I was ready to give this book 4 stars until it went on a hundred pages too long. I then couldn't wait for it to end! ( )

This Must Be the Place, Kate Racculia's debut novel, is the story of a widower, a past friendship, a mother and daughter, first love, and what happens when all these different worlds collide. Really, it's a hard novel to classify as it crosses genres. It's a coming of age story mixed with elements of chic lit, but it is also a plot driven character study. And, after melding elements from these different genres, it's really quite good.

All the characters aren't perfect so they feel realistic. (Arthur was annoying me at times, but he felt real.) The big secret will not be a secret to the readers because it is clearly foreshadowed, but experiencing the character's discovery as small details are revealed and explained is masterfully handled by Racculia. (I don't want to give any spoilers.) I appreciated hearing from the different character's point of view, and loved how all the little details and plot twists were slowly explained and revealed from each character's point of view. Racculia doesn't quite explain a remorseless, cruel act at the center of the novel, but we certainly come close to some measure of understanding.

As I was reading This Must Be the Place that I kept discovering little gems of writing that resonated with me - a sentence here, a turn of the phrase there. If I didn't consciously show self-restraint, I could have flagged many quotes throughout the whole novel. There is some humor, some touching scenes, some absurd events, some conflicts. I'm going to be looking forward to more from Kate Racculia in the future because I really enjoy the way she expresses herself.
Very Highly Recommended; http://shetreadssoftly.blogspot.com/
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Another book I would to rate 3.5 stars instead of just 3! It was good but I figured out the 'twist' extremely early on in the book - I thought it was very obvious. But overall, it was a well written book with interesting characters. ( )

Kate Racculia's debut novel has a fantastic first half, stumbles a little and then makes it securely across the finish line. Arthur Rook is knocked sideways by the sudden death of his wife. He gathers his wife's shoebox of momentoes and her cat and takes off for her hometown, specifically the boarding house run by her childhood best friend. There he meets Mona and her daughter Oneida, who is dealing with adolescence and with connecting with her peers. Racculia writes with a light and thoughtful tone, respecting her characters and weaving in odd lines of rock lyrics. She does seem to waver towards the end on whether to be coldly rational or sentimental, but she pulls it all out in the end. I do like the cleverness of her writing and will certainly pick up her next book. ( )

This is lovely novel about Arthur Rook, a bereft newly-widowed young man searching for some connection to his wife’s past. He finds an old unsent postcard he’s never seen and travels across country to her hometown, where she was raised by her now-deceased grandfather. There he finds a group of characters, especially Mona, the woman to whom the card was addressed, living at a boarding house Mona owns. Mona has a 15-year old daughter, Oneida, precocious and somewhat alienated from her classmates, and we come to know Arthur, Mona, Oneida, and Oneida’s boyfriend all very well, for there are really four main characters here, as well as Amy, the dead wife, who is ever-present.

Racculia’s handle on dialogue is superb, and even as I was tempted to read ahead to find out what happens, I was entranced by the language and stayed with the storyline. She shows, doesn’t tell, and when she refers to something from popular culture she allows the reader to follow-up if necessary and doesn’t bog down the story explaining. For instance, when Amy asks him to name one person he hates, he names Hitler (douchebag), the Cigarette-Smoking Man, and Iago. Later he describes his impression of the local vegetation when he was newly-arrived in Los Angeles as waving their triffid fronds. And recalling his childhood: He’d once even dreamed himself onto the bridge of the Starship Enterprise and had been whipped into a froth of anxiety because he was supposed to be on the Millennium Falcon; he was in the wrong universe entirely, and Spock had neck-pinched him to shut him up.

The secret Amy was hiding is not a big surprise and isn’t meant to be except to Arthur and some of the other characters. There are hints along the way, and when it’s revealed, it’s the way in which it affects these characters we’ve come to love which is the suspense. This is a wonderful book about loss, love, acceptance and new beginnings. Highly recommended. ( )