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Count the Ways: A Novel Hardcover – Deckle Edge, July 13, 2021

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 6,115 ratings

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In her most ambitious novel to date, New York Times bestselling author Joyce Maynard returns to the themes that are the hallmarks of her most acclaimed work in a mesmerizing story of a family—from the hopeful early days of young marriage to parenthood, divorce, and the costly aftermath that ripples through all their lives

Eleanor and Cam meet at a crafts fair in Vermont in the early 1970s. She’s an artist and writer, he makes wooden bowls. Within four years they are parents to three children, two daughters and a red-headed son who fills his pockets with rocks, plays the violin and talks to God. To Eleanor, their New Hampshire farm provides everything she always wanted—summer nights watching Cam’s softball games, snow days by the fire and the annual tradition of making paper boats and cork people to launch in the brook every spring. If Eleanor and Cam don’t make love as often as they used to, they have something that matters more. Their family.

Then comes a terrible accident, caused by Cam’s negligence. Unable to forgive him, Eleanor is consumed by bitterness, losing herself in her life as a mother, while Cam finds solace with a new young partner. 

Over the decades that follow, the five members of this fractured family make surprising discoveries and decisions that occasionally bring them together, and often tear them apart. Tracing the course of their lives—through the gender transition of one child and another’s choice to completely break with her mother—Joyce Maynard captures a family forced to confront essential, painful truths of its past, and find redemption in its darkest hours.

A story of holding on and learning to let go, Count the Ways is an achingly beautiful, poignant, and deeply compassionate novel of home, parenthood, love, and forgiveness.

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

An Amazon Best Book of July 2021: Eleanor meets Cam at a craft fair in the 1970s; they fall in love and he moves into her New Hampshire farmhouse. Soon, they are parents to three young children. Eleanor throws herself into making the best childhood for her children—the kind of childhood she didn’t have—and also financially supporting the family. In one unforgettable scene, Eleanor labors over a bûche de Noël for Christmas dinner. Cam is about to leave the house to go cross country skiing, and Eleanor is so angry at his lack of effort that she throws the elaborate cake into the trash. Count the Ways is full of the tiny ways a marriage is built and broken. And while a series of significant events eventually tears this family apart, it’s the minutiae of everyday life that cracks the foundation of Eleanor and Cam’s marriage. A sweeping epic told over decades, we see this family grow and change, although Eleanor’s maternal sacrifices consistently loom large. I haven’t stopped thinking about Count the Ways since I finished it. This is—quite simply—the best book I’ve read so far in 2021. —Sarah Gelman, Amazon Book Review

Review

“A fearlessly candid, heartrendingly forthright examination of the joys and terrors of family life from the perspective of a woman of unusual sensitivity and empathy, Count the Ways takes us on a memorable journey.” — Joyce Carol Oates

"Cut[s] across moments of national and personal upheaval to examine the complex web of family against the backdrop of history." — New York Times Book Review

"Wonderfully absorbing, precise and emotionally astute . . .I was moved by the characters' ambivalences, their misgivings, their anger, but most of all by their complex and fascinating love."  — Marisa Silver, New York Times bestselling author of The Mysteries

"Sensitively plumbing the complexity of human emotions, of love and forgiveness, [Maynard] draws readers into a deep, aching attachment to her characters, creating an ultimately hopeful tale just right for this moment." Booklist (starred review)

"The novel bites off a lot—a Brett Kavanaugh–inspired storyline, a domestic abuse situation, a trans child, Eleanor's career—and manages to resolve them all. . . Maynard creates a world rich and real enough to hold the pain she fills it with." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Readers will sink into Maynard’s masterful portrait of one woman’s life in this decades-spanning family saga.” — Library Journal (starred review)

“How did Maynard know that this is exactly the book we all need now? This exhilaratingly brilliant novel isn’t just an indelible story of the falling dominoes of a family struggling through crisis and through generations, it’s also about the times we live through. . . . This gorgeous story reminds us that love is always, always worth it.” — Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Pictures of You and With or Without You     

