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There are currently 22 member reviews
for Our Short History
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Jane D. (Cincinnati, OH)
Get out the Tissues
This story of a young single mother dealing with her fast approaching death from ovarian cancer is overflowing with emotion that is spot on. The journey of how she prepares her son for his future without her is masterfully presented and takes us into the deepest parts of Karen's being. It is painful and inspiring to see how she deals with the issues before her. What she really wants is to be sure 6 year old son Jake knows how much he was loved and that he will not forget what his mother was like. - As Karen realizes " I always thought I would have more time and now it is apparent I will not " In spite of the difficult topic, I really enjoyed this book. I think it would be great for book clubs as the issues of abandonment and betrayal and just the raw emotions of losing total control of your life make for lively discussion. I volunteer at Hospice and I found this book so honest in addressing many of these issues. One world of caution - I have a friend going thru ovarian cancer and I will NOT be sharing this book with her. It was very beneficial for me to read but it's honesty may a little too much for her .
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Francine E. (Shirley, NY)
A Mother's Love
Karen Neulander is a forty three year old single parent to six year old Jake. She is a political consultant and campaign manager. At age forty one, her life and that of Jake drastically change when she is diagnosed with Stage IV ovarian cancer. Karen wants Jake's life to be stable and predictable. To that end, Karen and Jake are spending the summer on Mercer Island, near Seattle, Washington. By staying in the guesthouse owned by sister Allison and her husband Bruce, a Starbucks executive, Karen hopes Jake will become acclimated to life with his aunt, uncle and cousins when the times comes.
Karen embarks upon a soul searching book odyssey. She is writing a short history of her life with Jake to be given to him at age eighteen. She wants him to know that she existed, loved him, and that he was her "happy ending". Karen muses about what decisions Jake will make in life and openly discusses mistakes she has made with suggestions for a full life that include how to choose the right life partner. Dave Kersey, her boyfriend, never wanted children and walked away when Karen was pregnant. Karen never told Dave that he had a son. Unexpectedly, Jake wants to meet his dad. Dreading the father-son encounter, Karen is floored by Dave's exuberant response to meeting his son. He brings gifts and sets up a bedroom in his apartment for Jake. Karen is frantic. She asks sister Allison to promise that Dave will never take Jake.
Karen is determined to present a facade of normalcy to those around her. Once in remission, her health is now declining and she feels unable to control her life. How can she leave Jake in the care of others? "Our Short History" by Lauren Grodstein is an explanation of Karen's life choices and a celebration of her life with Jake. Keep a tissue box nearby.
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Jennifer F. (Saratoga, CA)
Messiness of Life
One of the reviewers on the cover of the book describes the novel as portraying both the messiness of life and the immense depths of love. I agree that this novel does portray those two elements of life, but I was hoping for a more personal account and I was disappointed that the author was not the central figure in the book. It felt too personal to not have been experienced by the author, and upon learning that the author was not the central character, I felt it cheapened the emotion of a novel that was highly emotional. That may not be a fair opinion, alas, it's how I felt.
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Regina S. (Long Beach, CA)
Our Short History falls short
This is the first Lauren Grodstein book I have read & I have mixed feelings about it.
The premise of the book had potential. Single Mom, dying of cancer, who decides to write a memoir of her life for her now 6 year old son to read when he turns 18 & she is gone.
It was the way the author included the memoir that I had trouble with because I couldn't understand why she thought her son would care about most of it. For instance, why would he need to know every detail about her political meetings (her candidate's extramarital affairs!) or her medical treatments ("the nurse came in a little while ago to take my blood pressure. It's a little high, she said. You feeling okay?). I also could not understand why she felt the need to include the constant profanity & the asides, "Jake, you don't have to read this or you can skip over this part if it makes you uncomfortable."
