Thank you NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor, Knopf for accepting my request to read and review Commitment.

Published: 03/21/23

Took me a while to understand the title had more than one meaning. While the mother was committed, the children had individual and familial commitments to themselves and each other.

Often times I read and think why doesn't anyone write realistic fiction. There are plenty of stories to tell. I think Simpson heard me. A mother with three children and very little money. Dad (of course) MIA -- working on his own life. This story does have a friend, and I found myself many times stopping and wishing (praying) every family had a true family friend in the nonfiction world.

This book is the story of growing up, staying together, achieving an education, all while staying afloat emotionally and financially. Everyone has a dream? The book points out the obvious: who teaches you how to tie your tie, put on makeup, fix your hair, use all the hair styling tools? Who teaches you to drive? Really where does the money come from? Is mental illness hereditary? Who signs loan papers, rental agreements, and food stamp aid when there isn't an adult around?

The story is simple. The writing is slow. The author takes a subject that affects many households and puts her spin on the problems. I choked up several times. I wish I could give this more than three stars. However, don't be fooled, there is a lot of punch packed in these 400 pages.

I'm a Mona Simpson fan. She gave my profession to the lead character in earlier novels, Anywhere But Here and The Lost Father. (had never seen that before!) Commitment is again about family and crisis.,
Here we meet a single mother Diane and her three kids. Walter, the high school graduate bound for Berkeley. Lina, the high achiever junior in high school holding down a job in an ice cream parlor. Donnie, a carefree middle schooler close to his mom. Their lives turn upside down when Diane falls into a major depression and is eventually admitted into a state hospital leaving the kids to work their way down very different paths. with the support and love of Diane's mother and her best friend. Told in six sections spanning over a decade, against a backdrop of Southern California, Northern California, and "back east", this is a story of family, of hope, and ultimately a story of love, friendship and survival. Highly recommended.





in all its various nuances.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Publication date: 3/21/23
My rating: 3.75 stars

There are many things to appreciate about this novel, and I'll start by discussing those. The cover art drew me in, as did the title. I'm also drawn to family dramas that involve mental illness, so this seemed like a good fit. While the prose is sparse and a bit removed, there are many beautiful and telling phrases throughout, and they often caught me by surprise. There were just enough of them sprinkled throughout to hold my interest, despite the slow pacing. Mona Simpson can definitely write well--I just felt like the reader was never allowed to get close enough to the story or the main characters (perhaps this style was intentional?)

I did struggle with the pacing, and felt like this novel could've been condensed for a tighter narrative. That being said, I was invested in the 3 siblings and wanted to learn their full stories. I think there are too many side characters introduced/followed that aren't really necessary to tell the siblings' stories. The reader doesn't need to learn about every single love interest from teens through young adulthood.

I do often enjoy novels that are heavy on character development, but Commitment perhaps takes it too far. There is a lot of telling, and I would've liked more showing instead. Of the 3 siblings, I felt that the author most fully developed the character of Lina. Walter was given a lot of attention, but he never seemed fully fleshed out. Donnie is more of an afterthought.

I'd recommend this novel to readers who enjoy reading about mental health issues, family dynamics, sibling relationships, coming-of-age, and character studies.

"Commitment," another detailed slice-of-life family drama from Mona Simpson ("Anywhere but Here'), delves into the life of Diane Aziz and her three children in 1970s California. The initial understanding of commitment is Diane's to a mental hospital as she experiences depression and can no longer care for herself. Later commitment expands to the ties that bind families and relationships like that of Diane's three children, Walter, Lina, and Donny. Crossing time, place, and psychological developments. "Commitment" is a dramatic family narrative about the not-so-distant days when even the word depression was mentioned in only a whisper.

Thank you to the author, Alfred A. Knopf, and NetGalley for the digital ARC!

A character driven story about the lives of three siblings as their mother struggles with her mental health, ultimately finding her spending the rest of her life in a mental health institution. The stereotypical eldest child pushing & striving to be able to provide and care financially for his family. The middle child, and only girl, working through her high school years. Seeking purpose and human connection but unable to find it, she lives in fear of her mother’s condition being hereditary. And then the youngest child, the one who watched his siblings leave to college and their lives, living with the reality of his mother’s condition the longest, he seeks out a way to feel something. Deeply moving, this story addresses the moral question of what it means to be a family and the “obligations” that come with it. . And the commitment one has to each other.

A special shout-out to Julie, a phenomenally loyal friend and character. Taking on the responsibility, both emotionally and financially, to love and care for her friend’s children as though they were her own. And her undying loyalty to her friend, despite the often abuse and rejection she received.

A little long and slow at times, this character-driven book was very out of my comfort zone. Definitely worth the read

My reviews appear on Boston's Arts Fuse.

https://artsfuse.org/270834/book-review-mona-simpsons-commitment-e-for-effort/

I do not award stars.

At first glance, this book deals with a sense of place and issues that I find intriguing: 1970s California and mental health. After reading, however, it wasn't for me. Mostly, the pacing threw me off -- I felt it dragged for the first three quarters.

