I needed a "sorbet" book to cleanse my pallet and long ago in the early years of MostlyFiction.com, I had read with delight Ms Davis's novel GIRLS NIGHT OUT.. so when I saw her second book on sale (Kindle book, that is)... I purchased it and read it right away. Jill A. Davis was a writer for LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN where she received five Emmy nominations... so yes she has talent for writing humorous, laugh-out-loud material. ASK AGAIN LATER does not disappoint. Told in first person, our narrator Emily is a lawyer who inexplicably quits her job when she learns that her mother calls to say she has been diagnosed with cancer. We quickly figure out (as she well admits) that she is really avoiding her feelings for Sam, her coworker, when the relationship is ready for the next level of commitment. Not only does she quit her job, but she also essentially moves back in with her mom, even though she learns that she is "dying" from stage 1 breast cancer. When the novel opens, Emily reveals that she is doing the job of receptionist and got this job through nepotism... her dad (whom she has always called by his first name, Jim, owns the company, which we later find out is a law firm. “Well, I can understand why you’d quit. I don’t know why anyone would want to be a lawyer anyway,” Jim says. The relief of having someone say the right thing should never be underestimated, whether he means it or not. “You’re a lawyer,” I say. “And you should have mentioned all this when I was applying to law school.” My thankfulness wears off, the way thankfulness does. “I don’t think we were on speaking terms at the time,” Jim says. “Right,” I say. “Well, then, you’re forgiven for that one.” The salads are delivered. We start to eat. So this is what it’s like to have a father? “My father was a lawyer,” Jim says, as if that justifies his life’s work. “Ironically, so is mine,” I say. “I never met your father, did I?” “No,” Jim says. “And neither did I."See, Ms. Davis is marvelous at capturing family dysfunction.Jim left the family when she was only 4 years old. He pops back into their life after her mother makes a round of phone calls ("She’s managed to turn breast cancer into a social network.”) letting everyone she has EVER known that she has cancer (stage of cancer irrelevant to mom as it is to daughter), apparently she has also called her ex-husband who shows up the apartment. When he leaves he suggests that Emily have lunch with him the following Friday... and thus the "nepotism-gone-bad situation" is born. Yet, seeing her father through his employees eyes, sharing a cab to work in the morning, at weekly lunch meetings, and from listening in on his phone conversation she gets to know her father for the first time. There is one more character in this family drama, and that is her sister Marjorie who is shopaholic via personal shopper and is very much pregnant. Emily is the daughter who has always tried to please her mother... Marjorie is the daughter who touched "the walls, while asking my mother a seemingly innocent question. It drove my mother crazy. That’s the difference between Marjorie and me. She’d touch the walls to make my mother angry. I went out of my way to do things perfectly, because my mother was already angry with me for being too much like my father."Emily also has one gay, male friend since childhood; he grew up with only a father and she with only a mother- thus there was symmetry in their friendship,not to mention that he was the only boy allowed in her bedroom. The title, ASK ME LATER, refers to one of the answers an eight ball gives and it is her favorite way to avoid pointed questions or thoughts. But she knows this and the thought of losing her mother to cancer does trigger a crisis in which Emily must try to not run away from a relationship, which is the only thing she knows from her parents' failed relationship. Throughout the novel, she leaves messages for Sam, which lets him know that she's still there... but true to her dysfunction, he can't usually call her back. I enjoyed this book but I am probably a different reader than I was back when I read her first novel. Back then I would not have called a brief interlude with a humorous book, a sorbet, or pallet cleanser. It was more of a main course. Although I found that all the threads in this novel tightly woven and coming to a satisfying end, it was still a light book in that the issues are rather self-absorbing and not so very complicated. But I did find myself laughing out loud often. A friend and I have observed the tread that when a book is put on the Kindle sale, that we can expect the author is coming out with a new book soon. I am hoping this is the case with Ms. Davis.
