Earlier this week, I started an Alice Munro book, but had to put it aside when I realized Elizabeth Berg's Home Safe couldn't be renewed and was due Thursday.
I tried to read HS between Tuesday night and Thursday day...
Only, that didn't work. I only got 3/4 of the way through because I also do this thing people call work full time, and oh yeah I had readings to finish for class, a paper to write, and a networking event to prep for.
Scuttling over to the library between work and class Thursday night I had a decision to make.
Return the book with my other books, or take on the late fee and finish it?
It became a question of my feelings on the book (and my feelings about the weight of my bag I had to carry home). HS deals with a successful authoress who lives in the Chicago burbs, has a loving husband, and a my age daughter who lives downtown. *SPOILER ALERT* (but not really as I didn't finish the book) The husband croaks. A year later, the woman hasn't been writing, and also hasn't done anything about money (this would be the must be nice part).
She finds out through her accountant that her husband took 800K out of their account and no one knows what he's done with it. Turns out he's built her a dream house out in California. Also at this time she's teaching a writing class when ironically she is unable to write, blah blah blah I kind of stopped caring.
I was so on board at the beginning of the novel. I was excited, the writing was interesting and then all of a sudden I was sick of her daughter being so dumb and selfish and sick of her being ridiculous.
And so, the book went into the book return. Because I was already carrying 5 bazillion articles for class and a book for my other class and HS just didn't make the cut.
But now? I still want to know how it ends (and the madre can't remember, because yes the madre has read it, the madre has read everything, true story). I'm assuming she moves out to the dream house with her daughter and feels her husband's spirit around her all the time and everyone will be filled with love and well-being and she will write again.
But I don't know that. And apparently they don't make a site specifically for book spoilers. I might have to start one.
Or I just should have looked at the last page before I let it go into the book return.
"She was a bit of a philosopher in that way, my mother...She knew lots of things other mothers didn't..."
From We Are All Welcome Here, the novel of Berg's I'm pretty sure I finished
From We Are All Welcome Here, the novel of Berg's I'm pretty sure I finished
That's a tough one! I've done that before - where I just give up on a book because it's due back. Eventually the wonder wears off, but it can really bug you for awhile. I have, on occasion, checked the book out again a few weeks later.
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