Aquarium
David Vann, 2015
Grove/Atlantic
272 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780802123527
Summary
David Vann’s dazzling debut Legend of a Suicide was reviewed in over a 150 major global publications, won 11 prizes worldwide, was on 40 "best books of the year" lists, and established its author as a literary master. Since then, Vann has delivered an exceptional body of work, receiving, among others, best foreign novel in France and Spain (France’s Prix Medicis Etranger, Spain’s Premi Llibreter), a California Book Award, and the mid-career St. Francis College Literary Prize. Aquarium, his implosive new book and first to be published by Grove, will take Vann to a wider audience than ever before.
Twelve year old Caitlin lives alone with her mother—a docker at the local container port—in subsidized housing next to an airport in Seattle. Each day, while she waits to be picked up after school, Caitlin visits the local aquarium to study the fish.
Gazing at the creatures within the watery depths, Caitlin accesses a shimmering universe beyond her own. When she befriends an old man at the tanks one day, who seems as enamored of the fish as she, Caitlin cracks open a dark family secret and propels her once-blissful relationship with her mother toward a precipice of terrifying consequence.
In crystalline, chiseled yet graceful prose, Aquarium takes us into the heart of a brave young girl whose longing for love and capacity for forgiveness transforms the damaged people around her. Relentless and heartbreaking, primal and redemptive, Aquarium is a transporting story from one of the best American writers of our time. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—October 19, 1966
• Where—Adak Island, Alaska, USA
• Education—B.A., Stanford University; M.F.A., Cornell University
• Awards—(see below)
• Currently—lives in Coventry, England, UK
David Vann is an American born author and creative writing professor at the University of Warwick in England. Vann has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and has been a National Endowment of the Arts fellow, a Wallace Stegner fellow, and a John L’Heureux fellow.
Born in the Aleutian Islands, Vann spent his childhood in Ketchikan, Alaska. For twelve years, no agent would send out his first book, Legend of a Suicide, so he went to sea and became a captain and boat builder. Legend of a Suicide, a largely autobiographical novel, was finally published in 2008 and has won ten prizes, including the Prix Medicis Etranger in France for best foreign novel, the Premi Llibreter in Spain for best foreign novel, the Grace Paley Prize, a California Book Award, and the L’Express readers’ prize (France).
His work has appeared in many magazines and newspapers. His books have been selected for the New Yorker Book Club, the Times Book Club, and the Samlerens Bogklub in Denmark. He has appeared in documentaries with the BBC, CNN, PBS, National Geographic, and E! Entertainment.
Awards
2007 - Grace Paley Prize for Short Fiction - Legend of a Suicide/Sukkwan Island
2008 - California Book Award - Legend of a Suicide/Sukkwan Island
2009 - AWP Nonfiction Award - Last Day On Earth: A Portrait of the NIU School Shooter
2010 - Prix Medicis Etranger (France) - Legend of a Suicide/Sukkwan Island
2011 - Premi Llibreter (Spain) - Legend of a Suicide/Sukkwan Island
2013 - St. Francis College Literary Prize - Dirt
Works
2005 - A Mile Down: The True Story of a Disastrous Career at Sea
2008 - Legend of a Suicide: Stories and a Novella
2011 - Caribou Island
2011 - Last Day On Earth: A Portrait of the NIU School Shooter
2012 - Dirt
2013 - Goat Mountain
2014 - Crocodile: Memoirs from a Mexican Drug-Running Port (in Spanish)
2015 - Aquarium
(Author bio adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 3/23/2015.)
Book Reviews
Aquarium is a genuine departure for Vann, an authentically new direction…. Aquarium has a vastly different feel from Vann's other books, a tone and texture quite removed from the relentlessness of his Alaskan (and rural Californian) tales. It leaves more air and space for the reader, it dwells less on physical mechanics, and it has a softer touch, as befits its gentle child protagonist.
Lydia Millet - New York Times Book Review
Elegantly written and fiercely imagined...physically, this book is so gorgeous it enhanced my reading experience. I found myself turning pages slowly, then running my hand across each smooth page. The photographs throughout the text, along with the turquoise capital letters that begin each chapter and mark the author's name and book title on every creamy, thick page, reminded me that no electronic reader could provide this tactile and visual experience...suspenseful
at times, this is a painful novel, but its beauty propels it toward redemption.
Elizabeth Taylor - Chicago Tribune
Much like the waters of the Seattle tourist attraction at its heart, David Vann’s new novel, Aquarium, virtually bends light, plunging the reader into the relentless darkness of tormented souls in a splintered family.... His language hits the reader like shrapnel in a metalworker’s studio—fragmented and sharp-fitting for novels so packed with shattering turns.
Tyrone Beason - Seattle Times
Gripping, painful, but ultimately hopeful, Aquarium is a coming-of-age story that explores the limits of love and forgiveness. Vann submerges you so deeply in Caitlin’s world, you’ll be gasping for breath when you finally surface.
Isabella Biedenharn - Entertainment Weekly
If deprivation was to Larkin what daffodils were to Wordsworth, then David Vann’s daffodils are fish...Told bravely but persuasively.... The author has metamorphosed himself into a 12-year-old girl with startlingly brilliant results. Aquarium is as rich as good poetry and as addictive as a first-class detective novel.
