The Last Summer of the Camperdowns
Elizabeth Kelly, 2013
Liveright Publishing
400 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780871403407
Summary
The Last Summer of the Camperdowns introduces Riddle James Camperdown, the twelve-year-old daughter of the idealistic Camp and his manicured, razor-sharp wife, Greer.
It’s 1972, and Riddle’s father is running for office from the family compound in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. Between Camp’s desire to toughen her up and Greer’s demand for glamour, Riddle has her hands full juggling her eccentric parents.
When Riddle accidentally witnesses a crime close to home, her confusion and fear keep her silent. As the summer unfolds, the consequences of her silence multiply. Another mysterious and powerful family, the Devlins, slowly emerges as the keepers of astonishing secrets that could shatter the Camperdowns.
As an old love triangle, bitter war wounds, and the struggle for status spiral out of control, Riddle can only watch, hoping for the courage to reveal the truth. The Last Summer of the Camperdowns is poised to become the summer’s uproarious and dramatic must-read. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Elizabeth Kelly is the best-selling author of the novel Apologize, Apologize! (2009) and The Last Summer of the Camperdowns (2013). She is an award-winning journalist and lives in Merrickville, Ontario, Canada, with her husband, five dogs, and three cats. (From .)
Book Reviews
The plot unfolds like the Cape Cod season itself… beginning lazily, languidly, before heating up and morphing into a fast-paced thriller.
Abbe Wright - O Magazine
These vibrant personalities jump off the page individually, and the collective dynamic is as lifelike and scintillating as beautifully cast actors in an artfully directed play… the scenes and dialogue unravel organically, and razor-sharp witticisms tumble out effortlessly.
Redbook
Kelly’s raucous, deliciously creepy novel about the dysfunction of the über wealthy begins in 1972 as the hoity-toity Camperdown clan prepare for another summer.... The novel threatens to veer too predictably into Great Gatsby territory (long-buried secrets bubbling to the surface...but is saved by precocious Riddle’s dry-witted narration of events, at least until she witnesses a heinous murder and clams up.... [I]n a climax that’s a touch too hurried...no one, not even the creepy killer, escapes unscathed.
Publishers Weekly
The author of Apologize! Apologize! (2009) returns with another witty take on a dysfunctional family… Kelly is a very entertaining writer with a digressive style and a way with metaphor …readers will find much to like in this colorful story peopled with larger-than-life personalities.
Booklist
A 13-year-old girl finds that keeping secrets can have mortal consequences.... Kelly's new novel is just as scathingly witty as her best-selling debut [Apologize! Apologize!] but better plotted and even more emotionally harrowing, as narrator Riddle Camperdown looks back two decades to the disastrous summer of 1972.... Kelly skillfully builds almost unbearable tension, slipping in plenty of dark laughs en route to a wrenching climax that leaves in its wake some painfully unresolved questions—just like life. More fine work from a writer with a rare gift for blending wit and rue.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. The novel is set in Cape Cod during the summer of 1972. How does the physical setting and time period affect the story? How would the plot differ if the story was set in a different location at a different historical moment?
2. On numerous occasions throughout the novel, Riddle is compared to Greer. Are Riddle and Greer really as different as they appear? What qualities do they share?
3. As Michael reappears in the life of the Camperdowns, the relationship between Camp and Greer alters. Why does Michael change their dynamic, and what else could be at work between Camp and Greer?
4. How does Greer’s experience as an actress influence her daily behavior? Although Greer is the only actress by profession, what other characters are guilty of performing their lives? What initiates their needs to play out specific roles?
5. Describe Riddle’s relationship with Gula. How do you interpret Gula’s fictitious stories that continue to unfold? Can you relate to Riddle’s complicated emotions of perversion and seduction toward Gula?
6. Why do you think nineteen-year-old Harry has such an attachment to twelve-year-old Riddle? What is at the heart of their friendship? Do you think Harry will ever speak to Riddle again?
7. What explains Gula’s fascination with Riddle? Why do you think Gula gave Riddle the present at the end of the book?
8. Riddle’s reaction to finding Charlie’s body is noteworthy: “I felt such shame, such guilt, even as I was ashamed to feel shame, disgusted by my feelings of guilt.” Why do you think Riddle felt this way? What do her emotions reveal about her character?
9. In Charlie’s book of condolences, Camp writes, “I will see you in the morning.” What do you think this means?
Compare Michael and Camp; which man do you find more trustworthy? Whose account of the war do you believe? Who do you think Greer loved more?
10. One theme of the book is the power of secrets, and the end of the book capitalizes on the secret Riddle has kept throughout regarding Charlie’s death. Do you think this is the most consequential secret of the book? What other secrets cause grave consequences?
