Seize Ithaca Authored By Susan Fish Distributed As Interactive EBook

I'd like to say that I probably wouldn't have ever read this book at all if a quiz on it wasn't worthof my grade in my Women's Studies course.
It wasn't a terrible book by any stretch of the imagination, but it also wasn't good enough to compare to the AMAZING books I'm so used to devouring with my eyes of course.


I really liked the strong female characters, I felt like they were well developed and interesting, I loved Daisy and Carmel especially, I liked the way the characters became a sort of family as the novel went on, The main character, Daisy, was particularly likable, I have to admit that a few times I truly believed that the author had to be Daisy, that's how well her thoughts and feelings were portrayed.


That aside, this really is an amateur novel, It isn't well edited, the plot is as slow as a snail, and although I enjoyed reading it to some extent I wouldn't have read it if it wasn't mandatory.
There are several mistakes throughout the novel that even I could catch, and I am by no means good with the whole grammar thing.
On top of that, nothing really happens, I get that Daisy is slowly coming into her own throughout the novel, but it could've been so much more exciting! Where's the drama, the scandal, the thrill I suppose I am used to fantasy and drama in the books I read, but even still, I felt disappointed with the novel's plot.


Overall, I wouldn't recommend it, but I also wouldn't tell you not to read it, It's an OK novel with some solid characters, despite their place in an overall snoozeworthy plotline,

If anything, the book made me crave a nice bowl of fracking soup, This was an interesting book, drawing parallels between our lives and that of geologic formations, I know want to visit Ithaca and have a wonderful bowl of hot soup, i was privileged enough to receive an early copy of this for free through goodreads first reads on my previous account, and found ithaca to be a warm, pleasant like a good bowl of soup experience.
it's downtoearth and not overly ambitious in its message, and sticks with me as something that you can pick up on a lazy day between more demanding reads to come out of the end pleasantly refreshed.
susan fish hit some platinum quality inner monologue in daisy jane's voice, and if i were to come across another novel under her name, i would be sure to give it a pickup.
When your life revolves around your husband and his work, what do you do when you have to start over Alone

Ithaca is a comingofage storyfor ayearold woman.
Daisy Turner's husband, Arthur, was a professor at Cornell University, She typed his notes and kept his home, And made soup for a crowd every Wednesday,

They married young, and Daisy found fulfillment as a wife and mother, Now her son works overseas, and she's a widow, And most of her friends are really Arthur's friends,

She finds herself developing a friendship with a man who is slowly losing his wife to illness, and with a young woman who's an environmental activist.
Daisy surprises herselfand her sonby signing up for a university course to learn about fracking, She doesn't know what it is, but the protest signs are everywhere, and she'd like to learn,

There's so much to appreciate about this novel, Daisy seems quiet and ordinary, but it's that very

ordinariness that connects with readers,

She's candid about her grief, and the struggles it brings, We can identify. As her concern grows about the possible environmental danger from the fracking proposals, we can relate to this polite, reserved, nonactivist who's afraid that by doing nothing she's surrendering the fight.


Most of us have concerns about some issue or another, and we know that feeling of helplessness, It's interesting to watch Daisy discover how she fits into the bigger picture, how she can express her concerns in a way that's true to who she is.


Ultimately, I think that's what the story is about: findingand being true toone's identity, Prepare to be charmed by Daisy, and by the town of Ithaca, NY, along the way,

Susan Fish writes beautifully and with an honesty I admire,
It's so lovely to read a book that makes you feel that the author fully understands her characters, These people are real and normal, . . Susan Fish's story about life, marriage, grieving, fracking, responsibilities, soup is insightful and authentic, It might not be for everyone, but I think Fish has important things to say and we should listen,

I am going to reflect on this story for a long time,

BookforThe first lines of Susan Fishs Ithaca pulled me in, “Help out. Those were the magic words that had colored my whole existence, You could always count on Daisy to help out, ” Daisy was once a comfortably dependent faculty wife, but as a widow, she sees life from new angles and searches for understanding and connection.
Seeking and questioning are appropriate activities for Ithaca, NY, the upstate New York town where the book takes place,

Fishs descriptions of Ithaca and its surroundings are convincing and loving, I picture myself downtown on the Commons, at beautiful Buttermilk Falls and Fall Creek,

Daisy seems unusually innocent and naive, but soon there are hints of subtle change, She continues to host Wednesday soup dinners, but her recipes move from TomatoBasil Bisque to Fracking Soup, Fish uses the local antifracking movement as an effective metaphor for a derailed and broken life, I enjoyed sections about beekeeping with the erotic undertones of a new forbidden relationship,

Daisy flowers through friendships with the handsome beekeeper, a young single mother, students in her geology class, and friends who show up for dinner.
Her grief about her husbands sudden death feels underplayed, but Fish surprises me with lines such as: “Ive never been hit in the face with a shovel before, but thats what it was like at first.
” And “I never got to say goodbye to him, not even for the day, let alone for always, ”

By books end, Daisy is ready to move toward independence, political engagement, and brave choices, She seems like a real Ithaca woman,

I look forward to hearing Susan Fish read from 'Ithaca' atpm on Novemberat Buffalo Street Books in, you guessed it, Ithaca, NY.