“Joyce Maynard is the queen of the family saga, and Count the Ways is the best! Instantly addicting, the story of Eleanor, Cam, and their children pulls you in and wraps itself around you like an heirloom quilt made of familiarity, intimacy, and the orchestral complexity of loving the people closest to us. This is the novel you’ll be longing to return to at the end of every day and one you will re-read for years to come.” — Jenna Blum, New York Times bestselling author of Those Who Save Us and The Lost Family

Count the Ways is the book you will want to curl up in a chair and read from beginning to end. It’s rich and complex, beautiful and heartbreaking, just like life. Reading about this flawed and lovely family will make you want to hug your own flawed and lovely family tight. Joyce Maynard celebrates the messy, wonderful thing that is love." — Ann Hood, author of The Knitting Circle and The Book That Matters Most

Count the Ways is an extraordinarily generous invitation into a woman’s intimate life, from the loneliness of her youth to the earned wisdom of middle age. In this richly imagined novel, Maynard never flinches as she portrays both quiet successes and heartbreaking failures at love, marriage, and motherhood. This is the work of one of our great storytellers.” — Meredith Hall, New York Times bestselling author of Beneficence

“My to-do list had umpteen items on it, but I let them all go to hell as I tore through Joyce Maynard’s latest page-turner. . . . To-do list? What to-do list? Under the Influence is a riveting read.” — New York Times bestselling author Wally Lamb on Under the Influence

“Joyce Maynard has, again, managed to tap flawlessly into the voice of a teenage girl: part hope, part fiction, and all heart. After Her is page-turning mystery, wrapped in a beautifully rendered story of sisterhood; and reading it is a journey through one’s own memory of what it meant to be thirteen, when the world was equally terrifying and fascinating. Books this compelling just don’t come around very often.” — Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author on After Her

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ William Morrow (July 13, 2021)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 464 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 006239827X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0062398277
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.36 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.41 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 6,115 ratings

About the author

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Joyce Maynard
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A native of New Hampshire, Joyce Maynard began publishing her stories in magazines when she was thirteen years old. She first came to national attention with the publication of her New York Times cover story, “An Eighteen Year Old Looks Back on Life”, in 1972, when she was a freshman at Yale.

Since then, she has been a reporter and columnist for The New York Times, a syndicated newspaper columnist whose “Domestic Affairs” column appeared in over fifty papers nationwide, a regular contributor to NPR and national magazines including Vogue, The New York Times Magazine, and many more, and a longtime performer with The Moth.

Maynard is the author of seventeen books, including the novel To Die For and the best-selling memoir, At Home in the World—translated into sixteen languages. Her novel, To Die For was adapted for the screen by Buck Henry for a film directed by Gus Van Sant , in which Joyce can be seen in the role of Nicole Kidman’s lawyer.. Her novel Labor Day was adapted and directed by Jason Reitman for a film starring Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin, to whom Joyce offered instruction for making the pie that appeared in a crucial scene in the film.

The mother of three grown children, Maynard runs workshops in memoir at her home in Lafayette California. In 2002 she founded The Lake Atitlan Writing Workshop in San Marcos La Laguna, Guatemala, where she hosts a weeklong workshop in personal storytelling every winter.

