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Just What Kind of Mother Are You?

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This showed up two days before I left for family vacation in the Dominican Republic and it was the absolute perfect fit for those airport down hours and the lounge chairs at the beach. Just What Kind of Mother Are You? is a captivating page-turner that you need to get right now, or at very least add to your must haves for summer cottage season. Without giving any spoilers away at all, Paula Daly has taken every mom’s nightmare of losing a child, shaken the plot up every so slightly, tossed in a hefty dose of shocking plot twists (I never saw them coming.) and a hint of psychological thriller. All of that combines to create a dynamite fictional adventure that starts when an overburdened and exhausted working Mom loses her friend’s child while she is supposed to be watching her. Ratchet up the guilt meter, because what could be worse than an already drained mama feeling like she was the cause of everyone’s distress?

Just What Kind of Mother Are You? was the perfect beach read for me this week. I couldn’t put it down and got sunburnt hands but only on the sides (reader’s sunburn) from holding the book and being totally immersed this week. In fact I feel like this one lends itself to potentially being a runaway 2013 hit and a clear bestseller this summer. The topic matter is universally appealing to pretty much every working mother in every first world country. The writing is solid and the plot twists come at breakneck speed.

Lisa Kallisto is a working mother of three, managing married life just barely, and parenting her kids, most days just adequately enough, while running an animal shelter and struggling to carve out adult friendships as well. She is married to a man who adores her, a man who drives a taxi for a living. She grew up, the narrator tells us, in her father’s second family. Her childhood comes to a fast end when her dad’s first wife arrives in her neighbourhood one day asking to see his “bastard.” Her visit culminates in a suicide attempt in front of the child. She tells little Lisa to make sure she tells her father about the visit and then slits her wrists in front of her, having sent the other wife out to fetch some sugar for tea.

Kate Riverty is Lisa’s neighbour. She appears to have it all under control, the Mom with the best kids, the PTA fundraising queen, the most accomplished wife who works hard to keep her family immaculate and, yet there is just the slightest hint, she is a bit too perfect. Lisa works far to hard to aspire to the ideals that Moms like Kate set and then one night when Kate’s daughter is supposed to be sleeping over at Lisa’s home, she drops the ball and Kate’s daughter Lucinda disappears. In their small town  pedophile has been lurking and one young girl has already turned up raped and disoriented. Kate, Lisa and their rest of the town worry Lucinda is the next victim.

Just What Kind of Mother Are You? has it all. The plot is fast, the characters are well rounded and this concept is not one I have seen perverted well in fiction form until now. So what complaints do I have, if any? This is a nearly perfect thriller that captivated me from start to finish. Just What Kind of Mother Are You? doesn’t have the kind of lyrical writing that you will recall for weeks and months or rhapsodize over at book club. There are few poetic flourishes and that’s more than okay, because that style of writing would be out of place here. Just What Kind of Mother Are You? is a story well told, executed with great timing.

Paula Daly is a mother and physiotherapist. This is her first novel. Let’s just say I hope she is not a one hit wonder, because this is a great read.

Just What Kind of Mother Are You? by Paula Daly, Fiction, published by DoubleDay Canada, is $22.95 in paperback, 314 pages. This gets my full $$$$$ out of $$$$$. Loved it.

Best Fiction Books for the Sandwich Generation – The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

