What do you think?
Rate this book
Pippa Lee
At fifty, Pippa Lee seems just fine. The devoted wife of a brilliant publisher thirty years her senior, the proud mother of successful twins, and a lovely and adored friend and neighbour, she seems to glow with feminine serenity. But when her husband spontaneously decides they should cast off Gramercy Park for Marigold Village retirement home, as a "preemptive strike against his decrepitude," Pippa finds her beatific persona unravelling in alarming ways.The truth is, the gracious woman of the present day has seen more than her fair share of the wild side. By seventeen, Pippa has lived with a Dexedrine-addicted mother, felt the first stirrings of sexuality with a school girlfriend, had an affair with a teacher, and run away from home, set adrift on a course littered with broken hearts -- until she found love and security in a family of her own.And now that seemingly established world, too, is in danger.In Pippa Lee we have an unforgettable heroine, and a quirky and acutely intelligent portrait of the many lives behind a single name. Even after we’ve read it, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee is a story that is still unfurling.
360 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2002
53 people are currently reading
1,318 people want to read
About the author
Rebecca Miller
79books94followersRebecca Miller is an American film director, screenwriter and actress, most known for her films Personal Velocity: Three Portraits, The Ballad of Jack and Rose and Angela, all of which she wrote and directed.
Daughter of playwright Arthur Miller and photographer Inge Morath.
Miller married the actor Daniel Day-Lewis in 1996.
Daughter of playwright Arthur Miller and photographer Inge Morath.
Miller married the actor Daniel Day-Lewis in 1996.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 365 reviews
December 14, 2018
This started out well; a somewhat familiar scene, older husband plus younger wife - by 30 years. The husband, aged 80 wants to retire, or at least give an appearance of retirement - moves with his wife Pippa to the Marigold Village, a retirement community, Connecticut. Once settled, however, Pippa's other self raises a long-lost identity and starts sleepwalking, cooking crazy messes in the night, smoking in her car etc.
The novel flicks back to Pippa's upbringing, and a mother who uses her daughter as an emotional surrogate for the estranged husband.
Pippa gradually understands her mother's odd behaviour is connected to her Dexedrine habit, and leaves home before finishing high-school. She's involved with an older, married teacher, at the local boys school.
Then my interest wandered - brought back briefly with interesting character in Aunt Trish who provides sanctuary for Pippa in her apartment in Brooklyn. Aunt T has a lesbian lover Kat, who turns out to be a user.
Even more difficulty in focussing as Pippa learns about the rough side of New York habitants - hookers, alcoholics, drug users etc.
Struggled on through the next tedious section.
Finally given up where she meets future hubby, rich, older, successful Herb Lee. They fall madly in love. Herb divorces dolly wife Gigi of the fabulous bod, and becomes Pippa's perfect sugar-daddy - the sex was like "two waves crashing together and becoming the same water."
God - was I BORED!!
Can only describe the last half, possibly last third as Trash, and have given up.
The novel flicks back to Pippa's upbringing, and a mother who uses her daughter as an emotional surrogate for the estranged husband.
Pippa gradually understands her mother's odd behaviour is connected to her Dexedrine habit, and leaves home before finishing high-school. She's involved with an older, married teacher, at the local boys school.
Then my interest wandered - brought back briefly with interesting character in Aunt Trish who provides sanctuary for Pippa in her apartment in Brooklyn. Aunt T has a lesbian lover Kat, who turns out to be a user.
Even more difficulty in focussing as Pippa learns about the rough side of New York habitants - hookers, alcoholics, drug users etc.
Struggled on through the next tedious section.
Finally given up where she meets future hubby, rich, older, successful Herb Lee. They fall madly in love. Herb divorces dolly wife Gigi of the fabulous bod, and becomes Pippa's perfect sugar-daddy - the sex was like "two waves crashing together and becoming the same water."
God - was I BORED!!
Can only describe the last half, possibly last third as Trash, and have given up.
November 1, 2019
When the book begins Pippa is in her fifties. She’s one of those well-to-do perfect housewife types that everyone simply adores. She’s been married to Herb, thirty years her senior, for thirty or so years and they are the parents of grown up twins. Life is idyllic with a beach house and everything. Herb is eighty(ish) when he realizes one day he’s getting old and wants to sell their real estate and move into a planned community for aging people so Pippa won’t have to care for him when his health starts to fail.
I went into this book cold, having grabbed the audiobook randomly off a shelf. When it began I thought it was going to be a quirky fish out of water type of read with highbrow, spoiled Pippa trying to fit in with the older folks at the community but it’s not about that. I then thought it would be a mystery of sorts when a creepy neighbor moves in and strange things start to happen after Pippa and Herb go to bed. But it’s not about that either. It’s all about Pippa’s “secret lives�. I guess the title should’ve clued me in.
