Vicki M. (GVvicki) reviewed The Diaries of Jane Somers: The Diary of a Good Neighbor and If The Old Could on
Helpful Score: 1
"These two sensitive and highly contemporary (1984) novels, about the inexplicable nature of human relationships, center around Jane Somers, ostensibly their author, a handsome, fashionable middleaged woman, the editor of a successful woman's magazine. Since the death of her husband - with whom she seldom had any serious communication and for whom she hardly grieved - she has felt emotionally disconnected. By chance, in the local pharmacy, she meets Maudie, a skinny tattered, dirty scrap of humanity in her eighties, possessed of a fierce and indomitable pride. The Diary of a Good Neighbor is the story of the extraordinary friendship that develops between the two and the transforming effect it has on both. If the Old Could...continues the story of Jane when other changes once again dislocate her life and she most improbably falls in love with a man she literally meets on the street. The realization of the voice and the very essence of Jane is one of the author's considerable achievements." I have read both of these twice and found them difficult to set aside. You'll love Maudie and be put off by her at the same time. Great reading!
