Examined Lives – Summer Roommates by Holly Chamberlin

This was an enjoyable novel about, for a change, older women. The four women ranged from their fifties into their seventies. While it is presented as a "beach read", it is really more than that, examining aging, friendship, intimate relationships, family conflicts, and personal and professional growth.

Sandra, 74, lives in a small coastal Maine town, the kind of place where everyone knows everybody else, in a large well-cared-for gracious home. She is widowed, her two grown children live far away, and her best friend has developed dementia. Other than the loneliness that comes with those circumstances, her life is a good one, with the companionship of her recently adopted cat, Clovis. But after a winter feeling isolated and rather lonely, she decides to try renting rooms to compatible single women to see how that might out on a more permanent basis – following the expanding current trend in group living for older adults.

Her daughter, a lawyer, is concerned for her safety and that she won't be taken advantage of, but her son is more supportive and encouraging. Sandra carefully vets the candidates with the help of a trusted realtor. She chooses Mary, a 60-something recently retired lawyer from New York; Amanda, a teacher in her 50s from Boston who has decided to take a vacation from her long-term relationship; and on a gut feeling that the realtor tries to dissuade her from, Patty, going on 70, who is adrift after a life of low-paying jobs and poor decisions about money and men, and is reluctantly living with her sister and brother-in-law. There is something about her, though, that touches Sandra, and she accepts her, giving her the smallest, least expensive room, and making accommodations for weekly payment instead of upfront as the others have made.

There are disagreements and misunderstandings, but over the summer, the four get to know one another, form connections, and perhaps more importantly come to terms with themselves and their individual issues. 

I enjoyed the author's examination of the concerns of older women, on aging and sexism, and coping with concerns about healthcare and dementia. These are very real things that many older people are struggling with or worrying about. I did feel that the characters, aside from Patty, were a little bland. I would liked a little more ethnicity in the mix as well, but for other readers, they are probably diverse enough. On the whole it is a good read, thoughtful but not overly demanding. I'll look for this author's work again.