Inheriting Edith
By: Zoe Fishman / Narrated By: Cassandra Campbell
Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
Was enchanted by the Publisher’s Summary (Shoot me now!) but the actual book…? Hmm…
Oh well, at least it was on sale at Chirpbooks so I don’t have to question the shekels spent; I just have to question the mishmash that went into putting 8+ hours of my life into it.
It’s like this: Housekeeper to the rich and sometimes famous, Maggie, is in the newly-dead-by-suicide Liza’s Will. Liza has given Maggie a house in Sag Harbor (And apparently a lot of money as Maggie doesn’t work at all during the book, and she does stuff like buy her daughter toys and tiaras and bookcases and picks up groceries and such all) with a bit of a catch. The house is currently occupied by Liza’s mother Edith, and Edith is meant to stay put. And, it so happens, Edith has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and is in the early stages, tho’ it’s progressing quite rapidly.
There’s a bit of quibbling on Maggie’s part, but really it’s a bit of a no-brainer. Maggie’s a single mother to a toddler, Lucy, who has a bit of a speech impediment sometimes, can talk in perfect complex sentences at other times. Lucy is often precocious and observant, but usually she’s having a screaming hissy fit cuz she’s in her Terrible Twos. This is presented to us and feels authentic, but how are we s’posed to feel any real fondness for Lucy when we wanna throttle her? …Just asking…
ANYway—Maggie moves in, and Edith is NOT pleased. There’s an initial standoff, plus Lucy is all hostile and wary, but soon that goes away, like right quick in this story. Until it doesn’t. The writing is somewhat lopsided and heavy-handed in that all are happy, and then snapping at each other, then three peas in a pod. There’s not much character development tho’ we ARE given complete and lengthy histories for both Maggie (Never let the father of Lucy know she was knocked up on the last night of their relationship) and Edith (Who has a Big Bad Secret she’s been holding for yeeeeeears but SUDdenly decides to tell this stranger in her house with ne’er a backward glance).
I DID like Esther the Ultra-YENTA-ish friend of Edith. She at least had some warmth, some depth to her. I appreciated her no-nonsense way of getting information cuz both Maggie and Edith quibble so much about sharing (Until they’re out and out DUMPing their life stories onto everyone’s lap), but there too, Esther made life soooo easy for all involved with her affluence, treating all to expensive lunches and dinners (Where Lucy throws tantrums… cute…), sharing her chauffeur so that all can get around, plus she is always there to provide babysitting and Edith-sitting so that a romantic interest could be introduced and Maggie could dash out and get involved with someone, I guess to round out the story and plant this firmly in Chick-Lit.
Now what I reeeeally didn’t like was the ending. Talk about ABRUPT. And everything just wrapped up so neatly when I happen to know from experience that dementia is NOT like that. This could’ve been warmer, and it could’ve been wiser. But it’s like author Zoe Fishman kinda sorta just gave up on furthering the novel, deepening the characters. Plus, whazza deal with Liza? There was aaaalmost a story there about mothers and daughters, but Edith always came out of each remembered interaction as a pretty cold and judgmental person. Plus, whazza deal with mental illness? There was aaaalmost a good message there, but it was totally skimmed over.
What reeeeally had me going for this novel was that Cassandra Campbell was narrator. But I’ve gotta up and admit that I don’t think this was one of her best performances. As usual, she’s THERE in being true to characters, but with the story as written? Oh GOD! If I had to hear that cutesy voice of Lucy lisping, or that shrill wanna-jam-an-ice pick into my ear shrieking she does when she doesn’t get her way? Good cow, I’d have had to blow m’ poor unchallenged brains out.
Still, a fairly sweet story without any tension if tension bothers you (And a LOT of the time I can’t handle the stress of Not Knowing What’s Going to Happen Next). Just no challenges, and little depth. Good, decent characters, doing the right thing.
Ho-hum.
-BUT-
At least I got it cheap!
:)
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