New year, new start and all that. For 2013 my aim is to read at least 100 books, and increase my reviews. I'm going to shoot for around one a week and hope that I can maintain that! So here goes number one...
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Author: Molly
Ringwald (Yes, the actress from "The Breakfast Club")
Published: 2012 -
Simon & Schuster
A Novel in Stories
From a mother as she grapples with age, infertility
and an increasingly distant husband to a former children's television star who
tries to rebuild his life after being hospitalized for 'exhaustion'. From an
elderly woman mourning the loss o her husband to a single mother who finds the
strength to protect her flamboyant six-year-old son, these stories follow the
hazardous terrain of everyday life, revealing the deceptions, heartbreak, and
vulnerability familiar to us all.
When It Happens to You is an unflinching yet poignant
examination of the intricacies of the human heart and an auspicious literary début.
When…
betrayal comes it takes many forms. A husband's
betrayal of a wife, a mother's betrayal of her son, a woman betrayed by the
loss of her soulmate.
When It…
comes it will take you by surprise. But it will
happen. And…
When It Happens…
everything will change. You may not know it now but…
When It Happens to You…
you will understand.
This is a novel of
short stories, wound together with connective links to make up one story. There
is essentially one plot running through the whole novel, but there are also
other stories told, peripheral to the central plot but linked in via a character
connection.
The story centres
around Greta, Phillip & their daughter Charlotte. As their family slowly
falls apart, we explore the different emotions and perspectives through their
interactions and relationships with other people.
Reading this, I
found that I struggled a little with the fact that the short stories are… well,
short stories. They are interspersed throughout the book, and I did have
difficulty reconciling the completion of one story within a longer, ongoing
story. Some of them didn't feel particularly… finished. Particularly for me,
the story of Marina, who befriends Phillip following his separation. They
develop a friendship as their children, Charlotte and Oliver, play together.
The story of Marina and Oliver is a complex one that I would have liked to
explore further. Marina is struggling with the fact that her son identifies as
a girl, and wishes to dress like one and be called Olivia. He feels it is
simple - he is a girl, and that's that. She imagines his life, and how difficult
this journey will be.
This book highlights
struggles and repercussions as a marriage falls apart, from the perspective of
the betrayed, the betrayer, and those impacted such as children and family. At
different points in the book I both liked and disliked most of the characters,
depending on the point of view we were looking from. It's definitely a book
that makes you think, and it will stay with me for a while. I'd like to re-read
this once I've had some time to think and digest it, I think this is one of
those that you get more out of every time you read it.
Novel number 2 of 100 towards my Goodreads 2013 Challenge!
Have you read this? What did you think?
