Minnesota "Nice", Down and Dirty

"Good Grief", a Book Review (Not a Charlie Brown-ism)

My relaxation techniques as well as emotional outlets these days consist of wine, and reading.  More reading than wine, considering I still have to keep my job and be a wife and mother on an excessively regular basis.  (But, don't think I don't hanker for it often, even when I'm not drinking it!!)

I'm actually not sure where I got it, but recently I ran across the book, "Good Grief" when I was looking for a new read.  I think maybe my friend Danielle gave it to me, as part of a book swap that we recently (well, not too recently; January) took part in.  It was just her and me, so it wasn't a mega-swap, though I think I snagged 3 or 4 books out of the deal, giving her only 1 or 2 of mine (she'd read the others). 

Anyhoo, I suppose it was good timing reading this book, as it wasn't TOO soon after my dad's death where I would barely make it through it, and it wasn't too long after where I couldn't somewhat sympathize.  Though, the way the author, Lolly Winston, tells the story of the lead character's attempt of making it through life after her husband dies of Lou Gehrig's disease, it felt like I was right there and could have sympathized no matter what.  I mean, even if I'd just won the Nobel prize, saved a dog from the pound and won the lottery (I would be oh, so happy!), I would still have felt so many of the emotions Lolly depicted in her novel.  It was that well-written.

Sophie Stanton lives in the Silicon Valley with her husband of 4 years when he dies.  It's cool, because she acknowledges his flaws, even as she misses everything about him.  She even talks about how the dead are always "perfect" to their loved ones.  They forget about the bad things (true).  She goes through such iterations as giving her brand-new furniture to the Goodwill when they come to pick up her dead husband's belongings, only because it's too painful to let them go yet (it was easier to give away $10,000 of furniture and having nothing to sit on).  She goes to work one day in her bathrobe and slippers, only to be asked to "take a leave of absense, to get healthy".  She sells her house and moves to Oregon, and fails miserably as a waitress...which ends up being the best thing that happened to her all year!  Oooooh, the plot thickens.  You must read.

Anyway, this wasn't much of a book review (I'm really tired and need to go to bed, and start a new book).  I just really, really liked it and highly recommend it.  It might be slightly more chick-lit than some of the Nevil Shute books I totally love and recommend, but very worth the read.  It just pulls out all sorts of emotions in a person.  Some of which, I wish I didn't know about.  Truly.  But since I do, I'm glad that I found this person, this character who not only understands the same emotions I've had, but has had them 50 times more/worse!

Perhaps I am about books, the same way I am about movies: greatly and easily amused.  I suppose it doesn't matter so much, does it?  Isn't that the point of both; to be amused??  Why be so picky and snooty about it.  Just take it for the entertainment it is supposed to be, is the way I see it.  But, I do like books and lots of them.  Lots and lots of genres. 

So, take a break, Charlie Brown, and read "Good Grief".  Preferably with a big vat of wine next to you in the bubble bath.

The Beginning of a New Topic

I was thinking recently about the amount of reading I've been doing lately.  I've decided that, although I will probably be a TERRIBLE book reviewer, I want to do book reviews on my blog. 

Today's book will be: Running with Scissors.  Now, many of you have probably seen the movie trailer, as have I.  I'm here to tell you that the movie is already missing a lot.  As I read the book, I was wondering how on earth they would be able to make it into a movie, so I'm sure they had to really water it down.

With that in mind, I shall start.

This book is a memoir of a boy's childhood.  And, messed up, it was.  I mean, I think about how some of my friends and I think we had weird or bad childhoods, but ours were NOTHING compared to this kid's.  It starts out with this youngish (10 or so) boy, who has parents who absolutely HATE each other.  They are always yelling at each other in front of Augusten (the boy) about how they wish they'd never met, married, had kids, etc.  The mom is a poet of sorts, and the dad is an alcoholic lawyer or something.  I really don't remember those details, actually.  That's why this book review will suck.

Anyway, ultimately the mom decides to go to counseling (so she doesn't go crazy) and also does marriage counseling.  I guess they were seeing some shrink who wanted them to have therapy for 5 (!!) hours per day.  That didn't happen, they get divorced eventually, and the mom and Augusten move out.  He never sees his dad again, according to the book. 

The mom continues to see the shrink...yes, for HOURS each day.  She ends up getting crazier and crazier, and is in and out of mental institutions.  At one point she decides she's a lesbian, and has a couple of different lovers...one is like a minster's wife or something, and another is an 18-year-old black girl.  After she and Augusten move out, she introduces him to her shrink's family, and he ends up spending LOTS of time there.  Ultimately, he ends up being legally adopted by them, which is just crazy!  His mom decides he needed a different family or something.

The weird part, is that they are the weirdest family ever.  They allow their kids to do whatever they want, like take out the entire kitchen ceiling, because they felt "constricted" when they were in the kitchen. The doctor was fine with it, and even gave the kids money to put in a skylight.  He allowed them to play with his electroshock therapy machine.  They were allowed to drink, smoke pot and have sex in their house.  In fact, the doctor basically "sold" his youngest daughter to a dirty old man who wanted her as a "companion"/sex slave.  They ended up suing the guy and getting a bunch of money, which the doctor kept.  The daughter moved back to the house--she was 14 at that point.

This doctor was nuttier than nuts.  He thought God talked to him in various (strange) ways...such as in his fecal matter.  He would make everyone look at his poo so he could tell them what the Lord was trying to relay to him. He insisted on looking at their poo as well.  He made the older daughter scoop his poo out of the toilet (since he had decided that God was only speaking through HIS poo, and nobody else's) and out into the sun, so that it could dry and be there as a shrine of sorts.  He did that for a few weeks, til he had a bout of constipation.  God was no longer using his poo as a means of communication, apparently.  So, outside they had numerous piles of dried out poo sitting on the picnic table, for all the world to see.

In the end, apparently it was discovered that the doctor was insanely drugging Augusten's mother, and using HER as his sex slave.  Oh, and by the way, Augusten realized (strangely!) during this time that he was gay.  And, then another of the doctor's deranged "sons" whom was also gay (and more than twice Augusten's age) decided he wanted a relationship with him, and that was part of the story too.

It was just a WEIRD book. Yet, I couldn't put it down.  It was a very easy read, because I expected NONE of it.  Can you imagine...this was a MEMOIR!! This kid actually went THROUGH it!  And, now he is a very famous author.  Crazy! 

Anyway, I totally do recommend this book (as long as you aren't afraid of some of the content).  It was a very weird, yet fascinating read.  And, it really happened.  The movie looks like it may just suck, comparatively!

Grade: A- W   (W = weird)