SuzanneRating:
Review
Runaway teen Felice Muir has been living on the streets of Miami for over four years. Unbeknownst to her upper middle-class parents Brian and Avis, she is punishing herself for an event that happened when she was thirteen. The broken family’s home and work lives bring up a number of interesting themes, such as Avis’s exquisite in-home bakery centered on sugar versus her son Stanley’s healthy organic food store. Avis strongly favors her runaway daughter over her son Stanley to the point of being mean, which really turned me off to her character, although she does seem to be suffering from a possible mental breakdown. The extensive Spanish-speaking population in Miami is an ever present background theme throughout the story as well, from new immigrants to families who’ve lived there for generations. Unfortunately the story wanders aimlessly around without a real plot or any satisfaction, more like a journal than a novel. If you’re looking for a good plot then read Abu-Jaber’s other book Origin instead.
Best Line: “Javier used to tell him: Things begin and end with the wife.” (pg. 312)
KimRating:Review
This story is told by a series of family members in alternating chapters, beginning with Avis Muir, mother and master pastry chef, who may do a whiz-bang job in the kitchen but the rest of her life is falling apart. Her husband Brian has become distant and quiet, her adult son Stanley has all of his time and energy centered on a health-food store he owns, and teenage daughter Felice ran away from home five years prior and her family has had little contact with her. Felice hasn’t run far though, because every now and then she will call Avis to set up a meeting, which Felice usually does not show up for. Brian is an unhappy sort for the most part until a beautiful co-worker enters the picture. Stanley is a talented cook, and an immensely focused young business owner, and Felice is young and confused and, okay, I’m going to say it – pathetic. I’m also going to say that the acorn did not fall far from the tree here, because I found every character in this book unlikable. I couldn’t wait to be done with this over-long story. Felice is selfish and self-centered, Avis is pretty much awful toward her husband and children, and Brian is considering fishing from the work pier, which is not only wrong but tacky as hell. Contributing to the story are Felice’s boyfriend, Emerson, and Stanley’s girlfriend, Nieves, and while they didn’t irritate me so much, they couldn’t have possibly saved this terrible story.
Best Line:“You can’t know until you
let yourself know.”
