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The Wife's Tale by Lori Lansens - Reviewed by Angie Wilson

I knew nothing about this book when I picked it up. I didn’t even bother to read the blurb on the back of the book I just dived in with trepidation and a hopeful spirit. What I got was nothing like what I was expecting. I was submerged into a tale that truly resonated with me; so much so that at times it felt like kismet that I should be reading this book at this point in my life.

The story centres on Mary Gooch. Mary is a wife, a pharmacy clerk, a daughter, a sister-in-law, a daughter-in-law all in the body of a 302 pound woman. Mary lives in Leaford, Canada; a small town where there are no secrets and everybody is watching everyone else. Mary has grown up in Leaford, fallen in love in Leaford and eaten her way through millions of calories in Leaford.

Lori Lansens tells this tale with a poetic and masterful voice. Her language is rhythmic and captivating. The story is brought to life through the strong voice that Lansens empowers Mary with. While Mary is unable to give voice to her thoughts in her daily life, her internal dialogue is potent and compels this story.

Mary is thrust into leaving her predictable and repetitive life when her Husband, Jimmy Gooch, fails to come how from work on the eve of their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. This one act of her Husband triggers a reassessment of all the moments in Mary’s life that have lead to this point in time.

Mary remembered, when she was nine years old, stepping off the scale in Dr. Ruttle’s office and hearing him whisper the word to her slight mother, Irma. It was an unfamiliar word, but one she understood in context of the fairy-tale world. Obeast. There were witches and warlocks. So must there be ogres and obeasts. Little Big Mary wasn’t confused by the diagnosis. It made sense to her child’s mind that her body had become an outward manifestation of the starving animal in her gut.

- The Wife’s Tale; page 2.

It’s the battle between Mary and her Obeast that really speaks in this novel. It casts a light on an epidemic that is killing the Western World in a way that is fresh and raw. Addiction to food is as real as any other addiction; gambling, drinking, drugs – it’s all the same mental battle. The voice in the head that compels a person to make the decisions they do. Mary’s voice has 43 years of experience at pushing her buttons. It is the love of her Husband, or more importantly the fear of abandonment that she sometimes confuses as love, that gives Mary the impetus she needs to ignore that voice for the first time in her life.

This novel is a coming of age tale; despite the fact that Mary is 43 years old and should know what she wants from life by now. Mary has hidden in her world. Shut herself off from the judging gaze of those in her community. Her weight has coloured everything; every experience, emotion or event. In her hiding she has given all her power to her Obeast. Every time she ventures into public her low self opinion is reinforced by the actions of others and in turn the Obeast grows stronger.

When her Husband leaves to ‘find himself’ Mary embarks on a single-minded journey to find him. Instead what she finds is the power to overcome her fear of living and ventures outside of Leaford for the first time in her life. Her hunt for her Husband takes Mary to Los Angeles and the home of her Mother-In-Law.

It seems no coincidence that the author has brought small town overweight Mary to Los Angeles, where body image reins supreme. However the experiences that Mary has while in Los Angeles are in no way predictable nor does the end of the book resolve them. It would have been so easy for the author to paint a standard generic view of the beautiful people in Los Angeles, but she skilfully avoids this pothole.

At times the inability of Mary to take control of her life is frustrating and agonizing. Her lack of confidence in her basic decision making is paralysing and has resulted in her relying on her Husband to do a lot of things she now needs to do to survive. With her Husband gone, and no return in sight, she must learn to stand on her own two feet. This struggle for independence is not only a mental one, but it is mimicked in her physicality as well as she is at times unable to support her own weight.

The relationships that Mary develops while in Los Angeles are unpredictable, moving and heart warming. Lansens shows a side of humanity that is often overlooked in this age of instant gratification and individuality. It’s through these relationships that she starts to learn how to believe in herself and her abilities.

This book finished leaving me wanting more. The book, while it ends does not end with everything resolved; which is rare in this age of a thirty-minute wrap up of all of life’s problems. Lansens has created a great novel that should resonate with a multitude of those suffering under the weight of an eating disorder. I am one of these people and for the first time I feel like some of the things that I have experienced in my life have been given a voice in print that is not judgemental nor compassionate; it just tells it like it is and it doesn’t offer the magic solution. It’s just one woman’s story told beautifully and expertly.

Reviewer Bio:

Angie Wilson is an avid reader of almost anything. A collector of classics and a junkie for romance she lives in Canberra, ACT with her Husband and their fur kids. When not reading she manages her own website at http://gnomeangel.com - it’s a rambling mess of everything she finds interesting and something’s she has no idea about but is willing to give it the good ole’ college try. Her motto in life; “How hard can it be?”

