I really got into this book. In the beginning, I read it slowly. But, as I continued on, I kept reading more and more each. night. It was that kind of book.
I gave it 4 stars because it was just not up to the caliber of a 5 star book. But, I really wanted to give it 4-1/2 stars.
You feel sorry for the main character, Emma, right away. You don't really know why. As the book goes on, you slowly find out bits and pieces. Toward the end, its not too hard to guess what happened. I won't spoil it here.
The epigraph says it all. "We were victims of the tyranny of small decisions." - Alfred E. Kahn, economist
Also, Emma often says: If only. If only.
The character Lucas can sound too perfect in the beginning of the book. The main characteristic of Lucas that comes out early is that he and Emma are from very different backgrounds.
The other characters include her female friends who were not drawn as clearly as they could have been, I kept going back to find out, who was Samantha?
Additional characters, that you find out along the way, are more important. The people in the bar, mostly men (except for the bartender, Amelia) are really more central to the point of the story. They are each very well-drawn; I had no problem keeping them each distinct in my mind.
Again, not to be a spoiler, this book just turns out to be very sad. And, yes, the plot hinges on "small decision". The best praise I can give this book is that it was worth my time.

Ordinary Hazards is a book that sneaks up on you. It all happens one evening at The Final Final, the last bar on the way out of town. It’s five o’clock and Emma is parked on a stool drinking whiskey. The Final Final is one of those local bars where folks hang out and “everybody knows your name and they’re always glad you came.”

Emma is a big deal in finance, a college professor, author, and founder of a new investment firm. So what’s she doing hanging out at a local bar with vinyl flooring that oozes age? The Final Final was her ex-husband’s bar and the folks who drink there are people she met through him. But, as the night goes on, we learn there is far more to her story and the stories of her fellow patrons. Small actions and discussions pile on each other over the night until there is a crisis, one that forces Emma to reevaluate what she wants in life.



When I say Ordinary Hazards sneaks up on you, I think it would be more accurate to say Emma sneaks up on you. She isn’t very likable at first. She seems to see herself as outside the people of The Final Final, a notch above them. She seems to judge them while still needing them. But as the story progresses, I realized I did like her and that she liked these folks she hung out with. As an exploration of love, marriage, and grief, it works. I confess I cried even though the author did not dwell on tragedy.

I think that is what makes the book work so well. We all know how we are about the tragic in our lives. We skitter away from talking about it, uncomfortable about speaking of pain and grief. We don’t want to cry in front of others or hear our voice break. We don’t want our pain to make others uncomfortable. Emma’s thoughts circumnavigate her pain, touching on it lightly at first before revealing the full story. That circling and skittering past her pain came through as so authentic and real, that when the story is revealed, there is this raw urgency that never happens when writers lay it all out at the beginning. This book is a wonder.

I received an e-galley of Ordinary Hazards from the publisher through NetGalley

Ordinary Hazards at Atria Books | Simon & Schuster
Anne Bruno author site

TL;DR REVIEW:

Ordinary Hazards was a beautiful, heartbreaking novel about community and tragedy and hope and love and found family.

For you if: You love a good, quotable contemporary fiction that squeezes the heart.

FULL REVIEW:

“Essentially, the saying is misleading because the last straw is not incremental. It isn’t just one more straw. It is the straw that reveals and magnifies all the straws. It is the moment when attention is drawn to everything that’s been carried — every wrong, every hurt, every loss. And the camel breaks.”

First of all, big thanks to Atria Books for granting me an advanced copy of this book via Netgalley. I loved it so much that I absolutely jumped on the chance to order a signed physical copy from the launch event with White Whale Bookstore.

Ordinary Hazards is about a woman named Emma who grew up in the wealthy world of Wall Street finance and now lives in a small, university-centric town in the Fingerlakes region of New York State. The book takes place over the course of one evening spent her beloved townie bar called The Final Final. We can tell early on that she’s recently lived through heartbreak and tragedy. With a lot of memory and flashback placed between the present-day scenes of community, tension, found family, and even violence, we as readers piece together the events that made her who she is right now.

This book became special to me for a few reasons. First, because I grew up in a small town adjacent to the one the story takes place in — all signs point definitively to it being Ithaca. Reading her describe everything from bar league softball to $3 beers on Wednesdays to the infamous red lights along that one main road (if you know it, you know) felt like sinking into home.

