Save What's Left

 

Save What's Left by Elizabeth Castellano is another Good Morning America’s Book Club pick and was named one of People Magazine’s Best Books of the Summer for 2023. These acknowledgements are all pretty impressive. Yet, after reading this book, I'm not sure that it lives up to all the hype.

Kathleen is stunned when her cardiologist husband, Tom, wants out of their 30-year marriage. Feeling bitter about the separation, Kathleen spontaneously purchases a water-front home in Whitbey, New York State sight unseen. As soon as she arrives at her new place, Kathleen realizes she has made a terrible mistake.

Her life now consists of a massive renovation project to the house next-door that is unlawful, noisy and leaves her own home dusty. Life goes steadily downhill from there for Kathleen.

She files many grievances with the local government about the new development, but it is no help. She has so many complaints about the construction and the town itself that I frustratingly can’t keep track of them all. Each chapter starts with a long-winded cantankerous e-mail composed by Kathleen to a local government official. The rambling correspondence doesn’t advance the barely-there plot at all. It only adds to this book’s confusion. Additionally, Kathleen is having misunderstandings with her overly opinionated neighbors about the future of the Whitbey community.

Right off the bat, I'm struck by this book’s biting humor and I like it at first. However, after a while, Kathleen’s cynicism and whining became irritating. So much so, that it was a struggle for me to finish, even though it’s a relatively short book. Instead of being about starting over after a failed marriage, Saved What's Left is a catalog of Kathleen’s gripes. While I sympathize with her situation, there is just so much grumbling that I found myself tuning it out almost altogether.

In the past, I have mentioned that I listen to audiobooks rather than reading the book due to a physical disability. In my opinion, the narrator’s performance was over-the-top, which may have negatively influenced my view of this book.

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