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Hollywood Book Club ~ The Cure for Your Post-Divorce Blues
I ran across an article on oneIndia about Gwyneth Paltrow’s advise to her pal Madonna about coping with her post-divorce blues ~ start a book club. The article is short, so here is a screenshot (click on the link above to go to the actual article):
What I find interesting about this article other than the funky first sentence is all that is not included: 1) So, did Madonna start or join this Hollywood book club?; 2) If so, what book did they select? (note that the “favorite book” link is not a link to Gwyneth or Madonna’s favorite books); finally, 3) Since literary preferences say so much about a person, what does Ms. Paltrow consider to be “an amazing, transportive novel”? 4) It seems that if these questions were to be answered that they would have already been included in the article. So, why publish this at all?
Well, I may not be a Gwyneth or a Madonna, but I will agree with Gweneth’s quotes here – even if I wouldn’t state them in the same way. I think that getting lost in a novel is one of my favorite pleasures as a human being. There was a time where I thought I could qualify the type of novel that I would find “amazing” or “transportive,” but I’ve discovered over the past two years that so much of that criteria is subjective and fluctuates with my life and mood at the time I pick the book up and curl up with it. I have to be careful, though. I can use reading as a way to check out of my life, too. It’s a sure sign that I’m dealing with depression and anxiety and it’s not healthy. Like everything else, moderation is key. Reading my help relax, calm, and sooth, but it is not a replacement for living your life nor can it concretely address your problems.
I currently have three favorite places to read ~ the chase lounge portion of my sectional couch, my bed, and the rocking chair in my huge master bathroom. None of those places compare to my all-time favorite place to read as a child. There was a built in, carpeted love seat (might not be the right term) underneath my window. I used to sit there between the window and the curtains and read for hours there. It really was a wonderful place to get lost in Little House on the Prarie, Little Women, Nancy Drew, and Trixie Belden.
I am always curious to find out what other people enjoy reading. I do think the choices people make say something about who they are, or at least why they choose to read. I would never hold a person’s literary choices against them. As for me, I will read just about anything that doesn’t fall into the science fiction/fantasy/horror genres. My favorite genres, however, are historical fiction, gothic fiction, and assorted classics. If I were to be exiled on an island for the rest of my life and could only bring one book with me, it would be Gone With the Wind. Hands down and with no regrets.
I don’t have a great deal of personal experience with book clubs, but I will say that I’ve enjoyed my attempts at on-line book clubs. I’m not recovering from a divorce (do you think that Madonna is really suffering about this other than the hit to her bottom line?), but working with Rusty Weston and starting the Historical Fiction Lovers book club on Facebook has really been enjoyable to me. I’m in the middle of Soul Catcher by Michael White, the February book of the month and I’m looking forward to sharing it with all those who want to participate.
What do you think about what Gwyneth has to say? Where are your favorite places to read now and in the past? What types of books do you love? Although I wouldn’t object to Madonna or Gwyneth stopping by to answer my questions, I’m much more interested in your answers.
#138 ~ Etta
Etta
I am not typically one for reading Westerns. The American West has never held my imagination the way it has for so many people. Still, when Etta was offered as an Early Reader choice on LibraryThing in December, I requested it and was lucky enough to snag it. I don’t think I’ll ever become a regular reader of Westerns, but I’m glad that I had the opportunity to read Gerald Kolpan’s novel.
Etta tells the story of Etta Place, a young woman who grew up in Philadelphia as Lorinda Jameson. Lorinda’s mother died early in her life, leaving her father to raise her. Her father shares his love of horses and guns with her. As a result, she grew up to be an unconventional and spirited young woman. She could charm men with her beauty and dazzle them with her riding and shooting skills. After her father, who was an irresponsible businessman, dies leaving his finances and Lorinda’s life as his only survivor in a precarious position, she becomes the target of the brutal Black Hand. Luckily, her father’s attorney was a kind man who saved her from sure disfigurement or death by changing her identity to Etta Place and getting her a position as a Harvey Girl in Grand Junction, CO.
The West was not Etta’s element, but she accepted her new place in life with grace. Her time in Grand Junction might have gone by without incident if the degenerate son of one of the city’s most prominent families pursues her unsuccessfully to the point of attempted rape. The result of his crime gets Etta in trouble with the law and noticed by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’s Wild Bunch. They break her out of prison, and she is initiated into the gang herself. Etta quickly earns her place as one of the gang’s most infamous members through her superior riding and shooting skills. It was her outspoken disgust at the way in which other women were treated in the gang that earned her the love and respect of Sundance Kid. In doing so, she creates yet another mortal enemy, Kid Curry.
