Laughter and Tears

Here One Moment

/ Rebekahrox / 2 Comments

by Liane Moriarty

It has just occurred to me that I haven’t yet introduced myself. I apologize. One should always introduce oneself quickly!

Investing in life insurance does not increase your risk of dying. Correction: Investing in life insurance may increase your risk of dying if you are married to a murderer. I’m not trying to be funny. Just accurate.

It’s interesting when you suddenly behave out of character. An example: I went tandem skydiving for my sixtieth birthday. It was exhilarating! Obviously, I will never go skydiving again. Not if you paid me. I still have nightmares about it.

I’ve read all of Liane Moriarty’s books. They have all kept me engaged although, of course, I have liked some more than others. But I know when I pick one up, though bad and sad things might happen it will all come together in the end to a satisfying conclusion full of hope. This one kept me on the edge of my seat. Things looked pretty dark for some of the characters this book centers on, but my faith in the author was rewarded in spades.

On a shortish flight from Hobart, Tasmania to Sydney, Australia, an older woman gets up from her seat almost in a trance-like state and goes from passenger to passenger implacably predicting their time and cause of death. This book centers on 6 of them and their families, as well as Cherry, who comes to be known as“The Death Lady”. In Liane Moriarty’s signature fashion, the tension mounts as we jump from one main character to another, learn their stories, and how the prediction clouds and complicates their lives. But we spend the most time getting to know Cherry. At first, I was impatient with that because I was so worried about the other characters, whose deaths, except for one, were predicted to be imminent and shocking. That exception was the prediction for the baby son of a young mother. Her boy will drown at age 7. We see the forces of their doom gathering even as we come to care about them and their loved ones. But it was not long before I was caught up in the life of the brilliant and funny Cherry, who, it turns out, was well worth knowing. Even more than learning the fates of our principal characters, we wonder throughout what in the world possessed her to stand up in that plane and do something so devastating and so out of character.

Are Cherry’s predictions to be taken seriously? As three people on the flight die exactly as predicted, it seems maybe so. But are the apparent fates of those that remain preventable? Will believing the predictions to be true become a self-fulfilling prophecy? What about free will? Or are our futures ruled by determinism? There is lots to think and wonder about in this novel besides the gripping plot and masterful character development. How does Chaos Theory come into it? It’s the cover of the book! Or The Many Worlds Interpretation? We learn about the Monte Carlo Fallacy(or the Gambler’s Fallacy), The Call of the Void (or The Vertigo of Possibility), and The Just World Fallacy. (There’s no such thing as Karma? Shoot!) Why does Cherry look so familiar to one of the passengers? What is the significance of her strange brooch? How odd that we don’t remember the 4th person who dies. And what about Cherry’s famous fortune-teller mother? Will her beautiful predictions for Cherry come true or was she a well-meaning charlatan? What are the notebooks she speaks of?

After coming to it’s moving and satisfying (even triumphant) conclusion, I thought back on all that occurred in the book. I was amazed at how Liane brought it all together like an intricate puzzle successfully solved. She really outdid herself. Many seemingly insignificant details are important clues but I didn’t grasp their meaning and how they all came together until the end. Liane Moriarty leaves none of her signature devices and tactics by the wayside and they certainly worked to keep me enthralled. Here One Moment was brilliantly crafted and hugely enjoyable.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for a free Uncorrected Digital Galley of this book in return for an unbiased review. This book will be published September 10, 2024.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Look on the Bright Side

/ Rebekahrox / Leave a comment

By Kristan Higgins

The key, she had learned, was to live in the here and now. Not the back then or the what-if, but right now. Not to worry about the shadows or the times of sorrow and darkness. They would come, of course. No one was immune. The trick was to carry hope and determination like a torch into the dark times. The way Justin had in his last few months. The way she would now. The trick, Lark now knew, was to look on the bright side.

This is the third in a row of Kristan’s books set in Wellfleet, Massachusetts on Cape Cod and so far, it is my favorite. To me, it had a great mix of hilarity, heart-rending emotion, character portrayal and growth, and romance. Not to mention one of Kristan’s signature laugh-till-you-cry extended comic situations where she pulls out all the stops. The one in this reminded me of a scene in a little-known movie from the 90s starring Billy Crystal and Debra Winger titled Forget Paris. The movie was not all that good, but there was one scene where Debra Winger gets a pigeon stuck in her hair which is an absolute scream. Anyway, when you get to the Renaissance Fair part make sure you are alone or with non-judgemental loved ones unless you don’t mind making a public spectacle of yourself.