Set in the 1970s, it centers around a mother who develops a severe depression and is subsequently hospitalized, leaving her three children essentially on their own( though with help from s mother’s wonderful friend) . The novel deals with important themes- family, friendship, abandonment and especially the affect of mental illness on a family, but I found the writing style very awkward and superficial, and as a result difficult to really “ feel” for the characters. In short I struggled through it.

I received a digital ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. And honestly, I don't want this book to end. Something about the distancing effect of the third person omniscient narration makes me feel like I can't quite hold these characters close enough, and I yearn to. Set in the '80s, the three children and best friend of Diane Aziz, a divorced woman debilitated by a depression so deep it becomes almost psychotic, orbit miserably around her, anxious about money and opportunity (especially re:college education, hence one meaning of the title, I assume, though the kids aren't athletes). The oldest child, Walter, goes to UC Berkeley, where he becomes infatuated with architecture and watches while his freshman roommate-cum-BFF, once his total nice-nerd parallel, is able to move forward in romance and other adult milestones, like buying a house. Walter, on the other hand, is secretly living in an attic on campus and sending what little money he makes flipping bicycles to his siblings to cover rent, and wrestling with the question of where his responsibilities lie. If he gives up and goes home to help his siblings, he is also condemning the family, who've already lost their home while Diane is institutionaized, to losing their dream of leveraging academia to build a better life -- but the financial situation back in L.A. is dire, and his tuition is at risk. His sister, Lina, graduates from high school, but her pride keeps her from applying to a college she can afford, and she works at an ice cream parlor while on just one waitlist. Lina is clearly talented and smart, but keeps tripping herself up, devastatingly, with her misguided hope around both her future and her absent father. Donny, the youngest, is the golden child, and while he is recused from the expectation of higher education, this exception gives him nothing to stand on. A gifted computer coder, he starts to drift away from the family and takes up a beach bum lifestyle. Everything hinges on Diane coming to her senses and returning to gaining employment. But will she?

Though set 4 decades in the past, this story of the ripple effects of mental health and poverty feels urgently timely. Simpson's writing, delicate and introverted, carries its own subtle brutality, but with it a kind of magic. Since she let me know them so honestly, I fell in love with every character.

In the early 70s, a mother descends into a deep depression, ultimately becoming a permanent resident at a California hospital, and her children are left to pick up the pieces of their lives.

Commitment is extremely bleak. And slow. Spanning over a decade, the novel follows her children: tween Donnie, 16-year-old Lina, and college freshman Walter through early adulthood. Their struggles (everything from money to whether they should stay in school, eventually morphing into jobs and relationships -- and if they'll go down the same path as their mother) are on full display.

Though this book is set against the backdrop of a mother's hospitalization, it read more like a slice-of-life novel: Walter goes to class and wants a girlfriend, Lina assists with windows displays in a store. I normally love this genre but it was just SO. SLOW. When the end arrived I fully welcomed it.

This book follows three kids as they mature into young adults after their mother has a nervous breakdown and enters a sanitarium in the early 1970s. Loved it.

I think it will be difficult for me to convey in words how profound I found this book to be, but I will try.

The title is so simple but Mona Simpson manages to explore the meaning of "commitment" from about every angle there is. We see the more obvious examples of people committing to improving themselves, to educating themselves, exploring, relating, enjoying. Committing to staying sober. Committing to building a life. But we also see, in the center of the entire story, the vein that runs throughout, the commitment of a woman, Diane, to a mental health facility and the reverberations that causes throughout not only her three children's lives but her long-time friend, Julie, as well as many others she and they meet along the way.

Mona Simpson writes in such a way that the absolute most basic, simple moments and interactions feel like poetry. The result -- not only following these characters for decades, through the largest and smallest of life's changes, but doing so in a way that feels as if you're experiencing the same emotions because of the simultaneously vague but specifically relatable language -- ended up making me feel as if I'd just lived decades, too, in the best way, the one that makes you genuinely miss a book's company when it's complete.

Just... an absolutely epic story, brilliantly written.

I am such a fan of Mona Simpson! They way she tells stories about families and the people in their world... chef's kiss. We first meet the Aziz family when the oldest son,Walter, is headed off to UC Berkley as a freshmen in the 1970s. Diane, the single mom, his sister, Lina, a year behind, and his youngest brother Donnie head back to Los Angeles after they drop him off. Then Diane begins to find it difficult to go to work, then get out of bed. Lina and Donnie are soon left to take of her and the household bills. But soon, Diane's co-worker and friend Julie comes to help. We follow this family as they soon have to institutionalize Diane and how their life unfolds from there. This book covers the idea of family, grief of a life loss, mental health (for all the Aziz's), success, relationship of money, and what makes us happy. My only struggle in the book (as someone who reads at night, in bed) I had a hard time keeping score with all the characters as they often came back from the sibling's life. That is life, but as a reader... it left me asking... wait, who is this? This book is perfect for someone who loves a family drama that is character driven.

This is a raw look at mental health in fiction that I'm not sure I've seen handled as well as Simpson does here in Commitment. I ached for this family. She drew so many complex layers to this story yet it went down smoothly. There is so much to unpack here and this would make a terrific book club pick.