After joining Sundance Kid, Etta comes into contact with several well-known people of her time, such as Eleanor Roosevelt and Buffalo Bill Cody. It was in these connections, and most especially her connection with a prominent socialist figure, that took me outside of the novel. For example, while I enjoyed Eleanor Roosevelt’s presence, the embarrassing near sexual encounter between her and Etta was out of place in Etta’s story. It did not add any substance to her character or move the plot along in any way that Eleanor’s loneliness could not. Their friendship lost its luster to me afterward. In a novel about Eleanor, this would have been interesting. Within this novel, it was just noise.
Etta is a strong woman, yet she is compassionate as well. Her instincts keep her one step ahead of those who would do her harm, but it is the relationships she builds with the poor and the powerful alike that truly keep her safe. She is an intriguing character and I enjoyed reading about her adventures with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. I am not alone. It is clear through the crafting of his debut novel that Gerald Kolpan found the myths and realities surrounding Etta inspiring as well. I found the news paper articles and the detective work going on alongside Etta’s story lively and fun. I can only imagine how much he enjoyed taking the bits and pieces of historical fact surrounding the real Etta Place and capturing her essence in writing. I look forward to seeing where Kolpan’s imagination will take him and his readers next.
+++++
Etta will be released on March 24, 2009, but you don’t have to wait to experience some of the energy and adventure of this novel. Gerald Kolpan has created a fabulous website to compliment Etta. I discovered it after I finished the novel when Mr. Kolpan left a comment. As much as I enjoyed the site after reading the novel, it would be an excellent way to get excited about reading it. What are you waiting for?
*******
This novel is set to be published in March of 2009. To pre-order this book, click here
Just Call Me High Roller
I am in Las Vegas this week for a health care related conference at Caesers Palace. This is my third trip to Sin City in the last 2 and a half years. My last visit, you may recall, was in June. Every time I’ve come here, I’ve wanted to go to downtown Las Vegas to the Golden Nugget. My paternal grandmother would bring us back decks of cards from there as gifts from her trips. I’ve wanted to go where she went. She loved to gamble, so playing the slots is something that always reminds me of her (I wish I had a picture of her that I could post…). This time, I made good on that wish.
My coworker, her husband, and I took a cab there and it was really nice. It was a much more comfortable atmosphere. So much so that I decided to do something else I’ve never done – gamble at a table. I’ve always been nervous about it. First of all, I typically only bet $20 total. Since the minimum bid is usually most if not more than my entire budget, they’ve been off limits. After purchasing a 24 ounce Swirly Girly, I saw a $5 black jack table and pounced on it. I handed over a $20 bill got four chips in return. Then the games begin. I am happy to say that in my increasingly tipsy way I ended up leaving the table with $52.50!!!!! I even got a black jack! Later on, after my second 24 ounce Swirly Girly, I turned $5 into $15 playing video pocker. Sizzle! I was hot. I’m just thankful that I had the presence of mind to keep stop. I appear to have the happy talent of being the perfect mixture of gambling caution when I drink.
We finished the evening with a lavous meal at Vic and Anthony’s. I had a steak with mashed potatoes. It was by far the most delicious steak I’ve ever had in my life. Thank God I will have eaten every meal tonight for free. Last night cost $73. I’m not used to spending that much on one meal – whether it’s to be expensed or not.
Tonight I’m going to take it easy, reveling in my winnings. $42.50 isn’t much to roll around in, but I am feeling satisfied none the less. What a great mood to be in when writing my reviews of some really good books I’ve read recently – Etta, Tomato Girl, The Guernsey Literary and the Potato Peal Pie Society. I hope to get those all written and posted by the end of the month.
Do you ever gamble? I’d be interested in hearing about your experiences – especially if you are a real high roller, not just one who plays like on on her blog.
#137 ~ The Sinner’s Guide to Confession
The Sinner’s Guide to Confession by Phyllis Schieber
Kaye, Barbara, and Ellen are women whose friendships came together came together as adults and has remained and solidified as they grew older. Kaye and Barbara have grown children they love. Ellen, who married later in adulthood, tried unsuccessfully to conceive with her husband, Bill. Her attempts at motherhood ultimately failed, as did her marriage after Bill began an affair with a woman half his age. As much as these women love and care for either other through thick and thin, through sarcasm and brutal honesty, they each are keeping secrets from each other. This novel is as much about learning to let go of the weight deep secrets that weigh and keep us down as it is about the meaning of friendship as women begin to mature beyond middle age. I found their stories delightful, life-affirming, and heartwarming.