She is a fellow of The MacDowell Colony and Yaddo.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
6,115 global ratings
Emotional & raw story about life and parenthood.
4 Stars
Emotional & raw story about life and parenthood.
"A person can survive a lot, it turned out. Those things change you. But your carry on." -Joyce MaynardLet me start by telling you how intimidated I was of this chunky 450+ page book! I usually stay away from thicker books but this time, I'm so glad I didn't. What a wonderful story about life, love, and forgiveness.Count the Way was easy to read, I think because it was so relatable. The story follows Eleanor and her husband Cam, and their 3 children. Eleanor and Cam have built a beautiful life together. Now, with 3 children in the mix, their dynamics have changed a bit over the years. Life is good, until one day a small mistake from Cam drastically changes their family forever. It was so interesting to see how one life changing accident affected each member of the family differently.The author takes us on a journey through Eleanor's life which includes love, heartbreak and struggles. This story is so powerful and raw. I was constantly left reflecting on my own life. Eleanor loves being a mother but also struggles with trying to find balance between work and family life. As she and her husband drift further apart, she is eventually left with no choice but to start over with her children. Eleanor makes a conscious decision to protect Cam, keeping his infidelity from their children. However, as a direct result of this, it drives a wedge between her and her children.Will their family ever be okay, despite everything that's happened?This novel was a reminder that life throws curveballs. No matter how hard we try, sometimes, we just have to go with it. As parents, we try to make the best decisions for our family, especially our children, but some things are beyond our control. The storyline focuses on motherhood and the sacrifices that are made in order to protect and prioritize our children. Sometimes we try our best to make decisions for our children, but eventually, they will grow into their own person. This is by no means a feel good story, but it was thought-provoking and realistic. I loved the ending because everything seems to come full circle for Eleanor and Cam.The only thing I didn't like was the way transgender individuals were described within the story. However, I was still satisfied with the ending. I don't want to give too much away because Count the Ways is definitely worth reading. I'd highly recommend this one to those who enjoy coming of age novels and women's fiction.Thank you to the author @therealjoycemaynard @williammorrowbooks & @tlcbooktours for my gifted copy of this amazing book in exchange for an honest review.
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Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2024
And learning the intimate details of these well-developed characters. Not at all predictable or neatly tied up. Enjoyable and memorable. Am on the lookout for the sequel.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 30, 2024
When I first started reading this book, the story sounded so familiar to me. I finally realized that I had read it before. It had been so long, I didn't remember the ending, so I read it again. Even better the second time.
2 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2024
Eleanor never had a childhood surrounded by love and caring parents, so when they died in a car wreck, she was left to make her own life. Her dream was to find a place to live and to have a family to love. She found a place in the country, she found her handsome husband Cam, and she had three children that she promised to love and protect from all of life’s pains and disappointments. But, then life happened.

I loved reading this incredibly touching, and at times very sad, book. The struggle of a woman trying to make a perfect life and at the same time trying to find herself was painful to watch. Through all the changes, disappointments, and pain, her love for her children never wavers. She finds that life is not simple and that you can’t protect your children or yourself from all of life’s disappointments.

Couldn’t put the book down following Eleanor.
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Reviewed in the United States on August 1, 2021
This book is a deeply absorbing family saga that I devoured in a few days, to the exclusion of nearly everything else. Eleanor is a devoted mother, immersed and enmeshed in the daily lives of her three children. Her husband, Cam, is a loving father, but more relaxed and unfazed by life’s mundane
obligations. He’s a handsome sculptor with a roving eye and infrequent employment. Yet, Eleanor finds happiness with him, as they build their family, even though she shoulders the majority of the adult responsibilities, as if a job and fidelity were too much to ask of her immature, wayward, lackadaisical husband. I often loathed Cam, and wanted him to grow up and get his act together.
When tragedy strikes, fault lines appear in the marriage and grief threatens to overtake the couple, already burdened with crushing financial stress and lack of communication. Everyone retreats within themselves in order to cope, and Eleanor moves out of the beloved farm home, so that the children’s lives can remain as intact as possible. In the years that follow, the two oldest children have ever-decreasing contact with their mother, due to miscommunication and omission, and Cam retains his hero status in their eyes. I was conflicted about Eleanor’s decision to stay silent for so long, but understood her self-sacrificing love for her children, and her desire to protect them. The book explores many themes: infidelity, domestic violence, gender identity and AIDS. Most of these issues are experienced by the strong supporting characters, but they are woven expertly into the story.
This is a well-written book that is complex and enthralling. It’s easy to get immediately caught up in the story, as the reader takes the circuitous journey with this family. The unwavering love shines through, and Maynard seems to strive to want this tale to be about forgiveness. There does seem to be an inordinate amount of tragedy in this book, but it is a compelling and worthwhile read.
10 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2024
I loved this audiobook, but I plan to read the actual book before starting the sequel. Family, trauma, heartache, love, children, generations, it has it all.
Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2021
I changed my opinion of this book several times amid it's torturous reading journey. Perhaps that was the author's intention. It was an engaging, thought-provoking read: one not soon forgotten.

