What now?

Sometimes, when asked why I live on the west Gulf coast of Florida, I say it is because Kennedy was elected president. Say what? My Dad helped run his presidential campaign and we moved from NH to DC. We picked up the son of one of his associates at the airport and the son arrived carrying a fine Nikon camera. When I asked about it he explained the numbers and I was hooked. He later constructed a darkroom and along with Dad's staff photographer's help I began my love of photography leading to many courses and seminars over the years. I was living in Orlando and picked up an enlargement and the store owner complimented me on the shot and suggested I enter it in Selby. "What's a Selby?", asks I and he explains it is a botanical garden on the west coast that hosts an annual competition and gave me an entry form. I won the landscape division and went over for the ceremony and discovered a wonderful patch of Florida I never knew existed and we relocated there within the year.I mention this as a tie-in to Patchett's book as it begins with her arriving at college and wanting to make her advisor some cookies. Whips them up only to find that the dorm oven doesn't work so off she goes in search of a working oven. The first place she comes to is a home where the new college president answers the door amidst moving in boxes. She takes pity on the the Freshman and leads Ann to the kitchen and gives her free reign. Ann left a nice thank you note on a paper towel when she left. She later went back as baby sitter, server at dinner parties and sometime cook. Naturally, meaningful connections and ideas resulted.Maybe it is my fondness for Ann as a writer that I enjoyed her life advice and descriptions in this slender tome. Probably the most telling quote - “Just because things hadn't gone the way I had planned didn't necessarily mean they had gone wrong.” So true! Probably led to my enjoying the slogan -"We can't control the wind, but we can adjust the sails!"Anyway, I found the slender tome enjoyable and worthy. For those critical of the brevity of the book and the padding with pix illustrating the "What now?" theme, bear in mind that it is a recap of a commencement speech she gave at Sarah Lawrence college, so lighten up. A quick, worthy distraction and probably an ideal gift for your relatives graduating shortly!

I love Ann Patchett. Her books are beautiful and spectacularly written. Her stories are so different and so well written that it is always a pleasure. This book is different, it is her speech to college graduates. She talks about her beginnings, her journey towards who she is now and what she wanted to do and the obstacles and the constant nagging of some people around us who ask us what next? It was very personal to me because there is always an expectation and we often fulfill not our own dreams, but the dreams and expectations of our parents and the society, not knowing who we really are and what we want. I thought it was incrcredible how honest she was with herself, her work and achievments. I loved when she said she spent hours of simply staring to know, to see, to create the world she wanted to create in her stories. Such a valuable lesson. This book is short, that was a dissapointment. I wish it was longer, but....Great read and she is one of my favorite writers.

I bought this for a friend who is turning 65 in a couple of weeks. She is certainly on the brink of a new life, and may yet be moreso, as she is looking, without luck, to buy a house, and has been single for over 20 years, not willingly. I remarried at age 42; we celebrate our 40th anniversary next fall. I know that What Now? is a question that can be asked at any age. Ann Patchett, my absolute favorite fiction writer, turns her skills to the essay here, with delightful results. She may not answer the question she poses, but she suggest ways in which the reader can arrive at an answer appropriate for him or her.

So disappointed.I understood, going in, that this was a longer essay/book based on Patchett's Sarah Lawrence commencement address. I knew it was 97 pages long and wasn't expecting it to be much more than say novella-length. But there is really a TON of filler in this -- from the spacing choices to the endless stock photos, I found the price/content to be sorely mismatched. The actual essay content felt equal in length to say... a longer article in the New Yorker or Slate... which is not something I then expect to pay ~$10 kindle and ~$12 hardcover for.Now, I get that that's a lot of complaining about price, so let me move on and speak to the content.First, let me say again, I LOVE Ann Patchett.But there were many times when it felt as though this slightly-reworked commencement speech was dragging on endlessly. If you've read her other stuff, much of it will feel repetitive (like shorter/longer versions of other life event she's previously alluded to) and it just didn't have the same "spark" that a lot of writing normally exhibits.She's the queen of talking about life and career transitions, she's witty and intelligent and an amazing writer, but this is a project that drags on and ultimately washes out its message (that life's a work in progress, that we've got to be constantly open to change and accepting of new unexpected challenges, etc).

After seeing Maria Shriver on Oprah taling about her book, I decided to buy it. Then I stumbled across What Now? I love Ann Patchett's novels so I thought I'd try this book, too. I am so glad I did. This book makes you think back on experiences in your own life that have made you into who you are today. It makes you realize that it is not too late to make new choices each day in how you look at things, react to them and learn from them. It helped me to remember how much of an impact we can all have on each other. Plus, it made me cry . . . in a good way. Which for me, is a good thing.

It's just a graduation speech, really short and intertwined with images. It is an alright graduation speech though, but I find others like "This is water" by David Foster Wallace or "Very good lives" by J.K. Rowling much more insightful and helpful. I expected more.