Wynn Wheldon - Spectator
A triumph.
Daily Mail (UK)
A stirring tale that isn’t as simple as it first appears.
Esquire (UK)
This novel is arguably Vann’s brightest.... Caitlin’s tale with its many surface ripples proves immersive, the narrative propelling us along like a forceful current....Once again, and in contrast to many of his peers, Vann’s trademark limpid prose enables us to observe far more of what lies beneath.
Weekend Australian
Vann’s elegantly written, emotionally intense novel juxtaposes the contained world of undersea creatures with the life of a family forced beyond its self-protective isolation.... The conflict between mother and daughter...feels improbably extreme at times, it’s more than made up for by Caitlin’s emotional depth and nimble imagination.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review.) A 12-year-old's fragile world, mesmerizing innocence, and emerging adolescence are the heart of this alluring novel from Vann.... Caitlin juggles protective love for her mother with her irresistible need to seek out and embrace her roots.... [A] lovely, wrenching novel —Beth Andersen, formerly with Ann Arbor Dist. Lib., MI
Library Journal
By pulling no punches in this explicit exploration of family, forgiveness, duty, acceptance, parent-child relationships, and what constitutes abuse, Vann has outdone himself.
Booklist
(Starred review.) [A] kind of modern fairy tale, one laced with treachery and trials and the greatest demon of all to battle, the past.... Like all good heroines who make their ways out of the woods, Caitlin is clever and brave.... Vann's novels are striking, uncompromising portraits of American life; here is another exceptional example.
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)
(We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher.)
Julia's Chocolates
Cathy Lamb, 2007
Kensington Publishing
383 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780758214638
Summary
I left my wedding dress hanging in a tree somewhere in North Dakota. I don't know why that particular tree appealed to me. Perhaps it was because it looked as if it had given up and died years ago and was still standing because it didn't know what else to do . . .
In her deliciously funny, heartfelt, and moving debut, Cathy Lamb introduces some of the most wonderfully eccentric women since The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and The Secret Life of Bees, as she explores the many ways we find the road home.
From the moment Julia Bennett leaves her abusive Boston fiancé at the altar and her ugly wedding dress hanging from a tree in South Dakota, she knows she's driving away from the old Julia, but what she's driving toward is as messy and undefined as her own wounded soul. The old Julia dug her way out of a tortured, trailer park childhood with a monster of a mother. The new Julia will be found at her Aunt Lydia's rambling, hundred-year-old farmhouse outside Golden, Oregon.
There, among uppity chickens and toilet bowl planters, Julia is welcomed by an eccentric, warm, and often wise clan of women, including a psychic, a minister's unhappy wife, an abused mother of four, and Aunt Lydia herself--a woman who is as fierce and independent as they come. Meeting once a week for drinks and the baring of souls, it becomes clear that every woman holds secrets that keep her from happiness. But what will it take for them to brave becoming their true selves? For Julia, it's chocolate. All her life, baking has been her therapy and her refuge, a way to heal wounds and make friends. Nobody anywhere makes chocolates as good as Julia's, and now, chocolate just might change her life--and bring her love when she least expects it. But it can't keep her safe. As Julia gradually opens her heart to new life, new friendships, and a new man, the past is catching up to her. And this time, she will not be able to run but will have to face it head on.
Filled with warmth, love, and truth, Julia's Chocolates is an unforgettable novel of hope and healing that explores the hurts we keep deep in our hearts, the love that liberates us, the courage that defines us, and the chocolate that just might take us there. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Where—Newport Beach, California, USA
• Raised—state of Oregon
• Education—B.A., University of Oregon
• Currently—lives in Portland, Oregon
In her words:
I was born in Newport Beach, California and spent my first ten years playing outside like a wild vagabond.
As a child, I mastered the art of skateboarding, catching butterflies in bottles, and riding my bike with no hands. When I was ten, my parents moved me, my two sisters, a brother, and two poorly behaved dogs to Oregon before I could fulfill my lifelong dream of becoming a surfer bum.
I then embarked on my notable academic career where I earned good grades now and then, spent a great deal of time daydreaming, ran wild with a number of friends, and landed on the newspaper staff in high school. When I saw my byline above an article about people making out in the hallways of the high school, I knew I had found my true calling.
After two years of partying at the University of Oregon, I settled down for the next three years and earned my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education, and became a fourth grade teacher. I became a teacher because I wanted to become a writer. It was difficult for me to become proper and conservative but I threw out my red cowboy boots and persevered. I had no choice. I had to eat and health insurance is expensive. I loved teaching, but I also loved the nights and summers where I could write and try to build a career filled with creativity and my strange imagination.
I met my husband on a blind date. A mutual friend who was an undercover vice cop busting drug dealers set us up. My husband jokes he was being arrested at the time. That is not true. Do not believe him. His sense of humor is treacherous. It was love at third sight. We’ve now been married a long time.
Teaching children about the Oregon Trail and multiplication facts amused me until I became so gigantically pregnant with twins I looked like a small cow and could barely walk. With a three year old at home, I decided it was time to make a graceful exit and waddle on out. I left school one day and never went back. I later landed in the hospital for over six weeks with pre term labor, but that is another (rather dull) story. I like to think my students missed me.
