Marriage | Book Chatter

This Cake is For the Party
By Sarah Selecky
(St. Martin’s Griffin, Paperback, 9781250011428, November 2012, 240pp.)

The Short of It:

Never has such an unassuming collection of stories held my attention from beginning to end.

The Rest of It:

I love quiet stories and if they center around relationships, even better. From the very first page, I found myself falling right into this book. You know that feeling? That feeling where everything around you stands still and all you can focus on is the book in front of you? That is the feeling I had while reading these stories. When this book was in my hands, nothing else seemed to matter.

There are ten stories in this collection, all ranging in tone but clearly the party in question is nowhere to be found. In Throwing Cotton, we meet Anna and Sanderson and their friends Flip and Shona as they meet-up at a lake cottage for a little holiday. As Anna and Sanderson head into the next phase of their marriage, that of children, it becomes apparent that Anna has doubts. What should be a glorious time, now suddenly becomes something else. In Standing Up for Janey, Bonnie throws a dinner party to celebrate the engagement of her best friend Janey. Shortly before the party, Janey admits to Bonnie that she’s recently cheated on Milt. With this knowledge, Bonnie is forced to host as if nothing is amiss. What should be tragic tale, somehow ends up being funny in Selecky’s hands.

What these stories have in common is that these people are normal, functioning adults dealing with everyday problems. Selecky’s ability to take everyday objects or situations and make them unique is inspiring to say the least. She writes, like my brain thinks. Quiet observations not always spoken or shared out loud.

I savored each and every story in the collection and when I reached the end, I felt compelled to go right back and read them again.

An interesting little tidbit for you. The story that gives this collection its name was not included in the collection itself! This Cake is for the Party was a story that Selecky had written before this collection even came to be. It was short, only five pages long. It was actually the basis for another story which happens to be in the book. However, when this collection was put together, including it would have meant that it was the only linked story in the collection and Selecky felt that it put too much pressure on one of the characters so it was left out. I was lucky enough to receive a copy of the story and although I loved it, I see why it was not included. Interesting, huh?

Because I was so impressed with the writing as a whole and totally fell head over heels for the collection, I went to Selecky’s website and signed up for her Little Bird writing prompts. These prompts are offered in conjunction with her Little Bird Writing Contest. Each day, a writing prompt arrives in my inbox and I take ten minutes of every morning to write a response. I’m not sure I will ever submit anything to the contest, but for now I am enjoying the prompts. If you find yourself struggling to write creatively and just don’t have the time, you might want to try these prompts. Ten minutes a day. That’s it. Even I can do that and who knows? Maybe one day I will have a story as good as one of the ones in the book!

As you can probably guess, I am still thinking about these stories and can’t seem to stop talking about them. If you get the opportunity to pick up a copy, you won’t be sorry.

Source: Sent to me by the publisher.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

Flight Behavior
By Barbara Kingsolver
(Harper, Hardcover, 9780062124265, November 2012, 448pp.

The Short of It:

Beautifully rendered but tragic in many ways.

The Rest of It:

Dellarobia Turnbow is the mother of two, poor as can be and married to a husband who still answers to his parents. Living on a farm with a roof over your head and food on the table sounded a lot more “settled” when they were young, pregnant and without other prospects.

Now, a decade later, Dellarobia finds herself running up a mountain to have a tryst with a younger man. On her climb up, she is reminded of her place when her secondhand boots (the nicest she has ever owned) begin to pinch. Distracted momentarily by the boots, she doesn’t realize what lies before her until she looks up and sees it. Before her is a forest filled with fire. Red and orange everywhere, but no smoke. Terrified, she flees down the mountain taking it as a sign from the heavens and returns to the life she’s been given not realizing at first the implications of what remains on that mountain.

I went into this one with absolutely no idea what it was about. Have you ever done that? I’ve read many of Kingsolver’s books and although I can’t say I’ve loved all of them, I think about them often. That is the case with Flight Behavior. From the very beginning, I wasn’t sure about Dellarobia. She’s quick-witted, sharp with her tongue but essentially a good mother. As a family of four, living in a house that technically belongs to her in-laws, she struggles to make do on the farm. However, she’s really hard to like. She’s resentful of the life she has and tired of struggling financially so when she hears that the farm is in worse shape than she originally thought, all she can do is be bitter about it.

As the story unfolds and the reader is clued in on what is actually up there on the mountain, Dellarobia is given a new sense of purpose and becomes this “other” self who for me, was more likable. I found this version of her easier to relate to and I began to see her life from her point of view. Suddenly, I understood her resentment. This made the middle of the book very compelling.

But then, it all went to hell.

Not really, but sort of.

I really, really do not like it when an author shoves something down your throat and with this one, I felt as if the issue of global warming was being pounded into my head. Repeatedly. It became clear to me that the novel was really a vehicle for delivering a message she feels very passionate about.

Then, to add the icing to the cake, Dellarobia did something that totally pissed me off. Was it in character for her to have done it? Absolutely, but I was hoping she’d go a different route and how she chooses to share her decision upset me so much, that I had to mention it on Facebook. I felt as if someone punched me in the gut and I immediately disliked her again.

What I can say is this, this was a very unique read for me. My feelings were all over the place while reading this book and I was pulled in by the writing, which is often beautiful and sometimes haunting. I just wish the message had been a bit more subtle so that I could come to my own conclusion on the issue.

This would make a great book club pick because I bet readers would be equally divided over it. Some will love it, and others will find fault with much of it, but in the end appreciate the writing which is the camp I landed in. It’s passionately written, and for that I give the author credit but it’s tragic too. Tragic in that lives are changed forever and global warming is no longer something we read about.

Would I recommend it? Yes, for the discussion aspect, but know going in that there is an intentional message being sent here.

Source: Sent to me by the publisher via Edelweiss.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

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