Book review
I know something about “The Underside of Joy.” So I was anxious to read Sere Prince Halverson‘s take in her new book with the same title. You see I raised an only child. Our nuclear family consisted of my son, me, his father and his stepmother— in that order of importance.
To this day I can remember mostly imagined threats that their coupling/commitment to each other presented in my mind. When I was living in this odd formation, my perception that I coexisted with threats was my reality. Not until my son was more than 25 years old did I ever have a concrete clue of what his stepmother thought since his father and I communicated about things that had to do with him. Upon reading this book, I hoped to get inside the stepmother’s head.
In true Kafkaesque style, the story begins on page one. Ella, the protagonist, is sleeping when her husband Joe gives her his last kiss and heads off to take photos on the beach. Within pages he is carried away by a wave and Ella is left to explain his death to their two children by his previous marriage, ages 3 and 7 and to pick up the pieces of their life.
At the funeral the children’s biological mother, who has been gone almost 3 years, returns. And the dramatic tension that underscores the real life problems both women are left to manage in Joe’s absence sets the pace for the balance of the book.
Ella must now figure out how to make peace with the biological mother for she in fact has no real claims on the children other than deep emotional ties and the comfort that Joe’s family and friends know she loves the children. But what will happen in a court of law. And there is more. In the course of trying to maintain her own sanity, she uncovers several of Joe and his family’s secrets. Better yet, she taps into one of her own forgotten childhood secrets.
There are more questions than answers: what caused the biological mother to leave? Why does Joe’s family feel negatively toward the children’s mother? What are the various family secrets driving all of the characters? Is a Mommy different from a Mama?
After little communication with her children, what does the biological mother now want? Why did she go away? Had Joe told Ella the truth about the dissolution of his marriage. The book reminds us that we never really know what is going on in another person’s life. Nor for that matter do we know how another person’s experiences in life shape their behavior.
I reviewed this book for the BlogHer Book Club. And while it is a paid review, the opinions expressed are my own. I am happy to say, “Two snaps and a twist.” Or more eloquently put, I recommend this book.
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