When I was no longer smothered in diapers and pacifiers, I took a turn onto the hazardous road of freelance writing and wrote over 200 articles on homes, home décor, people and fashion for a local newspaper. As I am not fashionable and can hardly stand to shop, it was an eye opener to find that some women actually do obsess about what to wear. I also learned it would probably be more relaxing to slam a hammer against one’s forehead than engage in a large and costly home remodeling project. I also tried to write romance books, which ended ingloriously for years.
I suffer from, "I Would Rather Play Than Work Disease" which prevents me from getting much work done unless I have a threatening deadline, which is often. I like to hang with family and friends, walk, eat chocolate, travel, go to Starbucks, and I am slightly obsessive, okay very obsessive, about the types of books I read. I also like to be left alone a lot so I can hear all the bizarre and troubled characters in my head talk to each other and then transfer that oddness to paper. The characters usually don’t start to talk until 10:00 at night, however, so I am often up ‘til 2:00 in the morning with them. That is my excuse for being cranky. Really, I was just born a little cranky.
I adore my children and husband, except when he refuses to take his dirty shoes off and walks on the carpet. I will ski because my kids insist, but I secretly don’t like it at all. Too cold and I fall all the time.
I am currently working on my next novel and I’m not sleeping much. (From the author's website.)
Follow Cathy on Facebook.
Book Reviews
Lamb is an awesome storyteller and moves seamlessly from the past to the present.
RT Book Reviews
IF YOU COULD SEE WHAT I SEE: Lamb’s story is earnest, heartwarming and, at times, heartbreaking.
RT Book Reviews
THE FIRST DAY OF THE REST OF MY LIFE: The blending of three or more generations and the secrets they harbor keeps this story moving briskly, culminating in a satisfying ending that makes us believe that despite heartache and angst, there can be such a thing as happily ever after.
New York Journal of Books
SUCH A PRETTY FACE: Stevie’s a winning heroine
Publishers Weekly
HENRY’S SISTERS
An Indie Next List Notable Book.
A story of strength and reconciliation and change.
Sunday Oregonian
If you loved Terms of Endearment, the Ya Ya Sisterhood, and Steel Magnolias, you will love Henry’s Sisters. Cathy Lamb just keeps getting better and better.
Three Tomatoes Book Club
THE LAST TIME I WAS ME: Charming.
Publishers Weekly
JULIA’S CHOCOLATES: Julia's Chocolates is wise, tender, and very funny. In Julia Bennett, Cathy Lamb has created a deeply wonderful character, brave and true. I loved this beguiling novel about love, friendship and the enchantment of really good chocolate.
Luanne Rice, New York Times bestselling author
Discussion Questions
1. Julia Bennett, Lydia Thornburgh, Lara Keene, Katie Marigold, and Caroline Harper Caruthers meet at Aunt Lydia’s house for "Breast Power Psychic Night," "Getting To Know Your Vagina Psychic Night," and "Your Hormone And You Taking Over, Taking Cover, Taking Charge." How did these evenings help Julia to heal and gain strength and self esteem.
2. Would you feel comfortable having a Psychic Night with a group of girlfriends? Why or why not?
3. What did Julia learn from Aunt Lydia? What woman has been a role model for you?
4. Throughout the book we get glimpses of Julia’s lonely, abusive childhood. How did her childhood affect her adulthood? What decisions did she make that were direct results of that childhood? How did it affect her relationship with men?
5. Discuss the way the author used religion in the book. What part did faith and church play in the book? How did it define characters? Did the author accurately portray Christians?
6. Aunt Lydia constantly proclaims that, "men are pricks...They drive up in tractors, toss us lingerie that we’re supposed to model for them, making us feel downright cheap with our breasts yanked to our throats, then we’re to tickle their teensies and they drive off!" Does she really think this? Describe Stash and her relationship with him. Why had she chosen not to marry him?
7. At the end of the book, we find that Caroline Harper Caruthers has rejected all trappings of wealth. Why would she do this? Why do you think she prefers solitude and country living? How has being a psychic affected her life and emotional health? Would you want to be psychic?
8. Lara Keene leaves her husband because she needs to find herself. She says, "I can’t live like this. I’m trapped. Every day I feel like I’m acting the part of someone I’m not." Has Lara chosen to act the part of someone else or was she forced into the part? Can you relate to this statement? Can she be happy as a minister’s wife?
9. Katie Margolin stayed with her husband, despite his abuse and alcoholism. Why did she stay? How did her husband’s abuse trap her in that situation? Was she right to stay? Do you respect Katie for staying in her marriage or not?
10. Where do you see all these women in ten years? Where will you be in ten years?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)
If You Could See What I See
Cathy Lamb, 2013
Kensington Publishing
434 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780758259400
Summary
In this moving, insightful new novel, acclaimed author Cathy Lamb delves into the heart of going home again, the challenge of facing loss—and the freedom of finally letting go. . .
For decades, the women in Meggie O'Rourke's family have run Lace, Satin, and Baubles, a lingerie business that specializes in creations as exquisitely pretty as they are practical. The dynamic in Meggie's family, however, is perpetually dysfunctional. In fact, if Meggie weren't being summoned back to Portland, Oregon, by her grandmother, she'd be inclined to stay away all together.