11. How does the first chapter, set in the present, frame the rest of the novel that is set in the past? When the novel returns to the present in the epilogue, how have your feelings for Riddle changed from the beginning of the book?
The book is narrated from Riddle’s point of view. How does her perspective influence the story? Do you trust her as a narrator? Why or why not?
12. Why do you think Riddle kept what she saw in the yellow barn a secret for so long? How was Gula able to manipulate Riddle to stay silent? What drove Riddle to finally reveal the truth?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls: Essays, etc.
David Sedaris, 2013
Little, Brown & Co.
275 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780316154697
Summary
A guy walks into a bar car and... From here the story could take many turns. When this guy is David Sedaris, the possibilities are endless, but the result is always the same: he will both delight you with twists of humor and intelligence and leave you deeply moved.
Sedaris remembers his father's dinnertime attire (shirtsleeves and underpants), his first colonoscopy (remarkably pleasant), and the time he considered buying the skeleton of a murdered Pygmy. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—December 26, 1956
• Where—Johnson City, New York, USA
• Education—B.F.A., Art Institute of Chicago
• Awards—Thurber Prize; Time Humorist of the Year;
Advocate Lambda Award.
• Currently—lives in London, England, UK
According to Time Out New York, "David Sedaris may be the funniest man alive." He's the sort of writer critics tend to describe not in terms of literary influences and trends, but in terms of what they choked on while reading his latest book. "I spewed a mouthful of pastrami across my desk," admitted Craig Seligman in his New York Times review of Naked.
Sedaris first drew national attention in 1992 with a stint on National Public Radio, on which he recounted his experiences as a Christmas elf at Macy's. He discussed "the code names for various posts, such as 'The Vomit Corner,' a mirrored wall near the Magic Tree" and confided that his response to "I'm going to have you fired" was the desire to lean over and say, "I'm going to have you killed." The radio pieces were such a hit that Sedaris, then working as a house cleaner, started getting offers to write movies, soap operas and Seinfeld episodes.
In subsequent appearances on NPR, Sedaris proved he wasn't just a velvet-clad flash in the pan; he's also wickedly funny on the subjects of smoking, speed, shoplifting and nervous tics. His work began appearing in magazines like Harper's and Mirabella, and his first book Barrel Fever, which included "SantaLand Diaries," was a bestseller. "These hilarious, lively and breathtakingly irreverent stories...made me laugh out loud more than anything I've read in years," wrote Francine Prose in the Washington Post Book World.
Since then, each successive Sedaris volume has zoomed to the top of the bestseller lists. In Naked, he recounts odd jobs like volunteering at a mental hospital, picking apples as a seasonal laborer and stripping woodwork for a Nazi sympathizer. The stocking stuffer-sized Holidays on Ice collects Sedaris' Christmas-themed work, including a fictional holiday newsletter from the homicidal stepmother of a 22-year-old Vietnamese immigrant ("She arrived in this house six weeks ago speaking only the words 'Daddy,' 'Shiny' and 'Five dollar now'. Quite a vocabulary!!!!!").
But Sedaris' best pieces often revolve around his childhood in North Carolina and his family of six siblings, including the brother who talks like a redneck gangsta rapper and the sister who, in a hilarious passage far too dirty to quote here, introduces him to the joys of the Internet. Sedaris' recent book Me Talk Pretty One Day describes, among other things, his efforts to learn French while helping his boyfriend fix up a Normandy farmhouse; he progresses "from speaking like an evil baby to speaking like a hillbilly. 'Is thems the thoughts of cows?' I'd ask the butcher, pointing to the calves' brains displayed in the front window."
Sedaris has been compared to American humorists such as Mark Twain, James Thurber and Dorothy Parker; Publisher's Weekly called him "Garrison Keillor's evil twin." Pretty heady stuff for a man who claims there are cats that weigh more than his IQ score. But as This American Life producer Ira Glass once pointed out, it would be wrong to think of Sedaris as "just a working Joe who happens to put out these perfectly constructed pieces of prose." Measured by his ability to turn his experiences into a sharply satirical, sidesplittingly funny form of art, David Sedaris is no less than a genius.
Extras
• Sedaris got his start in radio after This American Life producer Ira Glass saw him perform at Club Lower Links in Chicago. In addition to his NPR commentaries, Sedaris now writes regularly for Esquire.
• Sedaris's younger sister Amy is also a writer and performer; the two have collaborated on plays under the moniker "The Talent Family." Amy Sedaris has appeared onstage as a member of the Second City improv troupe and on Comedy Central in the series Strangers with Candy.
• If I weren't a writer, I'd be a taxidermist," Sedaris said in a chat on Barnes and Noble.com. According to the Boston Phoenix, his collection of stuffed dead animals includes a squirrel, two fruit bats, four Boston terriers and a baby ostrich.