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The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry tops my list of best fiction books of 2012. It is a riveting read, emotionally wrought, relevant, contemporary and lyrical. So why did it take me well over a month to read this story? Well, life is busy over at thriftymommastips. No question my books list and reviews are piling up, but this one from the start caught me and captured my imagination. But my ever growing list of jobs and reviews is not the sole reason this took me so long to read. Have you ever picked up a book that cut so close to the bone you struggled to finish, while simultaneously wanted to plow on, letting it consume you? This is that book for me. No, I am not a senior citizen, nor is the author Rachel Joyce. I am not a disillusioned old guy searching for a way to make his last decade mean something. I am not his wife, the one left behind, or his son, the one who falls away despite best parenting practices. I do not have Alzheimer’s Disease, but I know far too many in my own life and greater circle of friends who have been devastated by this tragic disease. Perhaps that’s why this book weighed heavily on me.  It is simply magnificent and real. Most of all though, it is a story well told.
Harold Fry is a recently retired married man, father of one grown son. He is, by his own admission, a man who never really stood out, or up for anything. He worked; he lived. He did nothing extraordinary. At least until that last few years of life when out of the blue he received a letter from a former colleague named Queenie. She is dying and she has written him a letter telling him so. That in itself is heartbreaking. Then you add to the letter the realization that Harold wants to say a last good bye to this woman, who appears to have had some great emotional pull on Harold’s psyche. On top of this layer there comes the light bulb realization for Harold that, in his golden years,  he can sit still and wait for death to find him, or he can get up and move beating death back by the day. It is an easy choice, even if it is no simple feat for this aging unfit man to pick up and lace up and walk across country to say his last good bye.
So Harold, much to the dismay of his wife, picks up the phone and impulsively dials his friend Queenie and he tells her, leaves a message for her with hospice staff, I am walking to see her and she must not die before I get there. This might have been a story on its own if he had hopped in a car and driven to visit her and maintained a relationship of some sort in her dying days. But this is not that tale. It is the story of his walk and his inner journey. He believes he can save her. His wife, at first, thinks him insane and belittles him, before she eventually comes around. “You can’t save people from cancer Harold. Not unless you are a surgeon. And you can’t even slice bread without making a mess. This is ridiculous.”
Along the way, despite the misgivings of his wife and the idle gossip of his neighbours, Harold becomes a champion as media catch wind of his pilgrimage. He is on TV, radio and in papers. Others begin to join him, one a strange hanger on and a bit of a hippie who seeks fame and reminds Harold of his son.
There were many times this book had me holding my breath emotionally waiting for the other shoe to drop, so to speak. It seemed that Harold and Maureen were dancing around some sort of issue in their marriage – a potential affair, a looming divorce? I couldn’t quite put my finger on it and speculated throughout the first three quarters of the book. All is revealed in the denouement. Author Rachel Joyce constructs an atmosphere of reality based fiction and yet towards the end commits a small magic trick that is brilliantly revealed as long closed doors of Harold’s memory swing open. 
 I can see Harold Fry as a play or a movie adaptation. It is built to last and the characters are endearing and some are quirky as well. I can envision this book being bid on by half a dozen movie producers right now as I write this. Harold Fry is a contemporary Forest Gump for seniors and the sandwich generation. It could be a crazy hit as an independent film company flick, or a runaway blockbuster for the seniors. The simplicity of this story transcends the art form. It would be every bit as brilliant staged properly. 
The author Rachel Joyce is an actress who lives on a farm in England. Joyce is also an award-winning playwright of more than 20 original plays for BBC Radio 4. She lives on a farm in England with her husband and four children. She is working on another novel.
Harold Fry is stunning and gorgeous and you won’t regret reading it, even if it takes you forever to get through because of the emotional topic. I give this one my highest rating because it is brilliant and Rachel Joyce turns the idea of an Alzheimer’s brain over in her hands and deftly recreates Harold’s inner reality with such skill it is sheer magic. She allows each of the bit characters on Harold’s pilgrimage to seamlessly unlock a small part of Harold’s personality or memory. It is done so well you hardly notice she is doing it. Obviously Joyce is a gifted craftsperson here. There were times Joyce’s insights into Harold and the mystery of memory reminded my of Lisa Genova’s skill with neurological topics in books like Left Neglected. There were other times when I felt this might have started out to be a bit like About Schmidt. Luckily Joyce is her own writer and she told her own unique fiction story here in Harold Fry.
I finished this book at long last while reading the end in public and working out at the YMCA. I do not recommend this setting for the end of the book as I had to bite my lip not to start crying openly.  
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, by Rachel Joyce, Double Day, Random House Fiction, $29.95, 320 pages, also available by ebook.
This one gets $$$$$ out of $$$$$. My highest rating. A great Christmas gift for the book lover on your list.
I received a copy of this book to facilitate review. My opinion is all my own. Get it to gift someone for Christmas.

Life With Lily – Book One – Great Books For Tween Girls

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This is a guest Post by Payton Schuck

My daughter Payton,11, who loves to read plans to guest post occasionally here now.
By Payton Schuck

Life With Lily was an amazing read. It was very complex and I liked how descriptive so many passages were. My favourite character was Lily, a six-year-old Amish girl, who has two brothers Dannie and Joseph. She is a happy young girl who has a positive outlook on things. Her Mom and Dad are traditional Amish people and she is raised surrounded by animals and she loves being outside and helping her mother in the garden. Lily is in grade one and she lives in upstate New York. She finds something fun and curious about every new experience and each new day. 