I know her protagonist is in a nightmarish position experiencing complex feelings but her memoir to her son is superfluous. It was a missed opportunity to edit out all of that detail & give him insight into her philosophy, her beliefs, her morals, her priorities, & yes, her feelings about him, her diagnosis, her regrets, her dreams for him, in a more mature & less self-serving manner.
I think this book would work better as a story about a single Mom dying of cancer dealing with the emotions of her end of life days, her career, & her 6 year old son, period. The inclusion of the memoir was a good idea but for me, its execution was unsuccessful.
Her writing style, informal & casual as though she was talking to her sister or a good friend, appealed to me. I felt her characters were well developed & believable (even if you didn't like them). Although, I think this book is contrived & predictable, I also feel the moral ambiguities would lend itself to a very lively & interesting book club discussion.
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Susan L. (Alexandria, VA)
Our Short History
This book was meant to be a tearjerker, but I did not cry. I am sorry to say this book did not grab me. I enjoyed parts of it, but others put me off. The main character remained too angry at the father for much of the book. And as emotional as the subject was, I thought it read flat. It skimmed the surface. I wanted more depth and insight into why she was feeling the way she was, not just an account of what was happening. In the end, this book was just okay for me.
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Virginia M. (San Antonio, TX)
It was good and bad
I am puzzled about how I want to rate this book – I have very mixed feelings. So let me just list those feelings and then see what I liked and what I did not like:
1 – I liked Lauren Grodstein's style of writing – it seemed very informal. I felt like she and I were having a conversation instead of and it being the case of me reading a book she wrote. I may seek out of her other books to see if they are similar in style.
2 – I did not like the cover – to me, it was a complete turn off. It surely did not draw me in and I don't think I would have been inclined to pick it up to see what it was about. I guess the blue blobs are supposed to be clouds but I am not sure. I don't' think it is attractive nor is it inviting.
3 – I also did not like Karen Neulander. I realize that I have never been in her position – facing pain, death, and the knowledge that she would never be able to watch her son grow up and become a man. However, until the very end of the book she concentrates entirely on satisfying herself. Even her purpose in writing this memoir for her son is self- centered – it is not her purpose to give him morals to live by or citizenship tips. Instead it is her purpose to tell him about herself – supposedly, so he would know how much she loved him. I think her angst about her son becoming close to his father was based on her jealousy over that relationship extending into the future while her life with her son was near over. I got rather tired of her pity parties.
4 – I know I am going to sound like a prude, and I guess I am, but her constant profanity throughout the book bothered me. Especially – the "f" word and using the name of God and Jesus as expletives. She is writing the book for her son, for goodness sakes. What a horrible example to set for your son. Then I came to Page 234 – and she explains there that she is a Jew who does not believe in God. That explained a lot of things to me – about her love of self and her priorities in life; but it did not make me dislike her any less.
5 –I think this would be a good book for a book club. There are a whole lot of issues to discuss: e.g. should a political candidate's personal life be important in election decisions or should those decisions be based upon who will do the best job in office and is claiming to be a "Jew and an atheist" an oxymoron? I did some surfing after I finished the book and I found this quotation: "60 percent of American Jews believe that Judaism is mainly a matter of ancestry, culture, and values, rather than of religious observance. Hmmm? If there is eventually a Discussion Guide for Book Clubs published, this conundrum might be included in the guide.
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Carol R. (Foster City, CA)
Self Indulgent Mish-Mash
I wanted to like this book. I really did. The phrase "it's all about me" describes the story - it reads as a self-indulgent excuse for the way the mother has lived her life rather than a love story from mom to son.
As a cancer survivor and single mom with kids, I thought I'd identify with the narrator. But instead, I was horrified at the information she chose to leave for her son. Only at the very end of the story does she redeem herself.
There was one sentence that resonated with me: "...we fell asleep pondering the condition of being mothers, which was, of course, the condition of helping the people you love most in the world leave you." Had the author shaped the story to that belief, the book would have been measurably better. Im glad that this book was fiction.
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