• When asked what book most influenced his career as a writer, he's what he said:
I guess it would be Cathedral by Raymond Carver. His sentences are very simple and straightforward, and he made writing seem deceptively easy—the kind of thing anyone could do if they put their mind to it. (From Barnes & Noble.)
Book Reviews
Sedaris is a remarkably skilled storyteller and savvy essayist. He weaves together vivid images and sensations into a coherent whole that packs a serious emotional punch.... Yes, David Sedaris is really that good. And, based on this latest collection, he's getting only better.
Heather Havrilesky - Los Angeles Times
Fresh....funny, whimsical, unexpected, and never obvious....Who would anticipate that an encounter with an Australian bird could be so damn touching?
Sherryl Connelly - New York Daily News
David Sedaris is horribly observant. He sees things as they are.... He'll be telling some weird story, and all of a sudden, just at the end, it turns out not only to be about him, but also about you.
Nancy Dalva- New York Observer
Ridiculously funny....A find for the reader who appreciates a sense of humor....Sedaris, like the great humorists before him, hits a nerve with his wit, which brings the reader into intimate contact with the human condition."
John Henry - Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Sedaris is certainly worthy of hero worship-he so breezily translates the landscape through his bent, prismatic view that he makes you forget what a skillful narrator he is.
Mark Washburn - Charlotte Observer
Artfully milked embarrassing personal incidents for literary laughs...There are plenty of well-cut gems, including one about an ill-fated adoption of some sea turtles that's both hilarious and touching.
Thom Geier - Entertainment Weekly
If you are a David Sedaris fan, any new book from the humorist is cause for celebration. His newest offering, Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls, is no exception. It's quintessential Sedaris....There's always a laugh-out-loud moment just around the corner.
Craig Wilson - USA Today
The funniest writer in America.... Sedaris is thoughtful and sweet in addition to being slyly hilarious.
Leigh Haber - Oprah magazine
David Sedaris has become a signifier of taste and intelligence.... Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls was the kind of book that I finished and just immediately wanted to start reading again.
Anna Peele - Esquire
David Sedaris still talks pretty.
Kathryn Schulz - New York Magazine
Sedaris is the preeminent humorist of his generation.
Whitney Pastorek - Entertainment Weekly
Sedaris's latest essay collection possesses all of the wit, charm, and poignancy his readers have come to expect. His usual cast of delightful characters returns..... Many pieces involve travel, animals, or both.... This is a must-read for fans of smart, well-crafted writing with a sense of humor.
Publishers Weekly
An acute observer and master of the quick, excoriating takedown, Sedaris claims new territory in this exceptionally gutsy and unnerving collection. — Donna Seamen
Booklist
A more varied and less consistent essay collection from the noted humorist. In middle age, Sedaris (When You Are Engulfed in Flames, 2008) no longer aims as often for laugh-out-loud funny as he did when he attracted a popular following almost two decades ago. Most of these essays revisit many of the areas he's previously mined for hilarity...but much of what he returns to in memory seems less antic and more melancholy than before.... Those who have followed Sedaris through the years will find plenty to enjoy, though not much in the way of surprise or revelation.
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.
The Widow Waltz
Sally Koslow, 2013
Penguin Group USA
352 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780670025640
Summary
Georgia Waltz has much of what most people only dream of—two healthy and bright daughters and a husband with whom she”s madly in love, even after decades of marriage; a plush Manhattan apartment overlooking Central Park; a Hamptons beach house; a driver; club memberships; fine art. It”s only when Ben suddenly drops dead from a massive coronary while training for the New York City Marathon that Georgia discovers that her husband—a lawyer who always provided well for his family—has left them exactly nothing. Their idyllic life together, it turns out, was built on lies.
As the family attorney attempts to trace the missing money and explain the mortgaged property, and worthless insurance policies, Georgia has to come to grips with her new reality. Not only must she learn how to manage her household finances with what little income she has left, she needs to face the revelation that Ben was not the perfect husband he appeared to be. Between her efforts to protect his legacy for the sake of their daughters and coping with her critical brother and dementia–afflicted mother, Georgia is fighting to keep her spirits intact.
Meanwhile, her two daughters, now living at home, must also reevaluate their plans in the wake of their father's death—Nicola's globetrotting search for a career and Luey's education at Stanford are now untenable. With no trust funds to fall back on, both young women confront the challenges of adult responsibility even as they come of age and navigate complicated romantic relationships.
When Georgia's suspicions about Ben's secrets start to produce leads, through her own detective work she ultimately uncovers truths she would rather not have known. This sudden midlife shift forces Georgia to consider who she is and what she values. The results, including a tender new friendship with romantic potential, surprise everyone—most of all, her.