We met Lark first in Little Ray of Sunshine, the previous Wellfleet book. She is the unpleasant Abigail’s twin sister and we don’t see much of her because she is a busy doctor. But we know she is really nice. In Look on the Bright Side, we learn that she has been reassigned from her specialty, Oncology, to work in the Emergency Room. She has been committed to working with cancer patients because the love of her life, Justin, died from leukemia 7 years prior. Desperate to get back, she enters into an agreement with a brilliant surgeon, Dr. Lorenzo Santini, who works at the same hospital. If she will pretend to be his girlfriend at family events leading up to his sister’s wedding, he will use his considerable influence to see that she gets back to Oncology. Okay, Great, I thought, fake boy/girlfriend is one of my favorite tropes. Sign me up. And I was intrigued by “Dr. Satan” as he is called. I also love the grumpy/sunshine opposites attract trope. And Dr. Satan is very grumpy indeed. There is a reason why he needs to hire a girlfriend. He could not be any more different than Lark who is tender-hearted, sweet, and very very empathetic. These traits, in fact, are the reason why she was reassigned from Oncology. She is “a weeper”, taking too much to heart and in danger of losing her objectivity when it comes to her patients. She was sent to Emergency to toughen up. We love Lark for her tender heart but also because she is extremely intelligent, funny, and spirited. She doesn’t take any guff from Dr. Satan either. He terrifies everyone in his path, but not Lark.

But then Kristan does the unexpected and turns the grumpy/sunshine fake dating tropes on their head. See, Lorenzo Santini is not difficult in an intriguing more -there-than-on-the-surface-will-be- redeemed-by-love way, but in a truly hateful way. No, he is not evil, but is the typical stereotype of the egomaniac surgeon with a god complex. Also he is a snob and a braggart.
It probably took me a tad too long to give up on one of my favorite tropes and realize that Dr. Satan was not salvageable and Lark would have her happy ending with someone else entirely. In fairness though, KH was tricky and kept me guessing by hinting that maybe he wasn’t as black as he seemed. I kept hoping. What made it easier for me to let hope for Dr. Satan go was that her real love interest was so obviously perfect for her and very very attractive and likable.

So the love story was great. If it had only been about that, the book would have been wonderful. But this is Kristan Higgins, and there was so very much more. Lark’s parents have a crisis in their “perfect” marriage. We meet tacky botoxed fabulously wealthy but unfulfilled Joy who becomes a great friend to both Lark and her mother. And Joy, in turn, has her life changed for the better by them. We get to know Dr. Santini’s large Italian family who are as warm and ebullient (with one exception) as Dr. Santini is the opposite. Kristan brings on the tears and emotion with a deep dive into Lark’s beautiful but tragic romance with Justin. Every character, no matter how small is exquisitely drawn. And let’s not forget Lark’s adventures in the emergency room!

As much as I loved the last 6 or 7 of Kristan’s books, I had my quibbles with them even though many were 5 stars for me. But this one? No quibbles whatsoever. The story is topped by a rousing and fingernail-biting scene in which our heroine becomes a heroine for real. I couldn’t have asked for a better ending. There is even a whiff of hope for Dr. Satan at the end.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

The Undomestic Goddess

/ Rebekahrox / 1 Comment

by Sophie Kinsella

“There’s no such thing as ruining your life. Life’s a pretty resilient thing, it turns out.”

After reading them quite a while ago, I’m listening to all of Sophie Kinsella’s books on Audible. They have been even better than I remember thanks to the great narrators. They have wrung every little bit of comedy, wit, heart, and romance out of every one. And The Undomestic Goddess was no exception. When I first started to listen to it, I was a little put off because Rosalyn Landor, the first-person narrator, seemed too old and serious for a SK heroine. They are usually a little goofy and hapless. But as it turned out, as I got into the story, she was perfect.

As the book starts Samantha Sweeting is anything but a flakey but nice airhead. She is a brilliant corporate banking and contract lawyer, “one of the country’s top legal talents”. She is on track to achieve her lifelong dream: to be the youngest partner at the most prestigious firm in London. Until she does something she never does: she makes a mistake. And it’s a doozy, losing her firm £50,000,000. Thrown into disarray and disbelief, she leaves the office building in a trance and finds herself in the middle of the English countryside knocking on the door of a beautiful estate to ask for information as to where she is exactly. They mistake her for an applicant for their cook and housekeeper position, and Samantha, thanks to her ability to think on her feet (and lie), gets the job even though she has never cooked or done anything remotely domestic in her life. Earlier, when interrupted at her office by her cleaner asking where she keeps her vacuum cleaner bags, she wonders why one would want to put a vacuum cleaner in a bag. Where is she taking it? (she puts “order a new vacuum” on her to-do list since she has no idea and figures a new vacuum would come with a supply of bags. Problem solved! ) But she can fake it at the Geigers for a day or two. She only needs a place to stay until she figures out her next step forward.

But one thing leads to another and her break from the pressure-cooker existence at her firm does its good work. Despite stumbling around in the dark as far as her duties are concerned, she starts to enjoy her time and freedom.

“[When] you’re a lawyer at Carter Spink, you don’t sit around. Not when every six minutes of your time is worth money. If I let six minutes of time tick away, I’ve lost the firm £50. Twelve minutes, £100. Eighteen minutes, £150. And the truth is, you get used to measuring your life in little chunks. And you get used to working. All the time.”

Her disastrous adventures doing the laundry, cooking, and cleaning are hilarious, and still more hilarious is how she bluffs her way through her ignorance of all things domestic and worms her way into the hearts of her employers and visa versa. They think she is the best housekeeper they have ever had! Thanks to the cooking and cleaning lessons of the gardener Nathaniel’s warm and wise mother, she actually starts to enjoy the work and becomes pretty good at it. She doesn’t have a genius I.Q for nothing, though she has to take great pains to hide it.