When her youngest brother is born, Lily thinks he is ugly. Her cousin Hannah’s mom has a baby at the same time and Lily finds that baby adorable. She wishes her cousin’s baby brother was her baby brother at first. Lily is a good helper to her Mom and Dad and she looks after her brothers too. Lily does arithmetic and attends a very small one-room school house heated by a coal stove. (the kind my grandma always talks about). Lily faces lots of changes – from a baby brother to a new school teacher. Her brother Joseph gets into mischief. He jumps off the chicken coop, tries to fly and breaks his arm. Her brother Dannie dumps a bucket of flour on his head when his Mom is baking bread one day. Lily dreams he is a snowman after that. Her brothers are very active and always finding something to destroy. 

Lily enjoys school and church, but she has one friend Mandy who is often telling her to do things that Lily often knows with her heart she shouldn’t do, but she ends up doing them anyways. One day Mandy tells Lily and some other little girls to come and play in a secret spot. They end up playing on train tracks and a train comes whipping through. Lily almost gets run over, but her Dad swoops in fast to save her. Lily and her family have to move to Pennsylvania at the end of this first book. She is not happy about moving at first, but once she sees the area and meets a new friend while visiting, then she is convinced it won’t be so bad after all. 

Life With Lily: Book One is by Suzanne Woods Fisher and Mary Ann Kinsinger, published by Revell Books, 2012, ages 8-12, 280 pages, $12.99 $$$$$ out of $$$$$. Our highest rating. 

(A note from me: Paula Schuck – publisher of thriftymommastips.com. Life With Lily was a total delight for me. I had to wrestle this novel away from Payton at bedtime she loved it so much and found it truly compelling. She took it to school and gave mini reviews to her friends, then her friends each wanted to read it next. I loved that this book was so charming and really rekindled my daughter’s love of reading. She naturally enjoys cultural stories and this tale of a young Amish girl and her daily life was pitch perfect in every way. I have reviewed Suzanne Woods Fisher’s novels for adults and find her writing to be technically and artistically stunning. So pleased this is the first in a series for young readers.)
PS: Can’t wait for the sequel

New York Times best-selling author’s latest: The Next Best Thing – review

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The Next Best Thing is a sweet summer read that doesn’t disappoint. 
The Next Best Thing is the story of a budding screenwriter, from Massachusetts, left orphaned and physically scarred, by a car accident. Ruth is a creative witty young girl forced to endure many surgeries as a result of facial burns she sustained during the accident that killed her parents. Like many children who are hospitalized throughout their formative years Ruth develops a passion for escapism. Her escape is television,  a diversion from pain. She is raised by her grandmother, a kind and caring sort who does her best to compensate and make life tolerable for her wounded charge. Together they spend hours enjoying series like The Golden Girls. Ruth’s creativity spills from her own personal tragedy and her love of television. She turns these experiences into a semi-autobiographical TV show pilot.
Some of the most compelling scenes in The Next Best Thing are those that centre on the relationship between Ruth and her grandmother. After one of the more invasive surgeries Ruth undergoes, her grandmother lays in bed next to her having decorated the tiny hospital room with a big screen television. She finds the diary of her granddaughter which states only: “I will never be beautiful.” The scene that follows is bittersweet in some ways as it is both a turning point and one of the only times the grandmother character is really shown to be vulnerable.
The Next Best Thing is the tentative name of the series Ruth has created and pitched to TV executives. It is the break they have both been working towards and yet also the start of a difficult journey of introspection and one that challenges her relationship with her grandmother. Ruth’s TV series is chosen and accepted for TV, but it’s subtly and not so subtly altered along the way causing her to question her own personal belief system and personal integrity. In the end, the series, although it brings money and fulfills Ruth’s dream, ends up being far more than bargained for.
There are many comic moments here and Weiner is nothing if not a humorous writer who knows her stuff. She has also written for TV and published multiple books. Her grandmother gets work as an extra on movie sets and she finds love as well.
It is the second novel I have read by Jennifer Weiner and while I have seen questionable reviews about this particular book, I enjoyed it thoroughly. Ruth is by far my  favorite of Weiner’s characters because of her vulnerability. I enjoyed the writing and the witty scenes of insider Hollywood. 
This is a great beach read. Take it to the cottage and enjoy. It won’t overtax you and you won’t regret the laugh out loud moments it brings.
The Next Best Thing, by Jennifer Weiner, is by Simon and Schuster Atria books, $29.99 and 385 pages
$$$$ out of $$$$$ 

