Commencement (2009) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

show spoilers

Characters/People edit see section history

• Sally Werner: Add a description of this character.
• Sally
• April
• Celia
• Lara
• Bree
• Ronnie Munro
• Jake
• Smithies
• Doug Anderson
• Bill Lambert
• Rosemary
• Lydia
• Alexa
• Roger
• Nora
• Roseanna
• Redd
• Toby
• Anthony
• Kayla
• Dylan
• Mama
• Gabriel
• Jill
• Jack
• Adrian
• Rob Johann

Quotes edit see section history

• “"There was, however, one vital thing Celia had learned from Harold Lance, something that helped her frame a story whenever she sat down to write. Any good drama or tragedy is like a ball of yarn, made up of so many strands piled one upon another, he had said, you should be able to unwind the ball, to see every bit, right down to the start.”

• “You would never know your own child was a cannibalistic killer until it was too late.”

  Sally

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• We don’t always do the things our parents want us to do, but it is their mistake if they can’t find a way to love us anyway.”

  Highlighted by 127 Kindle customers

• Perhaps it took more to feel truly happy for a friend than it did to feel sympathy for her.

  Highlighted by 81 Kindle customers

• “Every woman needs secrets,” her mother said with a smile then, her eyes meeting Sally’s in the rearview mirror. “Remember that when you’re old like me, pumpkin, because the world has a way of making a woman’s life everyone else’s business—you have to dig out a little place that’s only yours.”

  Highlighted by 68 Kindle customers

• They recognized that they were the first generation of women whose struggle with choice had nothing to do with getting it and everything to do with having too much of it—there were so many options that it felt impossible and exhausting to pick the right ones.

  Highlighted by 46 Kindle customers

• “Women leave their marriages when they can’t take any more,” she had told Sally. “Men leave when they find someone new.”

  Highlighted by 44 Kindle customers

• She didn’t want that sort of existence, but there was something so attractive about the security of feeling like you had stopped moving toward your life, and actually arrived.

  Highlighted by 42 Kindle customers

• Poems are like people, like lovers. If you try to understand them all at once, your head’s gonna spin. But if you let them take you in, piece by piece, they can move you. Transform you.

  Highlighted by 40 Kindle customers

• But what scared her far more than loneliness was the thought of waking up one day and realizing that she had attached herself to the wrong person, out of fear or pressure or God knows what. As a result, she had decided to view men as fun and nothing more, at least for now.

  Highlighted by 33 Kindle customers

• Any good drama or tragedy is like a ball of yarn, made up of so many strands piled one upon another, he had said. You should be able to unwind the ball, to see every bit, right down to the start.

  Highlighted by 31 Kindle customers

• All they knew of each other, really, were the sharp edges. The middle parts and blurry lines were yet to be filled in.

  Highlighted by 29 Kindle customers

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Smith College campus: Private liberal arts college for women. It is located in Northampton, Massachusetts.
• New York
• Atlanta
• Savannah
• Chicago
• King House
• Northampton
• Georgia
• San Francisco
• Boston
• California
• Amherst
• America
• Massachusetts
• Manhattan
• Brooklyn
• Dartmouth

Organizations edit see section history

• NOW: Add a description of this organization.

First Sentence edit see section history

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

• feminism: Feminism is a big theme throughout the novel. Women's issues in general are the meat of the story.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. J. Courtney Sullivan (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
• Dewey: 813.6

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › Women's Fiction › Friendship
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Literary
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Contemporary

More Books Like This edit see section history