Since her husband's death a year ago, Meggie's emotions have been in constant flux, and so has her career as a documentary film maker. Finding ways to keep the family business afloat—and dealing with her squabbling sister and cousin—will at least give her a temporary focus.
To draw customers to their website, Meggie decides to interview relatives and employees about their first bras and favorite lingerie. She envisions something flip and funny, but the confessions that emerge are unexpectedly poignant. There are stories of first loves and aching regrets, passionate mistakes and surprising rendezvous. And as the revelations illuminate her family's past, Meggie begins to find her own way forward.
With warmth and unflinching humor, If You Could See What I See explores the tender truths we keep close—and what can happen when we find the courage to bare them to the world. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Where—Newport Beach, California, USA
• Raised—state of Oregon
• Education—B.A., University of Oregon
• Currently—lives in Portland, Oregon
In her words:
I was born in Newport Beach, California and spent my first ten years playing outside like a wild vagabond.
As a child, I mastered the art of skateboarding, catching butterflies in bottles, and riding my bike with no hands. When I was ten, my parents moved me, my two sisters, a brother, and two poorly behaved dogs to Oregon before I could fulfill my lifelong dream of becoming a surfer bum.
I then embarked on my notable academic career where I earned good grades now and then, spent a great deal of time daydreaming, ran wild with a number of friends, and landed on the newspaper staff in high school. When I saw my byline above an article about people making out in the hallways of the high school, I knew I had found my true calling.
After two years of partying at the University of Oregon, I settled down for the next three years and earned my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education, and became a fourth grade teacher. I became a teacher because I wanted to become a writer. It was difficult for me to become proper and conservative but I threw out my red cowboy boots and persevered. I had no choice. I had to eat and health insurance is expensive. I loved teaching, but I also loved the nights and summers where I could write and try to build a career filled with creativity and my strange imagination.
I met my husband on a blind date. A mutual friend who was an undercover vice cop busting drug dealers set us up. My husband jokes he was being arrested at the time. That is not true. Do not believe him. His sense of humor is treacherous. It was love at third sight. We’ve now been married a long time.
Teaching children about the Oregon Trail and multiplication facts amused me until I became so gigantically pregnant with twins I looked like a small cow and could barely walk. With a three year old at home, I decided it was time to make a graceful exit and waddle on out. I left school one day and never went back. I later landed in the hospital for over six weeks with pre term labor, but that is another (rather dull) story. I like to think my students missed me.
When I was no longer smothered in diapers and pacifiers, I took a turn onto the hazardous road of freelance writing and wrote over 200 articles on homes, home décor, people and fashion for a local newspaper. As I am not fashionable and can hardly stand to shop, it was an eye opener to find that some women actually do obsess about what to wear. I also learned it would probably be more relaxing to slam a hammer against one’s forehead than engage in a large and costly home remodeling project. I also tried to write romance books, which ended ingloriously for years.
I suffer from, “I Would Rather Play Than Work Disease” which prevents me from getting much work done unless I have a threatening deadline, which is often. I like to hang with family and friends, walk, eat chocolate, travel, go to Starbucks, and I am slightly obsessive, okay very obsessive, about the types of books I read. I also like to be left alone a lot so I can hear all the bizarre and troubled characters in my head talk to each other and then transfer that oddness to paper. The characters usually don’t start to talk until 10:00 at night, however, so I am often up ‘til 2:00 in the morning with them. That is my excuse for being cranky. Really, I was just born a little cranky.
I adore my children and husband, except when he refuses to take his dirty shoes off and walks on the carpet. I will ski because my kids insist, but I secretly don’t like it at all. Too cold and I fall all the time.
I am currently working on my next novel and I’m not sleeping much. (From the author's website.)
Follow Cathy on Facebook.
Book Reviews
Lamb is an awesome storyteller and moves seamlessly from the past to the present.
RT Book Reviews
IF YOU COULD SEE WHAT I SEE: Lamb’s story is earnest, heartwarming and, at times, heartbreaking.
RT Book Reviews
THE FIRST DAY OF THE REST OF MY LIFE: The blending of three or more generations and the secrets they harbor keeps this story moving briskly, culminating in a satisfying ending that makes us believe that despite heartache and angst, there can be such a thing as happily ever after.
New York Journal of Books
SUCH A PRETTY FACE: Stevie’s a winning heroine
Publishers Weekly
HENRY’S SISTERS
An Indie Next List Notable Book.
A story of strength and reconciliation and change.
Sunday Oregonian
If you loved Terms of Endearment, the Ya Ya Sisterhood, and Steel Magnolias, you will love Henry’s Sisters. Cathy Lamb just keeps getting better and better.
Three Tomatoes Book Club
THE LAST TIME I WAS ME: Charming.
Publishers Weekly
JULIA’S CHOCOLATES: Julia's Chocolates is wise, tender, and very funny. In Julia Bennett, Cathy Lamb has created a deeply wonderful character, brave and true. I loved this beguiling novel about love, friendship and the enchantment of really good chocolate.
Luanne Rice, New York Times bestselling author
Discussion Questions
1. If you were goion a trip, would you take Regan, Brianna, Meggie, Lacey or Tory with you? Why? Where would you go? What would you do? What advice would they give you about your life?