Anyway, as Pippa shares her past it is soon revealed that she has been everything but perfect. I won’t give it all away in case you have this in your tbr pile somewhere. I’ll only say that the more I learned about Pippa, the less I liked about Pippa. She is, was and probably always will be a selfish, relationship ruining, woe-is-me type. But she feels oh-so bad and shoulders so much guilt but feels she can’t help her actions because they are not her fault. It is the fault of the legacy passed on to her by the women before her. Oh boo frigging hoo. Grow up and take responsibility for your poor (and selfish) choices. Honestly, I have no sympathy for someone like this. She doesn’t learn from her mistakes. She uses her past as a crutch. Old people disgust her. And I think she may bathe in kitten blood to maintain her beauty when no one is looking. Ok, so I made the last one up but really it’s not much of a stretch.
At one point Pippa says to herself, “I would like the chance to be kind.�
I would’ve liked that too.
It’s tough for me to enjoy a book when I dislike the main character so very much but I kept reading hoping for some great epiphany when Pippa would realize most of the problems in her life were of her own making and that she’d finally change her patterns. She does have some realizations, especially regarding her daughter and even once admits (again to herself) that her actions were “grotesque� but it was not enough. Just when I started to feel a glimmer of compassion towards her the ridiculous and very rushed ending happens. Again, I won’t give it away but the whole thing ended on a really sour note for me and I feel like I wasted hours of my life finishing this thing. This is one book I truly regret not DNFing after disc one.
I can’t say this was badly written or horrible because it wasn’t. Parts of it were very engrossing and brutally honest and it held my attention but though I normally enjoy flawed characters I just couldn’t connect with the heroine on any level and that was a huge problem for me seeing as this was her story.
On the positive, the narration was beautifully done by Bernadette Dunne who brings the story to life in a lovely, lyrical voice that was soothing to my ears.
I went into this book cold, having grabbed the audiobook randomly off a shelf. When it began I thought it was going to be a quirky fish out of water type of read with highbrow, spoiled Pippa trying to fit in with the older folks at the community but it’s not about that. I then thought it would be a mystery of sorts when a creepy neighbor moves in and strange things start to happen after Pippa and Herb go to bed. But it’s not about that either. It’s all about Pippa’s “secret lives�. I guess the title should’ve clued me in.
Anyway, as Pippa shares her past it is soon revealed that she has been everything but perfect. I won’t give it all away in case you have this in your tbr pile somewhere. I’ll only say that the more I learned about Pippa, the less I liked about Pippa. She is, was and probably always will be a selfish, relationship ruining, woe-is-me type. But she feels oh-so bad and shoulders so much guilt but feels she can’t help her actions because they are not her fault. It is the fault of the legacy passed on to her by the women before her. Oh boo frigging hoo. Grow up and take responsibility for your poor (and selfish) choices. Honestly, I have no sympathy for someone like this. She doesn’t learn from her mistakes. She uses her past as a crutch. Old people disgust her. And I think she may bathe in kitten blood to maintain her beauty when no one is looking. Ok, so I made the last one up but really it’s not much of a stretch.
At one point Pippa says to herself, “I would like the chance to be kind.�
I would’ve liked that too.
It’s tough for me to enjoy a book when I dislike the main character so very much but I kept reading hoping for some great epiphany when Pippa would realize most of the problems in her life were of her own making and that she’d finally change her patterns. She does have some realizations, especially regarding her daughter and even once admits (again to herself) that her actions were “grotesque� but it was not enough. Just when I started to feel a glimmer of compassion towards her the ridiculous and very rushed ending happens. Again, I won’t give it away but the whole thing ended on a really sour note for me and I feel like I wasted hours of my life finishing this thing. This is one book I truly regret not DNFing after disc one.
I can’t say this was badly written or horrible because it wasn’t. Parts of it were very engrossing and brutally honest and it held my attention but though I normally enjoy flawed characters I just couldn’t connect with the heroine on any level and that was a huge problem for me seeing as this was her story.
On the positive, the narration was beautifully done by Bernadette Dunne who brings the story to life in a lovely, lyrical voice that was soothing to my ears.
January 11, 2009
What molding and stretching is required of a woman who chooses to better the quality of life of others over her own? Perhaps this type of self-sacrifice cannot be fathomed from the outside in. To be the devoted wife, the doting mother, the gracious hostess, the caring friend—where and when does she find the time to find herself?
Within in her sharply defined world, Pippa Lee is everything to everyone who matters to her—to Herb, her husband thirty years her senior and a prominent publisher; to her grown children, twins; and to a small circle of friends, New York writers and artists. She has no visible past or plans for the future. Ever adaptable, Pippa sees only placid days spent catering to Herb as they live out the golden years of their marriage in the Marigold Village retirement community.
When Pippa wakes up to find that she has been tearing through the kitchen, smearing food around the dining room, picking up smoking again, and even driving to the convenience store all while fast sleep, her sure footing in life begins to falter. The destabilization of her environment and her youthful isolation in a sea of retirees lead her to revisit defining moments from her previous life, before Herb and their seemingly perfect marriage.
