Ordinary Hazards: A Novel

Ordinary Hazards is a beautiful read that tells us the story of a woman named Emma. The book mainly takes place at the local bar where she and her ex-husband Lucas would hang out with his (and now her) friends. There’s Jimmy, Cal, two Petes, and Martin. The book has an underlying feeling of pain that Emma is trying so desperately to drown with alcohol, and yet, at the beginning of the book, we don’t know why. It is not until the story unfolds that we realize that an absolute horrible tragedy has struck this woman and that the numbness that she desires is not so unwarranted. The reader wants to know why the perfect couple of “Lucas and Emma” has split up because they seem to belong together so very much.

The book was a bit slow to start because it needed to develop the characters and their imperfections and quirks. However, as the story is revealed it quickens the pace and the reader is left wanting to know more. There were parts of the book that flashed from present to future and were a bit confusing, and the chapters were quite long. The book in its entirety is wonderful and heartwarming and heart-wrenching at the same time.