Outside Wonderland
Lorna Jane Cook
St. Martin's Press
336 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780312625696
Summary
Alice, Griffin, and Dinah Stenen's mother and father died tragically when they were quite young. It is a loss that haunts them into adulthood.
Alice is a stage actress in New York who can't commit to a relationship. When she meets Ian she's smitten, but suspects it's Ian's four-year-old son that really captivates her. Griffin and his longtime partner are settled into a contented domesticity, however Theo's insistence that they adopt a child throws Griffin into a panic. When he refuses to cooperate, the crack in their relationship widens. Dinah, the youngest, has a short, passionate love affair that leaves her pregnant and alone when she discovers the father is engaged to someone else.
The three look to each other for support during this rough period but they falter. What they don't know is that their parents are watching them from a place outside time and space—worrying, reminiscing, and perhaps guiding their children as each makes their tentative way towards happiness.
In luminous prose, Cook tells the story of these tender souls and a love that knows no boundaries. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—n/a
• Where—Redwood City, California, USA
• Raised—Michigan
• Education—B.A., social work
• Currently—lives in Holland, Michigan
Lorna Jane Cook was born in Redwood City, California, and grew up in Michigan. She graduated from college with a B.A. in social work, and embarked on a career path from Michigan to Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C, working at a runaway shelter; a group home for teenage girls,; an emergency services program; and on Capitol Hill as a legislative assistant. Finally, she turned to novel-writing, an obvious trajectory. (From the author's website.)
Book Reviews
It probably has been written into the Constitution that after The Lovely Bones no book shall be narrated by a character in heaven. There must have been an amendment, though, because the lovely Outside Wonderland by Lorna Jane Cook has two long-dead parents observing their three grown children from the afterlife. The oldest, Alice, is an Off-Broadway actress in her 30s, skittish about finally settling down with a man who has a small child. Griffin bolts a deeply loving, longtime relationship for another man when his partner gets serious about adopting a child. Dinah, who has never left the family home where she lives with her grandmother, becomes pregnant after a very untypical fling. Their lives spill over, their dramas mesh, their mother and father deliver bemused, though affectionate commentary from the other side. One of those nice books.
New York Daily News
When the three very young Stenen children lose their mother in a freak household accident and then, eight years later, their father, the tragedy of their being orphaned has far-reaching consequences, leaving them unmoored and coping with adulthood in wildly different ways. The trick is that the parents are watching over them from the great beyond and telling the story. Alice, the eldest, is an actress, detached from feelings until she meets Ian, a single father who seduces her into a world of family and stability. Griffin has a long-term relationship with partner Theo, but Theo's near obsessive desire to have children drives Griffin into the arms of another man. The youngest, perennial optimist Dinah, unexpectedly pregnant and adrift, returns to the bosom of family to sort through her faith and uncertainty. Overly sentimental, Cook's (Departures) latest suffers from a number of flaws. It is easy to feel instantly sorry for the three orphans, but harder to appreciate their loss when their dead parents are so present. That choice makes for a warm and fuzzy aura that telegraphs the message that everything will turn out fine and eliminates any possibility of drama or meaningful grief. The result is tedious and annoying.
Publishers Weekly
In the manner of Alice Sebold's immensely popular The Lovely Bones (2002), this gentle novel follows what happens to those left behind after a tragic death and what happens to those who have died.... Although following three siblings with multiple relationships can get a little confusing, the characters are never less than engaging and appealing. —Marta Segal Block
Booklist
Discussion Questions
1. The scenes and observations of the parents from up Here is a unique way for the writer and reader to share reflections on the unfolding lives of the Stenen siblings. What stood out most for you from the scenes from Here? How does this possibility of an afterlife fit with your beliefs about what lies beyond?
2. How likely is it that the siblings feel some of the love and concern that their parents are showing for them from the great beyond?
3. The siblings are drawn very sympathetically; their shared experience of loss shapes them each in different ways. How does that loss affect each of them?
4. Which of the three main characters—Alice, Dinah and Griffin—do you relate to most?
5. The parents say that although the children have changed they are still the same, “earnestly making their way in a fractured life.” Discuss how resilience and love binds them.
6. Each of the Stenens deals with the fact that bad things can happen at any time in a unique way. Alice braces herself for what might come next and escapes into acting to let herself be free. Dinah discovers a strong religious faith in Greece and her belief in fate and purpose makes her put family first yet she longs for love and romance. Griffin knows that families are fragile and he loves his partner Theo deeply but feels parenthood is for other people—it’s tempting fate. What drives each of them to take the risks that they do to create families of their own as adults?
7. How do each of the siblings define family? How do the living arrangements that evolve over the course of the story reflect their desires and fears about family? How do you define family?
8. Dinah acts out of character by having an impetuous affair on the cruise. Why do you think she threw caution to the wind?
9. As Dinah screams at the falls, filled with disappointment and doubt after finding that Eduardo is to be married, she waits for a sign from God. Her mother comments “Now she’ll have to shake up her life and change things.” How do you think Dinah handles the consequences of her actions? What do you think of how heavily she leans on her family to help her through?
10. Why did Griffin adopt Holly, the dog, when Theo was so clearly against it? Why couldn’t Griffin talk to Theo about his fears about parenthood and family? How unreasonable was it to expect Theo to understand without really being told?
11. Why was Griffin drawn to Ray? What need did Ray fulfill for him? Why do you think Griffin was willing to give up his relationship with Theo for someone he barely knew?
12. Alice becomes entranced by Adam, the three year old son of her neighbor and lover Ian. She thinks perhaps her fantasy of belonging in their lives could be real, perhaps it’s where she’s meant to be. What is Alice looking for in Ian and Adam? How do her doubts sabotage her desires especially after she loses Adam for a few minutes in the park one day?
13. Alice notes “when she was around Neil, she kept reaching for her old self.” What do you make of Alice being drawn to being wanted by Neil at the same time she wishes that Ian would ask to make their relationship permanent? What do you think about her parents’ reflection that: “Alice may love them all (and she does) but still do the wrong thing. And not even intentionally. Just because she’s restless, and, yes, a little blue.”
14. What do you think about Dinah and Theo and Eva pretending to be the happy family? And Griffin sneaking around watching them, stalking the old homestead?
15. After Holly is gone and Griffin moves back in, Dinah feels like she doesn’t fit anymore, and she is surprised that Theo can so easily forgive Griffin. What do you think of the shift back for Theo and Griffin?
16. What do you think the title of the book means? Where do you imagine the three main characters' lives going from here?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
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