Review: Objects of My Affection by Jill Smolinski

Title: Objects of My Affection
Author: Jill Smolinski
Format: Audiobook
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Publish Date: 2012
Source: Library

Why You're Reading This Book:

• You're a fiction fan. 
• You like really good characters.

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "Lucy Bloom is broke, freshly dumped by her boyfriend, and forced to sell her house to send her nineteen-year-old son to drug rehab. Although she’s lost it all, she’s determined to start over. So when she’s offered a high-paying gig helping clear the clutter from the home of reclusive and eccentric painter Marva Meier Rios, Lucy grabs it. Armed with the organizing expertise she gained while writing her book, Things Are Not People, and fueled by a burning desire to get her life back on track, Lucy rolls up her sleeves to take on the mess that fills every room of Marva’s huge home. Lucy soon learns that the real challenge may be taking on Marva, who seems to love the objects in her home too much to let go of any of them.

While trying to stay on course toward a strict deadline—and with an ex-boyfriend back in the picture, a new romance on the scene, and her son’s rehab not going as planned—Lucy discovers that Marva isn’t just hoarding, she is also hiding a big secret. The two form an unlikely bond, as each learns from the other that there are those things in life we keep, those we need to let go—but it’s not always easy to know the difference."

My Two Cents: 

As you guys may remember, I'm slowly but surely sticking my toes in the world of audiobooks. Luckily, I've had pretty good experiences with them so far. I really loved "Objects of My Affection." It definitely translated well to the audiobook format.

Lucy is facing a lot of big issues when the book opens. First, she's hired to organize the house of Marva, a famous artist who has now become a hoarder. Lucy must keep this job totally secret in order to protect Marva's identity. On top of it all, Marva is anything but cooperative. Second, Lucy's only son is in rehab fighting an addiction to a litany of prescription drugs. Between these two problems, Lucy has a lot on her mind. I think the way that Lucy tries to work through these issues really made me like her. She's not perfect. She makes some mis-steps. She realizes that she's only human. I sort of like that she wasn't perfect. It made her a lot more relatable. I did find myself wanting to shake her a couple times throughout the book, especially when it came to dealing (or rather not dealing with Ash's drug problem).

Even though the story is told from the point of view of Lucy, I was still very drawn to Marva. Marva is a famous artist although most of her works were done earlier in her life and she's become kind of a recluse. She has a lot of really good one-liners throughout the book and is deliciously full of snark. I loved it!

You really do get invested into the lives of these characters. You care about them and you really want them to succeed. Definitely the mark of a good book!

There were a couple holes in the story but nothing that really took too, too much away from the book. I didn't understand why Marva wanted to do what she wanted to do. Her reasoning didn't seem reasonable when it eventually came to light. I wonder if there was something more to it than what she actually says.

I think this is a good story about how even if you don't do things right the first time, you always can have a second chance to go back and try to do them better the next time.

Bottom line: Definitely a good story!