma spends the night at the townie dive bar as one of the regulars comparing her life now to her life "before."

Emma spends a long evening at the local bar observing the locals, who she has known and spent time with for years. She’s comparing herself and her life to theirs, and recognizing both how they are the same, and how they are different. Her insights are interspersed with her previous experiences with some of the locals and others who have brought her to this point. The reader isn’t sure what the line is between "before" and "after" until much further along in the evening, and the story.

There’s something nostalgic about the beginning of the book. The image of a small-town bar and the sense of community there can apply as something that is familiar to many, or sounds quaint and cozy even if it hasn’t been experienced personally. Emma’s flashbacks to her own evolution to adulthood, and the quirks of the regulars who she may or may not consider friends are engaging. As events progress, it is revealed that the story is more unique to Emma and the lives of those hanging out at the bar.

Overall, I’d give this book 4 out of 5 stars. The writing was compelling and relatable. The characters were interesting. I’d recommend this book to those who enjoy contemporary fiction and complex emotional stories.

Anna Bruno delivered a great debut novel. I love how the story is told over the course of one night in a bar. Although there were not major events happening in the novel, it was a slow burn that kept my attention the entire time.

Ordinary Hazards is a great meditation on the things that can go wrong in life, and why things happen. Emma is an author/business professor/fund manager who is an expert in others’ lives and how the stories of what happen to them can affect the trajectories and lead to investment opportunities. Doesn’t seem plausible so maybe she’s riding her dad’s huge investment but she’s instrumental enough that her partner puts up with the fact that she’s wallowing in a small town NY bar because she missed her own story and her marriage fell apart. What’s starts out as a typical night at the bar and tour of the sad sack regulars intersperses with the flashbacks of how she got there, and the parallel rising action brings both past and present to dramatic conclusions. Like in life, preparing for extremes like covering outlets still leaves openings for more mundane threats. Great characters and vivid dialogue as relationships morph through alcohol and tests.

I had high hopes for Ordinary Hazards and thought it would be my next favorite lit fiction but this was a bit of a miss. It follows our main character Emma who reflects on her life in a New York bar and interactions that take place that night. It sounds boring and yes, you are right. It was boring. It’s a short book but felt so long because each chapter was extremely long. It was so boring and nothing happens. I do appreciate that it is about loss and grief and would've appreciated it more if I liked Emma. i'm sadly disappointed with the story but I did like the writing style.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A very unique slow burn read. While this will not be everyone’s cup of tea, I highly recommend this book. What a great story about life, grief, loss, sadness, etc. What really blew my mind is that this book takes places all in one night, which is unusual. Definitely recommend this book, stick with it because it’s a beautifully written book.

I loved this book! I felt like I knew that bar, knew the people, and, being that I've barely left my house in the past 9 months, really wanted to be there, as sad of a place as it seemed to be. Rarely have I read a book that took place in such a single space to be so compelling. The story outside of the bar only served to make it clearer why the narrator was there, and the author really captured the senses of safety,claustrophobia and risk in staying inside. I highly recommend this book.

This is a beautiful debut that unfolds over the course of a single night . It's character-driven and exquisitely written - I found myself highlighting line after line. Emma is an interesting character whose backstory is revealed as she reminisces with locals at a neighborhood bar, eventually revealing something so tragic that it ended her marriage. It's a slow burn about how you recover from such sorrow and whether happiness or redemption is possible. This book is a lot like life - messy, confusing and complicated - and I won't soon forget it.

Thank you to NetGalley, Atria books and the author for an advanced copy to review.

Author #Anna Bruno's debut novel '#Ordinary Hazards' is very intense. Secrets, family, career, marriage and motherhood are all topics in this heavy well written novel. Without spoilers this is a wonderful book.
Thank you,
#Netgalley, #Anna Bruno and Atria

Thank you Netgalley, Atria Books and Anna Bruno for free e-ARC in return of my honest review.

Emma’s story unfold through a series of whiskey and a few hours of conversations and memories. She reflects on her life and her choices, she is desperate for a closure and by the end of the night she perhaps would find one.

The uniqueness of narration with flashbacks to the past in the bar setting makes The Ordinary Hazards exceptional. One might guess Emma’s tragedy half way, though that might be intentional as to soften the blow of the last few chapters. All characters are developed through Emma’s eyes mostly which gives them a special sharpness. Emma herself evolves during the unraveling of the past and her own raw emotions.

The Ordinary Hazards is not an easy read. It deals with infant death and this topic is never easy to read about. If you are looking for a book to rip you apart, The Ordinary Hazards is for you!