The Kid

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The Kid by Sapphire, Penguin Press, 07/05/ 2011, 384 pages, $25.95
ISBN-10: 1594203040
ISBN-13: 978-1594203046

Sapphire is the author of the bestselling novel Push and two collections of poetry.

The Kid is by far the most disturbing novel I have ever read. When we first meet Abdul, he is nine and it is the occasion of his mother’s funeral. His mother was the main character Precious of the landmark novel Push. She has died of AIDS and her son is orphaned. It is a beginning that would seem to hint nothing worse could possibly happen to this child and yet, each time in this tragic book that Abdul seems to sink to his lowest point something even more horrendous drags him further into the abyss.
In many ways the story of Abdul Jones seems unreal, but it is gritty and devastating and a sad social commentary on many things such as child welfare, not only in the neighbourhood of Harlem. Sadly, while I believe Sapphire may have exaggerated character and plot to make a point, his story for an Aids orphan in America is probably not that far off the mark.
While it appears initially to the boy that he might, in his confused state, be taken into the care of his mother’s friend, Rita, a woman he calls Aunt, the social services system quickly puts an end to that childish naivete. The foster home he is moved to is horrific beyond description and from there on Abdul, also known as J.J., travels deeper into a hellish cycle of physical and sexual abuse that seems unending. Abdul is moved like a pawn through so many homes and institutions it becomes dehumanizing to say the least. Eventually he is moved to a school, run by Catholic Brothers, and he begins to blossom as a young intelligent soul who has had some hard breaks and yet, naturally he is targeted for abuse again and again. It is here that he grows large enough physically, and tortured enough mentally to become warped into a predator as well.
The Kid is another brave novel, just as Push was. But what happens here in this novel when the topic is male violence and male abuse and the abused turns into abuser, well it is beyond pushing the envelope, it is alienating and much too challenging for most. This character is one of the most tragic and complex characters I have ever encountered. While Precious had much that was redeeming and seemed to triumph at least spiritually over circumstances, with her writing, J.J., Abdul, Precious’ son, has an artistic side too. He is however unable to make it the tool to move past that which has been done to him. He is quite a bright young student full of potential, but that too makes him a target, prey for others.
Fifteen years after the publication of Push, after the Academy Award-winning film adaptation, Sapphire breathes the son to life. This is a sequel that is graphic and brave. It is compelling even as you want to throw it down in disgust. Sapphire’s style is still brilliant and gritty and urban, borrowing heavily on Virginia Woolf’s stream of consciousness technique. At times, when Abdul is claimed by a distant grandmother of sorts, it is difficult to tell where dream or story begins and ends. The Kid is not a novel I would recommend to many outside the field of child welfare. It is the most brutal coming of age story imaginable.

This is a frightening and harsh read. $$$ out of $$$$$. Not as memorable as Precious in Push.