Kaye, a psychologist, has what most would call a good, decent husband. Although he has to be asked to do the little things that Kaye longs for, he loves her, is a wonderful father, and respects her. This was fine until Frank entered her life and reignited the passion within her. He always said and did all the right things and before long, she was in love. She did not confide in her friends until she was on the verge of leaving George. As much as she didn’t want to hurt husband or her children, she had been putting others before herself for too long. Wasn’t now the time to discover all the passions of life she had been missing since her marriage?
Barbara, widowed just two years prior, has a wild secret. She used her talent for writing and her imagination years earlier to establish a successful career as a romance writer. She did so out of necessity because of the shady business deals her husband continued to make, putting the family in more than one precarious financial situation. He was a devoted father and she chose not to leave him after she grew confident that she could if required. Romances were her bread and butter, but after Roger’s death she opened herself up to a new genre of writing – erotica. When writing about women taking control of their sexuality, she was in many ways living out her own fantasies. The more successful her Delilah novels became, the harder it became to keep this secret. She let herself go in her fiction, but would she ever be able to open herself up to her children, her best friends, and her public?
Ellen, the ever classy interior designer, always made sure that she dressed and looked impeccable, right down to her beloved false eyelashes. The beauty she was and the beauty she created for other’s spaces held the painful secret of a teenage pregnancy and a coerced adoption. Her family, and most especially her mother, held the family’s appearances more important than her feelings. The lack of comfort and security she suffered at home prompted her to leave her small hometown and make her own way in the world. She never planned to marry, but after Bill knocked her defenses down, she told him about the daughter she lost. She gave in to love and hoped to start a family. Bill’s ultimate betrayal hurt her, but nothing hurt worse than knowing that the only child she would ever bring into life was callously taken away from her. Kaye and Barbara knew about her infertility, but she never opened up her deepest wound to them. Being stoic is how she learned to overcome the life’s unpleasantness.
When asked to participate in this book tour, I was immediately intrigued by the title. As a Catholic, I am familiar with confession and the release that comes from admitting your faults. Still, knowing what can await on the other side of the confessional does nothing make me eager to verbalize the secrets to which I hold on so tightly. You don’t have to be Catholic to understand this. Just a couple of years ago I remember what a phenomenon Post Secret became. My husband received one of the books as a gift and I remember reading every last one of those secrets. All at once I was looking for someone who might share the same secrets I have and thanking God I don’t have secrets nearly as horrible as others do. I know what a release it must feel for those who send those postcards. Reading this novel had a similar sharp effect on me.
The Sinner’s Guide to Confession is well written and it was not feel-good, predictable, brain candy chick lit for the middle aged woman I had imagined it would be. Although the holding and ultimate telling of secrets is a story as old as time and I left this novel glad to be alive, the author wrote these characters’ strengths and flaws so honestly and lovingly. Several times I felt I knew what was going to happen next only to find out I was wrong. The dialog was natural and at times I could see myself having a Diet Coke with them (I don’t drink tea, coffee or wine), thankful that they were letting me in on their private and not so private jokes. Kaye’s mother Gertie is one of my favorite characters in a long time. As much as I hope that I find someone like her in my life when I need her, I hope that I will be as wise and considerate when my predecessors need me. I was drawn into each characters’ secret, most especially Ellen’s. As an adoptive mother, her story hit home to me. The way that she calls her daughter Faith 32 years later touches my heart. Her hopes and fears gave me insight into Emma’s birth mother and I’m all the more thankful that we are all apart of each others lives. Although I’ve never doubted it, I know that there is nothing more important that Emma’s two mothers could do for her than create a relationship with each other.
I cannot encourage others enough to read this novel. Phyllis Schieber has written about women in their fifties, but this book is not just for older women. How glorious to read a novel about aging that isn’t all about losing youthful looks and figures, losing husbands, and being vengeful and bitter? While this can be the source of much comedy and catharsis, women making their own choices and continuing to grow and learn about themselves and the world around them is so much more appealing. I wish that Bette Midler, Diane Keaton, and Goldie Hawn played Kaye, Barbara, and Ellen instead of members of the First Wives’ Club. The stories here would make a move worth watching, enjoying, and remembering. As someone approaching middle age more quickly every day, I appreciated reading about women who change themselves when their lives and their marriages don’t live up to their fantasies instead of spending their time lashing out and getting even with people and situations outside of their control. My choice will always be to hold hope that faith held over a lifetime will ultimately lead to the purest joy.
