read WI
{ {Book Reviews } Book Reviews } whiskey and holds it up so a sunbeam threads through it, causing the amber liquid to glow. “What’s that for?” Sam asks. He’s amused as he imagines Rachel negotiating in Japanese for this squat bottle of Suntory liquor. She shrugs. “I thought it would be something to tide him over in case he wants a drink.” “It won’t tide him very far” “I know. But I’m not sure if he drinks scotch or whiskey, so I didn’t want to overspend in case I got it wrong.” She places it in the dining area on the bottom shelf of the cart for the rice cooker.
aaa Day two of the visit Rachel knocks on the door of the bedroom where her father is sleeping. “Come in,” he says. She finds him sitting on the edge of the bed. “I woke up in the middle of the night and I wasn’t sure where I was,” he said. “I had no idea. And then I tried to go to the bathroom, but I nearly killed myself getting down the stairs.” “Dad,” she says, going over to him. “There’s a bathroom upstairs, and you have to be careful on the steps.” “Well, they must be waxed or something.” She pats his hand, noticing his crisp new pajamas. All the clothes she helped him unpack are new, most still with the price tags attached. His hair is white and combed back behind his ears, longer than he probably wore it when he was a judge, but not too long. His moustache is lean and bristly, yellowed from smoking. This is the first time since she was nine that she has stayed under the same roof with her father. Downstairs she gives Sam the bad news. He’s Mr. Moustache too, only his mushrooms out from his face, looking frothy instead of bristly. “Guess what? We have to move the mattresses.” “No.” He looks up from his bowl of hot rice and the Sumo magazine. “He nearly fell going down the steps.” “He’ll have to sleep with the mattress on the floor down here. There’s no way
The Good Luck Girls of Shipwreck Lane: A Novel By Kelly Harms Thomas Dunne Books, 304 pages, $24.99
Reviewed by Erika Janik Iowa resident Janine Brown’s life changes in an instant when she wins a dream home on the coast of Maine. The only trouble is that there are two Janine Browns living in Cedar Falls, Iowa, and both believe they’ve won the dream home. The two wildly different Janines come faceto-face in the Maine mansion, where they struggle for control of their future in Kelly Harms’ debut novel, The Good Luck Girls of Shipwreck Lane. The chapters alternate in perspective between the two Janines—one known as Janey and the other as Nean— who come to the home with different but similarly sad backgrounds. The loss of a loved one had sent mousy Janey into hiding. She cooks elaborate gourmet meals for herself and her Aunt Midge, and breaks out in hives at the smallest of social interactions. Winning the contest is the last thing Janey thinks she wants (Aunt Midge entered her name behind her back) and she considers giving it up to stay in Iowa and the comfort of her routine. It’s only at the insistence of Midge that Janey agrees to move to Maine. For Nean, the dream home is her ticket out of a hard luck life of homelessness and abusive relationships. Nean spends all her money on a one-way bus ticket to Maine and what she hopes will be a fresh start. Although she’s in her twenties, younger than Janey, Nean seems much younger still. She’s scrappy and clever, but also prone to impulsive behavior with the vulnerability of a teenager. Neither woman is delighted with the other at first, as both are convinced that the other is an imposter bent on taking what is rightfully hers. But a series of lies by Nean and the intervention of Aunt Midge, who sees the two Janines as just what the other needs, leads the three women to take up permanent residence together in the home. Of the three main characters, octogenarian Midge with her stories of love and adventure is the most colorful. Her embrace of life contrasts most starkly with Janey’s fear and introversion. Midge’s presence and snappy dialogue greatly enlivens those chapters belonging to Janey, which can otherwise bog down in her extreme social phobia. Her anxiety, and how death precipitated what we perceive to be a transformation in her personality, are only lightly explored. As a result, Janey appears to the reader just as she likely does to those who encounter her in life: flat, uptight, and closed off. Although fiercely protective of and loyal to Janey, Midge has far more in common with the hardscrabble Nean. Midge sees the vulnerability behind Nean’s wisecracks and opens the house to her over Janey’s objections. The two women form a fast bond as Nean attempts to take responsibility for her choices and life. Love interests for both Janey and Nean force each woman to confront her past and realize how much they need each other. The man in Janey’s life, Noah, is nearly as opaque as she is and it’s never clear what attracts him to Janey on their first meeting. Nean’s relationship, fitting her immaturity, seems more the stuff of a summer fling than a lasting bond.
continue
W is c o nsin
reading
P E O P L E
&
I D E A S
S P R I N G
2 0 1 4
51