2. Describe Meggie. What are her strengths and weaknesses? Was she fair to the police chief, Blake Crighton? How is she as a businesswoman? A family member? What did her clothes say about her? Would you want to be friends with her?
3. Aaron Torelli did not admit to Meggie that he had severe emotional issues before he married her. Should he have? What was Meggie’s obligation to him after she found out? What should she have done differently in her marriage? What would you have done? Would you have left sooner than she did? Would you have left at all?
4. Was Meggie justified in leaving Aaron after he had an affair, despite his mental health diagnosis? Was Meggie justified in having an affair with Henry while still married to Aaron?
5. How did you like the structure of the book? Did the flashbacks to Meggie’s marriage enhance the story? What are the over arching themes? What did the tree house symbolize? What did Mt. Hood and Lace, Satin, and Baubles symbolize?
6. Discuss the sisters’ relationship. Was it realistic? Is Lacey a good mother? Can you relate to her struggles as a working mother to three unique teenagers? Did you like Tory? Was her anger merited? Did Scotty deserve the wood carving in his front yard?
7. Hayden Rockaford said,
I know I was supposed to be born a girl but something got messed up. I think that somehow, when my mom was pregnant with me, something went wrong. It’s not like I’m wrong, or I’m a mistake, and it’s not her fault, not my fault, but something didn’t connect in there right. For me, what happened is the right plumbing didn’t grow in. The plumbing was switched. That’s it. I’m in the wrong body.
What did you think of this character and his struggles? How was it handled by the author?
8. In If You Could See What I See...
Kalani Noe applied for a job at the factory as a seamstress. Her husband did not want her to have a job. A job meant independence. A job meant money. Both threats to him. Her lip was split in half. One eye was swollen shut, there was a bruise down her left cheek. During the interview, she kept dabbing at her ear, which her husband had partially bitten off.
Why did the author put Kalani in the story? Contrast Kalani’s life with the O’Rourke sisters' lives. What does her future look like?
9. Which scene did you enjoy the most? Which scenes made you laugh? Were there any scenes that made you cry or were especially touching? Were there any scenes that reminded you of your own life or struggles?
10. Of all the bra videos that Meggie took, which voice was the most memorable, the most poignant to you and why? Did the bra videos enrich the story?
11. Discuss Regan O’Rourke and her life’s journey. Did you like her? What were her goals before she died? Regan said,
I am not defined by my body or what has happened to it. I am not defined by beatings or an arching whip or a dangerous man, or by the wreckage of prostitution. I am not defined by my age. I am not defined by what others think of me. I am defined by myself. I will define myself to me. I will live, I will laugh, I will love. I will not be silenced. I will not be invisible. I will be me until the very end. And I will look beautiful… I dared to live the way I damn well wanted to live.
Are you like Regan?
12. Brianna O’Rourke says that women lose interest in sex because...
Often times women are simply not attracted to their partners anymore. Their partners are boring in bed or self centered, inane, ridiculous, abusive, or gross. It’s not what men want to hear, they want to blame their wives and girlfriends, but it’s the truth.
Sometimes women are flat out exhausted. There can be medical issues, like a thyroid problems or depression. There can be hormone issues, too, who likes blowing up in bed with night sweats? Working too hard will kill a sex drive, too, as can motherhood and its demands.
Is she right? How does Brianna’s own admission to not liking sex impact her ability to be an effective sex therapist, or does it? Was she a complicated character?
13. Brianna was not honest with Lacey and Meggie about Sperm Donor One and Two. What does that say about Brianna? How will this impact their relationship in future? What should Lacey and Meggie do? Contact the fathers or leave things alone? What would you do? If the story continued, where do you think the author would take that plot line?
14. If you were in the Fashion Story, what lingerie would you design for yourself? What would your video tape say about you?
15. Grandma Regan and the O’Rourke sisters had many adventures with the Bust Out And Shake It Adventure Club List. What’s on your list?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)
The Last Time I Was Me
Cathy Lamb, 2008
Kensington Publishing
404 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780758214638
Summary
I wrapped up my grandmother's tea cup collection and my mother's china, then grabbed a violin I'd hidden way back in my closet that made me cry, a gold necklace with a dolphin that my father gave me two weeks before he died of a heart attack when I was twelve and, at midnight, with that moon as bright as the blazes, I left Chicago.
When Jeanne Stewart stops at The Opera Man's Cafe in Weltana, Oregon, to eat pancakes for the first time in twelve years, she has no idea she's also about to order up a whole new future. It's been barely a week since she succumbed to a spectacularly public nervous breakdown in front of hundreds of the nation's most important advertising and PR people. Jeanne certainly had her reasons—her mother's recent death, the discovery that her boyfriend had been sleeping with a dozen other women, and the assault charges that resulted when Jeanne retaliated in a creative way against him, involving condoms and peanut oil.
Now, en route to her brother's house in Portland, Jeanne impulsively decides to spend some time in picturesque Weltana. Staying at a B&B run by the eccentric, endearing Rosvita, she meets a circle of quirky new friends at her court-ordered Anger Management classes. Like Jeanne, all of them are trying to become better, braver versions of themselves. Yet the most surprising discoveries are still to come—a good man who steadily makes his way into her heart and a dilapidated house that with love and care might be transformed into something wholly her own, just like the new life she is slowly building, piece by piece.
