“Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter”

 

I’ve been trying to stretch my literary chops, trying new genres, etc. Sometimes I have success and really enjoy the book, other times...not so much. When I stumbled across this novel it was touted as being “hilarious, mischievous, and masterful..” (Amazon) That’s not what I found to be true, for me. It was confusing. The love interest was weird. Aunt Julia was sort of creepy (he continues to refer to her as Aunt Julia even after they’re married, told ya it was weird). The scriptwriter is unique and sad at the same time. Llosa’s story is intertwined with the scriptwriter's stories (I think) which confuses everything. The funniest part of the whole novel is that each of the scriptwriter's protagonists have the same profile: “...broad forehead, aquiline nose, penetrating gaze, rectitude and goodness itself…” All this is set in Lima, Peru - which was part of what attracted me to the book in the first place. The ending left me scratching my head.

“The Checklist”

 

• Organize your life

• Find yourself back in your childhood bedroom working from home

• Feud with the neighbors

• Dysfunctional family

• Chaos

• Problem solver

• Controlling boyfriend (not for long)

• Boss is an asshat

• Neighbor as love interest

• Let the curls fly

• Meltdown

• Lessons learned

• Sorry, so sorry

• Gala event

• Job saved

• The perfect kiss

• Happily-ever-after...

As a list girl myself, I get it. However, some things just can’t be scheduled or organized. Sometimes, a little chaos is a good thing. 

Christmas Covid

 2021.

Christmas.

Family.

Disaster.

Not disaster in the sense of apocalyptic destruction. But more in the way of family drama. 

We were to be a group of 15. Yet concerns about Covid and a nasty variant made Christmas this year a little tricky. Vaccinations. Booster shots. Too cold to be outside or open the windows. So I stewed. Looking at the guest list, there were two who made all this planning, well, uncomfortable. I labored about what to do. Finally settling on a text message to my brother and sister-in-law. I didn’t want to have a nasty confrontation on the phone, and my brother doesn’t always respond to text messages, so I sent it to both of them.

“We have started preparing for Christmas dinner and a house full of guests. However, with more people in the house, we are uncomfortable with the two of you being unvaccinated. Perhaps we can get together after the holidays. We hope you understand.”

I only ever heard from my sister-in-law:

“Good call. We wouldn’t want to chance any of you getting [us] sick. But thanks for letting us know the whole family will be gathering and celebrating without us.”

So many thoughts raced through my mind. So many bitter replies. One sensible solution, to me...get the shot. I respect their choice, and felt they should respect mine. I also felt it was time to draw a line in the sand - protect my family, and send a message that it’s not okay to expect there will be no consequences for their decision not to get vaccinated. I know she was hurt.

December 24 I received a text message from my sister-in-law. I don’t know if my brother ever saw it:

“Merry Christmas Eve! Hope you all have a wonderful day tomorrow. We will miss seeing everyone. As for us, well, we were very fortunate to be invited to Christmas dinner by TWO different neighbors/good friends. Amazingly, they couldn’t care less that we are not vaccinated. Pretty humbling for [us] after being rejected by our own family.”

So many thoughts raced through my mind, again. So many bitter replies. I didn’t reply to either of my sister-in-law’s messages. They need to be angry. They need to feel justified in their thinking, which could possibly expose our parents (83, 84) to this deadly virus. I later learned that my brother wished I had called him. How would that have gone? He is a bitter, angry man. And it’s not this whole Covid thing...he has been this way for a long time. Did I really want to subject myself to that? To have to defend my thinking and my choices?

We both made choices based on what we saw as right for us. We missed them at Christmas. We will miss them at future family activities until such time as they are vaccinated OR this virus is eradicated. Either way, I’m pretty sure it will be a long time before we see or hear from either of them.

“The Brightest Star”

 

I wanted to like this book, really I did. The first part of the book seemed to move at a snail's pace. The main character, Lauren Montgomery, was caring, loving, and a little too sweet. Okay, let’s see where this leads...my cynical side started to kick in, and I kept waiting for the “other shoe to drop.” Where was the heartbreak? Where did he do her wrong? Wait, what? Then the second half of the book rushed to the “happily-ever-after” ending. The in between was glossed over. It felt as if the novel was in fast forward mode. We’re already to the epilogue? If you’re looking for love at first sight, then this is the book for you. If your looking for broken characters fighting their way to love...look elsewhere.