A Christian-themed novel about a family in turmoil.
Debut novelist Life presents the story of Shanale Baker, a beautiful young woman who makes poor choices regarding men. Her problems begin when she becomes pregnant in high school by a drug dealer, who very quickly wants nothing to do with her. Shanale terminates the pregnancy and goes on to become a journalism major in college, where her relationship problems multiply. Married men tend to take a great interest in her, and although she gains material things from the relationships, disaster always seems to lie just around the corner. Fortunately for Shanale, she attends the same college as her best friend, Justin Hunter. He’s a straight shooter: a football star, an avid churchgoer, and a sympathetic listener. But when he starts dating a wealthy girl named Alexis, it drives a wedge into his and Shanale’s friendship. Meanwhile, Shanale’s family members struggle with their own problems; for instance, her sister Niesy works two jobs to support her children and her lazy, abusive boyfriend. Niesy’s teenage daughter Kai, meanwhile, seems to be on her way to making the same mistakes that her aunt did. It’s a tangled web—and then a murder enters the picture. The story, told from the first-person perspectives of different characters, contains some stilted dialogue, as when a character says of attending college, “I know it’s going to be hard but I am going to do it.” The pace, however, is quick and doesn’t slacken, and the narrative effectively explores the consequences of jealousy, abuse, and bad decisions. Although it’s clear early on that Christianity will provide saving grace, it’s uncertain for much of the story as to what form it will take. A character may raise her spirits by attending church, for example, but there’s still a murder to deal with. Although the resolution to the latter occurs rather abruptly, readers are left with characters who prove that change is always possible.
A fast-paced and ultimately uplifting family drama.Pub Date: Nov. 22, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4486-6489-4
Page Count: 223
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Categories: FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS
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Fremont (After Long Silence, 1999) continues—and alters—her story of how memories of the Holocaust affected her family.
At the age of 44, the author learned that her father had disowned her, declaring her “predeceased”—or dead in his eyes—in his will. It was his final insult: Her parents had stopped speaking to her after she’d published After Long Silence, which exposed them as Jewish Holocaust survivors who had posed as Catholics in Europe and America in order to hide multilayered secrets. Here, Fremont delves further into her tortured family dynamics and shows how the rift developed. One thread centers on her life after her harrowing childhood: her education at Wellesley and Boston University, the loss of her virginity to a college boyfriend before accepting her lesbianism, her stint with the Peace Corps in Lesotho, and her decades of work as a lawyer in Boston. Another strand involves her fraught relationship with her sister, Lara, and how their difficulties relate to their father, a doctor embittered after years in the Siberian gulag; and their mother, deeply enmeshed with her own sister, Zosia, who had married an Italian count and stayed in Rome to raise a child. Fremont tells these stories with novelistic flair, ending with a surprising theory about why her parents hid their Judaism. Yet she often appears insensitive to the serious problems she says Lara once faced, including suicidal depression. “The whole point of suicide, I thought, was to succeed at it,” she writes. “My sister’s completion rate was pathetic.” Key facts also differ from those in her earlier work. After Long Silence says, for example, that the author grew up “in a small city in the Midwest” while she writes here that she grew up in “upstate New York,” changes Fremont says she made for “consistency” in the new book but that muddy its narrative waters. The discrepancies may not bother readers seeking psychological insights rather than factual accuracy, but others will wonder if this book should have been labeled a fictionalized autobiography rather than a memoir.
A vivid sequel that strains credulity.Pub Date: Feb. 11, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-982113-60-5
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2019
Categories: GENERAL BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS
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BOOK REVIEW
Self-help advice and personal reflections on avoiding spousal fights while raising children.
Before her daughter was born, bestselling author Dunn (Why Is My Mother Getting a Tattoo?: And Other Questions I Wish I Never Had to Ask, 2009, etc.) enjoyed steady work and a happy marriage. However, once she became a mother, there never seemed to be enough time, sleep, and especially help from her husband. Little irritations became monumental obstacles between them, which led to major battles. Consequently, they turned to expensive couples' therapy to help them regain some peace in life. In a combination of memoir and advice that can be found in most couples' therapy self-help books, Dunn provides an inside look at her own vexing issues and the solutions she and her husband used to prevent them from appearing in divorce court. They struggled with age-old battles fought between men and women—e.g., frequency of sex, who does more housework, who should get up with the child in the middle of the night, why women need to have a clean house, why men need more alone time, and many more. What Dunn learned via therapy, talks with other parents, and research was that there is no perfect solution to the many dynamics that surface once couples become parents. But by using time-tested techniques, she and her husband learned to listen, show empathy, and adjust so that their former status as a happy couple could safely and peacefully morph into a happy family. Readers familiar with Dunn's honest and humorous writing will appreciate the behind-the-scenes look at her own semi-messy family life, and those who need guidance through the rough spots can glean advice while being entertained—all without spending lots of money on couples’ therapy.
A highly readable account of how solid research and personal testing of self-help techniques saved a couple's marriage after the birth of their child.Pub Date: March 21, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-316-26710-6
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
Categories: FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS
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