Told through the alternating perspectives of her female leads, Sally Koslow's fourth novel offers a droll but heartfelt look at how to summon resilience in a time of crisis and explores the challenges of redefining one's life in the face of devastating loss. The Widow Waltz is a warm, honest, and contemporary story that will appeal to readers of Elizabeth Berg, Anna Quindlen, and J. Courtney Sullivan. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Where—Fargo, North Dakota, USA
• Education—University of Wisconsin
• Currently—lives in New York City, New York
Sally was born and raised in Fargo, North Dakota. While editing her high school newspaper and interning on her hometown newspaper, she dreamed of someday landing a job in publishing. The dream came true. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin in Madison, she moved to New York and was hired by Mademoiselle magazine....
Rising in the ranks at Mademoiselle and other magazines, she became the editor-in-chief of McCall’s in 1994. At the time, MaCall's was the country’s oldest women’s magazine. Eight years later, Sally became "corporate editor" when the magazine was transformed into the short-lived Rosie, edited by the celebrity Rosie O’Donnell. Later that year Sally went on to create a magazine prototype for Lifetime Television for Women, owned by Disney and Hearst Magazines, and became the first editor-in-chief of the magazine, which was called Lifetime.
Writing
After the job at Lifetime ended, Sally signed up for a workshop in the hopes of learning to write a book. Her first submimssion to the workshop became her first chapter in her first book, Lirtle Pink Slips, in 2007. Her second novel, The Late, Lamented Molly Marx, followed in 2009 and With Frinds Like These in 2010.
Slouching Toward Adulthood: Observations to the Not-So-Empty Nest, published in 2012, is her first non-fiction book. It grew out of observations of her two sons and their friends as they moved into adulthood. Her novel, The Widow Waltz, published in 2013, is Sally's fifth book.
In addition to her books, Sally has contributed essays and articles to O the Oprah Magazine, More, Real Simple, Ladies’ Home Journal, Health, Reader’s Digest, and Good Housekeeping. She has also contributed to two anthologies, Dirt: The Quirks, Habits and Passions of Keeping House and Wedding Cake for Breakfast, where writers recount their first year of marriage.
On TV she has been featured on Today, Good Morning America, Entertainment Tonight, Fox & Friends, Good Day New York, and news programs affiliated with MSNBC, CNN, and CNBC. Sally has lectured at Yale University, Columbia University, New York University, University of Chicago, University of Wisconsin, and other colleges, professional associations, community and synagogue groups.
Sally has taught at The Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College and is on the faculty of the New York Writer’s Workshop. She is married to Robert Koslow, her college boyfriend. They are the parents of Jed Koslow, an attorney, and Rory Koslow, who works in the film industry. (Adapted from the author's website.)
Book Reviews
Witty and insightful.
People
Lovers of breezy beach read...will enjoy the journey.
Real Simple
Koslow (Little Pink Slips) illustrates how a family upheaval can prompt personal change in this entertaining but ultimately uninspired novel. Fifty-year-old Georgia Waltz’s husband Ben Silveer...dies during a marathon training run, [and] Georgia discovers that their life of luxury has been built on lies.... Koslow’s novel is diverting, and the three different viewpoints add interest, but Georgia’s romance is tepid and unconvincing, and the resolution is abrupt and overly tidy.
Publishers Weekly
Well-written, page-turning domestic fiction about a family’s reinvention and healing that will attract fans of Elizabeth Berg.
Library Journal
Former McCall's editor-in-chief Koslow (Slouching toward Adulthood, 2012, etc.) choreographs an entertaining but lightweight story.... Thanks to [husband] Ben's lucrative law practice, Georgia's lived a pampered life, and the couple has always indulged their two daughters.... But when mother and daughters find themselves virtually penniless...they come together, not always harmoniously, and do what they have to do to survive... [A]lthough there are a few missteps, particularly toward the end when the resolution seems hard to swallow, the perfectly frothy, romantic story will appeal to readers who want a few hours to engage in a different world.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. When Georgia's husband dies suddenly, she learns that he's left their family nothing. How does she respond to this news? How would you have responded?
2. Georgia was oblivious to her husband”s secret life. What prevented her from seeing the truth? Do you think this happens to many wives?
3. The "Silver-Waltz” daughters, Nicola and Luey, are as unlike as honey and sardines. How are they different from each other and how does Georgia relate to each of them? Do you think she prefers one daughter to the other? How does the novel comment on nature versus nurture in addressing having an adopted child as well as a biological one?
4. Sally Koslow alternates perspectives throughout the novel. How does this stylistic choice affect the telling of the story? How do you imagine The Widow Waltz would be different if it was told entirely in the third person?
5. Georgia's relationship with her brother Stephan has always been troubled. How do her newfound circumstances change their dynamic and attitude toward one another? Do you know siblings who have grown much closer in middle age?
6. How do Georgia's feelings about Ben evolve and shift over the course of the book?
7, How do Georgia's feelings about her mother evolve and shift over the course of the book?