We LOVE Alexander McCall Smith's The Double Comfort Safari Club - latest from The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency ♥

Kind, witty and wise, on this new journey Mma Ramostwe again proves herself the most trustworthy of guides in an uncertain world.

Ian Rankin's The Complaints - Review by Ron Reynolds

Another good read from Rankin.
D.I. Malcolm Fox works in the most unpopular unit of any Police
Organization, Internal investigations.
After his latest successful investigation, Fox finds himself thrust into
a web of intrigue which is set to challenge his reputation and destroy him.
The story is well written characters credible and all in all a fine read
one for one's self or for a Christmas gift.
Whatever you decide, if you give it as a gift,buy a copy for
yourself......borrow it back.....or read it before you wrap it!

Erick Satiawan's Of Bees and Mist - Reviewed by Tara Poole

This is a tale of women, blending aural traditions with demons and ghosts, together with the ever-present pressures of family. Saturated in myth and legend, Erick Satiawan’s debut novel follows the phantasmagorical life of Meridia as she grows up in a complicated house with her distant mother, Ravenna, speaking in tongues and her possessed father, Gabriel, who disappears every night shrouded in mist. The story centres on Meridia and we track her life as she falls in love and marries the enigmatic, yet uncomplicated Daniel, bringing her up close with the schemingly powerful Eva, Daniel’s mother. Throughout it all Meridia must make sense of the ghostly powers that surround her, and divine answers about her family’s past.

This is a novel about the power of women, the magic of mothers, and their hold over family and society. Setiawan’s language is steeped in folklore. He has been imprinted with stories reflecting his complicated upbringing which, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, is “a trifold identity struggle - born in Jakarta, Indonesia, to Chinese parents, where he lived before immigrating to the United States at age 16”.

We see his folklore heritage in every character - every woman has a connection to the spirits, whether it be using bees and fireflies, flowers and scent to their advantage – and in Setiawan’s acknowledgement of the power of gossip and how it can be used to destroy as well as build.

Meridia’s life is lived in an unnamed magical town, where mystics, faith healers, doctors of the occult, prophets, exorcists, flagellants and fortune-tellers are commonplace. As if to reflect this mystical environment, Setiawan’s language is layered and dense, giving a sensation of eating too-rich food. His flourishes are heavy and you are often left with little understanding of the motivations of the characters, or how they came to possess such powerful skills.

The roles of the men are reduced to being pawns at the hands of women, infected with their curses. In Eva’s case she uses bees on hapless men such her husband Elias, compelling him to undertake distasteful tasks which he would never agree to under his own will. This is unfortunate as it means we never get a clear view of the men in Setiawan’s novel as they are shrouded by the women.

Meridia and Eva are the two main protagonists of this tale, and the story is a battle of their wills to control their families. There are dramatic conflicts of demons and ghosts, summoned by the women to turn the minds of others. Meridia must find herself through this coming-of-age tale, hold on to her sanity and understand her past as she comes under constant attack from her mother-in-law. This plot keeps the story on track, even in the face of distracting sub-characters including a madly rutting pig beast who masquerades as a foreigner and an invisible best friend.

However Setiawan’s touching scenes of love and loss are gently played out. There are moments of painful clarity when Meridia must turn against the man she loves, recognizing that he will never be free from the iron grip of his mother. This tale of release, longing and pain does hold its own in the end.

Reviewer Bio:

An avid reader of fiction, Tara’s diet includes everything from Amy Hempel to Zadie Smith. She has a passion for a well turned word, and a voracious appetite for a whacking good story. Her last great read was Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson, but holds a special place for Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre. Like most good readers of fiction TeeKayP believes she’s got “Australia’s next great novel” in her brain waiting to come out. Until then she’ll just manage and run a PR agency. Well, it pays the bills.

Dan Brown's THE LOST SYMBOL reviewed by Ron Reynolds

At last it's arrived. Dan Brown's new book is a rollicking good story that travels at whip-cracking speed.
All the elements of Brown's stories that we have come to know, and mostly like, are there.
History, suspense and this time a real surprise, with a philosophy discussion at the end.
Langdon is a character I'd love to meet at a cocktail party, or morning tea where after 10 minutes I could discreetly excuse myself after 10 minutes, but in a story he is a reliable central figure.
Without telling too much of the story line. It takes place in a twelve hour period, is based in Washington and the Vatican is replaced by Washington and The Church by the Freemasons.
Dan Brown's capacity to invent a story and incorporate history, fact and philosophy has no bounds and he obviously does a lot of research, but how he concocts all of this into the complex stories must surely make him one of the best storytellers in this genre we have read for many a day.
Read it, read it and just enjoy......it's a cracker!
Now I'm off to Google and Wiki some of his sources......