As heartfelt as it is hilarious, The Last Time I Was Me is a warm, wise novel about breaking down, opening up, and finally letting go of everything we thought we should be, in order to claim the life that has been waiting all along. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Where—Newport Beach, California, USA
• Raised—state of Oregon
• Education—B.A., University of Oregon
• Currently—lives in Portland, Oregon
In her words:
I was born in Newport Beach, California and spent my first ten years playing outside like a wild vagabond.
As a child, I mastered the art of skateboarding, catching butterflies in bottles, and riding my bike with no hands. When I was ten, my parents moved me, my two sisters, a brother, and two poorly behaved dogs to Oregon before I could fulfill my lifelong dream of becoming a surfer bum.
I then embarked on my notable academic career where I earned good grades now and then, spent a great deal of time daydreaming, ran wild with a number of friends, and landed on the newspaper staff in high school. When I saw my byline above an article about people making out in the hallways of the high school, I knew I had found my true calling.
After two years of partying at the University of Oregon, I settled down for the next three years and earned my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education, and became a fourth grade teacher. I became a teacher because I wanted to become a writer. It was difficult for me to become proper and conservative but I threw out my red cowboy boots and persevered. I had no choice. I had to eat and health insurance is expensive. I loved teaching, but I also loved the nights and summers where I could write and try to build a career filled with creativity and my strange imagination.
I met my husband on a blind date. A mutual friend who was an undercover vice cop busting drug dealers set us up. My husband jokes he was being arrested at the time. That is not true. Do not believe him. His sense of humor is treacherous. It was love at third sight. We’ve now been married a long time.
Teaching children about the Oregon Trail and multiplication facts amused me until I became so gigantically pregnant with twins I looked like a small cow and could barely walk. With a three year old at home, I decided it was time to make a graceful exit and waddle on out. I left school one day and never went back. I later landed in the hospital for over six weeks with pre term labor, but that is another (rather dull) story. I like to think my students missed me.
When I was no longer smothered in diapers and pacifiers, I took a turn onto the hazardous road of freelance writing and wrote over 200 articles on homes, home décor, people and fashion for a local newspaper. As I am not fashionable and can hardly stand to shop, it was an eye opener to find that some women actually do obsess about what to wear. I also learned it would probably be more relaxing to slam a hammer against one’s forehead than engage in a large and costly home remodeling project. I also tried to write romance books, which ended ingloriously for years.
I suffer from, "I Would Rather Play Than Work Disease" which prevents me from getting much work done unless I have a threatening deadline, which is often. I like to hang with family and friends, walk, eat chocolate, travel, go to Starbucks, and I am slightly obsessive, okay very obsessive, about the types of books I read. I also like to be left alone a lot so I can hear all the bizarre and troubled characters in my head talk to each other and then transfer that oddness to paper. The characters usually don’t start to talk until 10:00 at night, however, so I am often up ‘til 2:00 in the morning with them. That is my excuse for being cranky. Really, I was just born a little cranky.
I adore my children and husband, except when he refuses to take his dirty shoes off and walks on the carpet. I will ski because my kids insist, but I secretly don’t like it at all. Too cold and I fall all the time.
I am currently working on my next novel and I’m not sleeping much. (From the author's website.)
Follow Cathy on Facebook.
Book Reviews
Lamb is an awesome storyteller and moves seamlessly from the past to the present.
RT Book Reviews
IF YOU COULD SEE WHAT I SEE: Lamb’s story is earnest, heartwarming and, at times, heartbreaking.
RT Book Reviews
THE FIRST DAY OF THE REST OF MY LIFE: The blending of three or more generations and the secrets they harbor keeps this story moving briskly, culminating in a satisfying ending that makes us believe that despite heartache and angst, there can be such a thing as happily ever after.
New York Journal of Books
SUCH A PRETTY FACE: Stevie’s a winning heroine
Publishers Weekly
HENRY’S SISTERS
An Indie Next List Notable Book.
A story of strength and reconciliation and change.
Sunday Oregonian
If you loved Terms of Endearment, the Ya Ya Sisterhood, and Steel Magnolias, you will love Henry’s Sisters. Cathy Lamb just keeps getting better and better.
Three Tomatoes Book Club
THE LAST TIME I WAS ME: Charming.
Publishers Weekly
JULIA’S CHOCOLATES: Julia's Chocolates is wise, tender, and very funny. In Julia Bennett, Cathy Lamb has created a deeply wonderful character, brave and true. I loved this beguiling novel about love, friendship and the enchantment of really good chocolate.
Luanne Rice, New York Times bestselling author
Discussion Questions
1. Jeanne Stewart says, "To assume that a woman, any woman, is completely innocent is to be completely naïve." Is she right?
2. What was your first impression of Jeanne? Do you like her? Is she a feminist or a traditionalist at heart, or both?
3. Jeanne says that most women have secrets, "Pretty big ones, if I do say so myself." What secrets did people have in this book? Is it true that most women have secrets? Do you have secrets? Do people tell you their secrets?
4. What character did you most relate to in anger management class? What personal growth, if any, did you see in Bradon, Becky, Soman, Jeanne, and Emmaline? Was there a session that you would have liked to take part in? Do you need anger management?