So, what’s your secret? How do you feel when you finally share something that’s been bottled up inside?
___________
Here is more information about this book tour and how you can win a free copy of The Sinner’s Guide to Confession:
About Sinner’s Guide to Confession:
Kaye and Barbara are longtime friends, now in their fifties. Ellen, who is several years younger, develops a friendship with the other two women years later, solidifying this close-knit group. The three women are inseparable, yet each nurtures a secret that she keeps from the others.
About Author Phyllis Schieber:
The first great irony of my life was that I was born in a Catholic hospital. My parents, survivors of the Holocaust, had settled in the South Bronx among other new immigrants. In the mid-fifties, my family moved to Washington Heights. The area offered scenic views of the Hudson River and the Palisades, as well as access to Fort Tryon Park and the mysteries of the Cloisters. I graduated from George Washington High School. I graduated from high school at sixteen, went on to Bronx Community College, transferred to and graduated from Herbert H. Lehman College with a B.A. in English and a New York State license to teach English. I earned my M.A. in Literature from New York University and later my M.S. as a developmental specialist from Yeshiva University. I have worked as a high school English teacher and as a learning disabilities specialist. My first novel , Strictly Personal, for young adults, was published by Fawcett-Juniper. Willing Spirits was published by William Morrow. My most recent novel, The Sinner’s Guide to Confession, was released by Berkley Putnam. In March 2009, Berkley Putnam will issue the first paperback publication of Willing Spirits.
Win A Free Book from Phyllis Schieber – Its very easy to be entered in a drawing for a FREE book by Phyllis Schieber. Post comments on any blogs during the virtual tour and you will have a chance to win a book from Phyllis. One random person will win – but we are also asking visitors to share a secret and one secret will also win a free book. As a bonus the blog owner that hosted the winning comments will also win a book. Share some interesting stories and questions with Phyllis Schieber during her tour – and have a chance to win a book.
For full details about Phyllis Schieber’s virtual tour, visit her tour home page – http://virtualblogtour.blogspot.com/2008/12/sinners-guide-to-confession-by-phyllis.html
Order Your Copy here – http://tr.im/2×1g
You can visit Phyllis Schieber at www.thesinnersguidetoconfession.com or www.phyllisschieber.blogspot.com
The Sinner’s Guide to Confession Blog Tour
I am happy to announce that tomorrow I am Phyllis Scheiber’s tour host on her The Sinner’s Guide to Confession blog tour. I am going to post my review tomorrow, but I wanted to provide a little advance preview on this book and its author. Please be sure to come back tomorrow for my review of this novel (hint: LOVED it) and for information on how you can win a copy of The Sinner’s Guide to Confession.
Phyllis Schieber Author Bio
The first great irony of my life was that I was born in a Catholic hospital. My parents, survivors of the Holocaust, had settled in the South Bronx among other new immigrants. My mother was apparently so nervous she barely slept the entire time she was in the hospital, fearing her fair-skinned, blue-eyed newborn would be switched with another baby. When my paternal grandfather, an observant Jew, came to see his newest granddaughter in the hospital, he was so uncertain of how to behave around the kindly nuns that he tipped his yarmulke to them each time one passed. It was in this haze of paranoia and neuroses, as well as black humor, that the makings of a writer were initiated.
In the mid-fifties, my family moved to Washington Heights, an enclave for German Jews, known as “Frankfurt-on-the-Hudson.” The area offered scenic views of the Hudson River and the Palisades, as well as access to Fort Tryon Park and the mysteries of the Cloisters. I graduated from George Washington High School. Among its famous graduates was Henry Kissinger, former US Secretary of State (my grandmother played cards with his mother at the YMWHA on Nagle Avenue).
I graduated from high school at sixteen, went on to Bronx Community College, transferred to and graduated from Herbert H. Lehman College with a B.A. in English and a New York State license to teach English. I earned my M.A. in Literature from New York University and later my M.S. as a developmental specialist from Yeshiva University. I have worked as a high school English teacher, a special education teacher, and as a learning disabilties specialist in several college programs.
Reading was the first line of defense against anything I did not want to do. “I’m reading,” was an excuse my parents never challenged. Education was paramount in our home. There were weekly trips to the library, and the greatly anticipated Friday afternoon story hour. Everything about words seemed interesting and important.. I could make sense of the world if I put it on paper. I could even make the world better; people could become smarter and more attractive, and I could make people laugh and cry at will. Writng was powerful. I thought in stories, answered questions in my head and added, “she said” at the end of a sentence. I still do.
