Love and Trouble

Love and Trouble by Claire Dederer

Published by Tinder Press

February 2018

You did everything right!

You made some friends you could count on.  You got a job. You found a mate, a really nice one, and you bought a house and had kids.  You didn't even think about it that much, you just did it.  You worked really hard, all the time.  You were a faithful wife and, ti's okay to say it out loud, an above-average mom.

And then one day it's as if a switch is flipped.  This day comes in April 2011.  The spring you are fourty-four years old.  You don't know it yet, but on this  day, your season in hell has begun.

As you sit there, you find that all of a sudden you can't stop thinking about her.  The girl you were.

This is Claire Dederer's second book, her first is Poser and is about her yoga journey, which I swiftly purchased on being sent this to review, and both books are about her life.  This is Claire's recount of what I guess could be described as her 'mid-life crisis'.  

She hits 44 and then begins to think - is this it?!  She has a great husband, great house, great job, great kids so why isn't she satisfied?  Why isn't this enough?  She starts to go back through her childhood diaries to try to make sense of what has come before and what she needs to be happy in the now. 

This is a blisteringly honest book and I am sure some of its reveals caused some emotional moments in her relationship with her husband.  There aren't many books by women talking about mid-life stuff, it's as if it doesn't exist in our female world.  But it does.  And it should be addressed, brutally and honestly as Claire Dederer does. As a woman of a certain age myself Love and Trouble does give one cause to ponder - is this it? 

Happy Reading

Miss Chapters x

The Immortalists

The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin

Published by Tinder Press

March 2018

It's 1969, and holed up in a grimy tenement building in New York's Lower East Side is a travelling psychic who claims to be able to tell anyone the date they will die. The four Gold children, too young for what they're about to hear, sneak out to learn their fortunes.

Such prophecies could be dismissed as trickery and nonsense, yet the Golds bury theirs deep. Over the years that follow they attempt to ignore, embrace, cheat and defy the 'knowledge' given to them that day - but it will shape the course of their lives forever.

So as the cover of the book says "If you knew the day you were going to die, how would you choose to live?" and this is pretty much what the story is about.  The four Gold siblings hear about a mysterious woman who lives in an apartment block who can, apparently, tell you the day that you are going to die.  Being young children (aged between 7 and 13) they are indeed fascinated by this, and ask around to try to find out where she lives so that they can visit her.  Armed with this information, and their saved pocket money, they pay her a visit and one by one learn of their fate.  

The Golds are a Jewish family made up of Saul, Gertie and their four children Daniel, Varya, Katya and Simon.  Each is very different from other and each follows a different path as they grow into adulthood.  Katya and Simon escape New York to move to San Francisco; Katya to persue her love of magic and Simon to follow a calling that he feels he cannot persue on America's east coast.  Daniel becomes a doctor involved with the American army and Varya is a scientist.  Despite their close bond, the visit to the fortune teller tears a hole in their relationship.  Simon will not reveal his date, only to say that it is 'early' and Varya cannot comprehend her lengthy sentence she has been given.  They rarely speak of it, but it haunts them all.

The Immortalists is broken up into sections where we as a reader focus on one sibling at a time - we follow their destiny and their fate as one by one they die when the fortune teller tells them they will.  Chloe Benjamin raises an interesting concept - if we knew how long we had in this lifetime, how would we live our lives, and would we do anything differently, or would it be like having a life sentence constantly hanging around us whereby we were just waiting for the day to arrive?  

This was a really great book and I loved the stories told.  My favourite sibling I think was Katya and I was sad when her story was up.  I predict only high praise for this book.

Happy Reading

Miss Chapters x

Anything you do say

Anything you do Say by Gillian McAllister

Published by Penguin Books

January 2018

It's the end of the night. You're walking home on your own.

Then you hear the sound every woman dreads. Footsteps. Behind you. Getting faster.

You're sure it's him - the man from the bar who wouldn't leave you alone.

You make a snap decision. You turn. You push. Your pursuer tumbles down the steps. He lies motionless, face-down on the floor.

Now what?

Call 999
Wait for the police to arrive. For judgement, for justice, whatever that may be. You just hope your husband, family and friends, everyone you love, will stand by you.

OR:

Run
Stay silent. You didn't mean to do it. You were scared, you panicked. And no one saw. No one will ever know. If you leave now. If you keep quiet. For ever.

Which will it be?

This book was recommended to me by a friend so I thought I would give it a whirl.  Whilst I don't think I loved it as much as she did, I did enjoy it and I think readers of my blog will to.  The synopsis is this - Joanna Olivia is in a bar with her best friend Laura.  She meets a man, has a bit of harmless flirting with him, moves on.  However the man in question is a bit more predatory than this, moves back for more interaction, grabs Joanna, is intimidating and sexual towards her. As a result Joanna and Laura leave and go their separate ways home.  Walking back through London to her flat containing husband Reuben, Joanna sees footsteps approaching behind her - red trainers that look identical to the ones worn by the guy in the bar.  He's running towards her now and getting nearer, Joanna is frightened he is going to attack her.  They come to a set of stairs and as he gets alongside her she reaches out a hand and pushes the man away.  He falls and lies at the bottom of the stairs motionless.   And this is where the book takes a twist - two different scenarios now pan out in front of the reader - the first where Joanna calls 999 and tells the operator what has happened, and the latter where Joanna turns around and returns home telling no one of what has occurred.  

It's an interesting read in that obviously both stories have different consequences throughout them in terms of how Joanna's life is led - in the first she is arrested for her actions, in the second she is constantly filled with guilt for what she did and this too has it's own effect on her behaviour.  Gillian McAllister does make you question what you would do in this situation because I guess you would aromatically call the police, but then what if that led to your arrest and possible later imprisonment?  Would you then wish that you could turn the clock back and walk away?  An interesting take on the human psyche and that actions have consequences that we must all face in one way or another.

Happy Reading

Miss Chapters x