8. Georgia must eventually accept her revised reality and attempt to rebuild her life. Do you feel Georgia made the right process in this process? If faced with this challenge, how do you imagine you would move forward?
9. After Ben's death, Nicola and Luey must also make hard decisions about their futures, including career choices and relationships. What factors come into play that affect their choices? Do you like one sister better than the other and if so, why?
10. Not all readers may agree with the big choices Luey had to make. What advice would you have given her?
11. Georgia ultimately discovers what happened to her fortune. How would you have reacted in the same situation?
12. Consider the meaning of true forgiveness. What allows people to move on from betrayals such as the one Georgia experiences?
13. Although The Widow Waltz is in many ways a tale of loss and desperation, it is told with witty barbs. What is the role of humor in this book? Imagine how The Widow Waltz might be different without this element.
(Questions issued by publisher.)
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
Karen Joy Fowler, 2013
Penguin Group USA
320 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780142180822
Summary
From the author of The Jane Austen Book Club, the story of an American family, middle class in middle America, ordinary in every way but one. But that exception is the beating heart of this extraordinary novel.
Meet the Cooke family: Mother and Dad, brother Lowell, sister Fern, and our narrator, Rosemary, who begins her story in the middle. She has her reasons. “I spent the first eighteen years of my life defined by this one fact: that I was raised with a chimpanzee,” she tells us. “It’s never going to be the first thing I share with someone. I tell you Fern was a chimp and already you aren’t thinking of her as my sister. But until Fern’s expulsion, I’d scarcely known a moment alone. She was my twin, my funhouse mirror, my whirlwind other half, and I loved her as a sister.”
Rosemary was not yet six when Fern was removed. Over the years, she’s managed to block a lot of memories. She’s smart, vulnerable, innocent, and culpable. With some guile, she guides us through the darkness, penetrating secrets and unearthing memories, leading us deeper into the mystery she has dangled before us from the start. Stripping off the protective masks that have hidden truths too painful to acknowledge, in the end, “Rosemary” truly is for remembrance. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—February 07, 1950
• Where—Bloomington, Indiana, USA
• Education—B.A., The University of California, Berkeley;
M.A., The University of California, Davis, 1974
• Currently—lives in Davis, California
Karen Joy Fowler, A PEN/Faulkner and Dublin IMPAC nominee, is the author of Sarah Canary, The Sweetheart Season, Black Glass: Short Fictions, and Sister Noon.
More
A genre such as science fiction, with its deeply committed fans and otherworldly subject matter, tends to stand apart from the rest of the book world. So when one writer manages to push the boundaries and achieve success with both sci-fi and mainstream fiction readers, it's a feat that signals she's worth paying attention to.
In terms of subject matter, Karen Joy Fowler is all over the map. Her first novel, 1991's Sarah Canary, is the story of the enigmatic title character, set in the Washington Territory in 1873. A Chinese railway worker's attempt to escort Sarah back to the insane asylum he believes she came from turns into more than he bargained for. Fowler weaves race and women's rights into the story, and it could be another historical novel — except for a detail Fowler talks about in a 2004 interview. "I think for science fiction readers, it's pretty obvious that Sarah Canary is an alien," Fowler says. Yet other readers are dumbfounded by this news, seeing no sign of it. For her part, Fowler refuses to make a declaration either way.
Sarah Canary was followed in 1996 by The Sweetheart Season, a novel about a 1950s women's baseball league that earned comparisons to Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon works; and the 2001 novel Sister Noon, which Fowler called "a sort of secret history of San Francisco." For all three novels, critics lauded Fowler for her originality and compelling storytelling as she infused her books with elements of fantasy and well-researched history.
In 2004, Fowler released her first contemporary novel, The Jane Austen Book Club. It dealt with five women and one man reading six of Austen's novels over a six-month period, and earned still more praise for Fowler. The New York Times called the novel shrewd and funny; the Washington Post said, "It's...hard to explain quite why The Jane Austen Book Club is so wonderful. But that it is wonderful will soon be widely recognized, indeed, a truth universally acknowledged." Though Fowler clearly wrote the book with Austen fans in mind — she too loves the English author of classics such as Pride and Prejudice—knowledge of Austen's works is not a prerequisite for enjoyment.
Readers who want to learn more about Fowler's sci-fi side should also seek out her short story collections. Black Glass (1999) is not a strictly sci-fi affair, but it is probably the most readily available; her Web site offers a useful bibliography of stories she has published in various collections and sci-fi journals, including the Nebula Award-winning "What I Didn't See."
Fowler also continues to be involved with science fiction as a co-founder of the James Tiptree, Jr. Award, designed to honor "science fiction or fantasy that expands or explores our understanding of gender." The award has spawned two anthologies, which Fowler has taken part in editing.