My first novel, Strictly Personal, for young adults, was published by Fawcett-Juniper. Willing Spirits was published by William Morrow. My most recent novel, The Sinner’s Guide to Confession, was released by Berkley Putnam on July 1, 2008. In March 2008, Berkley Putnam will issue the first paperback publication of Willing Spirits.
I live in Westchester County, New York where I work privately with students, teaching writing. I am currently working on a new novel.
Book Summary
Kaye and Barbara are longtime friends, now in their fifties. Ellen, who is several years younger, develops a friendship with the other two women years later, solidifying this close-knit group. The three women are inseparable, yet each nurtures a secret that she keeps from the others.
Barbara, a widowed mother of three grown children, is an accomplished romance writer, who also has a secret persona as a celebrated erotica writer—an existence she feels compelled to keep from everyone. Kaye, a practicing psychotherapist and the mother of two, finds her marriage stable, but joyless. When she becomes involved with another man, she keeps her affair secret from her friends, too conflicted about her duplicity to expose herself. Ellen, a successful interior designer, childless and the seemingly perfect modern woman, harbors the most profound secret of all.
After her beloved husband betrays her, leaving her for a woman half her age who is also pregnant with his child, Ellen must face all her losses anew. First, there is the pain of the children she could never conceive with her husband. More importantly, however, there is the haunting memory of the child she had at sixteen and was forced to relinquish at birth. Estranged from her family, Ellen is reluctantly thrust back into contact after the death of her father, and learns that if she is ever to find her lost daughter—now a grown woman herself—she will have to confront her shame–and share her secret with her two closest friends.
What Do You Think?
I am over the moon about my new blog. It feels so good to have made this investment. I’ve still got a lot of work that I want to do (like an idiot, I didn’t find and replace my links for my original blog to this blog. I’ve gone back through October and will work on it on and off). I just couldn’t wait any longer. I really hope that you like it.
Thanks so much to Karen at Simply Amusing Designs. You did a wonderful job.
Exciting News about Historical Fiction Lovers Book Club!
As I mentioned before, I joined the Book Clubs application on Facebook and started my own online book club Historical Fiction Lovers. We started the club reading Loving Frank and seven of us completed the Reader’s Guide and Review form. There was some really good discussion, especially about Mamah and her choices. I found out that HFL was awarded the first Book Club of the Month award and I am SUPER ecstatic about it. Here is what was posted on the site about our book club:
A passion for novels blending history, literature and romance is what drives January’s Book Club of the Month: Historical Fiction Lovers. The group, created by Jennifer, is a good case study of how to run a successful online book club.
Jennifer, who juggles a career and a family, somehow finds time to blog (http://literatehousewife.com), participate in reading challenges and run her group, Historical Fiction Lovers.
The group’s January selection is Loving Frank, a novel by Nancy Horan about a scandalous romance between the architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and Mamah Cheney, a well-educated, independent and married Chicago woman. It’s not escapist fare.
As a leader, Jennifer sets a tone for the group by suggesting appropriate novels, and then discussing which novels will be read and when. She also organizes discussions in an easy-to-follow manner.
As a thank you, we will be sending Jennifer five books to distribute as she sees fit. Please let us know if you feel your group is ready for the spotlight in February!Historical Fiction Lovers is one of more than 100 public Book Clubs and 20 private ones created by our members. There are clubs built around specific authors or book series, some are regional, but most concern categories of books such as mysteries, romance or classics.
We are especially grateful to Book Club leaders such as Jennifer who help drive discussions, select good books and invite their friends to take part. We encourage every member to contribute new topics or respond to comments or questions by other club members. Book Clubs is a community-based application and member participation is vital to a successful experience.
On top of the honor of winning, my group receives five copies of our chosen book for February, Soul Catcher by Michael White. I’m awarding a copy of this book to the five members other than Rusty Weston, the soul behind Book Clubs, and myself a copy of Soul Catcher.
Here’s a brief description of the novel from the HarperCollins website:
Augustus Cain is a damaged man haunted by a terrible skill: the ability to track people who don’t want to be found. Rosetta is a runaway slave who bears the scars, inside and out, of a life of servitude to a cruel and unforgiving master. Her flight is fueled by a passion and determination only a mother could feel, and she would rather die than let anyone drag her back to hell. In a dark, volatile time prior to the Civil War, fate has bound the hunted and hunter on a remarkable odyssey from Virginia to Boston and back again—an extraordinary test of character and will, mercy and compassion, that will change them both forever.
