This book, about a family struggling to keep things together in difficult circumstances, is a sort of domestic drama/ coming-of-age story/ comic travelogue novel.
Twenty-eight year old Hattie, who grew up in Manitoba, has been 'trying to be an artist' in Paris for several years when her boyfriend Marc dumps her and a family crisis calls her home.
Hattie's older sister Min, who's been struggling with mental illness all her life, has taken to her bed, won't eat, and is wasting away.
Hattie and Min's family seems to be assailed by tragedy. Their father died when the girls were youngsters and swam out too far....and their dad drowned trying to save them. Years later, when Hattie was in college, Min's constant 'episodes'.....
.....got to be too much for Hattie, and she fled to France and met Marc.
Now Min's children, 11-year-old Thebes and 15-year-old Logan, need assistance, and Hattie has to step into the breach. After Hattie arrives back in Manitoba, ailing Min is brought to a mental hospital. Then Hattie and the children take the old family van on an excursion to find Doug Cherkis. Cherkis - Logan and Thebe's father - left over a decade ago, and there's a clue that he's working in South Dakota.
Both Thebes and Logan are a challenge, especially for a woman who has no parenting experience.
Thebes dies her hair purple; is covered with fake tattoos and glitter; gets filthy but doesn't bathe; talks non-stop; packs her books and art supplies for the trip....but forgets to bring any clothes; etc.
Logan is expelled from high school; isolates himself with hoodies and headphones; is a basketball hustler; sometimes gets drunk; sneaks off with the van (though he has no driver's licence); carves phrases into the vehicle's dashboard; thoughtlessly worries his aunt and sister; and so on.
All this aside, Thebes and Logan are intelligent, good kids in a bad situation.
Most of the story is about the family's trip through America, first to South Dakota, then down through the western U.S. to California. Along the way, Hattie and the children take turns playing their chosen CDs; stay in ramshackle motels; eat creatively; play road games; require a hospital visit; have car trouble; make innovative works of art with Thebes' supplies; meet all sorts of people (in one hilarious scene, Hattie desperately tries to pick up a reluctant walker to have an adult to talk to); get help from strangers; adopt a dog; and more.
Hattie periodically uses phone booths to call her sister Min and her ex-boyfriend Marc, and these calls are part of the story's arc. Hattie also thinks back to the past, and provides a picture of the family dynamic through the years. For instance, Min's first 'peculiar' episode occurred on the day Hattie was born; Hattie thinks Min tried to push her underwater on the day their father drowned; Min drove the children's dad Cherkis away with threats of suicide; Hattie and Min's mother (now deceased) didn't know how to handle Min's illness; and more.
For me, the novel is not wholly credible. Who would let an 11-year-old just stay filthy and smelly?; or allow a 15-year-old to get drunk without scolding him; and what (otherwise decent) man would go away and not contact his children for over a decade? However, I found the story engaging, rather fun, and finally uplifting.
Rating: 3.5 stars
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