Whether or not Fowler moves further in the direction of mainstream contemporary fiction, she clearly has the flexibility and skill as a writer to retain fans no matter what. Her "category" as a writer may be fluid, but it doesn't seem to make a difference to readers who discover her unique, absorbing stories and get wrapped up in them.
Extras
From a 2004 Barnes & Noble interview:
• The first thing I ever wanted to be was a dog breeder. Instead I've had a succession of eccentric pound rescues. My favorite was a Keeshond Shepherd mix, named Tamara Press after the Russian shot-putter. Tamara went through college with me, was there when I married, when I had children. She was like Nana in Peter Pan; we were a team. I'm too permissive to deal with spaniels or hounds, as it turns out. Not that I haven't had them, just that I lose the alpha advantage.
• I take yoga classes. I eat sushi. I walk the dog. I spend way too much time on email. Mostly I read. I have cats, too. But I can't talk about them. They don't like it.
• I'm not afraid of spiders or snakes, at least not the California varieties. But I can't watch scary movies. That is, I can watch them, but I can't sleep after, so mostly I don't. Unless I'm tricked. I mention no names. You know who you are.
• I loved the television show The Night Stalker when it was on. Also The Greatest American Hero. And I Spy. And recently Buffy the Vampire Slayer, except for the final year.
• I do the crossword puzzle in the Nation every week. I don't like other crossword puzzles, only that one. It takes me two days on average."
• When asked what novel most influenced her life as a writer, here is her answer:
The Once and Future King by T. H. White. I read this book first when I was about 12. I've reread it a dozen times since. I was very imprinted by the narrative voice—omniscient shading into limited and back out. I tend to use that voice myself.
It's a very digressive book—literature, tilting, hawking, archeology, cricket. It combines history with deliberate anachronisms. The emotional range is enormous, from silly to tragic to lyrical to analytical. Parts of it are carefully documented and painstakingly realistic. Parts of it are utter fantasy. You can tell that White had a great time writing it; it's showy, and rompish. I think this book persuaded me that a writer is allowed to do absolutely anything. And that it could be fun. (Bio and interview from Barnes & Noble.)
Book Reviews
[A] novel so readably juicy and surreptitiously smart, it deserves all the attention it can get…Fowler…is a trustworthy guide through many complex territories: the historical allure and dicey ethics of experimental psychology, not to mention academic families and the college towns of Bloomington and Davis…The novel's fresh diction and madcap plot…bend the tone toward comedy, but it never mislays its solemn raison d'etre. Monkeyshines aside, this is a story of Everyfamily in which loss engraves relationships, truth is a soulful stalker and coming-of-age means facing down the mirror, recognizing the shape-shifting notion of self.
Barbara Kingsolver - New York Times Book Review
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves isn't just about an unusual childhood experiment; it's about a lifetime spent in the shadow of grief…Rosemary's voice and her efforts to understand—and forgive—herself are moving. Fowler has such a sprightly tone, an endearing way of sloughing off profound observations that will illuminate your own past even if you have no chimps swinging in your immediate family tree…What does it mean to be human, she asks, and what does it mean to be humane? Although there's little doubt where her sympathies lie, Fowler manages to subsume any polemical motive within an unsettling, emotionally complex story that plumbs the mystery of our strange relationship with the animal kingdom—relatives included.
Ron Charles - Washington Post
Fowler’s interests here are in what sets humans apart from their fellow primates. Cognitive, language and memory skills all come into playful question. But the heart of the novel—and it has a big, warm, loudly beating heart throughout—is in its gradually pieced-together tale of family togetherness, disruption and reconciliation. We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves is Fowler at her best, mixing cerebral and emotional appeal together in an utterly captivating manner.
Seattle Times
Rosemary’s voice is achingly memorable, and Fowler’s intelligent discourse on science vs. compassion reshapes the traditional family novel into something more universally relevant. The Cookes are unlike other families and like them at the same time, and through Rosemary’s unique perspective Fowler forces us to confront some tough truths. This brave, bold, shattering novel reminds us what it means to be human, in the best and worst sense.
Miami Herald
[M]arvelous.... [A] jaw-dropping surprise at the heart of the story. Youngest daughter Rosemary is a college student acting on dangerous impulses...and the FBI are both on the lookout for her brother Lowell, who ran away after their sister Fern vanished.... Even in her most broken moments, Rosemary knows she knows things that no one else can know about what it means to be a sister, and a human being. Fowler’s (The Jane Austen Book Club) great accomplishment is not just that she takes the standard story of a family and makes it larger, but that the new space she’s created demands exploration.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review.) In this eye-opener from New York Times best-selling author Fowler, Rosemary Cooke narrates the story of her family, paying special attention to sister Fern, who just happens to have been a chimpanzee. With a reading group guide.
