Around Again

I finished reading the book a few weeks ago, but I haven't had time to write about it, or figured out exactly what I wanted to say. I may not have figured it all out yet, but I found a little time.

This is the third novel I've read by Suzanne Strempek Shea, and not my favorite. I loved Finding Finola, but I haven't been able to find the same rhythm and feeling in the other two books I've read. Finding Finola was a hopeful, inspiring book for me. Around Again was a little depressing.

What I've decided about Around Again, is that it is a lot about fear. Mostly about how fear can rule our lives. And it's a little bit about love, and how love can change us and maybe even dispel the fear.

The protagonist, Robyn, is torn between fear and love, but she allows her fears overcome love. She basically cuts herself off from everything she loves for thirty  years because of fear. The whole conflict is born out of fear. Fear of social rejection, fear of the unknown, fear of something that isn't even real.

But the saviors in the novel, Robyn's aunt and uncle, are driven completely by love. And although Robyn says throughout the novel that she knows what is real, it turns out that she was completely mistaken and what is real is the love that she ultimately rejects.

Although I probably won't read the book again, I have enjoyed thinking about it and the reminder that most of what I fear is in my own imagination (the future), and that what I love (family, God) is what will save me from my fear.

Founding Mothers

I read this book, Founding Mothers, for our neighborhood book club. Funny thing about this book, no one can remember who chose it, including the person who chose it.



It took me about six weeks to read this book, probably because I just left it on the elliptical, and only read it during the 25 minutes, 3 times per week that I spend in that particular location. And that said, I may not have gotten as much out of it as I could have. Actually, that's probably the one time where I'm NOT interrupted seventeen gazillion times an hour by children. For some reason they leave me alone. Probably getting into stuff like sharp knives and matches.



Anyway, about the book. I would probably not read anything by Ms. Roberts again. I liked the facts that were in the book, but I did not like the commentary. I liked reading quotes from letters by the great ladies of the founding era of our country like Abigail Adams and Martha Washington. I did not like the tone that the author used to portray the quotes. One thing that I really don't love about biographies and history is the assignation of thoughts and feelings to people that is completely biased by the author's view and personal prejudices. It seemed to me that this is what Roberts did throughout her commentary.



Cokie Roberts is obviously very pro-feminist, and seems to be anti more than one child, and somewhat derogatory toward men. I can't even count how many times she threw in comments like "she was pregnant, again" and "the perpetually pregnant (insert name here)", or how the husbands didn't care about their wives as they should. I processed a lot of information in reading the book, but how much of it is opinion and how much is fact is hard to determine.



But, with all of that, I didn't hate reading the book. Once I got used to the tone of the author, it was enjoyable to find out how much the women of that era contributed to the founding of our country, how they influenced their husbands and the men of the time, and how much they sacrificed. They were amazingly astute and interested in the politics of the time, something that I think many men and women of our time have lost.