This book
surprised me in a number of ways. It is
by a first time author who devised a clever way to tell her story and in the
process brought us to appreciate some of the personal struggles that dominated the
characters’ lives. Ultimately, the book
is difficult subject matter. Hattie’s
life might have taken a much different turn had she not chosen the man she did to
marry. While in most ways they were total
opposites. Each could have benefitted
from some of the other’s traits.
The story
follows Hattie’s life through vignettes of her nine surviving children’s
lives. Each had a unique story that
reflected back on the way Hattie dealt with her own life challenges – by being
steely natured. It is a story that might
bring one to the brink of tears for all of the emotional losses, leaving the
reader hoping for a positive turn. But
Hattie’s life story reminds us that you can’t judge a book by its cover. Under the unyielding exterior is a woman of
great love – invisible as it was to everyone in her life. But to prepare her children for the world as
she knew it, she chose to manage things rather
than her children and she withheld that precious gift of affection that gives
children the confidence to move ahead with light in their lives.
In many ways
this book is a cautionary tale. But it
is an extraordinary effort. Probably the
book’s biggest life lesson is about creating balance in one’s life. Hattie’s children were not prepared for the
lives they would lead, just as Hattie was not prepared for her own because she
restricted her vision to a very small window made of broken dreams.
Even with
the darkness of the story, I think it is an important work and will be talked
about for some time to come.
Overall our
group of nine rated The Twelve Tribes of Hattie at a 4.1/5.0.
For November, we are reading The
Mistletoe Promise by Richard Paul Evans. We will meet at
Pizza Hut at noon on Tuesday, November 22nd.
From Goodreads.com:
A love story for
Christmas from the #1 bestselling author of The Christmas Box and The
Walk.
Elise Dutton dreads the arrival of another holiday season. Three years earlier, her husband cheated on her with her best friend, resulting in a bitter divorce that left her alone, broken, and distrustful.
Then, one November day, a stranger approaches Elise in the mall food court. Though she recognizes the man from her building, Elise has never formally met him. Tired of spending the holidays alone, the man offers her a proposition. For the next eight weeks—until the evening of December 24—he suggests that they pretend to be a couple. He draws up a contract with four rules:
1. No deep, probing personal questions
2. No drama
3. No telling anyone the truth about the relationship
4. The contract is void on Christmas Day
The lonely Elise surprises herself by agreeing to the idea. As the charade progresses, the safety of her fake relationship begins to mend her badly broken heart. But just as she begins to find joy again, her long-held secret threatens to unravel the emerging relationship. But she might not be the only one with secrets.
Elise Dutton dreads the arrival of another holiday season. Three years earlier, her husband cheated on her with her best friend, resulting in a bitter divorce that left her alone, broken, and distrustful.
Then, one November day, a stranger approaches Elise in the mall food court. Though she recognizes the man from her building, Elise has never formally met him. Tired of spending the holidays alone, the man offers her a proposition. For the next eight weeks—until the evening of December 24—he suggests that they pretend to be a couple. He draws up a contract with four rules:
1. No deep, probing personal questions
2. No drama
3. No telling anyone the truth about the relationship
4. The contract is void on Christmas Day
The lonely Elise surprises herself by agreeing to the idea. As the charade progresses, the safety of her fake relationship begins to mend her badly broken heart. But just as she begins to find joy again, her long-held secret threatens to unravel the emerging relationship. But she might not be the only one with secrets.