Finished 11-24-13, rating 4/5, fiction, 352 pages, pub. 2013

I received this book from She Reads.  Go on over and see what other bloggers think about this one.

At twenty-one, Shandi Pierce is juggling finishing college, raising her delightful three-year-old genius son Natty, and keeping the peace between her eternally warring, long-divorced Catholic mother and Jewish father. She’s got enough complications without getting caught in the middle of a stick-up in a gas station mini-mart and falling in love with a great wall of a man named William Ashe, who willingly steps between the armed robber and her son.

Shandi doesn’t know that her blond god Thor has his own complications. When he looked down the barrel of that gun he believed it was destiny: It’s been one year to the day since a tragic act of physics shattered his universe. But William doesn’t define destiny the way other people do. A brilliant geneticist who believes in science and numbers, destiny to him is about choice.

Now, he and Shandi are about to meet their so-called destinies head on, in a funny, charming, and poignant novel about science and miracles, secrets and truths, faith and forgiveness,; about a virgin birth, a sacrifice, and a resurrection; about falling in love, and learning that things aren’t always what they seem—or what we hope they will be. It’s a novel about discovering what we want and ultimately finding what we need.   (from Goodreads)

This may be the first book I’ve read with a main character, “the Aut-astic Dr. Ashe”, on the spectrum and it was refreshing to see how respectfully Jackson did it.  I was impressed.  William may  have problems in the social department but he was above the grade in mental capacity and physical presence, so there wasn’t a lack of opportunity for him.  Shandi, on the other hand, was a 21-year-old single mother who had convinced herself that her genius boy was a miracle baby and her opportunities were limited.  But because of her loving parents and best friend Walcott she had a great support system and people who wanted to see her succeed. I think too often young single mothers are portrayed as having some missing parental relationship so it was nice to see that, yes, the undesirable can happen to decent parents too.

I found it hard to put this book down. Jackson has a way of drawing you in and making you want to stay in the world she’s created.  Alternating chapters helped this story move along and I loved getting so much backstory with the current one.  There was a shock near the end that I didn’t see coming and for some reason I didn’t like it.  I know I will be in the minority here and I can take it.  It just didn’t work for me.  I get it and I get why people love it, but there were some threads to the story that made this surprising turn of events seem…disappointing in a way.  It didn’t ruin the story because I still loved it, it’s more of a personal preference I guess.

This is my second Joshilyn Jackson book and I consider myself a new fan this year.   I highly recommend this one.

Tuck Everlasting. Finished  10-12-13, rating 4/5, children’s fiction, 139 pages, pub. 1975

Doomed to – or blessed with – eternal life after drinking from a magic spring, the Tuck family wanders about trying to live as inconspicuously and comfortably as they can. When ten-year-old Winnie Foster stumbles on their secret, the Tucks take her home and explain why living forever at one age is less a blessing that it might seem. Complications arise when Winnie is followed by a stranger who wants to market the spring water for a fortune.  (from Goodreads)

I watched the movie when it came out in 2002, mainly because I’ve loved Jonathan Jackson since he first played Lucky on General Hospital.  Surprisingly, I don’t remember much about it except that I enjoyed it.  So, I when I read the book I knew about the magic spring but other than that my expectations were low.  I read it for the 24 hour read-a-thon because I had it on my shelf and it was short.  What a sweet treat it was.

I loved ten-year-old Winnie. She lived with her family at the edge of a woods and one day met Jesse who was there to meet up with his seemingly strange family who had literally discovered the fountain of youth.  Winnie, being a young girl sheltered from much doesn’t put up much of a fight when the Tuck family kidnaps her and takes her back to their home.  She falls  a little in love with Jesse and the rest of the family and they with her.

Such a sweet story that tackles some very big issues.  If you could live forever, would you?  What are the ramifications if this fountain of youth was found and exploited?  I’m thinking of a big drug company or even some part of the health care system that could sell immortality to the highest bidders.  How would you live your life if you knew there would always be tomorrows?  Such a weighty book for a slight children’s novel.  I was captivated by it.

A Gracious Plenty by Sheri Reynolds. Finished 10-12-13, rating 5/5, fiction, 205 pages, pub. 1997

I chose  to read this one for the 24 hour read-a-thon because I had it on my shelf,  it was short and the cover has always intrigued me.  Since it takes place at a cemetery that was an added facination since I love to visit old graveyards (well, I did when I had time for such things).

Finch Nobles (how’s that for a name?) takes care of the local graveyard in her small southern town.  Her face, burned when she was a child, looks like a tree so she was ostracized for that.  And then as she got older she realized that she could speak to the dead that ‘lived’ in the cemetery causing some very odd behavior, so she was ostracized for that. Not that she minded much since she had the vegetable man, the only one who would buy her home-grown varieties and Leonard, a police officer who found himself giving Finch more chances that she earned.

So, what’s with this talking to the dead business?

“I works like this,” the Mediator explained.  “The Dead coax the natural world along.  We’re responsible for weather and tides and seasons.  For rebirth and retribution.  You’re going to enjoy it, I’m sure.  But if you want to know real enlightenment, you’ve got to lose the weight.  All of it.  And we’re not just talking about blubber here, either.  We’re talking about burdens and secrets, buster.  This is critical information, so listen up.

“In this place you’ve moved beyond experience.  Now it’s your stories that keep you down.  You can’t leave until you’ve told them”

page 34

That’s the outline, but in reality you don’t need to buy into this afterlife theory to enjoy the story.  The well-worn, adamant, gritty character of Finch will keep you reading.  This is her story, but with that comes the stories of those that live in her graveyard, and that includes her parents.  It’s an odd story and I loved every page of it. (okay, there was a kitten story that troubled me, but other than that…) The dead in the graveyard were no sniveling spirits either, they wielded some major power over the living in the form of the weather, seen in all its glory for the book’s finale.

I loved the grumpy Finch and the loving way she tended to the cemetery, Reynolds painted a clear and beautiful picture of both.  Highly recommended for those of you who aren’t afraid to try something a little different.