She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb

Our book club recently read Wally Lamb's Wishin' and Hopin' which according to reviews I read, was quite a departure from other of his novels. Certainly at 465 pages it was much longer. The themes were more intense and the plot spanned a great deal more time in the life of the main character---ages 4 to mid-30's for Delores in this novel as opposed to a few months in the life of Felix in Wishin' and Hopin'. It seemed that Felix had a rather lovely family life contrasted to the unfortunate life of Delores. Both novels could be categorized "coming of age" but with the process for Delores being much more painful.

Delores suffers a trauma at age 13 that leaves her literally "coming undone". I found her reactions believable and though she could be quite harsh to those around her, literally taking out her anger on them and on herself,  I found myself rooting for her to put herself back together! I thought it was interesting how whales kept figuring into this story; they seemed to symbolize more than one aspect of the plot.

Though it was not as much fun to read as Wishin and Hopin, I did find She's Come Undone to be a "page turner." I would rate it a 4 and will definitely read other novels by this author. I found both of these novels by Lamb to be nostalgia trips as they take place in the 50's to 70's mostly, with mentions of Woodstock, the first moon landing, Watergate, etc. Also both novels take their titles from popular songs of a similar span of time, in the case of this one "Undun" by The Guess Who, lyrics that could have been written by the fictional Delores herself, they describe her so well! The words go like this:

She's come undone
She didn't know what she was headed for
And when I found what she was headed for
It was too late
She's come undone
She found a mountain that was far too high
And when she found out she couldn't fly
It was too late
It's too late
She's gone too far
She's lost the sun
She's come undone
She wanted truth
But all she got was lies
Came the time to realize
And it was too late
She's come undone
She didn't know what she was headed for
And when I found what she was headed for
Mama, it was too late
It's too late
She's gone too far
She's lost the sun
She's come undone
Too many mountains, and not enough stairs to climb
Too many churches and not enough truth
Too many people and not enough eyes to see
Too many lives to lead and not enough time

She's Come Undone was Wally Lamb's first novel and was chosen as an Oprah Book Club selection in 1992. It was also a New York Times Bestseller. One intriguing review states: "As you read She's Come Undone your entire life will flash before your eyes...It's a little bit like strolling down memory lane with Dick Clark on one arm, Jean-Paul Sartre on the other. It's scary, but Lord, it's wonderful!" (Cathie Pelletier, author of A Marriage Made at Woodstock)

Skipping Christmas by John Grisham

I have read and enjoyed many John Grisham novels and Skipping Christmas is certainly a departure from his usual legal thrillers.

At the beginning of the story the Kranks are seeing their daughter, Blair, off to Peru for a year.  Almost immediately Luther Krank becomes convinced that it is senseless to spend extreme amounts of money and time to celebrate Christmas without Blair. He decides he and his wife will "skip" Christmas and take a Caribbean cruise instead. His wife, Nora, goes along with the plan a bit reluctantly. Suddenly when they should be packing for their cruise, a surprise phone call throws them into a panic!

I would recommend this novel to empty-nesters and especially to read at this holiday time of year. It is a short (only 177 pages), easy read but offers some food for thought: Do we ever get so frustrated that we would want to "skip Christmas"?  I personally would never want to omit all that the holiday brings but I have to admit when I hear about cultures in which Christmas is celebrated only as a religious holiday, I am envious. I do often wish we did less decorating, shopping, and eating. Oh, to simplify the preparations and just focus on and enjoy the true reason for the season---the birth of Jesus Christ!

The Year Everything Changed by Georgia Bockoven

I just finished The Year Everything Changed last night. It was one I wanted to finish but I won't say I loved it. I would rate it a 3.
The story involves 4 adult women who find out they have a father, Jessie, in common---yep, that makes them sisters!  A couple of them have never known their father at all and the other two were abandonned by him. They are all clueless about their sisters until called together by their father's lawyer who informs them that he is dying. In light of the fact that Jessie was an absent father it was surprising to me that all four would even fly to Sacramento for this meeting. Curiosity won out, I suppose.
Each of the sisters---Elizabeth, Christina, Rachel and Ginger---are dealing with their own life struggles at the time of this divulgement. The events which cause them to change their attitudes and feelings toward their dead father and each other make for an interesting plot, and of course, are foreshadowed by the title. The technique used by the author to reveal Jessie to his daughters is quite clever, as well.
I probably identified most with Ginger, who was adopted, since my only daughter is adopted. I wondered how she would react to being introduced to biological siblings out of the blue. As I was growing up with 3 brothers, I always wanted a sister. What if you were wishing for a sister and suddenly found you had three! Well, I actually do have three now but they are my sisters-in-law!
One of the guys in our group would say The Year Everything Changed was "chick lit" and I'd have to agree. I definitely wouldn't recommend it to the men!

A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park

A Long Walk to Water was a quick and easy read but it packed a wallop in terms of social value.  It is a work of fiction but based on a powerful true story of one of the surviving "Lost Boys." Two main characters, two time periods but both stories taking place in Southern Sudan.  Nya in 2008 is a young girl walking miles each day to the pond to get water for her family.  In 1985 Salva is a young boy who must flee his homeland in the midst of violence, leaving his family behind. He ends up walking hundreds of miles, living off the land, enduring terrible conditions in refugee camps and finally and fortunately ending up in the United States as a young man.

This book was especially meaningful to me because our church in past years has helped to fund the digging of wells in Tete Province and Madagascar. It makes me very sad to know that so many people in Africa and other parts of the world do not have clean water to drink---something we Americans take totally for granted!

You may guess the ending of this novel but I won't tell you---only that it is quite satisfying.