Other People Manage

I’m unfamiliar with this author, but what drew me was the book’s lovely cover photograph. The description sounded good, so I thought I would give it a whirl. I’m really glad I did as I enjoyed this story a lot. The blurb on Good Reads is right; quite serious subjects are tackled with a light hand. (Apart from the first main event and I kept wondering why not the police? Why not just tell them?)

There are some interesting metaphors and ways of expressing how Marge feels, mainly about her family and her childhood, her relationship with Peg and the rather complex relationships of Peg’s siblings and children. You see her evolve throughout the book. I think the style of writing and low-key tone reminded me of an Anne Tyler novel.

I wonder if I’m the only one who fancied making a meatloaf by the end? I bet not!

I will definitely look out for more by Ellen Hawley.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an ARC.

This is a really interesting snapshot of a read. Great insight into a period of time and relationships.
Felt real and quite hard hitting at times.

A beautifully written portrayal of grief.
Marge and Peg begin their lives together after meeting in a cafe.
This is a beautifully told love story that narrates the ups and downs of their relationship.
The loss that Marge feels for Peg when she dies is visible on the page and you feel that you can see these characters and their complex lives.
Theses of family, love, grief and conflict jump off these pages.
Well told and recommended.
Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley in allowing me to read in return for a review.

This was a lovely little read that gave a peephole into love, loss and grief. It was well written with good characterisation and a cute storyline. A quick and easy read.

Marge and Peg meet in the Coffee House in the late '70s. This is their story. One of togetherness, of loving another person in thousands of unsayable tiny ways. It's also a story about family, about putting one foot after another and doing the next best thing, and the next best thing in the hopes that someday you might just be able to make sense of it all. It's a story about grief. About not knowing how to do the next best thing and somehow still doing it anyway.

I didn't expect this story to knock me sideways in the way that it did. I thought that it'd be yet another story about relationships and loss that would somehow miss the mark. But Hawley writes a visceral story about setting yourself alight for another person. About being present. About noticing. Her observations about the everyday are incredibly insightful. She writes about the sentimental things while somehow not edging across the line into being overly sentimental.

Hawley does a lot within these few pages. A thoroughly enjoyable read.

This is a lovely and slow unfolding of a life together. It begins and ends with Peg, the partner of Marge, when they first meet in the late 1970s as the story unfurls through their life together. It's a very quiet, oddly peaceful novel about a life lived together and a space carved out within a family. There are no grand overseeing narratives but instead it resonates with an ordinariness of life and love that creates a deeply contemplative and touching story.

A lovely, poignant, and well written story that talks about grief and people. The author can write and I appreciated the storytelling and the characters.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This is a sweet story of the relationship of Peg and Marge, a couple who meet in the1970s.
Nothing huge happens but it’s a quiet meditation on a life lived together and the place of a relationship within the wider family.
This is a touching love story: told through Marge’s eyes, you get a strong sense of Peg and who she was.
Recommended: you’ll enjoy this if you like character rather than plot-driven novels that linger over detail and aren’t afraid to dwell on the minutiae that make a relationship and a life.

Ellen Hawley’s Other People Manage is a sad book. It definitely has a redemptive ending (I don’t think that’s a spoiler), but three quarters of the novel are pretty sad. Ellen Hawley writes beautifully about grief and finding love (for life, for other people), when you are damaged by your family. What makes it work is that you care about Marge, the narrator, and are willing her to come through the trials that life has thrown at her. Moving and thoughtful.

I have been recommending this book to friends who are struggling, as an encouragement. Marge's story is so raw and honest, and funny, that we go along with her and understand that our lives aren't perfect either, and sometimes it hurts a lot to love, but it's okay. We'll get through this. I will be hand-selling this enthusiastically - it's encouraging, uplifting, honest and funny.