Library Journal
(Starred review.) Piquant humor, refulgent language, a canny plot rooted in real-life experiences, an irresistible narrator, threshing insights, and tender emotions—Fowler has outdone herself in this deeply inquisitive, cage-rattling novel.
Booklist
(Starred review.) What is the boundary between human and animal beings and what happens when that boundary is blurred are two of many questions raised in Fowler's provocative sixth novel, the narration of a young woman grieving over her lost sister, who happens to be a chimpanzee.... Rosemary challenges readers to rethink concepts of kinship and selfhood; for Rosemary and Lowell, Fern was and will always be a sister, not an experiment in raising a chimpanzee with human children.... Readers will forgive Fowler's occasional didacticism about animal experimentation since Rosemary's voice...is so compelling and the cast of characters, including Fern, irresistible. A fantastic novel: technically and intellectually complex, while emotionally gripping.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Early on in We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, the character Rosemary Cooke tells the reader that she will start her story "in the middle." Why is it important to her to skip the beginning?
2. Rosemary recounts many memories of the chimpanzee Fern and their brief life together. How were she and Fern, in the language of the novel, "Same" and "NotSame"? What does their relationship suggest about the compatibility of humans and primates? How are humans different from other animals?
3. How did being co-raised with a chimpanzee impact Rosemary's development? In what ways was she different from other, "normal" children? How does she still differ from them to this day?
4. Consider Rosemary's father and mother. Are they good parents? Should they have handled Fern's leaving any differently? If so, how?
5. Each member of the Cooke family was dramatically-indeed, traumatically-affected by the loss of Fern. Did they share a personal sense of guilt? Of regret? Of responsibility for what happened? If so, how did these emotions manifest themselves in each family member? How do their responses enrich our understanding of these people?
6. What is your opinion of Rosemary's brother, Lowell Cooke? Are his extreme views and actions at all justified? Does he truly have Fern's well-being at heart?
7. How does Harlow Fielding's whirlwind entrance into Rosemary Cooke's world alter Rosemary's trajectory through life?
8. Think about the significance of memory and storytelling in the novel. How is Rosemary's memory-and, consequently, her narrative-affected by the emotional trauma she has experienced?
9. Consider Harlow Fielding and Ezra Metzger's failed attempt to liberate monkeys from the primate center, both the motivations of these co-conspirators and the outcome itself. Was their mission in any way an admirable act? How were Harlow and Ezra's intentions different or similar to Lowell's?
10. Do you think Rosemary comes to find peace with her family history by the end of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves?
11. Is animal experimentation ever justified? If so, under what circumstances?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
The Last Original Wife
Dorothea Benton Frank, 2013
HarperCollins
352 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780062132468
Summary
Experience the sultry Southern atmosphere of Atlanta and the magic of the Carolina Lowcountry in this funny and poignant tale of one audacious woman’s quest to find the love she deserves, from New York Times bestselling author Dorothea Benton Frank.
Leslie Anne Greene Carter is The Last Original Wife among her husband Wesley’s wildly successful Atlanta social set. His cronies have all traded in the mothers of their children they promised to love and cherish—’til death did them part—for tanned and toned young Barbie brides.
If losing the social life and close friends she adored wasn’t painful enough, a series of setbacks shake Les’s world and push her to the edge. She’s had enough of playing the good wife to a husband who thinks he’s doing her a favor by keeping her around. She’s not going to waste another minute on people she doesn’t care to know.
Now, she’s going to take some time for herself—in the familiar comforts and stunning beauty of Charleston, her beloved hometown. In her brother’s stately historic home, she’s going to reclaim the carefree girl who spent lazy summers sharing steamy kisses with her first love on Sullivans Island. Along Charleston’s live oak- and palmetto-lined cobblestone streets, under the Lowcountry’s dazzling blue sky, Les will indulge herself with icy cocktails, warm laughter, divine temptation and bittersweet memories. Daring to listen to her inner voice, she will realize what she wants...and find the life of which she’s always dreamed.
Told in the alternating voices of Les and Wes, The Last Original Wife is classic Dorothea Benton Frank: an intoxicating tale of family, friendship, self-discovery, and love, that is as salty as a Lowcountry breeze and as invigorating as a dip in Carolina waters on a sizzling summer day. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1951
• Where—Sullivan's Island, North Carolina, USA
• Education—Fashion Institute of America
• Currently—lives in New Jersey and on Sullivan Island
An author who has helped to put the South Carolina Lowcountry on the literary map, Dorothea Benton Frank hasn't always lived near the ocean, but the Sullivan's Island native has a powerful sense of connection to her birthplace. Even after marrying a New Yorker and settling in New Jersey, she returned to South Carolina regularly for visits, until her mother died and she and her siblings had to sell their family home. "It was very upsetting," she told the Raleigh News & Observer. "Suddenly, I couldn't come back and walk into my mother's house. I was grieving."
