Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Review - All the Best People by Sonja Yoerg

Vermont, 1972. Carole LaPorte has a satisfying, ordinary life. She cares for her children, balances the books for the family’s auto shop and laughs when her husband slow dances her across the kitchen floor. Her tragic childhood might have happened to someone else.

But now her mind is playing tricks on her. The accounts won’t reconcile and the murmuring she hears isn’t the television. She ought to seek help, but she’s terrified of being locked away in a mental hospital like her mother, Solange. So Carole hides her symptoms, withdraws from her family and unwittingly sets her eleven-year-old daughter Alison on a desperate search for meaning and power: in Tarot cards, in omens from a nearby river and in a mysterious blue glass box belonging to her grandmother.

An exploration of the power of courage and love to overcome a damning legacy, All the Best People celebrates the search for identity and grace in the most ordinary lives.


My Thoughts
I felt the story was hard for me to grasp at times and maybe a little slow to begin. 
I will say that I enjoyed the balance of the family dynamics and each of the characters personalities together as well as on their own.
It was hard for me to imagine what it must have been like for Carole to have her mind playing such tricks on her.  I wouldn't know if I could trust myself?  Could I trust those around me? 
Withdrawing from her family is the last thing she should do and sending her daughter on a hunt to get answers to questions, is a little rough in my opinion.  I don't think I would have done that to my family.
All in all, I really did like the premise of the story.

Drink Selection
At times when the story was slower, I could use a few glasses of Riesling to get me back on track! 
Rating
I would have to rate All the Best People 3 wine glasses, I enjoyed the concept, it was just hard for me to really get close to the characters and keep my focus.




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