Mona Simpson’s Commitment tells the story of three siblings who grow up in the shadow of their single mom’s depression and mental health breakdown. We watch each character grow up in incredibly difficult circumstances to survive and make their way in life. A book about connections and the power of family relationships. A great read for those who like literary fiction and family dramas.

Thank you to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor and NetGalley for this ARC.

𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗠𝗜𝗧𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧 by Mona Simpson is a hard one to review because my feelings about it are all over the place. I’m very sure I didn’t read it under the best conditions (traveling and super busy), so don’t fully trust my own impressions, but I’ll give it a go.⁣
⁣
This story centers on the three children of a single mother who ends up in a California psychiatric hospital shortly after her oldest child starts college. It’s the 1970’s, a time when mental health care still existed. Navigating life with an absent mother became the dominating theme of her children’s lives. Walter desperately tries to get through college while also struggling to make money and keep his siblings on track. Lina, in high school at the time of her mom’s commitment, wants college badly, but she wants it on her terms and the odds are stacked against her. Donnie, the youngest, is completely set adrift despite his siblings' efforts.⁣
⁣
I really loved the family relationships in 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. Each person was an individual, but also a strong part of this family going through incredibly difficult times. I liked that the story spanned decades, letting the characters all grow and change in really interesting ways. I thought there was one big element of the story that felt pretty implausible, but I went with it. It also felt long and a bit repetitive, though I think that was more the conditions I was reading it under than the book itself (416 pages). I can’t ding it much for that. While writing, I’m remembering these characters very fondly, and I think that says a lot. 3.75 stars
⁣
Thanks to @aaknopf for and electronic ARC of #Commitment.

Commitment was the perfect title for this book. Not only did it deal with a character's commitment due to mental disease, but it displayed commitment by the various characters to their hopes and dreams as well as to their family and friends. It was a rather slow-moving story where the various characters were always waiting for the other shoe to drop. I was actually expecting the story to lead to a couple of situations that thankfully did not end up happening. Since the book was set during the 1970s when I was entering adult life myself, I could relate to many of the details. It was also interesting to learn some of the history of mental health treatment. Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for an advance copy to read and review.

I think Simpson's writing style takes a while to get used to and I did struggle at the beginning but once I got into the story and got comfortable with the writing style, I grew to really care about the characters and wanted to know what happened next in their story. I really appreciated that the story was told from all 3 POVs of the children because I felt like I had a better understanding of the whole picture and was able to develop a more emotional connection to each of them. I really liked the character-driven focus of the story following the children through their lives as their mother remained hospitalized and seeing all of the details of daily life while battling uncertainty. I did relate to all of the uncertainty about the future, but otherwise, I often had a hard time personally relating to the characters as I grew up in a different decade and felt myself trying to get on the same page and understanding the context of the time period while following their lives that felt both quite different and in some ways not at all from my own.

Thank you to Knopf and NetGalley for the early copy!

Commitment by Mona Simpson is a very highly recommended. This is an excellent, heartbreakingly beautiful family drama that explores the dynamics between the family members and the challenges they face.

Diane Aziz is a single mother who works as a nurse to support her three children, Walter, Lina, and Donnie. Now Walter is heading off to college. Driving him from Los Angeles to college at UC Berkeley will be the last thing she does before falling into a debilitating depression. Lina is still in high school and Donnie is much younger when the two have to deal with a mother who won't get out of bed. When Diane needs to be institutionalized in a state hospital, a close friend of their mother, Julie freely chooses to care for them as their father has never been a part of their lives.

Commitments are the thread that weaves this multigenerational saga together. Commitments to each other, between family and friends. Commitments to an institution, school, work. The narrative is also a coming-of-age drama as it follows Walter, Lina, and Donnie from 1972 in to the 1980s as they each endeavor to deal with their individual trials, personal and financial, while finding their way into adulthood and trying to do what they can for their mother.

Commitment excels as an in-depth character study. Anyone who enjoys family sagas with incredible character development will appreciate Commitment, as will those who have experienced life-changing events and have found friends to stand in the gap with them. The emotions and inner life of the siblings is captured in a realistic manner and each of them are full realized characters. You will care about them and wish them well.

The quality of the writing is absolutely exquisite. Simpson captures the realistic, complex emotions and struggles that each sibling faces. There are no dramatic twists other than those experienced as the characters navigate life and all the problems and pressure that can occur. They persevere and manage to make their way to adulthood without parental support but with the support and help of each other as well as others along the way. I love Commitment and it will surely be on the list of my favorite books in 2023.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Knopf Doubleday.
The review will be published on Barnes & Noble, Google Books, BookBrowse, Edelweiss, and Amazon.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to enjoy this title early in exchange for an honest review.

The premise of this book appealed to me greatly but the overall writing style and storyline fell flat. The characters and were developing but I wasn’t involved in that, the pacing and jumping back and forth in time was jarring and made it very hard to connect with the story they were trying to tell me. As a result, I couldn’t connect fully immerse or connect with the story or characters at all.