5. Soman says he has, "sluggin’ problems." he also dresses like a woman to relax, gets in bar fights, and falls in love with Becky, an ex addict. Where do you see Soman in five years? Ten? Will he and Becky still be together?
6. Bradon King says...
Every year more black kids drop out of school. Every year no one cares. I think the schools are glad to see 'em go. But then what happens to them? They’re teenagers, Jeanne. Kids. And their future is, at that moment, zero. Why doesn’t anyone care? Because the kids are black? You can damn well bet that if a bunch of rich, white sixteen year old girls all started dropping out of school and selling drugs on the corner that people would be screaming their heads off and demanding change. And change would happen.
Is that true? How would you describe Braden?
7. Is Jeanne a heavy drinker or is she an alcoholic?
8. Jeanne becomes very close to the Lopez family and is, herself, one quarter Hispanic. She clearly sympathizes with their plight and the plight of the migrant workers. What does this tell you about her personally?
9. Did the migrant devil deserve his punishment?
10. Jeanne said, "All women, feminist or not, have a right to take action against condoms that are worn by cheating men." Do you believe this? What does the peanut oil and condom incident tell you about Jeanne? Why do men cheat? Why do women cheat?
11. Jeanne assaulted her ex boyfriend with a condom and peanut oil knowing he had a slight allergy to peanut oil. She helped to bury the body of a man whom she thought her friend had shot. She actively participated in a bar fight. She committed perjury at her trial when she said she only put in two drops of peanut oil per condom. Is she a criminal?
12. If Jeanne came to dinner at your house, what five pieces of advice would she give you about your life?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)
What I Remember Most
Cathy Lamb, 2014
Kensington Publishing
486 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780758295064
Summary
In a new novel rich in grace, warmth, and courage, acclaimed author Cathy Lamb tells of one woman's journey of reinvention in the wake of deep betrayall.
Grenadine Scotch Wild has only vague memories of the parents she last saw when she was six years old, but she's never forgotten their final, panicked words to her, "Run, Grenadine, run!" The mystery of their disappearance is just one more frayed strand in a life that has lately begun to unravel completely.
One year into her rocky marriage to Covey, a well known investor, he's arrested for fraud and embezzlement. Grenadine, now a successful collage artist and painter, is facing jail time despite her innocence.
With Covey refusing to exonerate her unless she comes back to him, Grenadine once again takes the advice given to her so long ago: she runs. This time, instead of ending up in various foster homes, Grenadine ends up living in her car, for weeks, in winter. Hiding out in a mountain town in central Oregon until the trial, she eventually finds work as a bartender and as assistant to a furniture-maker who is busy rebuilding his own life.
Still haunted by what happened to her parents, she moves into a lovely apartment above a red barn, makes true friends, and finally learns to laugh and love.
Far from everything she knew, Grenadine is granted a rare chance, as potentially liberating as it is terrifying—to face down her past, her fears, and live a life as beautiful and colorful as one of her paintings. . . (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Where—Newport Beach, California, USA
• Raised—state of Oregon
• Education—B.A., University of Oregon
• Currently—lives in Portland, Oregon
In her words:
I was born in Newport Beach, California and spent my first ten years playing outside like a wild vagabond.
As a child, I mastered the art of skateboarding, catching butterflies in bottles, and riding my bike with no hands. When I was ten, my parents moved me, my two sisters, a brother, and two poorly behaved dogs to Oregon before I could fulfill my lifelong dream of becoming a surfer bum.
I then embarked on my notable academic career where I earned good grades now and then, spent a great deal of time daydreaming, ran wild with a number of friends, and landed on the newspaper staff in high school. When I saw my byline above an article about people making out in the hallways of the high school, I knew I had found my true calling.
After two years of partying at the University of Oregon, I settled down for the next three years and earned my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education, and became a fourth grade teacher. I became a teacher because I wanted to become a writer. It was difficult for me to become proper and conservative but I threw out my red cowboy boots and persevered. I had no choice. I had to eat and health insurance is expensive. I loved teaching, but I also loved the nights and summers where I could write and try to build a career filled with creativity and my strange imagination.
I met my husband on a blind date. A mutual friend who was an undercover vice cop busting drug dealers set us up. My husband jokes he was being arrested at the time. That is not true. Do not believe him. His sense of humor is treacherous. It was love at third sight. We’ve now been married a long time.
Teaching children about the Oregon Trail and multiplication facts amused me until I became so gigantically pregnant with twins I looked like a small cow and could barely walk. With a three year old at home, I decided it was time to make a graceful exit and waddle on out. I left school one day and never went back. I later landed in the hospital for over six weeks with pre term labor, but that is another (rather dull) story. I like to think my students missed me.
When I was no longer smothered in diapers and pacifiers, I took a turn onto the hazardous road of freelance writing and wrote over 200 articles on homes, home décor, people and fashion for a local newspaper. As I am not fashionable and can hardly stand to shop, it was an eye opener to find that some women actually do obsess about what to wear. I also learned it would probably be more relaxing to slam a hammer against one’s forehead than engage in a large and costly home remodeling project. I also tried to write romance books, which ended ingloriously for years.