As the days go on, she and Nathaniel, who also owns 3 pubs and hates lawyers, fall in love and Samantha starts to become part of the community.

…I’ve learned a different way to live. I do my day’s work, and I finish—and that’s it. I’m free. I don’t need to take paperwork home. I don’t need to have my BlackBerry switched on twenty-four/seven. I can go to the pub, I can make weekend plans, I can go and sit in the garden for half an hour with my feet up—and it doesn’t matter. I don’t have that constant pressure anymore. I’m not stressed out. And it suits me. It’s like … The Waltons.

But one day she sees something on the internet which causes her to realize that she is possibly innocent of the mistake she was accused of, but was framed. The last part of the book concerns her, at first, almost hopeless efforts to clear her name. The triumphant yet troubling aftermath causes her to come to a fork in the road as to her career and future life.

I can’t emphasize strongly enough how much Rosalyn Landor’s interpretation added welcome layers to this book. The tension between Samantha’s mature serious tones while being driven into consternation and bemusement by her own incompetence and her employers’ antics are priceless. We are privy to her frequent and panic-stricken inner loss of poise while never losing her calm, competent, and collected exterior in front of the Geigers. The voices she gives to the snobby but good-hearted Trish and Eddie capture them perfectly. In fact, every character is a gem. Sophie Kinsella is always funny but this one seemed to have more than its fair share of emotional and poignant moments.

I’ve read that Sophie Kinsella is very ill but currently in stable condition. I am so grateful for the many hours of joy and delight she has given me and will continue to give me even if she never writes another new book.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Friday’s Child

/ Rebekahrox / Leave a comment

By Georgette Heyer

“Thought the world of you, did Kitten. Wouldn’t hear a word against you; wouldn’t even admit you can’t drive well enough for the F.H.C. That shows you! Always seemed to me she only thought of pleasing you. If she took a fancy to do something she shouldn’t, only had to tell her you wouldn’t like it, and she’d abandon it on the instant. Used to put me in mind of that rhyme, or whatever it was, I learned when I was a youngster. Something about loving and giving: that was Kitten!”

I have read this comic masterpiece many times and I have always enjoyed it. And I have listened to the almost 25-year-old reading by Eve Matheson. Again, very enjoyable. But this new version read by Owen Findley was just too too funny. His interpretations of all the characters were “bang up to the mark.” Hilarious, thoughtful, and touching. My only quibble was that he spoke too quickly but that was easily remedied by turning the speed down to 85%.

I always kind of wondered why Georgette considered this her best work as almost all of them are pretty brilliant, but after listening to this one again, I can’t argue. It’s famous for being her funniest book, but it had never struck me as particularly romantic. But at the end, when Sherry and Kitten are finally reunited….Well. It was as romantic and tender a scene as she ever wrote made even more so by Owen Findley’s subtle and sensitive reading.

Young Lord Sheringham, “Sherry”, has to get married right away because he’s overextended due to gambling debts and is properly “in the basket.” He is very wealthy but won’t come into his inheritance until he is 25 or married, whichever comes first. When his childhood friend, now a great beauty, refuses his offer he vows to marry the first girl he sees. That would be Hero Wantage whom he happens upon sitting on the side of the road. She is another childhood friend, but more of a tag-along or mascot being 5 or so years younger. An orphan, she has run away from the family who took her in. Their generosity has come to an end and they have given her an ultimatum of either becoming a governess or marrying the very dull and sober curate. Clearly in need of rescuing, she is the perfect candidate! It is a Win-Win! Sherry had always been carelessly fond of her and she has always worshiped the ground he walks on. He takes the sweet and naive girl to London and the fun begins. Sherry doesn’t see any reason why he should alter his bachelor lifestyle for a marriage of convenience. And Hero, whom he calls “Kitten” is the last person who would make demands or criticize him in any way. In her eyes, he can do no wrong, much to the bemusement of his loyal best friends simple-minded Ferdy Fakenham, the more knowing Gil Ringwood, and the Byronic George Wrotham, who have a more clear-eyed view of their friend Sherry.

As he is driven to distraction rescuing Kitten from one scrape after another, Sherry grows from a spoiled irresponsible young man about town to embrace his adulthood and responsibilities. He realizes that most of the trouble she gets into is because she is following his example! His crew of friends provide more than their fair share of the humor as they come to embrace Kitten as one of the gang and often take a dim view of Sherry’s affectionate but cavalier treatment of her. But when Kitten runs away (long story) Sherry realizes how much he loves and values her. It all culminates in a comic farce at a posting inn involving an elopement, an abduction, and a punch in the nose. It’s a perfect ending.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

The Wedding Season

/ Rebekahrox / 2 Comments

By Katy Birchall

When you get dumped the day before your wedding in a broom cupboard, suddenly everything seems a bit shit.

“Look, Freya, this is kind of what I’m talking about. We don’t … mesh well anymore. You’re so pragmatic all the time. So together. Which is great. For you. But I’m, you know—” He searched for the words. “—I’m all over the place. Temperamental. Emotional. We can’t be good for each other. We just can’t. We don’t make sense.”

