Patty DannCritiques

A serendipitous find, I picked this up when I was reading [b:Goldfish on Vacation|33312932|Goldfish on Vacation|Sally Lloyd-Jones|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1501497592l/33312932._SX50_.jpg|54052300].
This is a short little memoir that looks into the process of losing a loved one and sharing the experience with a small child.

I am familiar with The Wright Brothers but not really familiar with Katharine. This book is told through a series of letters by Katharine to her brother, Orville. The Wright Brothers are what helped me with my inspiration in aviation.

After reading this book, I found another of the Wrights that I did like. Katharine was a good voice of this book. The further I got into the book; the more connected I became towards her. Although, in this case, I was turned off by Orville. Ok, so I understand he was hurt by his sister marrying his best friend but I felt like he carried the grudge on too long. In fact, he acted like a child. If not for his sister, he really would be lost.

While, I did enjoy reading this book; I found it to read both fast and slow. Fast because the chapters were short and the overall page count of this book is on the shorter length. Slow because there was not a lot happening. It was really one sided...Katharine's. Overall, I did find this book to still be an enjoyable read.

This novel is about the Wright brother’s sister, Katharine, with an A! It is written through letters that Katharine wrote to Orville in her older years, and also as entires in her own marriage diary. It is an interesting read, going between the two. It reminds me a bit like The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society how it was written from the view point of letters. It makes for very easy reading!

As Katharine writes letters to Orville, she is reminiscing about their childhood, as well as how they eventually go to wear they did with flying at Kitty Hawk. As she writes the entries in her marriage diary, she is writing mostly about her life currently, having finally married after half a century and trying to make a new life away from Orv and being used to running a household full of males.

I learned a lot about the Wright family, I did not know a lot to begin with but there was a lot to learn about Orville, and essentially Katharine seemed to be some of the brains behind it all as well. She seemed to be a little resentful of having gone through life being referred to as the Wright Brother’s sister, which in a way, I kind of don’t blame her considering her contribution.

I thought it was a very interesting read, and I liked the style of writing. Although sometime I had to look at the font to see if she was writing to her brother or in her marriage diary. Thank you to the author, and Harper Perennial for the ARC! I really enjoyed learning about this family and how they contributed to history and the airplane that none of give a second thought to anymore.

Lyrical, substantive, concise. Both a memoir and a book chock full of insights for nonfiction / memoir writers. Quick read. Many moments of joy, irony, surprise captured in "The Butterfly Hours."

I love the concept of this story, but most of it being told through Charlotte ruins it, in my opinion. I would have much preferred to see more dialogue from the likes of Joe and Lou, instead of having to decipher their words through Charlotte’s rambles. This fourteen-year-old girl has some serious problems. Granted she’s a teenager; she’s confused about everything, which is perfectly fine. But she’s also completely neurotic, and her inability to stick to one thought makes this an exhausting read.

Just when she’s saying something, and her story is picking up motion, Charlotte goes off on one of her wandering walks through her mind, talking about people who’ve said this and said that, and mentioning things they did and pointing out things they would never dream of doing in this God given lifetime, making the reader forget what it was she was even talking about to begin with.

That sentence/paragraph really sums up a lot of what’s going on in this book: whole chapters of ramblings. I found the whole thing exhausting, to be honest. I like to read a book to relax, and this was the least relaxing book I think I’ve ever read. I really wanted to enjoy it, and tried to, but it just didn’t do it for me. Perhaps I’m just particularly impatient and like a book to hook me immediately and make me beg for more, but honestly this novel didn’t even interest me in the slightest.

There was on scene where Charlotte goes to see Mother Superior at the convent. It could have been an opportunity for the character to get help perhaps, but the author chose it as an outlet for the nun to tell her story, which I found to be the most interesting part of the book. Her little talk to Charlotte was in fact the only thing I liked about it. I had to force myself to continue reading this, as I really didn’t want to. The thoughts of reading the next novel on my list is what got me through it. Picking it up, felt like I had an assignment to do for school on a subject I hate, and that’s not a feeling you want when you’re trying to unwind with a book.

I saw the film years ago, and I know you should never judge a book by the movie, which I didn’t, in this case. I found the movie very endearing and I think it succeeded in portraying the characters and the story in a way that viewers would understand and relate to. Whereas I think the book failed to do that here.