What begins as a one-dimensional character study of the archetypal Mother/Wife figure transforms into a richly drawn portrait of a complex, often complicated life. When the unexpected throws Pippa off her increasingly shaky track, she is set loose from the existence she had trained herself to relish; in that moment, her character vibrates with newfound vitality and possibility, and the story itself is elevated to a new level of being. Through intimately detailed and poignant vignettes from Pippa’s past and surprising twists from her present, Rebecca Miller constructs a deftly layered and moving novel of a woman’s journey to herself. The Private Lives of Pippa Lee is a subtly and emotionally crafted read for anyone who has ever wondered, “How did I get here? And where do I go now?�
Review by Kelly Moritz
Within in her sharply defined world, Pippa Lee is everything to everyone who matters to her—to Herb, her husband thirty years her senior and a prominent publisher; to her grown children, twins; and to a small circle of friends, New York writers and artists. She has no visible past or plans for the future. Ever adaptable, Pippa sees only placid days spent catering to Herb as they live out the golden years of their marriage in the Marigold Village retirement community.
When Pippa wakes up to find that she has been tearing through the kitchen, smearing food around the dining room, picking up smoking again, and even driving to the convenience store all while fast sleep, her sure footing in life begins to falter. The destabilization of her environment and her youthful isolation in a sea of retirees lead her to revisit defining moments from her previous life, before Herb and their seemingly perfect marriage.
What begins as a one-dimensional character study of the archetypal Mother/Wife figure transforms into a richly drawn portrait of a complex, often complicated life. When the unexpected throws Pippa off her increasingly shaky track, she is set loose from the existence she had trained herself to relish; in that moment, her character vibrates with newfound vitality and possibility, and the story itself is elevated to a new level of being. Through intimately detailed and poignant vignettes from Pippa’s past and surprising twists from her present, Rebecca Miller constructs a deftly layered and moving novel of a woman’s journey to herself. The Private Lives of Pippa Lee is a subtly and emotionally crafted read for anyone who has ever wondered, “How did I get here? And where do I go now?�
Review by Kelly Moritz
March 28, 2009
The character of Pippa Lee, in her many incarnations, is a wondrous specimen of a woman. It's far too easy to say "she overcame obstacles, blah, blah, blah..." It's much more than that when it comes to Pippa. She runs straight into the fire over and over, each time emerging more and more in touch with her own humanity. I fell in love with Pippa - her curiosity at a young age, her desperation during her young adulthood, and most of all her middle-aged incongruity. She knows how to laugh at herself without succumbing to self-hatred or self-importance. After all, it's just life, right? She'll always have another chance to be reborn...but in this designated lifetime it's astonishing what she learns from the moments within the moments, the in between places that most people miss because they're too busy moving on to the next thing. At the same time, Miss Pippa Lee never stops too long at any one give place, always acknowledging the gap between her head and her heart.
November 9, 2017
All my lady friends, read this one.
January 11, 2010
First two-thirds of the book: A+! Last part: are you kidding me with this?
Pippa is 30 years younger than her husband. She is completely in love and content and happy with their clearly defined relationship. It works for them and she is at times caught off guard with how content she is.
From the outset it is clear that something is going to change. Herb is 80 and has decided to sell everything so that he and 50 year old Pippa can move into a retirement community. He wants to make sure she'll be protected and won't lose out on the size-able fortune he's created as an editor and publisher.
The book opens with Pippa facing yet another creation of her life and then jumps backwards to show how she got where she is. I liked this structure.
Miller explores the changing roles of daughter, friend, teen, young adult, woman, wife, and mother and explores how we can be defined based on what we surround ourselves with while we question who we are as an individual.
Seeing her life before Herb, it's easy to think by the end of the book she will spin herself back into earlier directions, but it's clear she is happy and in love, even if she is unsure of her new environment.
Then The Big Thing happens. I wasn't expecting the twist at all and was curious about Pippa's reaction. It made me question how much of her private lives were close under the surface and how she would respond.
Then the book tanks.
Rather than deal with the fall out and forced changes of The Big Thing, Miller seems to panic and decide that rather than have Pippa deal with what happened she'll give her an easy way out. This frustrated the hell out of me because Miller carefully creates a social structure for Pippa to navigate, then by removing one piece Pippa doesn't have to deal with much of The Big Thing. There will definitely be questions after the last page and many will wonder about Pippa's sudden choice and I felt this was too unfair and convenient. It took the focus off of other characters and put it back on her.
I recommend this because it was a good read, I just wish the ending had held up as well as the rest of the book.
Pippa is 30 years younger than her husband. She is completely in love and content and happy with their clearly defined relationship. It works for them and she is at times caught off guard with how content she is.
From the outset it is clear that something is going to change. Herb is 80 and has decided to sell everything so that he and 50 year old Pippa can move into a retirement community. He wants to make sure she'll be protected and won't lose out on the size-able fortune he's created as an editor and publisher.
The book opens with Pippa facing yet another creation of her life and then jumps backwards to show how she got where she is. I liked this structure.
