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Published: Aug. 05, 2011
Words: 61,747 (approximate)
Language: English
ISBN: 9781465887559
Short description
"Men like pie." Elaina Brady's mother shared that bit of wisdom with her shortly before hitching a ride West with a trucker from Missoula. Elaina takes on her mother's job making pies at the family diner—a dull existence. Then on the eve of Sept. 11, people she meets expand her horizons, inspiring her to be impulsive like her mother. Will she survive the consequences of her actions?Extended description
"Men like pie." Who would know the truth behind those words better than Elaina Brady's mother Maria? Months after she showed her teenage daughter how to bake perfect pie and hours after offering that culinary wisdom, Maria abandons Elaina, her sister Dee Dee and their father Walt. All it took was a lingering, lusty look from a Missoula trucker who stopped by their family's diner and ordered a slice of lemon meringue. Maria hitches a ride west with him, and with that impulsive decision, sixteen-year-old Elaina loses her mother and gains a job baking pies at the diner.A decade after Maria's departure, Elaina is still working at The Terminal Diner, just around the bend from an upstate New York airport. Her humdrum life is defined by pie-baking routine. Elaina realizes painfully that all she still knows about the opposite sex is summed up in the three last words her mother spoke to her. Then one deceivingly beautiful morning in September 2001, horrifying acts committed by terrorists a .. (Read more)
Tags
relationships, family, florida, artist, diner, magic realism, airport, drivein movie, pie, drivein, gallery, irish american fiction, sept 11, irish american, auto repair, upstate ny, binghamton ny, johnson city nyAvailable ebook reading formats
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Review by:
Lindsay Edmunds
on Aug. 30, 2011 :
The Terminal Diner has a small town setting that feels real and a likable main character, Elaina, whose dull life is stirred up in the wake of 9/11 (the shock and mourning of the town residents are beautifully and believably described by Hyland). Elaina makes an impulsive leap -- which does change her life, but not in the way she thought it would.
Elaina bakes great pie. This talent turns out to be as important as her mother said it was before her mother ran off with a trucker from Missoula, Montana.
The novel also contains a couple of mysteries, only one of which is solved. But the unsolved one is even more satisfying than the one that is eventually explained.
The Terminal Diner delivers reading pleasure and leaves you feeling hopeful. A winner.
(reviewed within a month of purchase)
Review by:
Tima Murrell
on Aug. 24, 2011 :
(no rating)
Elaina's mother left when she was sixteen. Her only advice - "Men like pies." So Elaina has spent the past twelve years working in the family diner making the best pies in the state. Her sister has a life, her friends have a life, but her life is the diner and making pies that men love. Then 9-11 happens and her life (and the lives of many others) will never be the same.
For some reason I started reading this book expecting a murder mystery. There is murder and a bit of mystery, but I would classify this as more of a romance than a murder mystery. The story centers around a group of people and a diner located close to the airport (hence the name of the diner).
I'll be honest, for the first several chapters of this book I was very bored. I know that the author had to lay some groundwork for the story to make sense, but the story just plodded along. Then, all of the sudden, it picked up and I couldn't put the book down. There were a couple of characters that could have been developed a bit more to help with the story line, but for the most part I enjoyed the book once I made it past those first few chapters. I will definitely be checking out her other books.
I received this book free of charge in exchange for my honest opinion.
(reviewed within a week of purchase)
Review by:
Caitlin Tompkins
on Aug. 19, 2011 :
As soon as I got the book put onto my Kobo and started reading, I couldn't put the book down! I was completely drawn into the story. I love the characters, they're very well developed and I can relate to them easily. Their reactions to situations are believable, I've found some authors whose characters are too ready to accept weird things happening, but I never saw that in The Terminal Diner. Having grown up in the area where the story takes place makes this book have a deeper meaning to me. I know the places she describes well, especially the airport having just come home from Florida two days ago. Seeing the name of the area where I've grown was thoroughly exciting and added an extra sense of attachment to the story. Mary Pat Hyland is an AMAZING writer, her characters come alive and interact well with each other. If you want to read a book, I would highly recommend this one.
(reviewed the day of purchase)