I’m stepping out of character here. Fiction recommendations aren’t my usual schtick, though I do have plenty of parenting books I recommend over at Pinterest. Nor do I prefer poetry; Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” is probably the last poem I paid much attention, and that was at least two score years ago. But I can’t resist touting The Hunchback of Neiman Marcus: A Novel of Marriage, Motherhood, and Mayhem by Sonya Sones.
Yes, it’s a novel–in poetry form. So it’s perfect for sneaking in one more fun read before the lazy days of summer subside. While on retreat last week in New Mexico with a group of women, this book rarely hit the coffee table. Each member of our group read it in turn, and you knew who had her mitts on it by following the gales of guffaws around the cabin. Kittens, burning a diaphragm, groping in an elevator by a George Clooney lookalike–this book has it all!
Sones’ story-telling is charming and on-target, as we follow the heroine Holly through a sandwich generation year, launching her daughter off to college. It’s rib-tickling and fast, and fits a phrase my daughters used to echo echo echo: “it’s funny because it’s true.” The retreat readers laughed, cried, and nodded knowingly.
Sones’ poems range from this:
TO THE ONE-POUND BAG OF OREOS I JUST BOUGHT:
It’s so sad to think
that just moments from now
you’ll be gone
and I’ll be a cow.
to this:
EVERY TIME MY MOTHER CALLS
I feel burdened and bitter and
selfish and saddled and
surly and rankled and
ravaged and rattled and
battered and buried and
pummeled and tackled and
testy and trampled and
needled and shackled and
seethey and swiney and
whiny and wilty andguilty, guilty, guilty, GUILTY!
This is a dose of perspective on life that’s just the sanity-saver I love. Enjoy!
There was no feelings of attack or feelings of anger when I wrote my reply to you. Just stated how I feel about people I find toxic.
You can read into it whatever you like, but with the written word there is no body language, inflections, or an
yes, like my soon to be ex husband! He also fits #s1,3,4,5 above.
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