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Friday, September 30, 2016

The Cephalopod Coffee House - Did You Ever Have a Family?

Welcome to another edition of the Cephalopod Coffeehouse. The idea is simple: on the last Friday of each month, post about the best book you've finished over the past month while visiting other bloggers doing the same.  In this way, we'll all have the opportunity to share our thoughts and our books with other enthusiastic readers. Please join us:

http://armchairsquid.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-cephalopod-coffeehouse-may-2016.html


This month I'm going to to tell you about this book:





This story is about a woman, June, who loses everyone she cares about in one fell swoop. Her lover, Luke, her ex, Will, her daughter Lolly, and her daughter's fiance, Will. Poof. Gone. Just like that. Then, not long after the funerals, she ups and leaves, just gets in her car and goes, with pretty much nothing but her wallet. At some point she finds her daughter's bags in the car, and an old journal which reveals itself as June heads west. Meanwhile, there's what she's left behind and the chapters move between the various viewpoints until we find out exactly what happened and how and what's left.

I read this book quite quickly because even though you know how everyone dies right off, there are still questions. And when June just gets in her car and goes, without a plan, with nothing except her wallet I had to find out where she was going, and where she would end up. Fortunately for her, she has money and can afford to take indefinite bereavement leave from life. Meanwhile, Luke's mother, Lydia--who thought she and June were beginning to be friends--is stuck in the same town with all the people who brag about their lives and their kids and think Luke was the cause of the tragedy, because according one snotty minor character, he was 'an ex-con, and black, not that it matters.'

Mostly the book is about June and Lydia, and how each of them deal with their own private hell, but there are other secondary characters who are just as interesting. Yes, it's sad, but sometimes it's good to read the sad books, too. Plus, it's the sort of book you think about after, and wonder where the characters are, hoping things are better for them.

19 comments:

  1. Sounds like a good story. I'm into books about how people deal with tragedies like this since I've had a lot of life changes quickly too. Thanks for the recommendation.

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  2. I've been intrigued by this one for a while. Thanks for sharing the review--sounds like a tense character drama.
    V :)

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  3. Is it a mystery or horror novel?

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    1. Well, there are questions about how the explosion happened, so a tiny mystery, but really more about the characters and how they all deal with the aftermath.

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  4. Bereavement hits people in different ways. Probably too maudlin for me, but I can see how this would be a good book.

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    1. It actually wasn't maudlin at all, imo.

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  5. Grieving is a tough process and we all have our individual ways of handling it. Sounds like an interesting read, but I might put it on my TBR shelf online and then wait for the right sort of day.
    Thanks for the review!

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    1. Yes. Definitely read it when all is well.

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    1. Yup. That's why I bought it.

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    2. I definitely like a book where you wonder what happened to the characters next.

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  7. Who hasn't wanted to just up and leave at some point in her life? Thanks for the review!

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  8. Nope, never had a family myself either, it was always Dezzy alone in this world....

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  9. Sounds intriguing and an interesting concept, too!

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  10. Sounds like a good read! Thanks for sharing.

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