Ask Again Later by Jill A. Davis is the story of Emily Rhodes, a lawyer in New York City. When her mother is diagnosed with breast cancer, Emily drops everything in her life, her boyfriend and her career, in order to be her mother’s primary caregiver. Emily is almost too happy to give up these things in her life though- she is scared of commitment and jumped at the opportunity to fully put the focus on her mother.As she takes care of her mother, she also begins to develop a relationship with her estranged father. Slowly, she pieces her life back together and begins to enjoy a newfound friend in her father. She takes a job as a receptionist at his office, and begins to build a new life. One that involves taking care of her mom, getting to know her dad, chatting with her therapist and avoiding the man who loves her, Sam.This book was NOT what I expected. Not necessarily in a bad way, but just in a different way. I was expecting a full-fledged novel, where Emily goes from Point A to Point B in a different series of events. And yes, this did happen, but in a much different, more fluid way than in most novels.The writing in this book was almost prose-like. There were no chapter numbers, just titles of chapters. Short sentences. Short chapters. Fragments. The book just continued on, with no stopping point, perhaps a metaphor for life? Whether we like it or not, life continues on.While I liked the book, Emily was a frustrating character for me to relate to. I’m a serious go-getter and I’m not afraid to vocalize what I want and need. I’m not afraid of commitment. In fact, I crave it. Emily was the exact opposite. Afraid of commitment and afraid to become independent, I grew annoyed at her constant need for validation from her therapist. It was interesting to see her grow throughout the book, and in the end, I felt like she had come a long way.What I liked best about the book was Davis’s ability to make me FEEL. At one point, I was sobbing as I read because by the end of the book, I felt emotionally attached to these characters. I love when an author can make you feel so connected.Davis definitely digs deep in this book…we see Emily with her psychologist. We hear her inner-dialogue as the book is written in the first person. We see first-hand what a broken childhood can do to a person mentally and emotionally later in life. However, though this book was extremely deep at times, Davis also beautifully intertwined humor into every page of the book. Emily’s dry sense of humor made it easy to continue turning the pages.
Do You like book Ask Again Later (2007)?
I'm new to the shelves at the library where you can borrow a paperback and just return it when you're done (or pass it to your friends). This book looked appealing and it delivered. I was immediately smitten by the character of the mother because she was so entertaining (and this is scary) believable. I have a mother who is almost as narcissistic and outrageous. I loved how based on her diagnosis she is calling everyone in her address book. Part of what I enjoyed about the character being stuck in a certain phase is that she didn't fall apart completely and there was so much charm in her interactions with therapist and father. What keeps me from being more smitten (but has me looking forward to future work) is the estrangement from the dad just didn't seem believable, not given the ease of reconnecting in the same city. Otherwise very enjoyable and full of details that gave the characters nuance (popsicles and collecting for those damn office lunches).
—Peggy
I like the way Jill Davis writes. I very much enjoyed her book "Girls' Poker Night" and even wrote down a few quotes that I found particularly poignant.I was pleased to see the writing that impressed me once before still held up in "Ask Again Later." Protagonist Emily lives her life with one foot perpetually out the door. She doesn't know how to deal with her boyfriend Sam when he confesses his love for her. So when her mother calls and dramatically announces she's dying of cancer, Emily takes the opportunity to quit her job at a law office (simultaneously ditching fellow lawyer Sam) and move in to her mother's place. She also strives to get to know the father whom she hasn't had a relationship with since she was a child.I loved the writing style: short scenes filled with equal parts humor and warmth with an underlying sadness. I thought perhaps it was a little overdone with the whole "I blame my parents for my inability to live life to the fullest," but it was still worth reading and worth following Emily on her journey to happiness.
—April
I actually completely forgot I read this book until I found it in my "to-review" pile. That probably says a lot about it. Not bad by any means, just forgettable. I found Emily to be rather annoying. She was desperately in need of a good slap in the face, and the fact that she was a complete and total idiot through most of the book mostly just pissed me off. Maybe I would have liked it more if my home life growing up had been more dysfunctional, but I just found her hard to relate to. Not her struggles with career, love, family - that I get - but more her refusal to accept and deal with it rationally. And then when she finally does sort of face reality, everyone and everything is still right there waiting for her, like nothing ever happened, which bothered me. Life doesn't wrap up that easily. Although maybe that's why we need fiction...
—Tillie