I suffer from, “I Would Rather Play Than Work Disease” which prevents me from getting much work done unless I have a threatening deadline, which is often. I like to hang with family and friends, walk, eat chocolate, travel, go to Starbucks, and I am slightly obsessive, okay very obsessive, about the types of books I read. I also like to be left alone a lot so I can hear all the bizarre and troubled characters in my head talk to each other and then transfer that oddness to paper. The characters usually don’t start to talk until 10:00 at night, however, so I am often up ‘til 2:00 in the morning with them. That is my excuse for being cranky. Really, I was just born a little cranky.
I adore my children and husband, except when he refuses to take his dirty shoes off and walks on the carpet. I will ski because my kids insist, but I secretly don’t like it at all. Too cold and I fall all the time.
I am currently working on my next novel and I’m not sleeping much. (From the author's website.)
Follow Cathy on Facebook.
Book Reviews
Lamb is an awesome storyteller and moves seamlessly from the past to the present.
RT Book Reviews
IF YOU COULD SEE WHAT I SEE: Lamb’s story is earnest, heartwarming and, at times, heartbreaking.
RT Book Reviews
THE FIRST DAY OF THE REST OF MY LIFE: The blending of three or more generations and the secrets they harbor keeps this story moving briskly, culminating in a satisfying ending that makes us believe that despite heartache and angst, there can be such a thing as happily ever after.
New York Journal of Books
SUCH A PRETTY FACE: Stevie’s a winning heroine
Publishers Weekly
HENRY’S SISTERS
An Indie Next List Notable Book.
A story of strength and reconciliation and change.
Sunday Oregonian
If you loved Terms of Endearment, the Ya Ya Sisterhood, and Steel Magnolias, you will love Henry’s Sisters. Cathy Lamb just keeps getting better and better.
Three Tomatoes Book Club
THE LAST TIME I WAS ME: Charming.
Publishers Weekly
JULIA’S CHOCOLATES: Julia's Chocolates is wise, tender, and very funny. In Julia Bennett, Cathy Lamb has created a deeply wonderful character, brave and true. I loved this beguiling novel about love, friendship and the enchantment of really good chocolate.
Luanne Rice, New York Times bestselling author
Discussion Questions
1. Which character did you most relate to and why? Was there any part of the book that made you laugh or cry? What was your favorite scene?
2. If you could spend the day with Grenadine, Kade, Rozlyn, the Hutchinsons, or Eudora, who would you choose and what would you do?
3. Grenadine says, about herself,
I’m a crack shot and can hit damn near anything…I’m a collage artist and painter…I used to have a little green house. I sold it. That was a huge mistake…I can smash beer cans on my forehead…I fight dirty. Someone comes at me, and my instinctive reaction is to smash and pulverize. It has gotten me into trouble…I have a temper, my anger perpetually on low seethe, and I have struggled with self esteem issues and flashbacks for as long as I can remember…I can wear four inch heels and designer clothes like wealthy women, make social chit chat, and pretend I’m exactly like them. I am not like them at all…
Write down, and then share, how you would describe yourself.
4. Grenadine speaks in the first person. However, there are also police and children’s services reports, memos, letters from a doctor, a teacher, and Grenadine, a report card, a court transcript, and third person passages from the point of view of Bucky. Did the structure work for you? Why?
5. Marley, a customer at The Spirited Owl said,
Women are so picky. If you don’t look like Brad Pitt or you’re not rich, they don’t want you.
I said,
No, they don’t want you, Marley, because you look like you have a baby in your stomach, you’re unshaven, you drink too much, and all you want to do is talk about yourself and whine in that whiny voice of yours. Would you be attracted to you? No? Then why would a woman be?
Why did the author give Grenadine a job at a bar? What do you think of her bar tending and communication abilities? If she gave you advice while you were drinking a margarita, what would she say to you?
6. What were the themes of the book?
7. Did the author portray Grenadine’s journey in foster care and the children’s services division workers accurately?
8. Why was Grenadine attracted to Kade? What did Kade have in common with her? Kade had spent time in jail because of gang related activities when he was younger. Would his record have stopped you from dating him?
9. From Bucky:
She never should have gotten away.
That was a mistake. He had not expected things to take so long. It had always bothered him.
He liked things neat. Planned. Perfect.
He wanted to see her again. Before.
He would do it! He would think of a way.
He pulled four strands of hair out of his head, then made a design on the table in front of him.
He giggled. He twitched in his chair.
He told himself a nursery rhyme. He changed the words to create a new rhyme. He sang it out loud. He wrote it in his rhyme book.
He giggled again, then he hurdled his rhyme book across the room, tilted his head back and screamed.
What element did Bucky bring to the story? Did it fit?
10. Grenadine deliberately shot two men who were attacking her in her car, then kept shooting to scare them off and disable their vehicle. She did not report the incident to police. What did both actions tell you about her?
11. What did you think of Covey? Was there any good in him?
12. How did Rozlyn live? How did she die? Did you learn anything from her about living or dying? Would it have been more realistic, or a better ending for you, if Rozlyn had lived? Why do you think the author chose for her to die?
13. Grenadine said,
I paint what’s in my head. I paint whatever I’m thinking about at the time. I’ll twist it up, spin it out, add color, add layers, add collage items, and I keep going until it feels done.
If you were to make a painting or collage that would tell the story of your life, what would it look like? What materials would you use? What would it say about you? Grab the artist in you and sketch it out….
(Questions courtesy of the author.)