An Author's Style

First I will say would give the movie, Deep End of the Ocean, 3 stars. I think that the director did a wonderful job of staying true to the story and script. Some lines in the movie I recognized word for word from the book. There were a few minor differences but I enjoyed it.

I ended up renting “Song of Solomon” from my local library. Apparently some error occurred with my online order and I was just waiting in vain. I started the book and I always find myself struggling to “adapt” to a new authors writing. I get used to one authors style and then it takes me a minute to get used to another authors style. After I read the Twilight Saga it took me about six months before I was able to pick up another book and read it from cover to cover. There was something about Stephenie Meyer's writing that was so natural to me (and of course Edward Cullen helped!) It was just too hard (and not fun) to dive into a new book.

Now that I am getting into the heart of the story behind “Song of Solomon” I enjoy the way Toni Morrison can blend from one characters point of view to another characters point of view, almost without the reader even knowing it. The other intriguing concept is the way the family relationship boundaries are blurred… a mother that may have had an inappropriate relationship with her father, a boy that nursed well beyond the socially excepted age, an abusive father and an intimate relationship between second cousins.   

Tick, Tock... Tick, Tock

I spent the whole rainy, windy weekend without a book to read and it was killing me! I tried renting the next book on the Book Club list, Songs of Solomon by Toni Morrison, from my local libraries, but they were all checked out and not due back until the beginning of November. I resorted to buying a used copy of the book on Half.com. I got it for $.99 but now I have to wait on the shipping from California.

Having some spare time on my hands I Googled the name Solomon…I recognized the name from history classes but couldn’t recall the details. Turns out Solomon was the king of Jerusalem from 971 - 931 BC according to the Hebrew Bible. He is portrayed as being wise, wealthy and powerful and is also credited with building The First Temple in Jerusalem. The biblical story says that when Solomon turned his back on God, God tore away half of Solomon’s kingdom from him. Within the Hebrew Bible there is a book called “Song of Songs” and is also known as The Song of Solomon. Some people believe the book was written by Solomon while some believe that the book was only dedicated to Solomon. The verses appear to be a man and a women moving from courtship to consummation. Interpreters believe it may be referring to the relationship between God and the Church or between Christ and the human soul. Interesting… it makes me wonder how this will relate to Morrison’s book?

So while I wait I decided to reserve the movie, The Deep End of the Ocean, via Netflix. I’ll let you know my review of the movie soon.

First book done, 67 to go!

I finished reading my first book! I loved the way the author, Jacquelyn Mitchard, ended the book. Not a completely happy ending but satisfying enough. (You’ll have to read it yourself to find out how the book ends.) I reviewed the suggested book club questions in the back of the book and there was only one that I wanted to respond to:

Q:  The title, The Deep End of the Ocean, refers to Ben’s first, timid reaction to a large body of water. Later in the novel, Beth reflects that Ben has indeed been to the ocean’s deep end, and returned. What does the title mean to you? How have other members of the Cappadora family been to the deep end of the ocean?

A: First, when I think about the deep end of the ocean I think of a place that remains undiscovered by man. I think of living organisms that have not been seen before. The title of this book seems to be referring to this same concept but when it involves the grief of a person. Everyone deals with grief differently and no one knows where a grieving person’s “deep end of the ocean” will be and what it will consist of.

Secondly, I believe that every member of the Cappadora immediate family has experienced their “deep end of the ocean”, with the exception of little Kerry who may still be too young to truly understand the experiences happening within the family. Beth was so depressed that she disconnected from her kids and husband and was eventually unfaithful. Pat, Beth’s husband, suffered physical ailments due to the stress within the family and even considered divorce for a time. Vincent acted out his emotional pain with physical violence and resorted to changing his name. Even Ben experienced grief when he was stripped from his kidnapped family and placed in his biological parent’s home. Just as Ben says in Chapter 3, “You can go to the deep end. You can go there. You just start walking, until it goes over your head and then you keep on walking on the bottom. But then if you want to go back, that’s too hard because the water just rubs all of the feet marks away. You can’t ever turn around and go back. You can’t find it”. Grief can overtake a person like the ocean and it can be hard to ever come back.

 

My husband and I recently watched the documentary Mine on Netflix. It is about the victims of hurricane Katrina that were forced to leave their pets behind. It focused on the rescue efforts of the animals and how the Humane Society handled their recoveries. Unfortunately all the chaos and the outrageous number of rescued animals were too overwhelming for the local animal shelters so animals were shipped to shelters in other states. The documentary focuses on four specific cases where the animal’s owners have trouble locating their pets once they recover from the hurricane. It is heart wrenching to watch for animal lovers. In one case a Jack Russell terrier is adopted from a shelter that is a “Katrina animal”. The original owner makes an attempt to get his dog back but the “new” owners feel it is their dog now and don't want to return him…totally reminiscent of what Beth is experiencing with Sam. Sam wants to go back with his adopted dad. Now the family has to consider a “shared custody” situation in order to keep the son they love (and have been missing for nine years) happy! 

The Name Game...

I spent the weekend with my mother and children in Southern Utah. I packed my book hoping to get in some reading… what a joke! I spent more of the time trying to keep the kids entertained and anything else. But while the kids were busy burning off their energy at the local park it left my mom and I time to dream of what it would be like to live there; a permanent summer paradise.

Haven’t we all dreamed of moving somewhere new and reinventing ourselves? I grew up in the same city as my parents, grandparents and even some great-grandparents. Encountering people you went to elementary school with almost on a daily basis won’t allow you grow out of anything you have done in the past. That is why I could understand why Vincent would willingly change his name to Reese when the family relocates to Chicago. I think it is his attempt to distance himself from his unpleasant past and live a pseudo life. As Reese he can express his internal anger towards himself and his family against random children at school that give him a hard time. But who would have known that the boy from down the street that Reese frequently watches and follows would turn out to be his missing little brother?