“In towns like ours, there’s a fine line between rustic and run-down. There are still a few cows in the fields. There are refurbished barns where kids from the U. have wedding receptions. There is a nearby swimming hole maintained as a state park. There’s a burger place where you can get your name on the wall and a free T-shirt for eating four burgers in under an hour. There’s also an opioid epidemic. And family farms in foreclosure. And historic houses so dilapidated even the frat bros won’t live in them. Our town is like a woman who looks good from fifty yards.”

The other reason this felt special is because Anna Bruno is … a lot like me. She got an MBA and managed PR and marketing for fintech companies in Silicon Valley (I have an MBA and write longform content for a fintech start-up), AND she got an MFA in fiction and wrote a novel (which I maybe might perhaps…do someday). Honestly, that just feels like a hopeful nudge from the universe, no?

But even beyond that, this book was so good. It’s infused with so much emotion, so many quotable passages about heartbreak and love and shared history and trauma and everything relatable. You turn and turn the pages, wrapped up wholly in the dual stories that you know will spin together as you approach the end. You root for her, against her, alongside her. You feel sad and hopeful and sad and hopeful again.

I will be treasuring this one for a long time.




TRIGGER WARNINGS (spoilers!):
Death of a child; Gun and knife violence; Threatened suicide; Pregnancy

Anna Bruno's ORDINARY HAZARDS is that most delicate and powerful of novels that draw you in, urge you to pull a chair up to the bar at The Final Final and hang out with the townies, feeling part of a huge and important story where you are honored to love, to fight, to grow, to lose and to gain, and to arrive back at yourself at closing time. In Bruno's novel, a woman faces grief and regret in remembering the joy she once knew and lost--and after a momentous evening at the bar, knows she cannot go on grieving, regretting, and running away from her life. Beautifully written, this book shimmer with taut prose that sings with poetic resonance and characters so vivid, so felt, and understood that they feel like people you know. I know the canyons of the city, the wilds of suburban Connecticut, and the small towns of way upstate New York and this book succinctly and perfectly captures their rhythms, possibilities, and power. A marvelous, marvelous read with tragedy, love stories, slow reveals, and vivid, shocking truths.

What is in a life? Hope, dreams, joy, heartache, guilt, trepidation. Over the course of one night at The Final Final bar, Emma refects on her life up to that point and the turning point of one central event. As you read, you are peeling back layers of Emma's life and all of the aforementioned "feels" right along with it. This book was different than any other I've read and I found myself engrossed in Emma's introspection and anecdotes of her life, and the events of the night unfolding in the bar, all the way to the final human emotion of hope. A sharply written, character driven novel, and a debut author I look forward to reading more from in the future!

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the review copy, and the email sent to me about this book.

This story centers on Emma, a young woman who is hanging out at a local bar on her 35th birthday and ignoring responsibilities for the moment. She's joined by some friends and there are glimpses into the complicated relationships she has with some of them. She thinks about her past and what brought her here, about her ex husband and her child.

The story takes place during the one night so there is lots of introspection and character development.

I mostly found this to be a good story. I did find some parts a little slow but they were not too bad, Overall I give this a 3.5.

Emma wasn’t supposed to end up like this, spending her Wednesday night alone in her local upstate dive bar. She grew up in a wealthy if distant family in Connecticut, attended an ivy league school, and could have worked on Wall Street.

Although Emma, a financial genius, professor at a local college, and bestselling author, has little in common with the locals who gather in the bar night after night, they make Emma her comfortable since they demand nothing. She settles in for an evening of drinking while avoiding the calls and texts from her best friends who would surely disapprove of her plans.

The book unfolds over the course of an evening, with each chapter representing an hour. What begins as a quiet, ordinary night transforms as secrets are revealed and relationships are challenged. At the same time, Emma grapples with her past, what tethers her to this place, and what her future holds.

I loved this book—the story, the writing, the characters, and the structure. Emma has a mean streak, is a bit vindictive, and is quite unlikable, yet I liked her very much especially as her story unfolded. I thought the narrative and pacing were inventive and effective. Tears may have been shed. If I could change anything, though, it might be developing some of the figures from Emma’s past more thoroughly.

I highly recommend it for fans of literary fiction and character-driven novels.