Foryears, Daisy Turner has been a professors wife, typing his notes and helping out, The centerpiece of her life is a weekly community dinner she hostsone that always features soup, When her husband drops dead, Daisy has nothing to hold onto except, perhaps, the soup, Then, suddenly, Daisy finds herself entangled with a man whose wife is disabled, mothering a young activistfarmer, and swept into the controversy about fracking that has begun to concern their small Ivy League town.


Ithaca explores what happens when a quiet, almost sedimentary life meets the highpressure forces of a small town, How do you rebuild after life as you know it is suddenly turned upside downor is fracked
Recipes can be found at susanfishwrites.
wordpress. com Lovely. Really enjoyed it. Now that Im getting older, I like characters that are a bit more mature,
I've just finished reading Ithaca by Susan Fish and must say that I appreciated it, Different from other books I've read lately, Very reflective and I'd never heard of the term fracking, I learned something new. I like the book.

Susan Fish presents a novel that is both soulful and timely, At its core is Daisy, asomethingyearold resident of Ithaca, who is dealing with the loss of her husband by rediscovering herself and that which surrounds her.
Daisy has spent most of her life as a wife and for many years has devoted her Wednesdays to hosting friends and family for a soupbased dinner.
As a widow, she is forced to confront the reality that her life had become an appendage to her husbands, She struggles with continuing her life as it was before and the reader is able to watch the reformation of Daisys intra and interrelationships.


Soup is both the backbone and the heart of the narrative, Each chapter title features a different type of soup: Three Sisters Soup Pepper Pot Soup Borscht Oyster Mushroom Soup and so on, These soups range from chunky to smooth and from mild to piquant, In a way, the soups reflect the tumultuous and intense mishmash of feelings and desires that are felt by both Daisy and by a town that is confronting hydrofracking.
Most importantly, though, soup is one part of Daisys life that has remained constant since her husbands death,

The seasonality of the soups represents the rhythms of life: Tomato and basil in September and applecheddaronion in October, for example.
The steady seasonality of the soups makes up for the confusion and disruption of a natural rhythm felt by Daisy due to the death of her husband in the springtime.
Fish writes from the perspective of Daisy, “It had been spring when my husband died, leaves newly budded and now every leaf was decaying on the ground.
Death had come in the middle of life, and now, oddly enough, I felt new life within me” p,. Part of the new life found within her is due to her newly forged relationships with town members, ultimately fuelled by her enrolment in a universitylevel course.


Rather subjectively, I must point out how much this book recalls memories of my own experience as an undergraduate student in Sackville, New Brunswick, a university town not so different from Ithaca.
As a small town, community events often centred on food and potlucks, Committed and enthusiastic student and town members often found themselves behind a picket line, Similar to in the story, the most recent reason for protest in Sackville amongst environmentalists and nonenvironmentalists alike has been hydrofracking, an issue that has proven to be a practically and philosophically dividing issue.


I therefore know firsthand the political nature and contestation of hydrofracking, and commend Fish on her approach of the matter, Fracking is a politically charged topic, but Fish treads lightly on the matter and offers an exploratory perspective through her characters, The book was not consumed by the politics of fracking, What fracking did indeed do was effectively present a strong metaphor for Daisys fractured life,

However, the book is about more than fracking and soup: its about dealing with loss, adapting to new situations, pain and healing, and community.
These two topics serve as a means of exploring these deeper issues,

Imagery presents itself in this novel through talk of honeybees, rupturing of shale rock, apple orchards and kitchens all very real and raw images.
Even the names of the characters allude to the beauty of nature and farming: Daisy, Carmel, Aurora

What I found lacking at times was a challenge to the roles associated with titles.
For example, the Halliburton representative was evil and the cardiologist was brusque, But then there are characters like Carmel, a young environmental activist farmer that originally despises hydrofracking and who eventually finds herself considering albeit not for long a proposal with monetary compensation for her property to be fracked.
Her humanity and honesty was humbling,

While I was reading Ithaca I found myself picturing myself in Daisys shoes: a sad but hopeful widow, cooking soups on Wednesdays, struggling and adapting to her new life daily.
I am happy to have read Susan Fishs Ithaca and recommend it unreservedly, .