I adored this unexpected, small but powerful book. It was surprising and delightful, and I didn't want to leave the world Ladette Randolph created for me in a little town in Nebraska. After being trolled online as a CEO of a tech company, Vivi decides to go dark and disengage from any Internet for a year by living off the grid in a small community near Lincoln. It doesn't go easy, neighbors aren't as neighborly and she would hope, and small town gossip is even worse than in Silicon Valley. But the story is touching, and moves in fantastic and meaningful directions. A must-read especially if you enjoy Willa Cather.

This was a different read but enjoyable. Vivi had a very unusual mother and in fact spent a lot of time being raised by her grandmother which was a normal period in her life. She reunites with her mother and finishes school and then she and her best friend start a business. All is going well and then it isn't. She needs an escape and winds up in a small midwestern community that is very similar to a closed in neighborhood. The developments amongst the neighbors and their stories are interesting.

I unfortunately had to DNF this book at around 56%. I tried on multiple occasions to get through this book but it proved to be difficult time and time again. I think the book was attempting to be quirky and modern, but instead the characters ended up being either extremely annoying or unrememberable which usually could be fine, but it doesn't seem like that was the purpose of the book. In fact, I was really struggling to understand what the purpose of the book was. I assumed it was more focused on a found family trope which I typically adore, but I don't think it was done super well here. I hope that the book picked up in the second half, though I don't think it would have been something I would have particularly ever enjoyed.

In these modern times, I’m fairly certain that almost everyone has had at least a moment or two when they wish they could just get away from all of the updates and near constant connectivity that technology and myriad devices have to offer. I know I have felt this way, though I quickly realize that I appreciate my phone and computer and really don’t want to live without it for long. The cover of Private Way caught my eye, and once I read the synopsis I was hooked. A book about a young woman running away from the technology that she built her career from? Sign me up!

Vivi Marx has never stayed in one place for very long. As a kid, she packed up and followed her mom on a new business venture every few months or so. When she does establish a name for herself by starting a website, it becomes all-encompassing and soon Vivi feels as though her life is on display for everyone to see. Her successful business is thrilling for a while, until the trolls start hacking her accounts and sending her threats. Sitting in their homes (or anywhere, really) behind glowing screens, typing out words that she can only hope they would never say to her face. Vivi knows she doesn’t have to put up with the harassment–she just has to disappear.

As she contemplates how to go about ghosting her online profiles, she realizes that the last place she truly felt happy and safe was as a young girl in Nebraska, with her late grandmother. She decides to leave her home and take some of her belongings and just get away from her life, for a year. Though she has no real plans, she quickly finds a secluded cottage for rent and, leaving her phone and computer behind, sets out for the drive from LA to Nebraska.

Starting from scratch isn’t anything new to Vivi, and the promise of a quiet cottage by a meadow sounds like just what the doctor ordered. What she doesn’t count on is the presence of neighbors that live nearby trying to nose their way into her life. Though they mean well, they quickly become more involved in her days than she intended, which she fears may result in them uncovering things about her past that she had hoped she was leaving far behind…

I really enjoyed the premise of this book and how relevant it is to our society today and how inescapable the internet can feel at times. Even if you can’t relate to Vivi personally, the writing is easy to digest and paints a fictional picture of what cyberbullying can be like and how it can affect adults and their livelihood.

Review of a Digital Advance Reading Copy from University of Nebraska Press

Private Way by Ladette Randolph is a so-so tale of a woman who needs to take a break from the internet.

Vivi Marx started the online community Pie, which became very successful, but with the success came conflicts. Events led to Vivi being cyberbullied and doxxed, which has brought fear and anxiety to her life. For her own mental health and safety she decides to de-grid, leaving her life, her phone, and laptop in L.A., and heads to Lincoln, Nebraska, where she had spent several summers with her grandmother who is now deceased. Vivi rents a small house for a year and meets her new neighbors on Fieldcrest Drive.

There are parts of the novel where the writing is wonderfully descriptive, but the numerous problems with the plot and the flow of the novel take away from the descriptive writing that can be quite nice. Concerning the plot, events in the story line that are left unresolved became a distraction. Additionally, I really didn't care for the fact that we are told the story rather than having the action flow as an integral part of the plot.

Initially, I found Vivi an unappealing character and this first impression never changed. I struggled throughout the novel to keep an open mind and try to connect with this character. There was also a disconnect with the way Vivi acts/talks and her age.

Perhaps I should have left this novel as a "did not finish" because it never won me back after a few questions arose early on. Perhaps it's being nick-picky, but what is the deal about it taking 5 days to get to Lincoln, even after buying an atlas in Elko, NV (when you would be on I-80). Even daydreaming, at that point the interstate takes you most of the way with efficiency and ease. Then when Vivi is crossing the Missouri (and wondering about its depth) to get on I-80 toward Nebraska, I was shaking my head. She would have had to cross the river somewhere else in order to even approach Lincoln from the east. And then there is the ghost.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of the University of Nebraska Press.
The review will be published on Barnes & Noble, Google Books, and Amazon.

