review: The House of my Mother

 A Daughter's Quest for Freedom

by Shari Franke 

We all need a little reminder that if a sane person tries to live with insane people, they’ll eventually go insane themselves. Luckily, this young person gets away…but not before suffering nearly irreparable harm to her psyche.

Funny thing is, a lot of the incidents of her childhood seem perfectly normal—taken individually, who hasn’t suffered an occasional humiliation when a parent laughs at the wrong time? Or forces them to smile when they want to cry, or takes them out of the school they love, or punishes them for wrongdoings?  But when you start to take them all together, they get scary. 

I only wish she’d been a little less in her own head during the narrative and a little more omniscient. When something humiliating happens, I understand exactly how she feels, but I often didn’t have a clue exactly what was happening and how it would appear to an outsider.

Also beware that the times when she quotes the exact words used by her mother or the evil conneXions woman, Jody’s, or even Derek, the man who takes advantage of her pain, you’ll be so angry you want to scream. These people were psychological warfare experts. Evil.

Review: Be Reay When the Luck Happens

 Be Ready When the Luck Happens 

by Ina Garten 

I found this enjoyable, very, but not memorable. In fact, I know I finished reading it a few weeks back, but I can’t remember a single interesting anecdote or personal observation to note here. Except maybe the origin of the “Barefoot Contessa” name for her food store/deli—that was surprising.

Reading it made me want to go cook some of her food, though. Her attention to quality and good taste makes it sound like I’d like to eat some of it. I guess Food Network is next…..

 

Review: Cruise Ship SOS

 The Life-Saving Adventures of a Doctor at Sea

by Ben MacFarLane

Hard to believe but this sequel is even better than the first one!  In his first memoir, he describes his time as a repatriation physician. That’s a guide employed by the health service (the British one) to go pick up British citizens who have fallen ill or had a serious accident overseas and escort them back home.

That was an exciting job!  But in this one, he takes a post as the second physician on a world cruise. Imagine—traveling all the way around the world on a ship!  And imagine this—what sort of accidents and injuries can happen to the people along the way? 

His particular responsibility on this trip is for the crew members. Apparently those super big cruise ships employ a superbly huge number of workers. And some of them, of course, have alcohol or drug abuse issues; others go out on a binge during shore leave and end up in misery; and still others just plain get sick. It happens. And it keeps him really busy. 

From jammed fingers to full-blown DTs to heart attacks…to Italy and Hong Kong and Panama and Singapore…

This book has it all.

Review: The Night Woods

By Paula Munier 

I like her books at lot—her main characters are interesting and predictable in how they behave and respond to things. The mystery adds the element of surprise and uncertainty, and the plots are always fresh.

And having said all that, I felt like this one fell kind of flat. Not that the action didn’t keep me on the edge of my seat—it did! But the plot was a little on the weird and unbelievable side. The main perp’s actions made sense because she was a total loony bin. But the rest of the plot was confusing and I didn’t have any understanding of how the other evildoers fit in. Maybe I was just burned out and didn’t care at that point. Maybe it’s me.

Of course I’ll read the next one, when it comes. I just hope it’s a little better plotted.