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest opinion. I went into this book without reading too much about it beforehand. I had a general idea of what Emma's story was, but I was not prepared for just how good this story is. I flew through this novel as if I was listening to a friend tell a story of recent events that happened to her. Emma's story is captivating, despite it being slightly vague and, well, simply put, full of Ordinary Hazards. Anna Bruno does a wonderful job with words. I fell into this story and barely came up for air. I highly recommend this one if you're looking for something different and emotionally charged.

How do the ordinary decisions of daily life affect us? Ordinary daily goings on usually are just that. But what happens if an ordinary series of events leads to something that changes the course of your life?

From the Final Final bar on the outskirts of a small town, Emma sits and drinks. She is a regular and knows the regulars. Here she sinks into memories of some recent ordinary life moves; meet a great partner and embark on your life. Until the ordinary becomes a hazard..
A richly involved character study of an ordinary life and a super debut novel

What a deeply affecting, moving story from Anna Bruno about love, loss, consequences, and hope.

You spend an evening with Emma, a financial wunderkind living in a small, almost claustrophobic college town, as she sits at a bar often frequented by her ex-husband Lucas, imbibing whiskey after whiskey while contemplating how she arrived at this point in her life. Her thoughts take her from the present in the bar, where she encounters people who "must know things about Lucas I can't even imagine," to the past, showing you her career, friendships, coworkers, marriage, and family.

Emma has suffered a devastating loss, and that suffering led her to take a pair of scissors to her life and cut out anything she deems worthy of blame. As she works her way through her feelings, she turns a gimlet eye to her choices and decisions. She is self-aware enough to acknowledge her own culpability, which made me like her all the more. She doesn't try to spin glowing accolades of herself. If anything, she becomes increasingly wistful and regretful. But what will she do about that? For all of her inaction during the hours she spends at the bar, you sense that Emma is very much a woman who moves, who achieves.

This is not a book where big things happen. It unfolds steadily and quietly, sometimes breaking your heart and sometimes filling you with hope. Anna Bruno makes you feel like you are there in that bar with Emma, listening to her narration, offering her support and encouragement.

I look forward to Anna Bruno's next book.

I did not at first connect with Emma, the narrator of this debut novel, but yet, I can’t give this any less than 5 stars. The story unfolds in one night, as she sits in a local bar drinking with the regulars. She’s sad, depressed really, and her grief and guilt over a yet untold loss is palatable. The structure, the flow of the story hour to hour at the bar and the flashbacks leading up to and finally giving us the reason for Emma’s grief and guilt are just so well done. This definitely is the kind of novel I enjoy so much, the introspective look at herself and her awareness of those around her, the people who frequent the bar, such amazing characterizations, not one is free from guilt in some way for something. The plot - it’s what happens that night, it’s what happened before this night and the two are blended so skillfully. You can read the description and other reviews for more specifics about it.

As I was reading, I was reminded of Richard Russo’s novels and his portrayal of small town life and how everyone has known each other their whole lives and are forever connected to each other, how everybody knows almost everything about each other. While we learn of these people and their connections and the things that happened in their lives to bring them to this moment, sitting at this bar, I found it ironic that it’s Emma who is telling their stories, since her connection with these characters came only when she married their friend Lucas, her now ex husband. Nobody here is perfect, mistakes are made and the consequences are tragic, but there is the possibility of forgiveness of oneself and of each other. I was deeply moved. This is Anna Bruno’s first novel and this is just one example of why I love reading new releases by new authors. It’s extraordinary. I can’t wait to see what she writes next .


I read this with my book buddies and friends , Diane and Esil .

I received an advanced copy of this book from Atria Books through NetGalley.

As the story slowly unfolds, we hear Emma’s story as she sits with her alcoholism and her depression and tells her story. To many of us it sounds almost like a fairy tale. Her education entitles her to be working in a fancy Wall Street office, but she’s chosen to move upstate and run a hedge fund and teach in the local university. Debut author, Anna Bruno, has created a very believable, painful story. Keep reading, the shocker of the story comes about two thirds into it and at the end you’ll feel better than when you started what looked like a totally depressing book.

- I am confused about the timeline, it jumps around in the first 50 pages and I it’s hard to tell where you are in the timeline.
- The book is advertised as taking place over one night, which doesn’t exactly ring true. This book goes back and forth in time a lot.
- 50 pages in and I don’t find the writing particularly good, in fact, I don’t like it at all. I think to compare this to the same style as Celeste Ng is completely missing the mark.
- As someone who works in finance there were a lot of critical errors within the culture/finance world that were depicted in this book, some more research could have been done.
- I didn't connect with many of the characters.
- The book had a depressing undertone but not one that I was invested in, just one that brought me down.
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Bruno writes well: the story is well constructed and she employees the storytelling framework - the novel takes place in a single night with flashbacks interspersed - effectively. Without providing any spoilers, the protagonist faces and attempts to come to terms with a series of tragedies, and her actions and reactions are psychologically realistic.

