“Woman Last Seen In Her Thirties”

 

Lying, cheating (sort of), scumbag (maybe) spouse. How do you find the courage to move beyond 30+ years of life spent with someone who promised to love you forever?

Perhaps, in starting over, we are able to find a strength in ourselves we never knew existed. Perhaps, happiness is in the chances we take. Where do we find the spark that ignites our passions? How do we know which path is the right one? Should we fall back on what we’ve known and steer our lives in that direction? How can we make decisions when the only voice we hear is ours? Will there be a happily-ever-after waiting for us? Will we acknowledge, that in starting over, we may have the “...good fortune of more chances to fail and succeed, more love to give and receive - more life [?]” (243)

“The Edge of Lost”

 

The mention of Alcatraz is what drew me to this novel. Getting to the island would take a tremendous amount of time and energy. Shifting settings, characters, and situations created a lull in the middle. Would we ever get “back” to Alcatraz? Briefly, and then it was gone. 

The reading group guide suggested that the novel was about “love, forgiveness, redemption, loyalty, and sacrifice.” Which it was, but I saw the theme as being about second-chances. The main character never took his second-chances for granted. However, my sense of right and wrong was put to the test...no character should be given a happily-ever-after when their morals are questionable. 

Well researched. Well written. Believable. 

“Remember the Ladies”

 

“True lasting success [comes] in the form of shaping generations of brave, empowered women…” (386)

Corruption. Greed. Lobbyists. Women’s Suffrage. 

What is it that defines who we are? Is it our charitable nature? Our accomplishments? What will our legacy be? The deals we brokered? Our questionable morals? Our sincere belief in what we are doing is right and true to who we are?

This novel brought more questions than answers. My naïveté about human nature also became abundantly obvious. I don’t want to be jaded. I want to believe that people do things for the right reasons. That those who are called to serve, are serving the greater good, not their pocketbooks.

Remember the Ladies begs the question; do the means justify the end? Does our Congress still run the way Mulligan portrayed in her novel? If so, do I need to send off an email to my representatives in Washington? 

“UnBroken Threads”

 

The “threads” of this novel kept me reading late into the night. The subject matter was familiar but with a cultural twist that tugged at my heart. What did I take away from this novel? Hope.

Hope for the future. Hope for healing broken relationships. Hope for finding one's-self. Hope for connecting the threads of one's life to the past. Hope for empathy. Hope for community. Hope for breaking stereotypes. Hope for respect. Hope for the courage to endure. Hope for a happily-ever-after. 

“Answer Creek”

 

Having lived in the shadow of Truckee/Donner Lake for the past 30 years and now on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada range, the Donner Party saga played out in my backyard. Sweeney’s reimagined westward journey is filled with history. She didn’t gloss over the hardships of the journey, but neither did she dwell on the sensationalism that followed the party’s rescue. Adding Ada Weeks to the cast gave the novel an intimacy, an insider's voice. At the end, the novel jumps to the present time, dotted with breadcrumbs left by Ada. What a great way to tie the history of her life to future generations. Our stories are worth telling...worth saving.