I gave it two stars instead of one because, as I said earlier, I understand the concept and what the author was trying to do, (and maybe I wanted to like it so much that I couldn’t bear to give it just one star). In saying that, I won’t be reading this again in a hurry.

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Fact #1: Mermaids came out in 1967.

Fact #2: Mermaids is not about mermaids.

Fact #3: Mermaids was made into a movie starring Cher as Mrs. Flax, the wild mother, Winona Ryder as the older daughter, and Christina Ricci as the younger daughter. Though I haven’t seen the movie, this is the perfect cast for this book, which ought to tell you something.

Guys, this book was strange. Mostly, it was actually a pretty normal YA plotline, not that YA really existed back in the day, when I guess this must have been the shortest adult novel ever, since I don’t imagine it would have been given to children. The Flaxes are a dysfunctional family (is there any other kind?) headed by Mrs. Flax. She’s a single parent, with two girls, Charlotte and Kate, both with different fathers. The family moves constantly, whenever Mrs. Flax’s romance du jour turns south.

Unsurprisingly, Charlotte holds a lot of resentment for Mrs. Flax, which is what she calls her all the time. Children tend, most often to admire their parents and want to be like them or to want to be the total opposite. Charlotte’s the latter sort, only, for her, rebelling means religion, high-necked dresses, and a desire to become a saint (even though her family is Jewish). Her little asides about saints are hilarious and, oh my, how I can picture Winona Ryder being perfection at this. At the same time, though, Charlotte’s actually got a lot in common with her mother, and even feels jealous of her mother’s popularity. Also unsurprising is that Charlotte has some daddy issues. She has a picture of his shoes and hopes to identify him this way (lol, gurl, not happening).

For all the tension between Charlotte and Mrs. Flax, the family’s actually fairly loving overall. Charlotte’s not thrilled about the situation, but she’s also a teen and that tends to go along with moping. Both Charlotte and Mrs. Flax dote on Kate, who ties them together into a family unit. Mrs. Flax’s endless string of affairs has clearly affected Charlotte’s psyche in a really unhealthy way, but she’s not intentionally abusive. Some people just aren’t good parents unfortunately.

Mermaids is about Charlotte transitioning from a girl to a woman, and hoping that the family will finally stay in one place for a while. Fourteen-year-old Charlotte, daddy issues hard at work, crushes hard on twenty-nine-year-old Joe. You guys, I was super not cool with the romance plot or how the ending went freaking bananas, all of which I must spoiler tag. View Spoiler » Go home, book. You’re drunk.

The audiobook was a really pleasant way to read the story, especially since it was only four hours. That took no time at all. (Well, actually, it took 4 hours.) Aaaanyway, I thought Elizabeth Evans did a good job portraying Charlotte, both the naivete and the know-it-all superiority sides of her character. She does a convincing teen voice, without sounding like an older woman trying to sound like a teen.

I would kind of like to watch the movie now, but it’s not on Netflix Watch Instantly. I shall have to see if I can rustle it up somewhere. This was a weird, creepy, and entertaining read.

This is an amazing book.

Losing a spouse is probably the worst thing that can happen to a person. Having to explain and help a three-year-old live with death makes it a hundred times harder. The author dove into the past in order to comprehend the process of death, letting seemingly petty events help give her some perspective of the pain she went through. Snippets of her own story and others' stories make up this memoir.

The author kept the book simple and straightforward. Each "memory" is short (the longest only about 3 pages), which made the whole book very easy to read and consume. It was so sad and so beautiful to read.

Dann’s husband unexpectedly is diagnosed with brain cancer. Dann and her young son try to deal with his impending death. The fresh thoughts of the son and of Dann’s elderly writing students give this book great strength.

I just finished The Goldfish Went on Vacation, a nonfiction account of Dann’s loss of her husband. Sweet & Crazy follows very similar paths. I enjoyed it just as much. The little boy in the book was so much fun. “Now you’re a window,” he tells his mom after his dad dies.

Erica McDonald:

What could be more difficult than learning your husband has only one year to live? Try explaining illness and death to your four-year-old son. Dann's account of her family's personal loss is at times quirky, poignant, heartbreaking, and inspiring. How do you explain death to a small child? The goldfish may go on vacation, but when a child loses a parent, honesty is important and professional guidance and support can be crucial. This book will touch your heart. And in addition to its moving story, it includes an afterword from the child psychologist who worked with Dann's young son along with an extensive list of further resources.