Groundskeeping: A Read with Jenna Pick

A novel

A TODAY SHOW #ReadWithJenna BOOK CLUB PICK • An indelible love story about two very different people navigating the entanglements of class and identity and coming of age in an America coming apart at the seams—this is "an extraordinary debut about the ties that bind families together and tear them apart across generations" (Ann Patchett, best-selling author of The Dutch House).

In the run-up to the 2016 election, Owen Callahan, an aspiring writer, moves back to Kentucky to live with his Trump-supporting uncle and grandfather. Eager to clean up his act after wasting time and potential in his early twenties, he takes a job as a groundskeeper at a small local college, in exchange for which he is permitted to take a writing course.

Here he meets Alma Hazdic, a writer in residence who seems to have everything that Owen lacks—a prestigious position, an Ivy League education, success as a writer. They begin a secret relationship, and as they grow closer, Alma—who comes from a liberal family of Bosnian immigrants—struggles to understand Owen’s fraught relationship with family and home. 

Exquisitely written; expertly crafted; dazzling in its precision, restraint, and depth of feeling, Groundskeeping is a novel of haunting power and grace from a prodigiously gifted young writer.

Unusual setting & story

Written with sensitivity and good character development. A bit too drawn out but leaves the reader wondering at the conclusion.

Insufferable main characters

Both Owen and Alma are whiny and pretentious. If the author was trying to show how the educated elite wrongly think highly of themselves then it was a success but somehow I don’t think that was his intent. Owen stealing from his Grandpa, failing to help him that contributed to his death, showing no compassion for his uncle (who had obvious challenges that contributed to his behavior), being completely inept when it came to the car breakdown and showing such little appreciation for his step dad ability and willingness to fix it…the list goes on. And Alma…my back hurts and how dare you write better and before me. Blah.

Loved it!

I loved the brutal honesty in the story and I loved the narrator. Such a nice voice.

Brilliant, bittersweet Southern campus novel

Michael Crouch narrates this audiobook masterfully. I feel like I've made a new friend. Finishing a new favorite book is such sweet sorrow!

"Groundskeeping" is about a writer named Owen and the year he spends at Ashby College in Kentucky. Owen's hardscrabble early twenties were spent struggling with drug abuse and homelessness. The story begins when Owen returns to Kentucky, moving into his Grandpa's basement in hopes of getting his life back together. He finds a job as a groundskeeper at the local college and signs up for a creative writing class.

"Groundskeeping" pivots between Owen's experiences at college, his work life as an arborist, and the family drama with his Grandpa and Trump-supporting uncle that ensues upon his arrival. It's also a love story. At his first college party, Owen meets Alma, a writer in residence working on a soon-to-be-published project. Owen and Alma spark up a romantic friendship and the two young writers eventually become characters in Owen's own "fictional" writing project.

The members of Owen's Southern family are so vividly drawn, I feel like I know them. His kind-hearted grandpa, "Pops," welcomes Owen back home without judgment. They watch old VHS tapes of John Wayne movies and share KFC together for dinner. On a road trip to visit his parents, Owen takes Alma to a Cracker Barrel. It's a stunningly perfect scene. I could smell the maple syrup on the table. And then there's Rando, Owen's coffee-swigging co-worker. He's a good old-fashioned Southern hoot! The entire cast is memorable.

Lee Cole effortlessly captures the peaks and valleys of Owen's year in Kentucky. It's a beautifully bittersweet campus novel for the ages! "Groundskeeping" is deeply moving, must-read fiction.

A book about a place that never was!

Lee Cole’s first 2 sentences of the book, drew me in right away. “When I’m home, in Kentucky, all I want to do is leave. When I’m away, I’m homesick for a place that never was.
That is how I have felt since leaving Paducah, KY in 2012. I never knew how to describe it, but Lee describes perfectly.

It is a bittersweet love story of two very different young people finding their way. Owen’s struggles with his conservative, small town upbringing has him searching for himself.
During his search he works as a groundskeeper, lives with his grandfather, and meets a girl, Alma that becomes a very important relationship.

I enjoyed the book and Lee’s writing style. Being from the same area he is describing and having been to some of the places he named by name, I had to remind myself this was fiction.

The ending left you not knowing, yet in your heart you know what Owen is going to do.

A very good read!!!❤️