Miller explores the changing roles of daughter, friend, teen, young adult, woman, wife, and mother and explores how we can be defined based on what we surround ourselves with while we question who we are as an individual.
Seeing her life before Herb, it's easy to think by the end of the book she will spin herself back into earlier directions, but it's clear she is happy and in love, even if she is unsure of her new environment.
Then The Big Thing happens. I wasn't expecting the twist at all and was curious about Pippa's reaction. It made me question how much of her private lives were close under the surface and how she would respond.
Then the book tanks.
Rather than deal with the fall out and forced changes of The Big Thing, Miller seems to panic and decide that rather than have Pippa deal with what happened she'll give her an easy way out. This frustrated the hell out of me because Miller carefully creates a social structure for Pippa to navigate, then by removing one piece Pippa doesn't have to deal with much of The Big Thing. There will definitely be questions after the last page and many will wonder about Pippa's sudden choice and I felt this was too unfair and convenient. It took the focus off of other characters and put it back on her.
I recommend this because it was a good read, I just wish the ending had held up as well as the rest of the book.
November 5, 2007
This was a really good book. Very smart literature for women, IMHO.
Pippa Lee, 50, is married to Herb, three decades her senior. He suddenly announces that he wants to move to Marigold Village, a retirement community, and Pippa finds her life changing in ways she can't control.
We are taken into Pippa's life as a child and teenager, then into young adulthood.
Then we are brought back to the present and into an unexpected conclusion.
Pippa Lee, 50, is married to Herb, three decades her senior. He suddenly announces that he wants to move to Marigold Village, a retirement community, and Pippa finds her life changing in ways she can't control.
We are taken into Pippa's life as a child and teenager, then into young adulthood.
Then we are brought back to the present and into an unexpected conclusion.
December 25, 2010
What can I say? After a hard term at university I picked this out for some light reading off my mother's bookshelf at home and I think it is middle aged chick lit.
It started well enough; the protagonist, Pippa Lee, is the kind of woman I suspect most women aspire to be. Kind, caring, effervescent, the friend other women trust with their secrets. However, as the book continues it becomes clear that she has worked hard to become this woman and it could have been oh so different. It transpires that her character is shaped by a rebellion against a mother with whom she has a difficult relationship and whom she simultaneously tries to please and cast off. This was something in her which I could identify with, however, unlike her, this did not lead me to running away at aged 17 and becoming a down and out in New York city.
This novel tried too hard with it's imagery, making comparisons that are beyond its status and completely incoherent with the sophistication of the storyline. Moreover, there were many elements that just made no sense or were not resolved. Sleepwalking was a big feature in the narrative, and yet and explanation for it was never given. It is not at all obvious what part it played other than to show that Pippa was subconsciously unhappy and to push her and Chris together (a very random and unnecessary move in the story). Moreover, the link between Pippa in the now and the young Pippa is very tenuous indeed. She was, in her own words, a 'fuck up' and suddenly she came off drugs, got married, became the perfect housewife and the mother of twins. Not only this, but also the plot at the end moved way to suddenly in unexpected ways. In the course of about 15 pages Pippa was happy, discovered Herb didn't love her anymore (very unexpected in the plotline and so totally out of the blue cliché to chick lit), left her husband, discovered her husband unconscious on the floor, and switched off his life support machine. The book then ends with Pippa riding off into the sunset with Chris, an abrupt finish and too weak to tie the current Pippa with the runaway renegade in New York City all those years ago.
Overall, a light, unsatisfactory read that was nevertheless strangely compelling to read, if only to be able to move the book onto the 'read' shelf.
It started well enough; the protagonist, Pippa Lee, is the kind of woman I suspect most women aspire to be. Kind, caring, effervescent, the friend other women trust with their secrets. However, as the book continues it becomes clear that she has worked hard to become this woman and it could have been oh so different. It transpires that her character is shaped by a rebellion against a mother with whom she has a difficult relationship and whom she simultaneously tries to please and cast off. This was something in her which I could identify with, however, unlike her, this did not lead me to running away at aged 17 and becoming a down and out in New York city.
This novel tried too hard with it's imagery, making comparisons that are beyond its status and completely incoherent with the sophistication of the storyline. Moreover, there were many elements that just made no sense or were not resolved. Sleepwalking was a big feature in the narrative, and yet and explanation for it was never given. It is not at all obvious what part it played other than to show that Pippa was subconsciously unhappy and to push her and Chris together (a very random and unnecessary move in the story). Moreover, the link between Pippa in the now and the young Pippa is very tenuous indeed. She was, in her own words, a 'fuck up' and suddenly she came off drugs, got married, became the perfect housewife and the mother of twins. Not only this, but also the plot at the end moved way to suddenly in unexpected ways. In the course of about 15 pages Pippa was happy, discovered Herb didn't love her anymore (very unexpected in the plotline and so totally out of the blue cliché to chick lit), left her husband, discovered her husband unconscious on the floor, and switched off his life support machine. The book then ends with Pippa riding off into the sunset with Chris, an abrupt finish and too weak to tie the current Pippa with the runaway renegade in New York City all those years ago.
