What do readers think of One Minus One by Ruth Doan MacDougall? Write your own review.

I understand why Nancy Pearl chose this one for Book Lust Rediscoveries. Excellent plot growing from a believable character, who, while she may not react as I would, reacts in a truly reasonable manner to the forces around her. As with all truly good books, once I turned the last page, I found myself imagining how Emily's life might go on. I will look for more by Ruth Doan MacDougall. (Why haven't I run onto her before? My loss.)

Because I keep a list of books I have read since the 1970s, I realized that I had read this and other books by Ruth Doan MacDougall back then and loved them. And I still liked this one today. Yes it is a little dated, but that is one of the things I liked about it - the setting and time period. I found the character Emily to be sympathetic in her search for her own life after being displaced from the life she thought she would have. Her passivity is a little irritating, but as the book went on, she became more and more ready to stand up for herself. I have already ordered some other books (out of print) by this author.

One minus one was a beautiful character study of a girl in the 60's who is surprisingly divorced by her husband, the only partner she has ever known. I only gave the book 4 stars because it definitely is not for everyone because of the lack of plot. However, having once been a girl of the 60's, I could somewhat identify with Emily although I did find her rather whiney. I greatly enjoyed her new love interest and her roommates, both single girls in their 30's. One minus one is definitely a book where the reader wants to know what happens to the characters after the book is over.

David leaves his wife, Emily, after ten years of marriage. Their long relationship had begun in high school; she'd thought it would last forever. She moves to another New Hampshire town, and takes a job teaching in the high school, but she remains raw, in shock, and shattered by the turn of events.
Set in 1969, this novel reflects the times very accurately. Popular music and TV programs, clothes (remember girdles and housedresses, anyone?), cooking (or Peg Bracken's "The I Hate to Cook Book?), everyone smoking, beer cans with pop tops that came off...all this makes for an evocative read for some, or social history for others.
But the human emotions portrayed within it are eternal, and Emily's periodic dipping into her grandmother's diary, which recounts that long-ago marriage in happier and simpler times, underlines this theme.
And what could Emily have done differently in her own marriage? Does even David know?
We like the wistful Emily, and wish that we could somehow help her find her way to at least contentment, if not happiness.
The book ends with Emily soldiering on to make a life for herself; it's just that she doesn't know what that life may be, and is waiting, waiting...
This bluesy story is offset by MacDougall's wry sense of humor and descriptive talents. It's not so much depressing as it is fatalistic. I think most of us know an Emily.

Good story relating the emotional pain of a suddenly single young woman as she ventures into the reality of being "one". This period piece also captures New Hampshire as a background character slowly facing decline as the manufacturing plants begin their demise. The author engages the reader with a strong portrayal of confusion and yearning and the foolish decisions humans make to ease pain. A good read for book club discussions.

I can't wait to read another book by Ruth Macdougall. I thoroughly enjoyed One Minus One. Having graduated college in the 60's and started my first teaching job shortly after there were many aspects of Emily's life that I could relate to, even her teacher's salary which was higher than mine!

Emily feels that she is nothing without her husband. It's difficult to forget about an important part of your life and start again. I would hope that as time goes on Emily will be able to make the emotional transition from married to single and realize that she can be whole without being married.

One Minus One is a novel examining a woman's life at a very specific time in a very specific place at a very specific time in U.S. history. I couldn't help but think of the tv show Mad Men because of the author's attention to detail and the fact that it is set in the late 60s. It is strikingly first-person narrative. Everything is seen through the eyes of this woman and through the prism of her previous life. She is in a kind of awakening, trying to measure how far she can or wants to go, wondering who she really is at this point. It's not great literature, but it is an interesting novel for a look at women's lives at that time and the very sheltered lives in small towns on the upper East Coast.

Nancy Pearl, whom I greatly admire, is the presenter of this book; otherwise, I would not have completed reading One Minus One. Nancy states that there are 4 "doorways" to a work of fiction. The author chose the doorway of character. Emily is a newly divorced woman, forced to return to the classroom as a high school teacher. She is devastated by the divorce and makes many unfortunate decisions. She lets her heart (emotions), not her head (sensibility), determine her fate in this novel. The writing is exceptional, but I didn't enjoy the story. I would not recommend this title.