Still A Dreamer

It happens to all of us, right? We’ve selected a book that seems as if it will be really good, and it’s just a disappointment.

I loved the title of this book; I liked the premise of the story; and it got some great reviews. I also liked the jacket art. But what happened? I know what happened. The author failed to make the characters truly come alive for me. (Obviously not so for some of the reviewers.) Pearl Tull was filled with rage at being left by her husband, but although it was described, the elaboration of it and the emotions of her children in response were thin. If a mother is flying into tantrums and calling her children scum and nailing them against the wall when she is so incensed, shouldn’t I feel it?  I didn’t.

The author follows each child’s life, but again, somehow, I felt a distance from all the characters. Sometimes the writing was good, but I just wasn’t engaged. I liked Ezra the most – he seemed the most real to me, but at the end of the book, when the children and their families were gathered after the mother’s funeral, and the father who abandoned them shows up, it’s the oldest son who becomes the focus. Not Ezra, the son who was so devoted to the mother, or the daughter at all.

I kept on reading in the dutiful way we sometimes do – either sure it’s going to get better anytime soon, or because it’s just not that bad to stop entirely. But disappointing.  Have you found any books lately that left you feeling the same?

I’ve picked up one of my favorite authors – Alice Hoffman – as a balm to my disappointment, and am looking forward to her usual good writing. I’m ready for the book I can’t put down.