The Weird Sisters

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The Weird Sisters, by Eleanor Brown is a clever indulgence of a book, a bittersweet treat that will appeal to those who love literary fiction, or a passion for Shakespeare. The Weird Sisters is the story of three sisters, Rose, Bean and Cordy, or, when read as a contemporary and smart adaptation of King Lear, Rosalind, Bianca and Cordelia. Lear, in this telling of the story, is a professor at the University of Barnwell, a big fish inside a rather small bowl. He lives his life entirely in plays and books and recites bits of dialogue where conversation should be, and that makes life with this patriarch challenging and awkward. In current vernacular he might have been diagnosed with something akin to Asperger’s disorder or giftedness. He possesses brilliance and he is a remarkably loyal husband to an equally brilliant and scatter-brained wife, but he also is socially inept. Imagine being raised as the child of two parents such as these. Minds on fire all the time and yet often unable to stop thinking long enough to perform the most basic of domestic tasks required to raise a house full of girls. And so naturally the eldest of the girls, Rose has become the motherly figure, organizing everyone’s lives. As her fiancee has accepted a teaching position abroad for a time in England, Rose is adrift, back home again, not really by choice, but mostly due to the fact she cannot make up her mind if she truly wants to get married. As the story begins, there are three sisters, each returning home austensibly to help their mother battle breast cancer. But as the plot unfolds, it is revealed that each sister has their own reason for returning home. Each has failed in their attempts to live outside this tiny community on their own. Bianca, Bean, is home because she has lost a job, having stolen funds to keep herself living in the New York fashion she is accustomed to. Her clothing, material goods and lifestyle of flirting and disposing of men has caught up with her legally, and her age has also begun to interfere. In a particularly poignant scene Bean, desparate to prove her worth by seducing a man, heads to the Barnwell poolhall and finds a sad group of men on the prowl. Despite her self and her reservations, she pulls out all the stops trying to seduce them, men she wouldn’t even begint o look at twice in New York, and yet here she must settle. As she is honing in for the kill, a group of young women enter the bar and the lovely Bianca is tossed aside, like last night’s leftovers. “What did this mean for her? What do you do when you are no longer the one worth watching? When there are women less beautiful, less intelligent, less versed in the art of the game who nonetheless can beat you at it simply because of their birth date?” Rosalind, Rose, is the homebody, the eldest daughter, faithful and loyal to her family, but a brilliant mind in her own right, unable to realize her full potential, unable too to move on to England where her fiancee has accepted a job as a professor. She is the martyr of the trio. Will she be able to rise above that stereotypical role in time to save herself? Cordelia, Cordy is the baby of the group, an overgrown Hippy roady, allowing the winds to blow her about, never finding anchor until she is forced to re-examine her lifestyle due to an unexpected pregnancy. 
Each of the three sisters has a complicated relationship within the family. As the narrator puts it in the start of the book. “See we love each other, we just don’t happen to love each other very much.” They are each a great deal more like their parents than they think they are, and therefore everyone exists slightly socially awkward in the world and much too reliant on the plots and words that they have read and internalized. As their mother prepares for a mastectomy, the narrator says: “Another family might have made preparations. Another mother might have cooked casseroles in Corningware and frozen them, labeled with instructions.” Instead to the hospital each of the sisters brings with her, a book in which they will escape and avoid having to confront real life. “Instead, we would do what we always did, the only thing we’d ever been depebndably stellar at: we’d read.”
In some ways this book is also a charming look at a marriage that is quite remarkable. There are glimpses here that illustrate how interconnected husband and wife are, growing even more intertwined as they are challenged by cancer. There is a comical aside here by the sisters, noting the irony of the fact that so much literature is written on the impact of divorce and none written about the equally onerous impact of a marriage that is epic in strength and duration. How, states one of the sisters, could we ever be expected to find for ourselves a love that is so great? The Weird Sisters is a charming literary coming of age story and a savvy retelling of Shakespeare. It is a dark look at the relationships within a family and the many ways in which family can often simultaneously support, nurture and hurt each other the most.

The Weird Sisters, by Eleanor Brown, Feb. 2011, Putnam Books, Penguin Group Canada, 336 pages, $24.95 US or $31.00 Canadian.

Thriftymommastips rating is $$$$ out of $$$$$.

I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate the review. This in no way impacts or alters  my opinion.

