The Whole World Over by Julia Glass

The Basics

Book Info: The Whole World Over by Julia Glass.  Glass previously wrote The Three Junes, and one of the characters I loved, Fenno McLeod, appears here. 

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Plot Overview: Greenie Duquette has been chosen by the governor of New Mexico as his personal chef. In an instant, Greenie decides to take him up on his offer and move to New Mexico, taking her son, and leaving her husband behind.  The rest of the story details what happens to all the people around her because of that one decision.

Jumping In:

Importance of the Title:  Toward the end of the book, Greenie comments that birds the whole world over find their way home again. In that instant, I knew how the book would end, and was glad she’d mentioned it later in the story.

Point-of-View/ Style: Written in 3^rd person, we get to see what’s going on with all the characters of the book, not just Greenie.  I usually enjoy this style because it clues us in on the motivations of other people, and moves the story along in a more interesting way.  Glass used chapters to differentiate between characters, and made it easy to figure out whose story was being told.

Themes: With this book, Glass shows us how one decision can spiral and affect the lives of others.  Greenie’s move affected people that she didn’t even know yet in ways she could have never foreseen. It makes me wonder if she would have moved had she known what would happen (I think no, but I’ll get into this more later). 

Certainly, with this kind of theme, Glass also looks at the relationships between others. Particularly marriages.  We have an inside look at the state of Greenie’s marriage, but through the course of the story, we also get to see how the marriages and relationships of those around Greenie and Alan are not as perfect on the inside as they might seem.  Because of their decisions or comments (sometimes rash) their relationships are changed forever too.

My Notes:

Likes & Dislikes: I liked the idea of the book and its focus on the little things that end up making huge differences in our lives.  I enjoyed the read while I was reading it. However, in retrospect, I think I didn’t like it that well, and I certainly didn’t like it as much as Three Junes.  Glass’s writing is plodding in The Whole World Over, and while I didn’t mind reading it, I kept looking wistfully at other books that I really wanted to start.

Also, most of the characters weren’t that likeable.  I kept trying to find redeeming qualities about Greenie, but in the end still thought she was selfish.  I could be wrong, but I believe that family comes first.  The characters I did like (Walter, Fenno, and George), I didn’t get to read nearly enough about.

Finally, I didn’t like the holes that Glass left in the dialogue.  She would end chapters with major events about to happen, and then we would only hear about the aftermath through someone else in the next chapter.  Does she not like to write dialogue much?  There were some conversations that I would have liked to hear.     

What questions I’m left with: I’d love to read more about Fenno’s life in another book.  He’s an interesting and well-read character, and I loved him in Three Junes.  I’m also interested to know how Greenie and Alan’s child George turns out as a teenager and an adult.  How did his parents separation affect him later on?  Also, there was an allusion to there being more to the story of his antics with his friend Diego, but that issue is never resolved in the book to my satisfaction.  Perhaps Glass wrote this way on purpose because there are things we wonder in life and never find out about.  Personally, I like a tidy ending.

What this book makes me think about:  There are things in my life that would have altered the course of it, had I made another decision.  If I’d not gone back to work at my old job for Christmas while I was in college and visiting at home, I would never have met my husband and had Matthew.  That certainly would have changed my life measurably.  I can think of lots of examples just like this one, and I like this theme for a book, even if I didn’t enjoy it that well.  What life-changing decisions have you made and how might things have changed if you’d acted differently?

If you’ve reviewed this book, leave me a link and I’ll add it to this review.  Or, if you’ve read the book, do you agree or disagree with my thoughts?