At last, a straight-up rom-com/chick-lit novel ala Sophie Kinsella that I really liked without reservation. It was effortlessly funny and romantic yet with just the right amount of seriousness and depth. Our heroine, Freya, is delightful and not a victim but with enough flaws, foibles, and insecurities to make her someone you can relate to and give her a path for personal growth.

In the first couple of pages, Freya is dumped by her fiance on the day before their wedding. To make this even more devastating, they have been together for 10 years, their lives are closely intertwined, and her family has spent a lot of money. It was to be a very big wedding. There is one side issue about this that I have to get off my chest. Nowhere is it mentioned that Matthew paid her back for the money spent. He cost her a lot of money by leaving it to the last minute to call off the wedding. And Freya or her family should have asked him to pony up. Anyway, Freya is heartbroken, stunned, and crushed. She really loved him. The objective reader knows that she dodged a bullet, but it takes much of the book for Freya to see Matthew and his actions clearly. It would have been easy for Katy Birchall to make him a real jerk and villain. But she makes it clear that he is essentially a good guy, but weak and immature. But She reveals this subtly and gradually while still giving him enough lovable qualities that we don’t question Freya’s sanity for being with him for 10 years and heartbroken at his loss. I appreciated this. Too often I start to dislike heroines I’m meant to root for because they are so clueless and blind to the vileness of the men they are married to or in love with.

The book is centered around a string of eight weddings that Freya and Matthew were meant to attend together as a married couple. Her best friends, another couple, devise a plan to keep her out of the dumps during this “Wedding Season” that will call up such pain and humiliation for her. They give her a task for her to accomplish at each wedding and it is one that will be a challenge for her being the kind of girl she is and help her to step out of her comfort zone. For example, she has to stand up to give a toast to the bride and groom when she is a terrible public speaker. Or Be the last one standing on the dance floor when she is reserved and not a good dancer. By the end of the book, she is well and truly over Matthew, in love with a great guy that we love too, and improbably reconciled with her estranged mother.

The way the book is plotted kept me always looking forward and engaged in Freya’s journey. There were so many opportunities for humor and drama. The romance was perfect. Her family and all of her friends were entertaining, supportive, and loving. And Matthew gets his comeuppance in a very satisfying fashion. And she didn’t stint on her mother being rightly told off either with the result that she finally takes responsibility for her actions. Lots of Catharsis. My only disappointment was that the author has written only 3 other adult novels, and I had already read one of them which I hadn’t realized! I was disappointed that I had to give that one 4 stars and was so happy that this one was a 5-star read.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

My (not so) Perfect Life

/ Rebekahrox / 2 Comments

By Sophie Kinsella

Original review: March, 2017.
Right up to Sophie Kinsella’s best work. As usual, Kinsella is a master at showing the characters and personalities of her players, not just telling you. It was very refreshing that she didn’t follow the usual “country good, city bad” cliche. I liked the message and it’s a welcome reminder, when, with social media, one thinks one knows a person and their life. Maybe you really don’t. **4 stars**

**Additional thoughts upon re-reading on Audible. 10/03/2023**
I am bumping this one up to 5 stars. First of all, the narration by Fiona Hardingham was funny and touching. I loved her Somerset accent and hearing it really highlighted the divide between country people and city people and the accompanying assumptions that are made. She made Katie so lovable, and her boss, Demeter, so layered. She was contemptible and admirable at the same time. What a character!

Katie is a farm girl raised by a single father who has made her way to London. To be a “Londoner” has been her dream. She works in an advertising agency, and though she is the low man on the totem pole, she is a tryer, and she has talent. To make a long story of her personal and professional struggles short, she gets laid off and is forced to return to the farm in disgrace. Not wanting to disappoint her loving Dad, she tells him and his second wife Biddy that she is on sabbatical. Her Dad and Biddy have decided to turn their farm into a “Glamping” site, and thanks solely to Katie’s guidance and marketing talent, it is a fabulous success.

Katie’s old London boss, Demeter, is a piece of work. Katie was a great admirer and thought that Demeter had the perfect life. Demeter is brilliant and creative (almost a legend in her field) but is totally disorganized, has no self-awareness, is a braggart, does not play well with others, and many other things. When she fires Katie in the most insensitive manner possible, Katie joins her former officemates in hating her guts. Then Demeter shows up at her family’s glamping site for a family vacation. And Katie starts to hilariously and cleverly wreak her revenge.

How she goes from being Demeter’s mortal enemy to her comrade in arms is as funny and entertaining as can be. Together, as an unlikely team, they turn each other’s trouble-filled and imperfect lives into darn near-perfect ones. I think Demeter is one of Sophie Kinsella’s most wonderful creations. And Katie’s journey is heartwarming and exhilarating. Of course, there is a romance for Katie, and, as usual, her love interest is appealing and a bit unusual with issues of his own.
This book is romantic comedy at its best. And a witty satire to boot.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

One Plus One

/ Rebekahrox / 2 Comments

by Jojo Moyes

This is the story of a family who didn’t fit in. A little girl who was a bit geeky and liked maths more than makeup. And a boy who liked makeup and didn’t fit into any tribes.