Overall, a light, unsatisfactory read that was nevertheless strangely compelling to read, if only to be able to move the book onto the 'read' shelf.
January 30, 2010
Have you ever looked back at things you have done in your past, and realized that your present self wouldn't be caught dead doing them? The Private Lives of Pippa Lee is a story about the events in our past that indelibly alter who we are and change us into individuals of our present.
The tale gets off to a slow start, describing the 50ish Stepford Wife seeming, Pippa Lee, a homemaker who has recently moved into a retirement home with her 80 something year old wealthy and successful husband. The story picks up significantly, however, as we go back in time to explore Pippa's erratic past: her dysfunctional family, her various affairs with older and married men, her migrant partygirl lifestyle, and her drug addiction.
In the present, Pippa's seemingly mundane life begins to become more complicated when she starts sleepwalking at night and meets an interesting newcomer to the community, two decades younger than herself. I very much enjoyed getting to know Pippa and learning her story. My only gripe about the book was the ending, which seemed more than a bit rushed, wrapped up the issues presented in the story just a tad too neatly. Typically, I complain that books are too LONG. This one could have used a bit more tail-end exposition.
Nevertheless, I found The Private Lives of Pippa Lee to be an enjoyable quick read. I'm very eager to see what they do with the upcoming movie.
The tale gets off to a slow start, describing the 50ish Stepford Wife seeming, Pippa Lee, a homemaker who has recently moved into a retirement home with her 80 something year old wealthy and successful husband. The story picks up significantly, however, as we go back in time to explore Pippa's erratic past: her dysfunctional family, her various affairs with older and married men, her migrant partygirl lifestyle, and her drug addiction.
In the present, Pippa's seemingly mundane life begins to become more complicated when she starts sleepwalking at night and meets an interesting newcomer to the community, two decades younger than herself. I very much enjoyed getting to know Pippa and learning her story. My only gripe about the book was the ending, which seemed more than a bit rushed, wrapped up the issues presented in the story just a tad too neatly. Typically, I complain that books are too LONG. This one could have used a bit more tail-end exposition.
Nevertheless, I found The Private Lives of Pippa Lee to be an enjoyable quick read. I'm very eager to see what they do with the upcoming movie.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 29, 2024
Idézek @Nikolett_Kapocsi Molyos értékeléséből, mert nem tudom jobban megfogalmazni: „Pippa Lee négy élete valójában egy meneküléstörténet, egy középkorú nőé, aki meg akar szökni a saját maga elől, miközben csak arra vágyik, hogy fogadják el olyannak, amilyennek látszik.�
Remek történet, remekül megírva. Visszatekintve ismerjük meg a főszereplő életszakaszait, motivációit, lassan megértve választásainak okát. Talán egy picivel lassabban, mint szerettem volna, de ez nem von le az értékéből. Elgondolkodtató, kissé távolságtartó, tárgyilagos, de szellemes. Lehet, hogy a filmet is érdemes lenne megnézni.
Remek történet, remekül megírva. Visszatekintve ismerjük meg a főszereplő életszakaszait, motivációit, lassan megértve választásainak okát. Talán egy picivel lassabban, mint szerettem volna, de ez nem von le az értékéből. Elgondolkodtató, kissé távolságtartó, tárgyilagos, de szellemes. Lehet, hogy a filmet is érdemes lenne megnézni.
January 21, 2018
J'ai préféré l'ouvrage au film. Est ce que la sensation aurait été inverse si j'avais commencé par lire ce livre ? La question demeure.
Bien écrit. Sujet sensible sur les relations familiales : mère-fille mais aussi de couple.
Bien écrit. Sujet sensible sur les relations familiales : mère-fille mais aussi de couple.
March 28, 2020
Ma che bella scoperta! Ho incontrato questo libro per caso a una vendita della biblioteca civica e mi ha in qualche modo chiamato.
La scrittura della Miller è davvero interessante: scarna, pungente eppure dettagliata e incisiva.
In poche, chiare frasi è in grado di dipingere con precisione millimetrica i personaggi.
Un'indagine psicologica dei personaggi davvero approfondita non indugia mai in inutili nozioni. Il ritmo è sempre incalzante e ci conduce nei meandri della psicologia di una donna che ripercorre la sua vita in un alternarsi di gioie e dolori, di fortune e disgrazie.
Un vero e proprio ritratto di vita!
La scrittura della Miller è davvero interessante: scarna, pungente eppure dettagliata e incisiva.
In poche, chiare frasi è in grado di dipingere con precisione millimetrica i personaggi.
Un'indagine psicologica dei personaggi davvero approfondita non indugia mai in inutili nozioni. Il ritmo è sempre incalzante e ci conduce nei meandri della psicologia di una donna che ripercorre la sua vita in un alternarsi di gioie e dolori, di fortune e disgrazie.
Un vero e proprio ritratto di vita!