First of all, this is NOT just another fictional "retrospective" of a Baby Boomer but rather a story of discovery and the reality of life's meaning and purpose, as seen through the eyes of Eleanor, an only child of parents who barely tolerated her existence. Then, everything changes after a tragedy, when sixteen year-old Eleanor's life begins anew with dreams of better things and the perfect life and family she wants most.

With the exception of the prologue and the first few chapters, this poignant story unfolds in roughly chronologically order, allowing us to experience Eleanor's life as she lives it, giving it a fresh perspective of each event, thought, and emotion in real time. Although the first few chapters cast a dark shadow and premonitions over the storyline, readers will quickly like Eleanor's character as she matures amid many challenging and also exciting experiences.

Set almost exclusively in New England and primarily in New Hampshire, the location and historical contexts add charm and personality to Eleanor's story, especially as she and Cam find love and build a new family on a quaint rural farm in a spartan farmhouse.

Joyce Maynard creates a series of unique and quirky characters that add depth and color to the young families misadventures. The author's focused storytelling reveals Eleanor's inexperienced approach to reality, combining good intentions, wishful thinking, and life's surprises into tales that might resemble and explain similar experiences in our own lives or the lives of those we know, making the story highly relatable.

This entertaining read takes time to enjoy and absorb, much longer than normal for me. In part because I kept trying to understand the things Eleanor wasn't sharing or ignoring in her one-sided accounts. This made the story more realistic and believable.

I also purchased Audible's narration supplement that was a nice touch, adding depth and pacing to the complex story.

Overall, this was a worthwhile reading experience. At times, I felt the author had a checklist of issues and experiences she pushed into the storyline, while also sensing a few too many coincidences to tidy up the plot.

Perhaps the strongest element of the story is Eleanor's reassessment of her own experiences and the motives of others. Even with all her flaws, misjudgments, and poor timing, Eleanor remains likeable, especially as her older and wiser perspectives emerge.

There's something in this book for everyone, making it a good option for reading groups and those wanting to discuss it.

Definitely 4.5 Stars!
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Top reviews from other countries

Shanna McRae
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic!
Reviewed in Canada on January 27, 2022
This is the first book by Joyce Maynard that I have read. I absolutely loved reading this book and her years of writing experience were felt on every page. I loved how developed all the characters were and felt a plethora of emotions for all of them throughout the book. It was a difficult read in the sense that I was observing Elenor and family slowly crack and break page after page. I loved the musical references and the historical references. I loved it all, even the parts that had me frustrated at the main character for walking away from her happiness so many times. I highly recommend reading this book if you enjoy an emotional read that doesn’t always have a perfect happy ending.
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Patricia
5.0 out of 5 stars I am devouring it - again!
Reviewed in Canada on July 20, 2021
Count the Ways is a wonderful read. As soon as I was finished reading it, I started read it again. I loved how skillfully all the plot details wove together, how accurate the details from that time are, how ‘real’ the conversations are. Truly a great read!
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susan
5.0 out of 5 stars Good read
Reviewed in Canada on September 23, 2022
First book I have read by this author. Great character development and storyline.
Renee gammon
5.0 out of 5 stars Loved this book
Reviewed in Canada on August 24, 2021
Captivating and emotional. An accurate summary of how many mothers feel. I didn't want it to end. I recommend this book.
raili salminen
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book.
Reviewed in Canada on July 20, 2021
Enjoyed every bit of it.Once started it was hard to put down even though the story sometimes meandered a bit.Recommend it.