“I worked it all out in the bath. I’ve been blathering to the kids all these years about how if you look out for people and do the right thing it will all be okay. Don’t steal. Don’t lie. Do the right thing. Somehow the universe will see you right. Well, it’s all bullshit, isn’t it? Nobody else thinks that way.”

Needless to say, this was well-written. The plot was engaging and kept me in a state of suspense and anticipation. Truthfully, even dread at a few points. But that was because I really cared about the characters and I knew that all would not go smoothly for them before what I expected to be a happy ending, with good rewarded and bad punished. At a certain point, I thought the worst had happened, and I relaxed and just enjoyed the wonderful characters, the humor, and how they dealt with their challenges. And even though bad things kept happening (contemptible Marty! The Fishers!), I was OK with it, because everything else was so good, and sometimes it’s worse waiting for the bad than actually being in the middle of it. The story is told from the perspectives of the 4 protagonists.

Jess is a bravely optimistic single mother with a strong moral compass and who is always determined to do the right thing.

She seemed to bounce through life like Tigger; the things that would have felled most people didn’t seem to touch her. Or if she did fall, she bounced right back. She fell again, plastered on a smile, dusted herself down and kept going

She has been abandoned by her useless husband Marty who is living with his mother and dealing with depression. She is fine with that and doesn’t bother him for money or the support she is owed because she knows about depression and that he is jobless anyway. She is caring for Nicky, his 17-year-old son with a drug addict mother, and her own child with him, 10-year-old Tanzie. Nicky is somewhat of a misfit of the goth variety and doesn’t fit in at school, or anywhere really except perhaps in his online gaming community. Tanzie is fine socially and at school. We suspect that Nicky is pretty smart, but we know Tanzie is. She has just been offered a scholarship to an elite school in which she will thrive by virtue of her genius for Math. The scholarship will cover 90% of her tuition, and they really want her. Unfortunately, Jess, who works two jobs just to not keep up with basic expenses can’t even afford to pay the 10% difference. The family is desperate for Tanzie to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity both because of what it will mean for her future, and out of fear of the neighborhood school she will have to go to if she can’t get in. Nicky is being cruelly victimized by some of the locals who go there and they already have their eye on Tanzie. There is a lot at stake, but there is hope. Jess learns of a Math Olympiad with a prize of 15,000 pounds for the winner. It will cover Tanzie’s tuition for a year and Jess knows that if she can just get Tanzie to Aberdeen Scotland to compete, victory and the prize money are in the bag.

Meanwhile, we meet Ed, whom Jess cleans house for. He is a tech wizard who has made a fortune with his company. He is socially awkward and somewhat of a geek, although pretty good-looking now that he can afford to be. I love an unconventional hero. He has his own problems having inadvertently got caught up in an insider trading scheme. He is possibly facing prison and the bad publicity when it all comes out threatens to tank his company. He needs to get out of the public eye and get out of town. Through a series of unlikely events, the four join forces to get Tanzie to Scotland to win the 15,000 pound prize.

Their adventures on the road are by turns comical, heart-tugging, suspenseful, and even shocking. I was all in and loved Jess and her little family. Unfortunately the same cannot be said about my feelings for Ed, with whom the kids bond with and with whom Jess falls in love. It was a shame really because in many ways, he was a sympathetic, even admirable, and lovable character at times who grows quite a bit in the course of the novel. But I could not forgive his behavior towards his dying father, his mother, and his sister (another great character). He refuses to visit them, fighting his sister all the way, for over half the book. His excuse is that he is trying to protect them from the impending scandal of his trial. But I didn’t buy this seemingly reasonable excuse. He was just cowardly and embarrassed. It was a relief when he finally saw the light and made things right in that regard.

Because in that one moment, Ed Nicholls saw that he had been more like Marty than he was like Jess. He had been that coward who spent his life running from things rather than facing up to them. And that had to change.

But his mother’s and father’s hearts had already been broken again and again and his sister enraged by his selfishness.
All was forgiven, but for me, it was too little too late. Some things cannot be fixed by an apology. And no sooner than I get over that, he turns on Jess and the kids. Yes, Jess screws up and, for once, does something she knows is wrong. But in the same way that Jean Valjean was wrong to steal a loaf of bread to feed his starving nephew and sister. Despite the fact that it all came right at the end, I just felt so much hostility towards Ed for his attitude and behavior that it almost ruined the book for me. But you know, if Jess is happy, then I’m happy.

Come to think of it, the same thing happened with a main character in the other Jojo Moyes book I read. She made me hate a character only to have a character I loved just forgive them. Does she do that with every book? No matter. The book was saved by the wonderfulness of all of the rest of the characters, the bravest and bestest dog in the world, and “the kindness of strangers.”

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Mary Jane

/ Rebekahrox / Leave a comment

by Jessica Anya Blau

“… I hadn’t understood that people you loved could do things you didn’t love. And, still, you could keep loving them.”

