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Karen L. (Chicago, IL)
The Mouse Proof KItchen
I really wanted to like this book. It covers so many subjects I generally enjoy reading about; the French Countryside, cooking, and relationships. Like Anna I anticipated perfection, only to be handed something different than planned. was not perfect, in fact severely disabled. I found this novel both unrealistic and heartbreaking. Unbelievably, They follow their original, pre-diagnosis plan and move to a rodent infested, decrepit home in the south of France. What could they be thinking raising a severely disabled child or really any child in such a potentially dangerous situation is beyond the scope of my
…more imagination. While it did evoke many emotions, none of them was positive. I acknowledge it is a difficult subject and I applaud the author for her attempt at tackling it, I believe it will anger most audiences and therefore not appeal to the mass market. (less)I was surprised to read that the author has a daughter like Freya. She describes Anna's and Tobias's behaviors as "outrageous"; I found them to be immature, impulsive, irresponsible. Anna is described as a planner; I would say she's a dreamer. Moving away from her support system with a severely disabled newborn, buying a disaster of a property, hoping to open a restaurant or cooking school, expecting her partner to become what he is not…all examples of her poor judgment. Yes, their world was turned upside down by Freya's birth, but their responses were frustrating to me. I did enjoy the setting of the book, the
…more descriptions of the area, the hostile weather and terrain, and the interesting local characters, but my lack of sympathy for the main characters overrode my enjoyment of the story and the setting. And I kept wanting to know why they didn't get a cat in the first place! (less)This book begins with the birth of Freya, a profoundly disabled baby whose parents, Anna and Tobias, have very different views of how they wish to handle the future of their child, I could empathize with both. I thought that this would develop into an emotional read that examined these difficult moral decisions. The storyline was diverted by their move from London to a French village into a home that was Anna's dream. This home presented problem after problem and while Anna was responsible, Tobias was a complete slacker. The people of the village were charming and interesting and this could have been developed
…more into a simple little novel on its own. Though Freya was briefly mentioned throughout, this storyline was not given the importance I was expecting until the very end. The author tried to tie everything into a neat bundle in which she used Anna's relationship to Freya and her own mother, as well as Lizzie's relationship to her mother to define motherhood. It seemed like this was thrown in at the last minute. I felt that there were two different stories here: the story of Freya, and the story of the people of the village. Not enough was done with either. I also felt that in concluding the way she did she put a happily ever after ending on a situation that in reality would never have a fairy tale ending. (less)"The Mouse-Proof Kitchen" by Saira Shah is a book with a split personality. On the one hand is a gripping story of how the birth of a severely disabled child affects a marriage as well as family relations and personal friendships. The other hand holds a very different story. Think "A Year in Provence" type tale where a young couple buys a big old run-down house on the top of a hill and seeks to convert it to a restaurant and/or cooking school. As individual plots, these two stories would work quite well. Combined, they require a suspension of belief on the reader's part. What young parents, faced with a newborn
…more who is critically ill, sell everything they own, leave behind work, friends, and their entire support systems and move to a far distant peak in another country, to a rattle-trap building with no heat or running water and where the nearest health care is two hours away? Add to this mix a rather strange mother who telephones at all hours with bizarre requests of her daughter, a mentally ill young woman who is squatting on their land in an outbuilding, and a supporting cast of odd and unusual town residents. My attention was continually bouncing from one plot line to the other. It was an interesting read. (less)First time parents expecting a child of their dreams and having those dreams dashed with the birth of their extremely disabled little girl. This is not a book I would have picked up to read because of the topic. I think the author did a good job of dealing with the multitude of feelings that parents must go through in this situation, including the joy of love brought to their lives. I think it would provide a good discussion for a book club. I did feel the relationships with the other characters in the book were not developed very well, too many difficult characters handled superficially.
Lisa M. (Fullerton, CA)
The Mouse-Proof Kitchen - A Little Hard to Swallow
A "semi-autobiographical novel," this book deals with a couple who have a baby born with a host of severe disabilities. As a parent of a child with a disability myself, I had trouble with this story in which the parents struggle not only to come to terms with their child's disabilities, but to even love her. Apparently, the author who actually has a daughter with the very disabilities as the child in the book wrote the story as a way to have the characters behave in selfish and outrageous ways that perhaps many parents think about but don't actually act on. Well written, but tough to take on an emotional level.
Lynn R. (Wautoma, WI)
Very Unusual Life
I just did not care very much about this book. Unlike some of the other readers, I felt the characters in the book weren't real. Anna and Tobias, at first, do not really accept that their new baby is not going to get better, and I would imagine that that part is quite true when a severely disabled child is born. But the other characters in the book seemed unreal to me and more than a little crazy. Their weird neighbors, Anna's mother and Lizzy, the young girl from no where were just untrue to me and just very confusing inserted into a story that was serious. The fact that these people just moved in and out of
…more there house without knowing anything about them just doesn't fit in with real life to me. Maybe people in Europe are just different, but I don't think they could be that different and totally accepting of unknown people in their lives.
The fact that Anna & Tobias had mixed and changing emotions about their severely disabled child, their marriage and life is the only part that rang true to me. Having normal healthy children can put pressure on any marriage, let alone having one as severely disabled as Freya was.
I just did not care for this book, but as I read the other reviews, I guess I am in the minority. (less)
Daniel A. (Naugatuck, CT)
The Mouse-Proof Kitchen
I liked this story overall, and the writing style enabled me to read it quickly, but it has to be the most depressing novel I ever read.
There are two sayings that came to mind while reading this book: 1. If it wasn't for bad luck, there would be no luck at all, and 2. If there wasn't any laughter, I'd be crying right now.
The author used levity for the first half of the book, but when the laughter ran out, it put this reader more and more into despair.
The ending changed all the negatives into a positive for me and after I read the author's notes, the story made more sense, as if Ms Shah wrote this book as therapy
…more for coping with her own real-life daughter's disability at birth.
I am looking forward to her next book. (if there is one) (less)
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