- Joined
- Feb 13, 2005
- Messages
- 3,126
- Reaction score
- 768
- Location
- Near Cincinnati
- Website
- www.allensedge.com
Since I'm writing YA, I've been reading YA books. The latest I read was Dirty Little Secrets, chosen because I found it in the bookstore and it sounded interesting and shockingly familiar.
(Spoilers, of course)
In the story, Lucy is 16. Her mother is a hoarder and their entire house is filled with stacks of stuff. There's no heat, no hot water (both broke; stuff is in the way and they can't be fixed), and mold is growing all over the walls. Life is horrible and Lucy is counting the days until she turns 18 and can move out. At the beginning of the story, she finds her mother dead. She knows that their lives will become a media circus which will destroy her own life once the paramedics come, so instead she decides to clean the house as fast as she can, throwing everything away. As the story progresses, as she uncovers forgotten things, she recalls earlier times in her life as things started going bad.
Her mother was a compulsive shopper and hoarder, but I also found her to be almost paranoid schizophrenic and definitely bipolar, but the author doesn't come right out and say it. I don't realizes the main character realizes symptoms of bipolar, but I saw it.
I found the story compelling and well-written, and very sad, too. And familiar. In my case, my mother was/is a compulsive shopper, and in his later years my father started buying lots of things, charging up a credit card. The house was filling up with tools, microwaves, and other things. The living room was like a Goodwill store with stacks of microwaves you had to walk around. My father was not exactly a hoarder, but more of a "saver" and hung onto things forever. So much so that the house and basement and bedrooms were filling up.
In recent months, my father is in a nursing home because he has dementia and Parkinsons, and we have been cleaning out the house. The kitchen/dining room is finally down to two microwaves (down from I think seven that he "used" daily). We've been cleaning out all the crap out the basement and throwing it away. Well, I have, anyway. My mom's doing better with her saving, (she loves figurines and other decorations she gets at Goodwill) and we've been getting rid of all that stuff, too. Someday Dad will die and the house might have to be sold. And it's better to deal with all this now than later.
Anyway, about the book. The story ends with Lucy--with no other choice--burning the house down. And it ends right after that without any closure. That was my first complaint. The author posted the final chapter on her website so you could read what all happened after. I don't know if that was her decision or the publisher's, but I would rather have that final chapter in the book.
Second complaint: the author left one loose end dangling. Lucy at one point finds her mother's credit card bills. She had at least five credit cards, and one bill had a balance of $48,000. Lucy nearly has a panic attack when she realizes that once her mother is taken out of there, that she may be responsible for paying all that back. BUT, in the last chapter that fact is not brought up again. What happened to the credit card debt? It's not explained.
Otherwise, it was a great book.
(Spoilers, of course)
In the story, Lucy is 16. Her mother is a hoarder and their entire house is filled with stacks of stuff. There's no heat, no hot water (both broke; stuff is in the way and they can't be fixed), and mold is growing all over the walls. Life is horrible and Lucy is counting the days until she turns 18 and can move out. At the beginning of the story, she finds her mother dead. She knows that their lives will become a media circus which will destroy her own life once the paramedics come, so instead she decides to clean the house as fast as she can, throwing everything away. As the story progresses, as she uncovers forgotten things, she recalls earlier times in her life as things started going bad.
Her mother was a compulsive shopper and hoarder, but I also found her to be almost paranoid schizophrenic and definitely bipolar, but the author doesn't come right out and say it. I don't realizes the main character realizes symptoms of bipolar, but I saw it.
I found the story compelling and well-written, and very sad, too. And familiar. In my case, my mother was/is a compulsive shopper, and in his later years my father started buying lots of things, charging up a credit card. The house was filling up with tools, microwaves, and other things. The living room was like a Goodwill store with stacks of microwaves you had to walk around. My father was not exactly a hoarder, but more of a "saver" and hung onto things forever. So much so that the house and basement and bedrooms were filling up.
In recent months, my father is in a nursing home because he has dementia and Parkinsons, and we have been cleaning out the house. The kitchen/dining room is finally down to two microwaves (down from I think seven that he "used" daily). We've been cleaning out all the crap out the basement and throwing it away. Well, I have, anyway. My mom's doing better with her saving, (she loves figurines and other decorations she gets at Goodwill) and we've been getting rid of all that stuff, too. Someday Dad will die and the house might have to be sold. And it's better to deal with all this now than later.
Anyway, about the book. The story ends with Lucy--with no other choice--burning the house down. And it ends right after that without any closure. That was my first complaint. The author posted the final chapter on her website so you could read what all happened after. I don't know if that was her decision or the publisher's, but I would rather have that final chapter in the book.
Second complaint: the author left one loose end dangling. Lucy at one point finds her mother's credit card bills. She had at least five credit cards, and one bill had a balance of $48,000. Lucy nearly has a panic attack when she realizes that once her mother is taken out of there, that she may be responsible for paying all that back. BUT, in the last chapter that fact is not brought up again. What happened to the credit card debt? It's not explained.
Otherwise, it was a great book.