Imagine the most reserved, squarest, whitest, most buttoned up, and buttoned down family you can and multiply by 3. At least 3. Let’s say one multiplication for each member of the family. And, our heroine, 14-year-old Mary Jane is the product of how she was raised. She is no rebel. In fact, she is an old-fashioned girl even for the exclusive enclave in Baltimore in 1975. She loves music and sings in the choir but is only vaguely familiar with the more famous rock and roll groups of the day. She prefers Broadway show tunes. She is also intelligent, sweet, dutiful, and open-hearted. She is excited to have a summer job as a temporary Nanny to a local doctor’s little girl, 5-year-old Izzy. Her insular structured world is about to be blown to smithereens.

The Cone family is everything that Mary Jane’s parents are not (or not everything the Dillards are.) At home, Mary Jane and her family bow their heads in prayer before every home-cooked, planned-out, well-balanced meal.

“Thank you, Jesus, for this food on our table and for my wonderful wife and obedient child. God bless this family, God bless our relatives in Idaho, God bless President Ford and his family, and God bless the United States of America.”

Mrs. Cone doesn’t cook or clean. they go out to eat or order out. An old bumper sticker on the door says “IMPEACHMENT: Now more than ever.” Their home is chaotic, disorganized, and a mess. Even dangerous to a little 5-year-old. The Cones are free spirits and free with their emotions. They are Jewish but prefer Buddha to God. Having Maryanne exposed to a new way of living and thinking at the Cone’s bohemian household would have made a great premise for a coming-of-age story by itself. But Jessica Anya Blau ups the ante. The reason why the Cones need a Nanny this particular summer is because Dr. Cone, a psychiatrist specializing in addiction, has cleared his schedule so he can treat and house his latest patient, a famous rock and roll star, Jimmy Bendiger, and Mrs. Cone, Bonnie, will be entertaining his equally famous and beloved movie star wife, Sheba.

As Mary Jane becomes more and more entwined with the Bohemian Cones, Jimmy, and Sheba, she comes to love them as they come to love, rely and depend upon her as she whips their household into shape and cooks them nutritious and delicious meals just as her mother taught her. She gives little Izzy stability and makes learning fun. And she starts to see her family in a different light. It starts to dawn on her that her parents have racist attitudes, are close-minded, and have questionable priorities. Mary Anne’s adventures in her new world and her ruminations on her two families are mostly light-hearted and funny, though sometimes, of course, serious and thought-provoking. And all the while, she is able to keep the truth about the Cones and their famous guests from her parents. Then one fateful day she gets her picture in the paper visiting a record store in the wrong (black) neighborhood of Baltimore with the famous rock star and his famous wife. And it all comes out.

“EXPLAIN.” He banged a fist on the table and I jumped. I thought of Izzy Cone. How she’d probably never had even a second in her life when she felt afraid of her parents.

Why would the Cones be so careless as to let a known drug addict into their home with a little girl and you?’

Why is a heroine addict traipsing around town with you anyway?

Has this man deflowered you?

Why did you go to the record store with them? Why would they take you to that store?
“Because it’s the best record store in town.” My mother snorted. “I highly doubt that.” “It is. The people in that store know all about every kind of music. The owner loves Guys and Dolls, just like me. And there was a whole wall of classical music and opera.” “On North Avenue? No, dear. Don’t lie to me.” “I’m not lying, Mom.” I was almost embarrassed for her. Did she think Black people only listened to the Jackson 5?

And with that, Mary Jane’s relationship with the Cones is at an end. Or is it?

Although I believe most readers are meant to love the Cones and disapprove (at the very least) of the Dillards, the author makes it clear that neither family is all right or all wrong. One family is generous with hugs, kisses, “I love yous” and sincere, if extravagant praise. But Izzy, though loved, is not cared for. Their home is a disaster area and the refrigerator, until Mary Jane gets there, is full of spoiled inedible food. The other family never says I love you, but Mary Jane is protected, nurtured, nourished, cared for, and taught important things. Her mother invests her time in the home and in carefully and thoroughly teaching Mary Jane the very skills and values that the Cones and their guests depend on. They are why they admire her so and partly why they love and value her. Mrs. Dillard’s love for her daughter and the love of music that they both share lead to her nascent transformation by the end of the novel. Not so for Mrs. Cone.

A word about Church, which is an example of one of the reasons I so admired the author’s characterizations. It would have been so easy for the author to portray the church in general and Rowland Park Presbyterian that the Dillards attend in a negative light, another way in which poor Mary Jane is oppressed and indoctrinated. But Blau does not take the easy predictable path with any of her characters or this institution. Church is good. Sheba the movie star was raised in the church and appreciates it. Mary Jane is the star of her choir, and her mother plays guitar for the Sunday School. The choir director likes to throw a few modern tunes into his repertoire like from Jesus Christ Superstar and John Lennon’s Imagine (with the lyrics slightly changed, of course!) The Dillards dread going to church the Sunday after Mary Jane’s ignominy is blasted on the front page of the local paper. But the parishioners are only excited and impressed at her intimacy with such two mega-stars. Jimmy, Sheba, The Cones, Mrs. Dillard are all complex with hidden depths both positive and negative. Even Mr. Dillard doesn’t always do what you would expect from the villain of the piece if there is a villain.