After her mother's death, writing down her memories of home was a private, therapeutic act for Frank. But as her stack of computer printouts grew, she began to try to shape them into a novel. Eventually a friend introduced her to the novelist Fern Michaels, who helped her polish her manuscript and find an agent for it.
Published in 2000, Frank's first "Lowcountry tale," Sullivan's Island made it to the New York Times bestseller list. Its quirky characters and tangled family relationships drew comparisons to the works of fellow southerners Anne Rivers Siddons and Pat Conroy (both of whom have provided blurbs for Frank's books). But while Conroy's novels are heavily angst-ridden, Frank sweetens her dysfunctional family tea with humor and a gabby, just-between-us-girls tone. To her way of thinking, there's a gap between serious literary fiction and standard beach-blanket fare that needs to be filled.
"I don't always want to read serious fiction," Frank explained to The Sun News of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. "But when I read fiction that's not serious, I don't want to read brain candy. Entertain me, for God's sake." Since her debut, she has faithfully followed her own advice, entertaining thousands of readers with books Pat Conroy calls "hilarious and wise" and characters Booklist describes as "sassy and smart,."
These days, Frank has a house of her own on Sullivan's Island, where she spends part of each year. "The first thing I do when I get there is take a walk on the beach," she admits. Evidently, this transplanted Lowcountry gal is staying in touch with her soul.
Extras
From a Barnes & Noble interview:
• Before she started writing, Frank worked as a fashion buyer in New York City. She is also a nationally recognized volunteer fundraiser for the arts and education, and an advocate of literacy programs and women's issues.
• Her definition of a great beach read—"a fabulous story that sucks me in like a black hole and when it's over, it jettisons my bones across the galaxy with a hair on fire mission to convince everyone I know that they must read that book or they will die."
• When asked about her favorite books, here is what she said:
After working your way through all of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jane Austen, Eudora Welty, Tennessee Williams, Flannery O'Connor, of course, you have to read Gone with the Wind a billion times, then [tackle these authors].
The Water is Wide by Pat Conroy; To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee; The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood; A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley; The Red Tent by Anita Diamant; Ladder of Years by Anne Tyler; Brunelleschi's Dome by Ross King; Making Waves and The Sunday Wife by Cassandra King; Islands by Anne Rivers Siddons; Rich in Love, Fireman's Fair, Dreams of Sleep, and Nowhere Else on Earth (all three) by Josephine Humphrey. (Author bio and interview from Barnes and Noble.)
Book Reviews
The last original wife of the title is Leslie Anne Greene, the lone remaining first spouse in her husband's circle of friends. It only takes a relatively minor accident to snap her to the realization that what had seemed like a singular mark of distinction had become over the span of years a hollow symbol. To retrieve and replenish her life, she retreats to the pristine sands of South Caroline's shores. There she finds more than she ever imagined. A classic summer vacation read from the inimitable Dorothea Benton Frank
Barnes & Noble Editors
Discussion Questions
1. Describe Leslie and Wesley. Who are they as people? Do they see each other for who they truly are? Do they like each other as people?
2. Why does Leslie call herself "the last original wife?" Is she proud of this designation? Does it propel her to continue her situation? What impact does her friends' divorces have on her own life and outlook?
3. Leslie tells the psychiatrist, Dr. Katz, "Wes's friends were married to girls who are young enough to be their daughters. I didn't want to spend every holiday and weekend for the rest of my life with a bunch of Barbies.... These insipid young women would never be my friends. Moreover, I didn't want them to be my friends." Even though she doesn't have much in common with these younger women, should Leslie have tried to give them a chance? Is being friendly with a new, younger wife a sign of disloyalty?
4. Leslie and Wes have two adult children. Talk about their relationship with their kids. What kind of parents are they? Did they raise their daughter and son well?
5. One of the most important people in Leslie's life is her brother, Harlan. Why did she allow herself to be separated from him for so long? What does Harlan bring to her life that is lacking in Atlanta?
6. What happens to Les emotionally when she heads to Charleston to see Harlan? Why is Charleston important to her?
7. While she's in Charleston, Leslie learns a great deal about Josephine Pinckney. How does Miss Pinckney inspire Leslie?
8. Being in Charleston, Les is reunited with her first love, Jonathan. Compare him with Wes. What does Jonathan provide Les that Wes does not? Do you think she and Jonathan will live happily ever after?
9. Wes and his friends are all in late middle age. Do you think that younger generations of men will be different? How does Wes see himself and his friends? Have their financial achievements given them a false sense of security about their lives? What do you think will happen to Wes?
10. If you've read other books by Dorothea Benton Frank, how does The Last Original Wife compare with them?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)