January 11, 2010
Though it has many good lines and is readable in a breezy sort-of way, this book is highly annoying. The main character is improbably pretty and perfect, and attempts to assure the reader that she is these things but in a totally unpretentious, unselfconscious way actually make the character less, not more, likable. Also, the plot unfolds in an obvious way; even the dive into the main character's troubled childhood seems predictable, despite efforts to sex it up with family trauma, sex and drugs.
September 13, 2008
There were bits about this book that I enjoyed but in the main I found it a slow read that went nowhere. I enjoyed reading about Pippa's childhood and young adulthood in the 60's and how this lively unusual womand had bcome subsumed by her husbnd and family. There were bits of her relationship with her mother that were disturbing but it did give you some insight into how she had become the woman she was and the impact it had on her own parenting of her daughter.
September 29, 2016
There were some interesting bits of Pippa's past, but mostly this, for me, was a beach read sort of book. No real substance. Not my cup of tea.
August 25, 2018
Na štai ir baigiasi vasara, prasidės ruduo ir tikras skaitinių metas. Norėsis karštos arbatos, šilto pledo ir rimtos knygos. Su rimtais ir lengvo pobūdžio skaitiniais, aš draugauju ištisus metus, vis pasirinkdama kartais kažką neįprasto ar netikėto. Šį kartą perskaityta Rebeccos Miller knyga "Asmeniniai Pipos Li gyvenimai". Prieš paimdama šią į knygą į rankas, stovėdama bibliotekoje prie lentynų, bandžiau internete paieškoti atsiliepimų apie šią knygą, nes man ji buvo visiškai negirdėta. Atsiliepimai buvo labai įvairūs, dauguma galbūt jų net kritiški ir neigiami. O kas neigiamo ir kritiško mane visada traukia. Tai apie ką ši knyga? "Asmeniniai Pipos Li gyvenimai" -tai moters gyvenimo istorija. Pipos gyvenimas suskirstytas į keturis moteriai labai svarbius etapus: praleidusi audringą jaunystę Niujorko bohemos vakarėliuose, narkotikų svaiguly ir menininkų apsupty, ji išteka už gerokai vyresnio leidėjo Herbio ir visiškai pakeičia savo gyvenimo būdą. Antrasis gyvenimo etapas prasideda tuomet, kuomet Pipa tampa pavyzdinga namų šeimininke, išdidžia dviejų vaikų mama ir mylinčia žmona. Trečiasis gyvenimas prasideda Pipai su vyru palikus ištaigingą butą Niujorke ir persikėlus į turtingų pensininkų kaimelį. Realiai visas pasakojimas ir prasideda nuo trečiojo gyvenimo, kuomet Pipa su savo vyru Herbiu jau gyvena nuosavame name ir mėgaujasi lyg ir ramia senatve. Klausite, o kur ketvirtas gyvenimas? Palieku intrigą. Įdomiausia man buvo tai, kad būdama jau vyresnio amžiaus, Pipą ima kankinti nerimastingi ir trikdantys klausimai. Atrodo, klausimų kėlimas ją lydėjo visą jos gyvenimą, o tik dabar jie dar labiau padažnėjo. Kur yra jos vieta? Ką ji veikia šiame gyvenime? Ar santuoka jau visiškai sunaikino jos tikrąjį "Aš"? Kiek kartų galima viską pradėti iš naujo? Tai lyg moteris katė, kuri turi ne vieną gyvybę ir ne vieną asmeninį gyvenimą. Moteris, kuri niršta ir atleidžia, apgauna ir kenčia nuo apgaulės, myli ir blaškosi, svajoja ir klausia. Moteris, kuri yra žmona ir motina, draugė ir meilužė. Moteris, kurioje matome save - buvusią, esamą ar būsimą. Tai istorija, kurią perskaičiau su malonumu ir kuri man paliko tikrai neblogą įspūdį. Čia ir norisi pasakyti: "Meilė atsiranda ir dingsta kaip vėjo gūsis, akimirką šen, akimirką ten".
November 24, 2023
The story is in three parts, the first part being Pippa's life in her early 50s. I found this a little bland, and maybe that was the point. She's a well-off housewife with two grown children. Yawn. It starts getting interesting in Part 2 where we learn about Pippa's childhood and youth, meeting her husband and having children. Part three picks up where Part 1 left off and includes a major transition in her life.
The funny thing is that it doesn't always feel like the different parts describe the same person. Yet, we all encompass different personalities in our lives. What we experience as young people may lead to a completely different life once we marry. Every transition creates a new version of us, a new life, a new future.
The funny thing is that it doesn't always feel like the different parts describe the same person. Yet, we all encompass different personalities in our lives. What we experience as young people may lead to a completely different life once we marry. Every transition creates a new version of us, a new life, a new future.
June 15, 2019
I really liked it. I took my time with it but as Olivia Laing said, the writing was luminous. There were so many text bites that I kept in my notebook.
June 22, 2019
Lijepa,čitljiva drama.