Mary Jane has gone through a summer like no other. And she will emerge with her horizons expanded and her future at her feet. She will take the best from both worlds and turn her back on the worst.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Someone Else’s Shoes

/ Rebekahrox / 1 Comment

By Jojo Moyes

She steps forward and makes to touch Nisha’s arm. Nisha immediately snaps it away. She does not like to be touched at the best of times, least of all by someone showing visible sympathy.

Nisha nods, dumbly. Jasmine stops and reaches into her bag. Nisha stares at her. She does not want to take money from this woman, with her catalog-quality jacket and cheap trainers. She does not want to think of herself as poorer than this.

Sam knows that if she stays at home she will either have to sit with Phil in the dead-aired, enervating living room, or start one of the 148 tasks that need doing in the house that everyone else seems to believe are her responsibility. If she does this, she will be seething, her rage barely suppressed, within minutes. And then she will hate herself for it, because depression is no one’s fault.

I’ve been curious to read a “#1 New York Times best-selling author of Me Before You Jojo Moyes,” novel as her women’s fiction is so popular and lauded. But none of the descriptions of her books appealed to me until this one, In Someone Else’s Shoes. Certainly not Me Before You where the hero (spoiler alert LOL) commits suicide in the end. Nope, not for me. Anyway, This one seemed right up my alley.

The book concerns two women whose personalities and lives are as different as night and day but whose fates collide when their two gym bags are exchanged by accident. Nisha, an American, has lived a life of wealth and privilege married to Carl for the last 18 years. It all comes to an abrupt halt on the day she loses her gym bag containing her custom-made Christian Louboutin shoes. On that same day, she suddenly learns her husband is divorcing her. He has ruthlessly locked her out of her penthouse, cut off her credit cards, and basically leaves her to fend for herself on the streets of London with no money, friends, or any other resources other than her wits. The Louboutin shoes are now in the hands of Sam, a low-level account manager for a marketing firm. She is basically a willing drudge and doormat whose boss bullies her unmercifully. Her husband Phil suffers from clinical depression brought on by the death of his father and subsequent job loss. He is totally useless and I unsympathetically hated him almost to the end. Sorry. These are two very unhappy women. And no, neither one of them is very likable at the beginning of their stories. But I’m used to reading about the hard journeys of women who start out as one thing and end up as another. And I had read enough about this book to know they both triumph in the end, become better people and all of their enemies get their comeuppances. But boy, those journeys were hard indeed. Even though it is funny and fascinating and we eventually can’t help but root for them, there was very little light to be had at the end of the tunnel. At times, there wasn’t even a tunnel. But friends (a new concept for Nisha) start appearing and much of the joy and reward of this book comes when the two women and their loyal entourages meet and start to work together to get Nisha her “settlement” and reunite her with her beloved but fragile son stuck in a boarding school in New York. Their mission strangely rests on those red Christian Louboutins. Of course, along the way, Sam also finds her power (sometimes in spite of herself, frustratingly). Will justice be had as well?

It would have been fine with me if some of the sufferings, which got to be a little old and repetitive, would have been cut down a bit. And yes there is at least one big and baffling lapse in the plot. But I can’t be too hard on Nisha for forgetting about that certain something when I forgot about it right with her. And I’m glad Sam was happy at the end but I don’t think I could have gotten over such struggles so quickly. I thought I was looking at a 4-star book all things considered (No surprise, it is very well written). Until the end. The resolution was so twisty, so clever, so satisfying, so complete, and so intricately and perfectly done that I have to give the book 5 stars. I was also moved to tears at Nisha’s reunion with her son. I will take another look at some of Moyes’s books because of this one. Not Me Before You though. No Way.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

A Little Ray of Sunshine

/ Rebekahrox / Leave a comment

by Kristan Higgins

The familiar surge of anger and love for her teenage son stabbed at her. Her boy, her beautiful, precious son, had not included her in one of the most important moments of his life. The little shit.

“Thank God for you, Harlow,” Mom would sigh once in a while. “I never have to spare you a thought.” It might have been a compliment.

In this, her 23rd book, Kristan returns to Wellfleet, Massachusetts (a real place) the setting of Out of The Clear Blue Sky. This is not the first time that she has set more than one book in the same town and consequently, we have had the pleasure of catching up with some old acquaintances.

This book was terrific and, In my opinion, even better than OOTCBS. The romance took more center stage in this one, though the book is not a romance book. I liked the guy better. It seemed like there was more to him and he seemed more important to the story. With its many strands, this one dug deeper, had many more layers, and though funny, not so comical (not that the former book did not have its serious side.) We are treated to one of the hilariously disastrous blind dates that Kristan seems to include in most of her books. Poor Harlow.

“How about you?” I asked. “What do you like to read?” “I’m not much of a reader,” he said. So he was dead inside. Got it.

No, not a reader, but he is a talented poet. On his ex-wife:

Pete cleared his throat. “ ‘You ruined my life. I thought you’d be my forever wife.’ ” Definitely should’ve asked to record it. “ ‘But you brought me strife. Like a sharp and hacking knife. Cutting through my heart. Instead of cherishing it like a piece of art. And pierced it with a dart.’ ” He glanced at me to see if I was paying attention. I was. “ ‘You are still in my head. But now I dream of you dead.’ ” I almost cracked on the last line, but kept my expression neutral. After all, the serial killer odds had skyrocketed.

