Rules for Visiting

Locations
Call Number: Fiction / Kane, Jessica, Adult Book / Fiction / General / Kane, Jessica Francis
On Shelf At: Downtown Library, Malletts Creek Branch, Pittsfield Branch, Traverwood Branch, Westgate Branch

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	Fiction / Kane, Jessica	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Malletts Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / General / Kane, Jessica Francis	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Pittsfield Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / General / Kane, Jessica Francis	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Traverwood Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / General / Kane, Jessica Francis	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Traverwood Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / General / Kane, Jessica Francis	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Westgate Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / General / Kane, Jessica Francis	4-week checkout	On Shelf

A beautifully observed and deeply funny novel of May Attaway, a university gardener who sets out on an odyssey to reconnect with four old friends over the course of a year. At forty, May Attaway is more at home with plants than people. Over the years, she's turned inward, finding pleasure in language, her work as a gardener, and keeping her neighbors at arm's length while keenly observing them. But when she is unexpectedly granted some leave from her job, May is inspired to reconnect with four once close friends. She knows they will never have a proper reunion, so she goes, one-by-one, to each of them. A student of the classics, May considers her journey a female Odyssey. What might the world have had if, instead of waiting, Penelope had set out on an adventure of her own? Rules For Visiting is a woman's exploration of friendship in the digital age. Deeply alert to the nobility and the ridiculousness of ordinary people, May savors the pleasures along the way--afternoon ice cream with a long-lost friend, surprise postcards from an unexpected crush, and a moving encounter with ancient beauty. Though she gets a taste of viral online fame, May chooses to bypass her friends' perfectly cultivated online lives to instead meet them in their messy analog ones. Ultimately, May learns that a best friend is someone who knows your story--and she inspires us all to master the art of visiting.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

Library Journal Review
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Summary / Annotation
Author Notes

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Moving story submitted by Lucy S on June 15, 2019, 7:00am A wonderful reflection on friendship, what it is to be truly known, the handling and processing of grief. And a unique exploration of language, literature, and horticulture.

Slow, thoughtful, melancholic submitted by mowjac on August 1, 2019, 10:00am A slow story of a woman facing midlife, the threshold of passing her mother's lifespan, and revisiting her friends. With some witty barbs about modern life and references to literary classics, this novel is generally a slow paced movement through visits with friends and work. Very middle class, emotionally disattached and borderline flat, I found it redeemed by continual garden and nature factoids and the words sketching around emotion but never fully entering.

Friendship Holding submitted by tnahra on August 31, 2019, 3:56pm Truly a joy to quietly climb into this story. . The quirky, relatable main character is hilarious, contemplative, and appropriately introspective without being annoying. A journey of awareness, reflection, and connection.

Poignant & gentle submitted by smgop on July 14, 2021, 2:34pm This was a slow, quiet and somewhat poignant read for me.