Interested? Why don’t you join us? Click here
I Have a Winner!
Thanks to everyone who shared their hopes and opinions about yesterday’s inauguration.
As promised, I added everyone’s name to the List Randomizer to determine who would win a free copy of What Would Martin Say? by Clarence B. Jones. The winner is:
Stacybuckeye!
Congratulations, Stacy! Please send me an email with your mailing address and I’ll send that book to you as soon as possible.
Inauguration Day Memories and What Would Martin Say? Giveaway
Photograph from Jimmy Carter Library, Atlanta, Georgia
On January 20, 1977, I was just over 5 years old. I was in kindergarten that year and what I remember was the parade. What I remember is sitting on the carpet in front of the TV in our first family home in Sparta, MI. I am not sure if I was watching the original telecast, but I could have been because I was the morning kindergarten class. It could have been a recast, though. At first I enjoyed watching President and Mrs. Carter walking down Pennsylvania Ave. Then, I got very bored of listening to all the talking and wished that I could watch something else. Today, I think Jimmy Carter’s Inaugural Parade was perfect for him. He was and is a down to earth, good man. Although there had already been two presidents during my then short life, Jimmy Carter is the first I remember. Although my memories of him as president are dark due to the Iran Hostage Crisis that was to come, I am glad to have the memory of what it was like for a very young child to watch such a parade. Because I remember Jimmy Carter’s day, I know that Emma, my 6 year old kindergartner, will remember Barack Obama’s.
Emma is in school today and I am at work. She may get to watch the festivities at school, but just in case I’m DVRing it for later. I would love to sit and watch Obama’s parade with her. She will be a member of the first generation not to know an America without an African American president. For her and her classmates, race will not be something that will keep a man from becoming the President of the United States. When a man can become president, a man can do anything. I hope that we don’t have to wait for Emma to watch an inaugural parade with her oldest child before the same can be said of women.
Happy Inauguration Day! Please leave a comment to this post about your impressions of today’s inauguration. What did you think of the speech? The parade? What do you think was the most memorable moment? What did you children think? All comments about the inauguration left today will qualify to win a copy of Clarence B. Jones’ book, What Would Martin Say?
#136 ~ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Before the movie hype, I’d never heard of this short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I’m not necessarily sure that I knew that he wrote short stories. With the exception of The Great Gatsby, which is one of my all-time favorite novels, I never studied Fitzgerald in college or grad school. I’m not sure if this was because of the courses I chose or if his writing wasn’t in favor at the time. Either way, I’m planning on reading all of his short stories this year.
For those of you who do not know, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” tells the story of life of Benjamin Button. Unlike all other humans, he was born as an elderly man, not as an infant. The doctors, nurses, and his father are all shocked and quite disgusted by this. Benjamin being only himself, found nothing out of the ordinary in his condition. The unlikely circumstances of his birth continued on throughout his life. He continued to grow more youthful as his life progressed. He did not age. He did just the opposite, though only those who knew otherwise seemed to be aware of his condition at all.
What stood out the most for me was that his mother was no where to be seen. We witnessed his father’s reactions throughout his “growing up” years, but we hear nothing from the woman who gave birth to him. She survived the birth, but how was that accomplished without killing her? Did she love him despite his oddity? Are we to assume by the fact that she was removed from the text that she abandoned him emotionally? If so, how does Benjamin feel about this? Did it not concern him because one’s mother is typically deceased when one is an elderly man or is that why Benjamin hides the truth from his wife?
Being only 30 pages, this short story was a quick read, although I’m not sure whether I can say I liked it or not. I would be interested in reading papers published on this short story. I believe it did highlight the responsibilities that surround raising children and caring for the elderly in a different way. When you are a new parent, you can ask for other people’s advice, but you still are in many ways on your own. No one else has ever raised your child. On the other side of the coin, elderly care is also a question. While many people do what is right by there parents, aren’t those who don’t just as irresponsible as those who might abandon a newborn? It’s all the same for Benjamin.
*****
To buy this short story, click here
Book Blogger Con
Have you heard about the 1st Annual Book Blogger Convention that will be held in NYC during the BEA? You should check it out. I know it will be a fantastic experience. Unfortunately I won't be able to attend due to family obligations, but I'll be trolling blogs for up to the minute news.
WE Magazine’s A Woman Blogger to Watch
Literate Challenges
What's in a Name? 3
Random Reading Challenge