Ordinary hazards has a really interesting premise but it was not executed very well. The whole books takes place over one evening at a bar and has a bunch of flashbacks that fill in the pieces of the story. The main character Emma is reminiscing about her ex-husband and their relationship, and her life in general.

The nature of the plot makes it a highly character driven book but I was unable to actually connect to any of the characters. Emma wasn't very likeable but more than that she was boring.

The actual pacing of the book was pretty good but I kept hoping that something interesting would happen.

3 stars for the interesting premise. I think others might enjoy the book more, especially if you really like character driven books.

I received Ordinary Hazards by Anna Bruno as an ARC from NetGalley. Ordinary Hazards takes course over one evening at The Final Final bar. The book chronicles Emma's life and how she came to be where she is at the bar. Emma is a Harvard graduate from a wealthy family but she gives all that up for Lucas and a small town in Upstate New York. The book explores Emma's relationship with Lucas and also with the other regulars at the Final Final bar. It's an interesting premise in that the book happens over one night but goes back over the last 5 years of Emma's life. I enjoyed the format of the book and it was an interesting story with interesting characters.

Starred review, Shelf Awareness for Readers:

The entirety of Ordinary Hazards takes place in one evening at a local bar, "the kind of bar that doesn't exist in cities, a peculiarity of a small town that has seen better days." The lone woman in a ragtag bunch of locals there, Emma banters with the other regulars and dodges texts from her concerned friends, perched on a stool as two versions of herself: "the woman I am and the woman I used to be." As she vacillates between these women within herself, she recalls the career, the marriage, the friends, the son and the ambition that brought her to this precise moment in this bar in this town: 5 p.m. at The Final Final in upstate New York.

From the outset, it is clear that something about this situation is very wrong. That 5 p.m. moment is rife with tension, though it takes the completion of Anna Bruno's perfectly paced debut novel to understand why. Over the course of the next eight hours, through Emma's recollections and her interactions with the rest of the crew at The Final Final, it becomes clear that everything that brought Emma to this moment is now gone. The unnamed feeling bubbling beneath the surface of Emma's night of drinking is grief, and everything that accompanies it: blame, guilt, shame, sadness, anger, despair and a prevailing sense of "if only." Ordinary Hazards is a kaleidoscopic novel of the best variety, spinning into and out of itself as it explores grief, love and loss in ways that will haunt readers long past the last page. --Kerry McHugh, freelance writer

Discover: A perfectly paced novel explores grief, love and loss over the course of one eight-hour night in a small-town bar.

Ordinary Hazards is my kind of story!! It's one I needed to quiet my mind and allow myself to get lost in the head of the character and see things through her. It is the kind that takes hold of me and doesn't let go till the end and then leaves me thinking about it for a while.

The story is uniquely told over one night, with chapters for each hour starting at 5 pm. Emma is sitting in a bar called The Final, Final. The last bar on the edge of town. The final stop after the final stop and there is no place but to go home after last call. With each hour and drink, we start to see Emma's night spin out of control as she reflects on her failed marriage, her upbringing, her regrets while reflecting on the regulars of the bar who are friends of her ex-husband. As the story progresses, we learn pieces from the past and present as to why Emma sits and drinks. The tension increases right up to the climax, where everything comes together.

It's all about the characters here with Emma and the partons at the bar. They are likeable and unlikeable characters and are not your stereotyped bar partons from a small town. Emma is successful in business and finance and has chosen against her father's expectation to live a quieter life in a small town with her husband, Lucus. However, pain and regret are ordinary hazards of life, but it's the story that can shape who you are.

"It's not who you are that makes you a leader, it's the story about who you are"

Emma is not an easy character to connect to, and she takes some time to warm up to. She can be a character you either like or dislike. For me, my feeling changed about her as she reckons with her past and present. Throughout the night, she reflects on her career choice, success, classism, and privilege. The woman she is and the women she used to be. She questions the roles of men and women and their likability. The story is paced well, with new information we learn about Emma's the regulars' lives through Emma's memories, flashbacks, observations, and actions.

"There are two of me: the woman I am and the woman I used to be."

I loved the setting in the bar and the tone it set to the story for me. It became a character in itself while creating a friendly yet hostile feel with the tension and drama to the story.

This is one of the better books I have read that explores men's and women's roles honestly while exploring their motivations, regrets, pain and happiness. I highly recommend this one for better reading!!

"It's a man's prerogative to be liked. Women are sometimes respected, sometimes admired, sometimes adored, but they aren't liked, not really"

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.