A Change in Altitude

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Anita Shreve is an immensely successful popular fiction author and yet I had read none of her stories prior to this one. A Change in Altitude is the story of a marriage transformed by a singular tragic minor fleeting event. Not an indiscretion, but more a kneejerk reaction to physical stress. It is a compelling and quick read, perfect for this weather, ideal for at the cottage or a weekend at the beach. A Change in Altitude is very much plot-driven and characters, while interesting, are somewhat two-dimensional. This is the story of a newly married couple, Patrick and Margaret, both 28 as the novel opens, who have moved, following Patrick’s career to Nairobi for medical research. When the story begins, the newlyweds are living with Arthur and Diana, a well-to-do, condescending British couple of landlords. The themes here of love and loss and soul-searching with a backdrop of harsh unforgiving elements are not uncommon, and some might say overdone. A struggling relationship juxtaposed with a harsh African climate is certainly a story that has been told, again and again. And yet despite all of the superficialilities here, it is a nice read. No great turn of phrase that made my heart skip a beat, wishing I had thought of it myself. No masterful suspense, or great unexpected twist at the end. There are moments that will shock you, and in the interest of not giving too much away I will simply state that this is the story of a couple who go climbing Mount Kenya, in harshest African environment, without much training, preparation or thought and, accompanied by friends, on this life-altering physical journey they experience a devastating event that transforms all four of their lives. What follows the ill-thought out climb is the unravelling and piecing together of a marriage, and perhaps a bit of self discovery on the part of Margaret. Shreve’s detail of climbing Mount Kenya is brutally realistic and detailed, as it should be, because the author herself has climbed this mountain. Shreve is billed as a master of domestic drama and she dwells a lot on psychology of relationships, but her hand is somehow a lighter touch than that of similar authors like Jodi Picoult. While I enjoyed reading this book for a change and realize not every book can rip your heart out and leave you changed as a reader, I unfortunately suspect this book is easy to forget, as are the characters. Shreve lives in Massachusetts and is the well known author of The Weight of Water, Testimony, The Pilot’s Wife, Light on Snow and many others.

Little, Brown and Company, Hachette Book Group, Back Bay Books, New York, 2009. Paperback edition 2010, $17.99 Canada and $14.99 U.S.

Thriftymommas rating $$$ out of $$$$$. Three dollar signs out of five. Lightweight, untaxing. Great for a day at the beach. Thriftymomma’s opinions are all her own. I receive no compensation for my reviews, but a copy of this book was provided by the publisher for free so that I might review it.

My Name Is Memory

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Meet your amazing summer read for 2010. If you haven’t got it yet, run out and buy My Name Is Memory because this one is going to plow through the charts to the top. My Name Is Memory has all the elements, including buzz that will make it a chart-topper and a people-pleaser. The big scramble for film rights and the fact that this author, Ann Brashares, who also wrote the Sisterhood of The Traveling Pants series, has been able to generate bidding wars for her work, got my interest and admiration right away. When this one landed on my desk here at brainfood I didn’t know quite what to expect, but I was truly excited to start this read. Would it be a young adult book? Was it a vampire tale ala Twilight? Was it for adults? Where exactly was it going to lead? My Name is Memory is a sexy epic love story that will keep you guessing and turning pages. At times it reminded me a bit of The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold, the story every bit as gripping. My Name Is Memory is driven by the two star-crossed lovers: Daniel and Sophia. Daniel is a charming, brooding, tortured teenager when we meet him at the high school prom and Sophia’s current incarnation is Lucy Broward, also a teenager. Daniel is an outsider of sorts dropped into the high school after many years of searching for his true love, Sophia, a woman he tells us he searches through time for, and has been seeking ever since he killed her. We meet Lucy heading to her prom, hoping to run into Daniel there and having rejected an offer or two escorts that would be appropriate and yet not memorable. We are told that Lucy’s sister Dana has suffered mental illness and is no longer with the family, details to be unveiled as the plot moves along. Lucy is the child her parents pin their hopes on, a good girl, and yet her mother notes disappointment: “She’d had two lovely fair-haired daughters and not one eager boy in a tuxedo to show for it. To look like Lucy had been enough in her day.” Daniel and Sophia are time travellers, reincarnated time and again. But Daniel also possesses the gift of memory, carrying his with him through his many past lives. It is a bitter gift that haunts him, especially when it comes to Sophia. Sophia’s spirit also travels through time, reincarnated often, but she doesn’t carry memory with her, so she is at times unable to recognize Daniel in his many shapes, forms and ages. There are moments she clearly has deja vu but doesn’t know why or how or what the mysterious pull to this apparent stranger is. Also as they parachute through various eras, they are sometimes incompatible in age, with him occasionally a child and her fully grown, he is often able to recognize and watch from afar, a voyeur to her relationships and many lives, unable to affect them because of the many factors keeping them apart. My Name is Memory is a great read, clearly plot-driven with strong characters. The research is meticulous and the many insights into various eras and lifestyles make this story truly educational, unique, and fast-paced. I will not spoil the ending as readers should pick this one up for themselves. Suffice it to say though, that if I had one small criticism of the novel, which is an adult fiction story with a strong romance and history plot, it would be that the ending lacked a huge emotional tug or twist. It isn’t a huge thing, because the book is great and the movie should be too. But for me as a reader, beginnings and endings are incredibly important. The quick punchy start gets you to buy the book and commit to reading, but it’s the ending that, when executed with just the right combination of style and emotion, makes a book resonate, or burrow beneath your skin to stay. My Name Is Memory was a great read, and yet as a writer I envisioned two or three alternative endings that I think might have kicked it up a notch and been more artistic. As it ends now, the author clearly leaves a strategic opening for a sequel, both in print, and on the big screen. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. It is immensely enjoyable and entertaining as it is, even if it failed to move me to tears or take my breath away.