Lately, Kristan has been centering her books around big dramatic topics including morbid obesity and body dysmorphia, terminal illness, infidelity, and dissolution of long-term happy marriages. Toxic, or at least, troublesome parenting has always been a mainstay. In this, she tackles adoption. It was an education. I never really gave a lot of thought to how giving up a child for adoption could be so emotionally devastating for such a long time. Even if it is the best and wisest decision for the good of all concerned, as it usually is. And how the love and connection between birth-parent and child can endure. The challenges of being an adopted child are explored as well, though not in the depth that the mothers’ are explored. If the adoptive parents are wonderful and loving and in an optimal financial situation, there can still be troubles. At first, all of the feelings seemed a little over the top, but Kristan did her research.

The primary voice in this novel is that of Harlow, a 35-year-old single bookstore owner who gave her baby up for adoption when she was 17. Her dream comes true when he finds her and wants to get to know her. She is ecstatic. Not so ecstatic are his adoptive parents, Monica and Sanjay Patel. Although they have always been open and supportive of their son one day finding his birth mother (with whom they once had a mutually loving relationship), they are blindsided by the situation, thanks to their son Matthew’s typically teenage thoughtlessness in how he goes about reconnecting. But as the Patels and Harlow and her family get to know each other everything goes fairly smoothly. After all, everyone involved is civilized, educated, and goodhearted. Of course, there are hiccups and stormy waters. Harlow’s parents are angry and hurt that she has kept her son a secret all these years.

“Mom. Dad. I did what I thought was right for my baby. If you can’t respect that, well, maybe you’re not who I thought you were. Addison and Nicole, if all you care about is Esme being the oldest, you won’t lay eyes on my boy. Grandpop, Robbie and Winnie . . . you’ve been great.”
“Maybe you’re not who we thought you were, either, Harlow,” Dad said. “And who did you think I was, Dad? Huh?” My voice was loud, and I felt hot all over. “Mom? Who was I in this family? Your unpaid nanny? Aside from me being the helpful one, I was . . . nothing. I was barely there….
Grandpop stood up, his knees popping. “Harlow is a wonderful person,” he said. “She did her best under very difficult circumstances. If she chose not to take her problems to us, well, maybe we need to do some soul-searching.

Indeed some soul-searching is called for on their part, which they do. One of the almost too many themes is how one’s place and role in the family affects your life and decisions. Grandpop is a delight and the source of much of the humor in this book. And I love how his incipient dementia is handled by his family and friends. There are many side characters, each deftly drawn, including Harlow’s siblings, her loyal best friend Rosie, Grandpop’s girlfriend Frances, and Grady and his daughter Luna. And not to mention the dog. Yes, all goes pretty well as Matthew, his Mom and Dad, and his precocious sister Meena spend the summer in Wellfleet. Until Matthew drops a bomb on his family and Harlow too this time, towards the end of vacation when it’s time to go home to California.

Harlow’s perspective is alternated with Monica’s point of view and also a 50-something distant cousin, Cynthia, who is part owner of the bookstore and was also adopted.
Cynthia gives an alternate perspective on adoption. Although she loved her adoptive mother and father and they loved her, she would have been a happier and better person had she been able to be raised by her birth parents. I hated going to her viewpoint because she was just so nasty and unpleasant until about the halfway point when some interesting changes started to happen in her life. Every time it came to Cynthia’s part in the tale, It made me tense up. Could Cynthia’s section have been left out of this 500+ page novel? Maybe. But her story provided a good bit of good tension and suspense. And ultimately her character arc was heartwarming as well as providing another thought-provoking adoption experience.

Monica is in the high-tension Internet Security field and the main breadwinner of the two-income Patel family allowing them to have a very affluent lifestyle. But it has resulted in an imbalance in their marriage and a lot of stress and pressure on Monica. She and Sanjay are very happily married, but Sanjay is the laid-back “fun parent” and Monica is the enforcer. I love how things are finally righted, both in her marriage and her career. Female empowerment is alive and well. It is through Monica that we gain most of the insight into Matthew’s character. Although he is mostly a good kid and will turn out fine, we know early on he is not exactly “ a Ray of Sunshine”.

Of course, I have some quibbles. **a little spoilery** Although it did move the story and the drama forward, I was very disappointed in how Harlow handled the crisis at the end of the book. I felt it was out of character for her to go against Monica and Sanjay’s wishes no matter how much she yearned to be Mommy. I didn’t like how she shut down part of her life to provide Matthew a perfect little cocoon while he was staying with her. It wasn’t real and it wasn’t wise. A dose of reality would have been good for him. I didn’t understand what was behind her thinking that she couldn’t be with Grady long term because she would somehow harm his child just because she chose adoption for Matthew. Rosie’s alcoholism side story seemed needless in an already long book. I’m just speaking objectively because, bottom line, If the book had been twice as long, I still would have enjoyed every page. I just love her stories and her writing.

Perhaps addiction will be her next big topic and the previously mentioned character will feature in that one. Pure speculation, but I wouldn’t be a bit surprised. I would return to Wellfleet in a heartbeat.

Rating: 5 out of 5.