Ben is back… but now he is “Sam”. Transitioning Sam back into the family is hard on everyone. Especially on Sam who is a confused little 12 year old. From the parents point of view it is obvious why they would immediately want Sam back in their home. But part of me thinks that the most important thing is what would be best for the child. All he has known is his mentally ill mother (a high school rival of Beth’s) and his adopted father who have taken excellent care of him. Somehow is seems kind of cruel to rip him away from the only life he has known. If it were my child I would want them back too. It is such a hard situation.

I am excited to see how the “new” relationships in the family will form and if Beth will include the ex-adopted father into their family life. 

A Family's Grief.

It is easy to imagine how a parent would feel about a missing child; sad, lost, guilty. That is exactly what has happened to Beth. After 6 months of Ben being gone, she has returned home from Chicago but she rarely gets out of bed. She has stopped taking care of her remaining children and has stopped being a loving wife. I was interested to see the statistics about marriage after a child disappears. One article says that the only 16 percent of couples who experience the death of a child end up getting divorced. I wonder if it is the same for an abducted child? This article also says that “While the death of one’s child definitely places stress on a marriage, we believe the divorce rate is so low because of the commitment parents have to survive their tragedy as a shared experience." It doesn’t seem like Beth is trying what-so-ever to share grieve with her husband or any family member. For example, her freak-out reaction to her in-laws still getting Christmas presents for Ben even though he is missing. I have to say I can relate to her feeling upset about this… I know that the family is just trying to remain positive about Ben’s return, but getting him Christmas presents?? It seems a little disrespectful to do when the mother of the child is obviously struggling so much.    

(Another interesting fact I came across about child abductions: The US Department of Justice reports that 203,900 children were the victims of family abductions and only 58,200 children were the victims of non-family abductions in 2002. Should be suspect of all family members we have been introduced to thus far…?)

But what would a seven year old child feel about a missing sibling? Chapter 10 is so touching… because you get insight into Beth’s oldest son, Vincent’s point of view. Christmas is coming up and Vincent has decided to ask Santa to bring Ben back. He believes that by asking for his brother back for Christmas all of the adults will be happy, mostly his mom. To his surprise it seems to make everyone mad. This poor little boy has lost his brother and in a sense his mother to mourning. He seems to feel so alone and even avoids coming home after school. I just want to scoop him up into my arms and bring him to my house where I could make sure he was fed and paid attention to. Poor little guy!  :(

Diving Right In!

I finally was able to dive into “The Deep End of the Ocean”. It was so fitting that the second time I opened the book my 1.5 year old daughter had scribbled in orange crayon all over the inside front cover. It completely compliments the chaos that the main character, Beth Cappadora, experiences with her 3 small children. I could completely relate to the moment she was trying to get everyone in the car to head to her reunion. Her 3 year old son, Ben, pulled all of the medicine and makeup bottles out of her luggage and lined them up on the floor like toy soldiers. Just keeping the folded laundry folded and in the laundry basket is a battle at my house. My daughter wants to help and only really helps in undoing all of the work I have already done! Oh the patience it takes to be a mother!

Then Beth experiences the most devastating thing that can happen to a parent. Ben disappears while checking in at the hotel. Admittedly my 3 year old son has run off on me TWICE while shopping on two separate occasions. Thankfully both times I was with another adult and we were able to locate him in a few minutes… but let me tell you those few minutes were excruciating. You can’t imagine the fear that runs through you. Every possible bad scenario enters your head and you have no one to blame but yourself. I was holding my breath while reading about Beth searching for her son.

One little side note: This book has been made into a major motion picture which I have not seen. But while visiting Oprah.com there were images of the movie in the side line. I did catch that Michelle Pfeiffer plays Beth in the movie. Despite all of the author’s descriptions of Beth I have been unable to get her face out of my head while reading. That is one bad thing about seeing a movie before reading the book.

First book just arrived!

There is nothing I like more that walking into my favorite book store! I could spend endless hours reading the book jackets and smelling the scent of fresh unread pages. Unfortunately time does not permit me to do that very often so I resort to buying books online.I think in order to save some money (you know, in these hard economic times) I will be renting most of the books from my local library. It should have the same satisfying “book store” feeling. 

There are currently 68 books that have been selected for the Oprah Book Club. (you can find the full list here) The first book selected back in 1996 was “The Deep End of the Ocean”, by JacQuelyn Mitchard, which arrived at my front door this morning! I am so anxious to begin reading but I must first finish the book I am currently reading. Many people are able to read multiple books at a time. Not me. I have to devote my whole attention to a single story. Happy reading!

My name is Emily. I am 28 years old, married to a great man and have 2 small children; 3 ½ year old son and a 19 month old daughter. Thanks to my mother, I grew up learning and laughing with Oprah. Fifteen years ago this month, Oprah launched her Book Club. At the time I was 13 years old and obviously not ready to tackle the content of the books selected for the club reading. In the last 3 years I have become more of a book worm and always relied on the suggestions of my friends and family for reading material. While watching the 2^nd episode of “Oprah’s Farewell Season” (with my mother…), Oprah announced the addition of the book “Freedom” by Jonathan Franzen, and it dawned on me all of the great reading suggestions I have missed out on in the past 15 years. So my goal is to read all of the books on the Oprah Book Club list, starting with the first added in 1996. I won’t give myself a time limit (after all I am busy mother, wife and worker) and although I don’t anticipate it, I will stop reading any of these books if I am not enjoying it… because for me reading is all about pleasure and learning. So here it goes…