March 28, 2009
Not at all what I was expecting when I added this book to my wish list as a Richard and Judy recommendation I was really expecting it to be a humorous novel about a couple moving to a retirement village and the young wife causing chaos as we learnt of her past lives.. How wrong could I have been, as I actually found it disturbing and somewhat depressing, though strangely still a reasonable read.
The protagonist is Pippa Lee and one of the quotes on the back cover describes her as the sort of woman you would want as a friend. I misconstrued this quote before reading the book, as in fact I did not like Pippa Lee at all and I think what the quote really means is she is the sort of woman you would certainly not want as an enemy!
Hated by her mother and now hated by her daughter Pippa is a very complex and disturbed person who had led the most extraordinary life style both before and after her marriage to a man thirty years older than her. The story starts in the present when she and her husband have just moved to a retirement village and it is only when the story takes you back in time to Pippa’s birth that you start to realise exactly how strange the past private lives of Pippa Lee have been. By the time we are back in the present day the novel is racing towards its somewhat rushed ending with a very strange happening about ten pages before the end. I would have preferred to read a few more chapters tying up the loose ends.
May 25, 2010
I was prepared to hate this book, based on other reviews I'd read, but I ended up rather enjoying it. It was pretentious, true, but I don't agree with what others have said that it would never have gotten published if the author hadn't been Arthur Miller's daughter. I've read a lot worse. *cough*NicholasSparks*cough*
The one jarring thing was the disjoint of the middle section, which switched to first person, and I could never really get back into the third person of the rest of the narrative in the last section.
It's true there was a lot of stuff in there that was pretty much just shock value, but I felt that the end really made up for it and left me feeling hopeful and satisfied. Maybe it just struck a chord with me, as I could see a lot of myself in the main character (not the sex and drugs part, but the whole ennui, drifting, living for and vicariously through your children, etc.).
The characters were interesting and had depth, and the style was easy to read without being simplistic. I found it a well put together book that was worth the couple of hours it took to read.
The one jarring thing was the disjoint of the middle section, which switched to first person, and I could never really get back into the third person of the rest of the narrative in the last section.
It's true there was a lot of stuff in there that was pretty much just shock value, but I felt that the end really made up for it and left me feeling hopeful and satisfied. Maybe it just struck a chord with me, as I could see a lot of myself in the main character (not the sex and drugs part, but the whole ennui, drifting, living for and vicariously through your children, etc.).
The characters were interesting and had depth, and the style was easy to read without being simplistic. I found it a well put together book that was worth the couple of hours it took to read.
January 24, 2011
I'm really confused now. I've just read the last lines and i have no idea how i feel about the book. That doesn't happen very often to me. The problem is the main character: at the same time i love her and i despise her. I see myself in her and i see a complete stranger, someone i would never understand. How is that even possible? I find myself in lost, lonely Pippa who feels empty and unworthy. I hate selfish, young Pippa hurting everyone on her way. I love the new, strong Pippa once again looking for a new life. I look at her life and i wonder how is it possible, that someone who has such a strong feelings, an amazing character can live in such a insignificant way? Did she try to make up for her mistakes in this way? Was she trying not to be like her mother? Or maybe she just starts her real life at the end of the book? Maybe she finally found a way to break the ferocious circle of unhappy women in her family? Did she finally discover the way she and Grace can be real friends? Is it possible that i have more questions now than i had at the beginning of the book? Or maybe it's really not that deep at all and i just complicate it desperately looking for more?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 13, 2011
This was such an interesting story. I read it just in the past week because I wanted to pass it along in a bookcrossing book box. This story made me think about my own life, and how I have often contemplated on the fact that there are so many distinct compartments that don't have much overlap. For example, my childhood at home with my parents and my friends in my home town, and then there are my years at summer camp and my friends there, which were so transformative and where I made friends (and values) for life, and then the college experiences, both academic and wildly social (and also transformative), and then my professional career. The people I worked with often had little or no understanding or knowledge of me as a person, my values, ideals, history. And as you move one company to another, there is also little overlap. Then there is my private adult life, two different husbands, my kids, my adult siblings, and so much more. Even beyond that, my own private thoughts, feelings, yearnings, some never articulated. In this story Pippa makes huge life changes several times, and becomes a "different" person each time. Life is certainly an amazing and unpredictable thing!
April 30, 2012
To be honest I wasn't expecting much from this book; when it was first out I picked it up and put it down a few times but then I ended up with it somehow a few months ago and I decided to read it as it was thinnish. So, I am very pleased to say that I really enjoyed it! It's not such a deep book although it brings up important issues about the mother-daughter relationship but it is a fascinating study of a maturing woman who has, to all intents and purposes, been the perfect wife and mother who is now living, with her much older elderly husband in a retirement village to wait out the end of his days. This sets her into thinking about her future and what she'll do when he's not there and then we delve back into her past life; a life that was suffocating and enlightening, from which she ran and ran again, always searching until she met her husband. Is Pippa starting to feel that restlessness again? One thing is for sure, life is full of surprises! As is this heartwarming, humourous and entertaining book.
