It's one of the best books I've read all year. It's deep, emotional, and deals with two subjects that are not for the faint of heart: childhood abuse/trauma/child pornogr*phy and the years during World War II.
STORY SUMMARY
Madeline O'Shea is the older sister of Annie. They were raised by their dad and mom (Marie Elise) on Cape Cod. They loved the ocean, playing violin and piano and they loved their parents fiercely. Their dad died when they were young girls and their mom began having horrible headaches. Yet she continued to own and operate her French Beauty Parlor in town.
Now that Madeline is an adult, she is a life coach. She tells people what to do with their lives. She's extremely famous and wealthy. She inspires thousands of women through her thriving practice and her conventions. She has slick hair and classic suits. She seems to have everything and exudes a confidence she rarely actually feels. Her fashion sense...and her confidence...are fake.
For several decades, Madeline has lived in absolute fear of her traumatic childhood, which happened after her mother remarried a man named Sherwinn, against the advice of her parents, (Madeline and Annie's grandparents, Anton and Emmanuelle) becoming public. But now there's an investigative reporter named Marlene who is attempting to write an article about the notorious crime that Marie Elise committed in a courthouse that put Madeline's mom behind bars. This story will threaten to destroy Madeline and Annie's elaborate facade. Annie is now a successful vet who specializes in treating abused animals. She never plays her piano any more.
Meanwhile, while this reporter is harassing Madeline for a scoop on her grandparents as well as her own childhood, Madeline and Annie are beginning to wonder just what secrets their grandparents are hiding. Marie Elise, their mom, died of a brain tumor when they were in the midst of recovering from the abuse they endured at the hands of Sherwinn and his two buddies. They are fragile children. Once Marie Elise has died, Anton and Emmanuelle pack up the girls and move them to Oregon where they had settled after Marie Elise married the girls' dad. But Grandma (Emmanuelle) now has dementia and it seems to be progressing. Who is Ishmael that she keeps talking about? What is the significance of the swans? Why does Granddad seem so weepy and secretative and carries around a burden of guilt and shame?
"As the demons of the past swirl around her, a childhood friend (Steve) with a gentle heart is urging Madeline to have faith in him---and in herself. And as she allows her resistance to thaw, the pain she expects pales in comparison to the surprises headed straight to her door. With one bold, unprecedented move, Madeline O'Shea may just wake up out of the sadness and guilt that have kept her sleepwalking through life for so long---and discover that the worse thing that can happen is sometimes the very thing we desperately need." (taken from the book's jacket).
What is the real legacy of her grandparents? And how do Annie and Madeline fit in with this legacy?
My THOUGHTS
This book is powerful. It's a look at what can happen when we decide to reclaim our past traumas...and to reclaim our future....no matter where they lead us.
The settings, character development and plot are so well done and strong that I fell in love with this story right away. It pulls you in. There's a mix of their lives unfolding between the present, their childhood past, and their mom's and grandparents past. Each chapter is a different time period and yet all is told in Madeline's voice.
There's some deep sadness and mystery to this story but there are also some hilarious moments, especially when the story goes back to their childhood and their mom's French Beauty Parlor. In reading this book, I felt like I knew these people. That is good writing!
There were so many good quotes in this book. I'm sharing some here:
"...what the head knows and what the heart accepts are two different things." (pg 113 the first day of the rest of my life by Cathy Lamb c.2011)
"You don't need to look around further. Sometimes we miss happy because we're always looking for something else. We worry, we give in to fear, we compare ourselves to others, we're planning and plotting, but happiness is here, it's a choice, day to day." (pg 177-178)
"And if there was good out of it---that I can relate to people's tragedies better because I've lived it, that I understand their tears and grief, their fears and terrors, that I have risen above that abuse and built a life--are those skills good enough to obliterate the bad? The long-term damage it did to us? The death of my momma? (pg237)
"Some stories are not to be told for years, until the listener is ready and the storyteller can tell it properly...so that no one forgets who we are, who we were." (Grandpa Anton about the Nazis/WWII; pg 288)
"What I've learned from all of this is that we can't move on from our tragedies until we deal with them, until we face them." (pg 376)
Major themes in this story are: mother-child relationship; role of grandparents in children's lives; death of a parent(s); the Holocaust and the aftermath; betrayal; childhood s*xual abuse; forced child pornography and the effects on society/our nation; justice, forgiveness, love, family legacy, family secrets, guilt/shame; overcoming obstacles and trauma, love over hate; darkness over light.
There is a lot of symbolism in this story: swans, the violin, the lavender fields...read the book to figure it out. I don't want to ruin the plot for you.
I found just a few editing errors in this book.
This book will have you laughing one minute and sobbing the next.
The author does point out in the back of the book that some of the descriptions by Madeline of the abuse and trauma that occurred to her and her sister are unsettling and may be difficult for survivors of childhood abuse to read. But it is needed for the reader to understand the reality that they lived through and the impact it had on them. There is nothing explicit but the implications are unsettling. Sadly, this really does happen in real life. I have had students who have endured similar situations.
One thing I really appreciated was the author, through the voice of Madeline, exposes the truth of pornography being a scourge on our nation. She did a great job teaching the reader the horrible effects this addiction does to people either watching it or engaging in it. And that it is never a child's fault.
I highly recommend this powerful story of re-claiming life.
In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 17 and older (due to mature content).
On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 10.
4 comments:
Hi Faith! Thanks for this review. Sounds like a good book, but I will skip it because I don't like reading about child sexual abuse. Glad you like the book.
This sounds like a really good but tough read. I'm more of a face value kind of reader and struggle with symbolism.
the symbolism is pretty evident though in this particular book. Kind of like it's the book of Proverbs where you know the allegory and symbolism are referring to God and Jesus (usually) or Satan. example: lady Wisdom and Lady Folly. :) the symbolism isn't difficult in this story.
It's very well done and there's nothing super explicit but yeah...it's not for everyone. I think as a survivor (and mine was NOTHING like these girls endured, praise God) it drew me in and of course i've had so many students who have been survivors. But it's definitely a tear jerker and you breathe a huge sign of relief when you see what happens to the perps.
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