What To Do About Reading Malaise???????????????

                                    As I have remarked, girls, in spite of my father's passing, I have been able to read.  Immersing myself in a book enables me to escape pain, for awhile.  Better than hillbilly heroin, dolls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                     It had been so long since I bought "What To Do About The Solomons," that I thought maybe it was a thriller about a family who had been murdered. When I read the back jacket, and saw one reviewer compared it to one of my favorite books, Jane Smiley's "A Thousand Acres," I knew this is what intrigued me enough to buy it.

                                      I have to learn to avoid hype.  There is nothing remarkable about this book.

                                      One could call it a family saga.  But, at only 243 pages, it is the most abbreviated one I have ever read.  The Solomons are continental; some live in Israel, some in New York.  Honestly, I couldn't get excited about any of them, except Carolyn, who, while her husband Marc's business empire is crumbling around him, and the family finances being ruined, adopts a "Belle De Jour" like existence, and, like Catherine Deneuve, in that classic film, spends her days working as a prostitute.  This most interesting aspect of the plot, which should have been explored more, is dropped.  Marc whines, there is a gay son who is estranged, the American and Israeli branches do not see eye to eye--who cares?  Even the last sentences suggest the author has the same contempt for the story she has written; her first novel, by the way. After asking the titular question, the last sentence suggests they will simply take care of themselves.

                                       So, what was the point?  Why should we care?  And Bethany, dear, if this got you published, I'd hate to see your rejects.  In fact, Bethany Ball makes the most disappointing literary debut I have read in ages.  So much so I would tend to avoid her future efforts.  She might write a book of the year--hope springs eternal.  But, on the basis of this book, I don't see that happening.

                                        Of course, the deeper problem is that much of what I read, and maybe this is due to my emotions at the time, fail to engage me completely.  I don't have the urge to re-read one of my faves, so that is not the answer.  What I am looking for--and if it is out there, girls, let me know!!!!!--is a book that will awaken the sense of awe and wonder I felt when reading "Wuthering Heights," "Middlemarch," or "The Secret History," for the first time.

                                       Nevertheless, the reading will go on!  And when I find the magic again, I will let you know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!