'Tis the Season
Lorna Landvik, 2008
Random House
304 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780345499752
Summary
Bestselling author Lorna Landvik shines in this delightful holiday novel of redemption and forgiveness.
Heiress Caroline Dixon has managed to alienate nearly everyone with her alcohol-fueled antics, which have also provided near-constant fodder for the poison-pen tabloids and their gossip-hungry readers. But like so many girls-behaving-badly, the twenty-six-year-old socialite gets her comeuppance, followed by a newfound attempt to live a saner existence, or at least one more firmly rooted in the real world.
As Caro tentatively begins atoning for past misdeeds, she reaches out to two wonderful people who years ago brought meaning to her life: her former nanny, Astrid Brevald, now living in Norway and Arizona dude ranch owner, Cyril Dale. While Astrid fondly remembers Caro as a special, sweet little girl left in her charge, Cyril recalls how he and his late wife were quite taken with the quick-witted teenager Caro had become when she spent a difficult period in her life at the ranch as her father was dying.
In a series of e-mail exchanges, Caro reveals the depth of her pain and the lengths she went to hide it. In turn, Astrid and Cyril share their own stories of challenging times and offer the unconditional support this young woman has never known. The correspondence leads to the promise of a reunion, just in time for Christmas. But the holiday brings unexpected revelations that change the way everyone sees themselves and one another.
At once heartfelt and witty, ’Tis the Season bears good tidings of great joy about the human condition–that down and out doesn’t mean over and done, that the things we need most are closer than we know,and that the true measure of one’s worth rests in the boundless depths of the soul. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Rasied—Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
• Education—attended University of Minnesota
• Currently—lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Lorna Landvik is the bestselling author of Patty Jane’s House of Curl, Your Oasis on Flame Lake, The Tall Pine Polka, Welcome to the Great Mysterious, Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons, Oh My Stars, and The View from Mount Joy.
Married and the mother of two daughters, she is also an actor, playwright, and dog park attendee with the handsome Julio. Lorna Landvik wishes everyone holiday greetings of peace, love, joy, and a renewed commitment to fun. (From the publisher.)
More
From an interview with editors at Barnes and Noble:
Q: Where do you get your inspiration?
Sometimes, like Flannery [in Angry Housewives], I find inspiration everywhere—from a billboard, a snatch of music, a scent. Other times, I have no idea where it comes from: all of a sudden, a character appears unbidden in my head, with the urgent desire that I write about her or him.
Q: How did a book club end up at the center of [Angry Housewives]?
After the publication of my first novel, I got invited to speak at a book club and since then I've been to dozens and dozens. What always impresses me is the fun and friendship of these groups, some of which have been together for decades, and that's why I decided to write about one.
Q: Which books would make your greatest-hits list?
A short list would include To Kill a Mockingbird, Handling Sin (both of which are selections in the book), Huckleberry Finn, Great Expectations, and maybe a book I have great affection for, the Dick and Jane books, because they were the books that taught me how to read.
Q: What is your average workday like?
I like to work every day, but that doesn't mean I do. During the school year, I usually take a walk in the morning, come home, make a latte, and read the papers, and then I try to settle down and work. But I don't stick to a regular schedule—if I have something really important going on in the day (a lunch date, a movie), I'll work later in the afternoon or at night. My family's very accommodating and I've also learned to write among them, amid distraction.
Q: What do you do when the words won't come?
I get up, find the chocolate, and if that doesn't help, I might read and see if someone else's ability to tell a story can help fire up mine.
(Interview from Barnes & Noble.)
Book Reviews
Just in time for Christmas, Landvik gets into the head of a Paris Hilton-like celebuditz in this lively "novel" propelled by e-mails, tabloid gossip and letters primarily written by, about or to young celebrity bad girl Caroline "Caro" Dixon. The gorgeous heiress's boozy rampages have made her notorious, but now she's considering a 12-step program, hence the bitter apology letter she writes to "everyone I have supposedly hurt." She tosses it out, and, in true Hollywood fashion, the catty missive turns up in a trashy tabloid. The ensuing firestorm of negative publicity and hate mail convinces Caro to give sobriety a shot. Caro's effort to dispel her image as "Little Miss Hangover" has its moments, but the choppy epistolary structure leaves much to be desired. Still, readers who love snark—it's doled out here by the shovelful—will dig this.
Publishers Weekly
Landvik's first holiday novel features her signature sense of humor and quirky characters. Young socialite Caroline Dixon gets out of rehab and attempts to live a more stable life. Having alienated everyone she knows, she goes into hiding and tries to reach out to people from her past. Narrated in a series of letters, emails, and gossip-column snippets, this quick, charming read is suitable for all popular fiction collections.
Rebecca Vnuk - Library Journal
Form trumps content in this slight holiday package from Landvik. The story unfolds through a series of e-mails and notes, as a debauched heiress leaves her life of tabloid embarrassments for a state of sober normalcy. Though the tale has a certain lurid interest—think Paris and Britney, shaken and served—the method of conveyance doesn't do the novel any favors; the prose is about as elegant as the average e-mail. Through exchanged missives, we learn of 26-year-old Caroline Dixon, rich, beautiful and usually drunk (a kind of holy trinity for the world's paparazzi). Interspersed are updates on Caro's exploits from the gossip column "Here's Buzz," which is cruel and, of course, quite popular. She winds up in rehab and afterward reaches out to those she's hurt. Most of her flimsy friendships evaporate, but she gets encouraging responses from two ghosts from her past: Cyril, the owner of an Arizona dude ranch she visited at 13, and Astrid, her Norwegian nanny. Truth be told, they need Caro as much as she needs them. Widowed Cyril has lost all interest in people, and Astrid is holed up on a tiny Norwegian island, hoping that seclusion will protect her from any future pain. The trio have three-way communiques, pour out their respective souls and decide that Christmas together at the dude ranch would all but guarantee a happier new year. Unfortunately, Cyril has a surprise guest who might push all good will out the window—the one and only "Buzz," who has been shish-kabobbing Caro for years. Will everyone get along? Is romance in the air? Will the spirit of giving triumph? The story, a succession of page-long messages followed by longer e-mails jam-packed with none-too-subtle character exposition, sacrifices much for a gimmick that was worn out several years ago. A rare stumble from an entertaining author who usually has a strong, sure hand with character.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for 'Tis the Season:
1. Does Caro remind you of anyone in the society news? Do you think Landvik does a fair job of portraying a young, rich heiress, drugged out and alienated? Are we to sympathize with or judge Caro? Or what...?
2. Does the paparazzi play a role in creating Caro's behavior? In other words, is the press's role exploitative or informative? Can fame come too early for someone to handle?
3. Who needs whom in this story?
4. Were you expecting what happens at the ranch? Was the ending predictable...or surprising?
5. Did you find Landvik's format—emails and excerpts from gossip columns—helpful in telling the story? Were they clever or distracting for you?
6. In what way does this book reinforce (or not) the meaning of Christmas?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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