Her life turned upside down by a grim diagnosis, a small-town Maine woman sets about writing a “How To” life manual for her handsome yet hapless husband in a novel Elinor Lipman (Good Riddance, On Turpentine Lane) calls “smart, funny-quirky, and so very satisfying.”Annie and her devoted but comically incompetent childhood sweetheart Sam are the owners and operators of Annie’s, a gourmet sandwich … and operators of Annie’s, a gourmet sandwich shop, home to the legendary Paul Bunyan Special Sandwich–their “nutritionally challenged continual source of income and marital harmony and local fame.”
But into their mostly charmed marriage comes the scary medical diagnosis for Annie–and the overwhelming challenge of finding a way to help Sam go on without her. Annie decides to leave Sam step-by-step instructions for a future without her, and considers her own replacement in his heart and their bed.Her best-laid plans grind to a halt with the unexpected appearance of Ursula, Annie’s Manhattan diva of a mother, who brings her own brand of chaos and disruption into their lives.
Minus Me is a poignant and hilarious novel about the bonds of marriage, the burdens of maternal love, and the courage to face mortality, “with an ending readers will cherish (Caroline Leavitt, Pictures of You).”
“Medwed’s lovely novel of marriage, motherhood, love and loss is so real that at times it feels like non-fiction. It’s a timely reminder that in the worst of times, we sometimes rediscover the very best of ourselves.” –Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of A Spark of Light.
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This was a fun read and a great distraction from the current news. I loved the directions Annie wrote for Sam – they were funny and real and heartbreaking all at once. It was a novel way to help the reader understand their relationship. The author has a wonderful sense of humor and draws colorful characters you can’t help but love. I looked forward to sitting down with this story every day, and enjoyed the setting, the clever descriptions, and the tidy endings to not just the main storyline but the subplots. Funny, endearing, and clever read.
Welcome to Passamaquoddy, Maine, where Annie Stevens-Strauss has just received a probable diagnosis of lung cancer. In shock, she resists her doctor’s recommendation to have a biopsy and wonders how she can ever prepare her husband, Sam, for her death.
After Sam keeps dismissing Annie’s efforts to tell him she is ill, Annie comes to the decision that she will write a “how-to” guide on how to survive without her. We see bits of her advise shared in post-it notes stuck to the beginning of each chapter.
When Ursula, who is Annie’s mother and an actress, comes to town to accept an award, she finds the manual hidden in Annie’s lingerie drawer. Ursula uses her celebrity status to get a doctor’s appointment with an oncologist in New York. Annie reluctantly makes the trip with her mother and learns more about Ursula as she does about her diagnosis.
I felt very detached from the characters for about half of the book. Fortunately, that reaction changed and I instead found myself turning pages more quickly than I had earlier. Annie, Sam, and Ursula suddenly became more real. I began to feel something for them and enjoyed the story more. I loved the premise of the book, but the comedy often fell flat with me. Maybe this is because I actually have heard of women who left similar instructions – along with a list of suggested second wives.
I do recommend that you give this book a chance.
I received an Advance Copy of this book from the publisher via a giveaway at LibraryThing.com. No promise was made of a positive review.
Can you really take for granted your life, your marriage, your friends? When facing a difficulty time everything can go down in a heart beat or it will make you stronger. This is Annie’s journey from a easy life to the discover your of her real childhood, her mother’s value and the real love of her husband. Great book
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
A sad heartbreaking story but also uplifting at the same time! Annie and Sam are married and when Annie gets a terminal diagnosis, she wants to write everything down so Sam can go on without her. This book has amazing characters and all in all a book I thoroughly enjoyed! I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.
I so enjoyed this story!
When Annie receives a devastating diagnosis, she knows that she has to help her husband Sam once she is gone.
Hence, she writes a manual for his survival that she is sure will help him move forward without her.
What she does not expect, is her mother visiting and then finding this manual and reading it!
They have never had a true Mother-Daughter relationship and Annie had no intention of telling Ursula of this situation. OH NO! Now what?
A story of fear, hope and love, mixed with humor and the reality of just how short life might be!
Well done!!
I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher for an honest review. When I read what the book was about it intrigued me because it is one of those things no one is sure what they would do until you’re faced with it. This book tells us what Annie decides to do so we can see all that she goes through, how things can change and improve, plus how much her relationship with her mother improved. We also get to see what her husband goes through because all he knows is his wife abandoned him.
This is a wonderful book of what-ifs that is going to be great for people to read because it is going to have great discussions after reading it. It makes us think about what we would do and I have a better understanding of what someone goes through so it will help me if or when I am faced with it. This is a great book that shows us so many emotions and someday we all will face our mortality so it is nice to have a better understanding of it.