When cyberbullies threaten to take away everything Vivi has worked for, she decides to take matters into her own hands. Without a word, she packs up, purchases a rental car with cash, and throws away her phone. With nothing but a physical map and a tourist guide, she makes her way to Lincoln, Nebraska and finds herself amidst a group of townies who welcome--but are wary of--newcomers.

As Vivi carves out this new life for herself, the more she realizes how pleasant it is to disconnect...as well as how stressful it is to know that nobody knows where she's been for the past several months. The unfolding of her story to the townies is both immediately believable and insightful. She unintentionally creates a persona for herself, one that others don't know if they believe. Who is she, really, to these folks? A renter? A stranger? A liar? She isn't sure which one is best--but then again, nothing can compare to those tracking her down.

This book offers a glimpse at what a life without tech could look like: one of community, one that doesn't tear you apart, one of struggle and inequity but understanding. One of healing, if you let it.

Ultimately, I find this book an interesting and insightful read for those like me, who need to put their screens down more than they think.

DNF at 27%
This just felt so robotic. I felt nothing for any of the characters, things are introduced in confusing bursts and then nothing happens for a long time. I feel like there are so many situations where we see her complete mundane tasks like making a to-do list, but we don’t see her DO anything, she just tells us she did them. The Buffalo park visit, for example, feels like it should have been an impactful experience, but all we got was “yeah I went and it was great”.

When online trolls begin to harass her, Vivi Marx decides to flee her life in California, and de-grid in Nebraska. She moves into what she believes is a remote area, only to be met with neighbors who are more involved in her life than ever.

I have to admit, I didn't enjoy this book though I did like the premise of it. But so much of it was just boring and I found myself skimming a lot of it. I didn't like the side information about Willa Cather, or reliving the 2016 election, even if she never actually said Trump's name. There were a ton of formatting issues which took me out of the story on multiple occasions, I had no idea what Vivi's actual business was, and Vivi herself was incredibly unlikeable. I found the neighbors much more interesting than her and would've been more interested to read a story about them.

This book was talked about on Episode 21 of the Reading Through Life podcast (12 Books to Put On Your Radar).

Utterly charmed by this book! Vivi Marx is a wonderful main character--self-aware yet obtuse, quiet yet obnoxious, odd yet ordinary. All of her contradictions coexist to create an interesting, dimensional person for the reader to follow through a year of life falling apart and knitting back together with the help of Willa Cather, a sexy dog, a gardener's ghost, and the weird neighbors who make a family. Plus, pie! Totally recommend.

I enjoyed this book a lot! The characters were relatable and the humor was dry. Personally, i enjoy that very much in a book! I appreciated the representation of all walks of life and the need to run away for a while to settle yourself out.

Let me start with this, the story is catching and grabbing and all of the characters are very likable. Where my opinions of this book changes is how the story is presented. I feel like the story was all over the place at times—I don’t like spoiling stories but, I share the same sentiments as past readers. I will however be happy to read more from this author just not this story, you have a great hook and great concept, it just needs more time and to go back to the drawing board.

Private Way is a book about neighbors and finding oneself. It's a pleasant quiet read that brings to light the fact that your past and present stay with you.

PRIVATE WAY is a gentle story about the connections, however tenuous, between neighbors and friends. I enjoyed following along the main character's journey as she matured and took responsibility for her actions and learned to better appreciate the efforts of those around her.

Fans of a dramatic or fast-paced narrative should look elsewhere. PRIVATE WAY seems intended for a literary audience who doesn't mind a quiet story with a somewhat leisurely pace.

Randolph excels at conveying a sense of place.

Private Way
A Novel
by Ladette Randolph

description
In 2015, when cyberbullies disrupt her life in Southern California, Vivi Marx decides to cut her cord with the internet and take her life offline for a year. She flees to the one place where she felt safe as a child—with her grandmother in Lincoln, Nebraska. Never mind that her grandmother is long dead and she doesn’t know anyone else in the state. Even before she meets her new neighbors on Fieldcrest Drive, Vivi knows she’s made a terrible mistake, but every plan she makes to leave is foiled. Despite her efforts to outrun it, trouble follows her to Nebraska, just not in the ways she’d feared. With the help of her neighbors, Willa Cather’s novels, and her own imagination, Vivi finds something she hadn’t known she was searching for.

I wanted to love the book. It was not much meat on this. It just seemed to need MORE for a reader. I felt it was just not really thought through enough to make it move to an interesting pace. I am not a writer and have to take into account the time and hard work put into it.

DNF at 37%.

While I appreciate the author’s Nebraska roots as I Nebraskan myself, I couldn’t mesh with the writing style. I felt I was being told the story rather than shown, and that’s not something I can usually get past. I wanted to finish this, but it really isn’t for me.

As I did not finish the book, I do not think it is fair to give it a rating. Also out of fairness to the author I won’t be publishing this review on Goodreads (as of right now there are zero ratings and reviews and I don’t think mine is necessary to add).

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy.

Wow, I really did not like this book. There was an annoying amount of TELLING instead of SHOWING. It was an affront to my sensibilities! And I love books!

What I disliked most though was this was a very clear example of someone older trying to write as a "millenial". Which, let's be honest, no one of this group ever even calls themselves that. At least, not as often as the main character did in this book.

This book made me mad, Sorry!