Right after the Weather

Written by Carol Anshaw and Pete Simonelli

Narrated by Candace Thaxton

“This timely novel takes on friendship, desire, fear, and vulnerability in one incisive, witty, and powerful package.” —People

“Astonishes with the force of its unexpected beauty.” —The New York Times Book Review

The author of the “graceful and compassionate” (People) New York Times bestseller Carry the One presents a new and long-awaited novel exploring what happens when untested people are put to a hard test, and in its aftermath, find themselves in a newly uncertain world.

It’s the fall of 2016. Cate, a set designer in her early forties, lives and works in Chicago’s theater community. She has stayed too long at the fair and knows it’s time to get past her prolonged adolescence and stop taking handouts from her parents. She has a firm plan to get solvent and settled in a serious relationship. She has tentatively started something new even as she’s haunted by an old, going-nowhere affair. Her ex-husband, recently booted from his most recent marriage, is currently camped out in Cate’s spare bedroom, in thrall to online conspiracy theories, and she’s not sure how to help him. Her best friend Neale, a yoga instructor, lives nearby with her son and is Cate’s model for what serious adulthood looks like.

Only a few blocks away, but in a parallel universe we find Nathan and Irene—casual sociopaths, drug addicts, and small-time criminals. Their world and Cate’s intersect the day she comes into Neale’s kitchen to find these strangers assaulting her friend. Forced to take fast, spontaneous action, Cate does something she’s never even considered. She now also knows the violence she is capable of, as does everyone else in her life, and overnight, their world has changed. Anshaw’s flawed, sympathetic, and uncannily familiar characters grapple with their altered relationships and identities against the backdrop of the new Trump presidency and a country waking to a different understanding of itself. Eloquent, moving, and beautifully observed, Right after the Weather is the work of a master of exquisite prose and a wry and compassionate student of the human condition writing at the height of her considerable powers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Oct 1, 2019
• ISBN: 9781508296911

Carol Anshaw

Carol Anshaw is the author of Right After the Weather, Carry the One, Aquamarine, Seven Moves, and Lucky in the Corner. She has received the Ferro-Grumley Award, the Carl Sandburg Award, and a National Book Critics Circle Citation for Excellence in Reviewing. She lives in Chicago and Amsterdam.

Reviews for Right after the Weather

[steve02476 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not really my kind of novel. OK, and a quick read.

[pgchuis · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was beautifully written, and the sections describing work as a theatre set designer were interesting. On the other hand the plot had no real shape and came to an abrupt end.

[viviennestrauss · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really loved this book, interesting and flawed characters though I'm not sure I actually liked any of them.

[bookmarque · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Relatively interesting, but Cate is static. She doesn't change no matter how many navel-gazing moments she has. Many reviewers call this a novel of self-discovery, but I disagree. Cate knows who she is, why she's in the place in her life she is, and has no desire to change a thing. She coasts. Even the violent episode she saves Neale from can't derail her. And that event was a damp squib. It happens in the middle of the book and other than giving Cate more reason to be inert and Neale a reason to move, has little bearing on her life. I hoped for a return of one of the crazies to give some definition and impetus to Cate, but nope. Too bad, it had potential.

[nivramkoorb · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Carol Anshaw is one of my favorite writers and I have read all of her previous novels. They usually involve complex characters doing interesting things but dealing with major life decisions. Anshaw writes great witty prose with lots of humor which contrasts with the seriousness of her subject. The whole story unfolds through the voice of Cate a 42 year old financially struggling set designer for less then successful plays in the Chicago theater scene. Anshaw uses Chicago for lots of her books and being from there adds to my enjoyment of her books. Cate is involved with Maureen who might finally be the partner she would like to end up with. She is getting over Dana where her heart really is and has the ex-husband who she divorced when she came out living with her and his wonderful dog while he gets over his latest breakup. Cate also has a straight best friend Neale from childhood. Anshaw creates these interesting characters and mixes it all up to create an entertaining character study that deals with human beings dealing with life. Throw in the backdrop of the 2016 election, and a significant terrible event in the middle of the book and you end up with a very good read. The plot is not an important as the observations that are made by Cate and what we see from the people she deals with. It is worth reading simply for Anshaw's great writing. If you read this one I believe you will want to read the rest of her stuff.

[froxgirl · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This somewhat simple, linear story of a few months in the life of a middle aged Chicago woman just got under my skin. Cate is a set designer for local stage productions who’s been chosen for an Off-Broadway show, an interesting career trajectory but not remarkable. She's coming off a failed, tensely sexual relationship and is easing into a new one that's less fraught, also not an uncommon turn of events. Cate’s ex-husband, to whom she is still fondly attached, has had a nervous breakdown and moved in with her, along with his lovely rescue dog Sailor. That's unusual. But even before a violent event occurs and reshapes the plot, Anshaw's writing is just so penetratingly sympathetic, and Cate struggles so mightily with doing right and doing wrong, that I dreaded reaching the end and having to let her go.Quotes: "A heavy standing ashtray is surrounded by a population of emphysemic ghosts.""She's not much good at making the first move. She's a lot better at standing still and waiting for whomever to show up and make her desire half of a coincidence.""A lot of Maureen's relationship analysis sounds like it came from inspirational rocks.""Questioning someone's ethics isn't something easily brought into any conversation.""What makes you think if we had each other free and clear it would be better than what we have now? What if what I give you is the best I've ever given anyone? Maybe we put so much value on this because of its limitations."