January 11, 2013
I read this as it was a chosen book for an on line BC, would I have chosen it otherwise probably not. I don't know whether I liked or not but I was compelled to keep turning the pages so I suppose I must have done. Pippa's marriage to a much older man on the surface seems to give her comfortable lifestyle but as the book progresses through the various stages of her life, her past is revealed in all it's sordid glory. A past her children or current group of friends no nothing about, the relationship with her own flawed mother and her own relationship with her daughter as she didn't want the same experiences to be passed on. How many of us realise too late that we may have hurt our own mothers at some point in the growing up process thinking we know it all (page 170, made me think hard). How well do we know our friends or them us, how many times have we reinvented ourselves when starting a new phase of lifes rich pattern. I may be over analysing but although this was a very easy read it made me think a lot so the author achieved something there.
March 14, 2010
My library has a program called "Books To Go". It's kind of like how grocery stores position the candy bars right in the checkout line, but less fattening. Books that are being made into movies or that have gotten a certain amount of press recently are typically featured on a shelf right next to the library checkout.
I expected this book to be lightweight chick-lit, a guilty-pleasure read, but I was pleasantly surprised.
The novel starts when Pippa is 50 years old, and looks to all the world to be a typical suburban wife and mother.
But people are hardly ever exactly what they seem, and Pippa is no exception. The story then goes back and forth in time from Pippa's childhood to the present to tell the story of her life and how she became the person she is.
Incidentally, the book was made into a movie starring Robin Wright Penn and Alan Arkin. I don't think it fared so well at the box office, but the book was quite enjoyable.
I expected this book to be lightweight chick-lit, a guilty-pleasure read, but I was pleasantly surprised.
The novel starts when Pippa is 50 years old, and looks to all the world to be a typical suburban wife and mother.
But people are hardly ever exactly what they seem, and Pippa is no exception. The story then goes back and forth in time from Pippa's childhood to the present to tell the story of her life and how she became the person she is.
Incidentally, the book was made into a movie starring Robin Wright Penn and Alan Arkin. I don't think it fared so well at the box office, but the book was quite enjoyable.
March 4, 2020
Surprised because I didn’t like his book at first thinking it a cliché of the snobbery of the modestly rich, liberal-minded, artistic, elitist New York-Hamptons crowd, but when I finished the book I was in love with Pippa Lee.
How did Pippa Lee get there? Did she belong? As her character emerges we see a waif out of control. She is acts out in depraved ways that are immoral yet noble and unselfish, and as her sub-conscience explodes, memories both shocking and troubling emerge.
Pippa feels settled and proud when it comes to her husband and her children but where does she go from there? In The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, men are at the periphery where the relationships between women are the characters. As the life of Pippa unfolds we realize the strength of the story comes from mother secrets and the defining moment from a daughter’s pride.
How did Pippa Lee get there? Did she belong? As her character emerges we see a waif out of control. She is acts out in depraved ways that are immoral yet noble and unselfish, and as her sub-conscience explodes, memories both shocking and troubling emerge.
Pippa feels settled and proud when it comes to her husband and her children but where does she go from there? In The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, men are at the periphery where the relationships between women are the characters. As the life of Pippa unfolds we realize the strength of the story comes from mother secrets and the defining moment from a daughter’s pride.
March 10, 2010
Miller returns to the familiar terrain she first explored with Personal Velocity, exploring one woman's life path and ambitions. As a lost and listless soul, Pippa Lee cannot find a career or purpose to devote herself too. She instead loses herself in futile sexual relationships until she attaches herself to Herb, a married publisher thirty years her season. Once Pippa weds Herb she loses herself in the marriage, when Herb grows elderly she is forced to reside in a retirement community where she feels stifled. Here we see how Pippa came to be the devoted wife and mother that she is, sacrificing her own identity for that of her children and spouse. Eventually, Pippa is able to take hold of her life and find her own path. I loved every carefully wrought word!
July 14, 2012
This is quite a short book, but length isn't everything and I really enjoyed it. It's about Pippa, in her 50s, who moves to a retirement village with her husband who is in his 80s. She becomes bored and this leads her to recall her life before she met her husband - a much wilder and more troubled life.
It is written in a style which is similar to how your friend might tell a story - not overly 'literary' or hard to get into. It's interesting to learn about her previous life, her relationship with her mother and daughter and to see how these things and others have impacted her life and behaviour.
Miller is equally successful at describing both Pippa's wild child days and her sedate existence in 'Marigold Village'. The description seems realistic and easily accessible.
It is written in a style which is similar to how your friend might tell a story - not overly 'literary' or hard to get into. It's interesting to learn about her previous life, her relationship with her mother and daughter and to see how these things and others have impacted her life and behaviour.
Miller is equally successful at describing both Pippa's wild child days and her sedate existence in 'Marigold Village'. The description seems realistic and easily accessible.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 365 reviews
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get help and learn more about the design.