Having said that, the protagonist is not terribly likable, and her husband, the moral and emotional center of the story, is pretty flatly drawn. His actions in the book never really show the strengths the narrator attributes to him. The scenes of their marriage we see in flashbacks don't show the depth of love we're told is present; mostly we see their arguments and tensions. Along with a whole lot of drinking.

The book is an impressive debut for Bruno, and worth reading. I look forward to future stories.

What's most unusual about this book is the setting, a local bar in Upstate New York, where virtually all the action occurs in the course of one evening. Emma, the protagonist, relates the story through her opinions about what is happening in the bar while she thinks about her life and what came before this evening. It's definitely a tale of before and after, one of love and loss. 'To be alive is to be in pain.'

This is a character-driven story, during which some find ways to grow and forgive while others make life-changing mistakes. Transitions...life never stands still; change is inevitable.

I received an arc of this novel from the publisher via Net Galley in exchange for my honest review. I will look forward to reading more from Anna Bruno in the future.

I rarely come across a debut novel that meets my high standards of stellar writing and vivid characters but this author has done just that and then some. If this is her debut author she's at the beginning of an amazing career. I can't wait for her next book. It has it all. The feels and the angst. And she drew out the plot seamlessly. Check out this amazing book. Happy reading!

Isn't this cover amazing? 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. Telling you a story by connecting the thoughts together throughout the book. It was an interesting way to tell Emma’s story. It was complex, dark, and sad at times. I would recommend this one to those that liked Little Fires Everywhere or Ask Again Yes. Thank you to #Atriabooks and #netgalley for my advanced copy.

This is a strong debut focused on a successful woman, Emma, that finds herself at the bar where she met her ex-husband surrounded by locals. The author does a great job of capturing Emma's feelings of success, but also of regret and what ifs. This is a great character driven story.

Told over the course of a night in a dive bar, this is the story of a woman's loss, depression and grief, Emma met her ex-husband Lucas at the Final Final and this is where she has chosen to drink and drink all the while ignoring messages from a friend who might be planning an intervention. She can't give up her love of Lucas but everything around her has crumbled. All she's really got left is her dog and a job she's unhappy with. Her story spools out slowly but then things accelerate when she is confronted by Yag, a friend of Lucas. Emma's not the nicest person in the world but she's coping as best she can. No spoilers from me on this one. There are sharp observations and cliches both here but the writing is clear. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. For fans of literary fiction- this is a nice debut.

This one is a slow burner. For the first third I was intrigued, and not entirely sure if I wanted to invest. But the story builds slowly and about halfway through I realized I didn’t want to put it down.

Ordinary Hazards takes place over one evening in a small town bar called The Final Final. Our main protagonist and narrator, Emma, is sitting at the bar sipping whiskey, surrounded by regulars who she has known for the better part of 5 years. As drinks are consumed Emma narrates her own story, as well as those of the people around her. She is recently divorced, her ex-husband, Lucas, is the real regular in The Final Final, as it resides in his hometown, but barely sets a foot in there as he knows she still frequents the place. The regulars are all his friends rather than Emma’s. Over the course of the evening we learn about their relationship with each other and everyone else, but we also follow the present tense actions of everyone hanging out in the bar.

Emma specializes in storytelling, it’s actually something she is paid to teach, which I found to be a brilliant touch on the part of the author. A master storyteller, telling an ordinary story of love, and loss, and grief, that becomes an extraordinary story for the reader.

There are two build-ups in the narrative: what is happening now, in the bar, and what happened before, leading Emma to be in the bar alone on this specific night. As the reader uncovers each layer, slowly, you know you may not be able to handle the final reveal, the tears building behind your eyes, but you also know that you need to know the whole story anyway.

Anna Bruno’s prose is witty, smart, and creates a real story nestled in an average day in an average small town amongst ordinary people. Don’t be put off by the complete ordinariness of it all at first - nothing is really ordinary, and no one shows all of their facades at first glance anyway.

Great read, even though it broke my heart a little and had me hold on to my loved ones a little harder.

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