My Name Is Memory, Ann Brashares, Riverhead Books, Penguin Group Canada, $32.50, New York 2010. Thriftymommas rating $$$$ out of $$$$$

Disclosure: Thriftymommasbrainfood is not paid for her opinions and they are all my own. However in order to review books I often receive a free copy from the publisher. Also as a result of being an Amazon affiliate I may receive a small commission from purchases.

My Mailbag

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This is my new Thursday mailbag. Check out all the amazing reads I have received this week alone. New Nora Roberts. Wow! And this wonderful story from a mother with a child who has Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, Jennifer Poss Taylor. Sadly my Kobo goes back this weekend. I was just using a loader for review purposes and I have loved the thing. It is in fact one of the easiest, most fun, tech devices I have been given. Look for my review on thriftymommastips. The price is right on this adorable little purse sized ebook reader, so perhaps someone will take the hint and buy me one for my next birthday. That would be better than swell. Anyways, I just wanted to show you my mailbag. Look for these reviews coming soon.

The Household Guide To Dying

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The Household Guide to Dying is the story of a young 40-year-old mother dying and setting her house in order. It is a slow burn kind of novel with a devastating and beautiful end. It is imaginative and humourous in its use of character, and yet the plot could not be more steeped in realistic situation. There is little in life more predictable than death. Everyone eventually finds the same end. Delia is a very popular advice columnist dishing out cheeky and somewhat cynical replies to readers who seem to enjoy the abuse. She is a mother of two daughters and a son. It is revealed through the book, that her son was tragically killed when hit by a car. She is married to the wonderful Archie, a great standup kind of guy who really understands her, and she also makes a living writing The Household Guide to … series of books. We are told that she is dying of cancer and Delia approaches the factual approach of her own death with pragmatics and lists. She thinks in terms of what she must set about completing for her children and her husband before she can submit. Her last months have been spent trying to brief her husband on the daily operations of the household, a place she has run with a loving precision. Delia makes clear that her marriage, while loving can often also be weighed down by routine. Buried deep in the details of managing all the needs and wants of the various personalities in her family, it has become sometimes hard for Delia to see the bigger picture, the passion that has bound them all together. “If this marriage were to have unravelled it would have been over something as trivial and tangible as a misplaced sock or a forgotten school lunchbox.” Her failing health and imminent death brings a new perspective. Urgency. Fresh eyes. A fierce need to leave something unique and lasting behind. For a brief period at the start of the novel Delia leaves her family to venture back to a city known as Amethyst, a small sleepy town filled with carny types and circus performers. It is an odd turn of plot and leaves the reader pondering why the road trip until, bit by bit, slowly it is revealed that she has some loose ends from her life there with Sonny. The details of Sonny’s death are let loose in small increments as Delia gets closer to the end of her own life, more poignant because they are so simply revealed. I have had quite a run of excellent reads here at thriftymommasbrainfood recently. Lucky for me. I wasn’t expecting a book entitled The Household Guide To Dying to keep this streak alive and yet it has more than done that. Debra Adelaide has created a truly humourous, bittersweet and lovely tale. It is a surprisingly fantastic read. It is compelling and well written and charming with eccentric moments. Not a summer beach read, but the book you read before your vacation or right after you get back. The Guide is ideally suited for book club discussions. It is a story that will leave you feeling happy to be alive, and if a book can be said to make you take stock of your life and wish to hold those you love a bit closer to cherish them, then this is that kind of book. Adelaide has worked as an editor, book reviewer and researcher and is now a senior lecturer in creative writing at the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia. She has three children. This novel was nminated for the Orange Prize for fiction.

The Household Guide To Dying, by Debra Adelaide, Penguin Group Canada, $18.00 paperback edition, 2010.
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