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Maye's Request
Freshly out of college and possibly in love, Brianna Bell, aka Bean, worries that she'll never be able to have a normal relationship due to her screwy upbringing. Her parents form a perfect Mom, Dad, and her mother's lover—who also happens to be her Dad's twin sister. The animosity between the twins is a valley of landmines. When her mom, Maye, is threatened with a rare and possibly fatal illness, she begs Bean to help heal the rift between brother and sister. Reluctantly, Bean tries. But the more Bean finds out about her parents' complicated history, the more she realizes how little she knows.A story of love, longing, and family.
264 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 18, 2011
2 people are currently reading
48 people want to read
About the author
Clifford Henderson
12 books41 followersBaffled by reality, Clifford Henderson has fashioned a life where she can spend most of her time in make believe. Author of three award-winning novels, The Middle of Somewhere, Spanking New, and Maye’s Request she is currently working on a fourth. When not writing, Clifford and her partner of twenty years run the Fun Institute, a school of improv and solo performance where they teach the art of collective pretending.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 26, 2019
I really have no clue what I just read. It wasn't a romance. It wasn't a new adult/young adult. It wasn't a mystery/action/suspense/thriller/etc.etc. A family drama.
Maye, of 'Maye's Request', is the mother of the main character known alternatively as Brianna or Bean. Bean has just graduated college, and headed down to spend some time in Mexico with a friend (just a friend). Right when 'just a friend' became 'fuck buddies', Bean's mother, Maye, ends up in the hospital with a serious condition and the next thing Bean knows, she's on a plane back to the States. And her Aunt Jen will be there (is already there) and her father will also be there. Which is strange since the father and Jen haven't had much in the way of contact, any?, for fifteen years. Oh, and they a) are twins; b) have alternated having a relationship with Bean's mother - Maye.
That request from the title? Offered fairly early on (after a fuck ton of flashbacks) - Maye wants Bean to talk her father (who she, she being Bean, doesn't really know) into telling the father's sister, Aunt Jen, the 'big secret'. And, oh, maybe repair the rift that has developed between them.
And so the book shows this dysfunctional family over about a week or two while one is in the hospital slowly getting worse then better.
Family drama. Slice of life.
Oh, since I mentioned it (and I'd thought of saying it before I even wrote anything) - even thought the main character is smack dab in young adult/new adult zone, I say this book isn't that because new adult implies certain things not applicable here (an adult breaking free, trying to wrestle with the fact that they are, in fact, now an adult and have to act like it, support themselves - granted some people are 'forced' into that position when they still should be children, and others never reach this realization - Bean, in this case, is still in the 'I'm going to go party now, fuck being an adult' zone).
Right. I've mentioned it in passing but - there's a fuck ton of flashbacks here. Flaskbacks on flashbacks. And it isn't always easy to tell when they end, when a new one begins (before the old one ended) and stuff.
I've now read everything by this author, at least in book form released under this name (covering my bases, I am). An odd mix of books, most of which I was vaguely reluctant to try, then loved when I read them. Except for this book here. Oh no - I was super reluctant to read this one, it's the part where I didn't actually love the book once I tried it.
Rating: fuck if I know. um. 3
June 21 2017
Maye, of 'Maye's Request', is the mother of the main character known alternatively as Brianna or Bean. Bean has just graduated college, and headed down to spend some time in Mexico with a friend (just a friend). Right when 'just a friend' became 'fuck buddies', Bean's mother, Maye, ends up in the hospital with a serious condition and the next thing Bean knows, she's on a plane back to the States. And her Aunt Jen will be there (is already there) and her father will also be there. Which is strange since the father and Jen haven't had much in the way of contact, any?, for fifteen years. Oh, and they a) are twins; b) have alternated having a relationship with Bean's mother - Maye.
That request from the title? Offered fairly early on (after a fuck ton of flashbacks) - Maye wants Bean to talk her father (who she, she being Bean, doesn't really know) into telling the father's sister, Aunt Jen, the 'big secret'. And, oh, maybe repair the rift that has developed between them.
And so the book shows this dysfunctional family over about a week or two while one is in the hospital slowly getting worse then better.
Family drama. Slice of life.
Oh, since I mentioned it (and I'd thought of saying it before I even wrote anything) - even thought the main character is smack dab in young adult/new adult zone, I say this book isn't that because new adult implies certain things not applicable here (an adult breaking free, trying to wrestle with the fact that they are, in fact, now an adult and have to act like it, support themselves - granted some people are 'forced' into that position when they still should be children, and others never reach this realization - Bean, in this case, is still in the 'I'm going to go party now, fuck being an adult' zone).
Right. I've mentioned it in passing but - there's a fuck ton of flashbacks here. Flaskbacks on flashbacks. And it isn't always easy to tell when they end, when a new one begins (before the old one ended) and stuff.
I've now read everything by this author, at least in book form released under this name (covering my bases, I am). An odd mix of books, most of which I was vaguely reluctant to try, then loved when I read them. Except for this book here. Oh no - I was super reluctant to read this one, it's the part where I didn't actually love the book once I tried it.
Rating: fuck if I know. um. 3
June 21 2017
May 12, 2015
As the caption says "A story of love, longing and family", exactly this is what you going to read. Brianna, Maye's daughter tells us the story of her "dysfunctional family" (as she puts it); cryptic version of the events adults presented her in the process of trying their best portraying happy family irrespective of all the flaws. In a nutshell, Jake and Jen are twins with abandoned father and mentally sick mother with a pedophile gay priest around. They both try their best to survive, build their lives, happen to fall in love with the same woman, Maye. Shadows of past haunts Jake in turn, his family breaks up, homophobia, alcoholism... thats when Jen picks up the pieces. However, she couldn't stand Maye's soft feelings for her brother/ex-husband and they break up after 9 years of jealous filled fights. Present day, Maye paralyzed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, whole family comes together to support, work on their issues on Maye's request, let's say lived happily ever after! In between, Briana's character has great sense of humour, she doesn't let the reader drown in depression/tears of the sad events surrounded by Jen & Jake.
All in all, it wasn't something I was looking to read nevertheless I'm glad I did it.
All in all, it wasn't something I was looking to read nevertheless I'm glad I did it.
June 15, 2016
Lots of family drama. The writing was good and the story was definitely different. I just didn't identify with it, so that's why only 3 stars
August 30, 2016
I read this sweet and heartbreaking story in one sitting. Bean has no idea of the depth of the rift between her parents - all three of them. Bean's mother, Maye, fell in love with Jake Bell and later with his twin sister Jen. Now that Maye's illness (Guillain–Barré syndrome) has brought them all back together, will the time together heal the rift or only rend them further apart? The story splits between the present and the twins' past giving the reader the full picture of how the relationships formed and fractured. Unfortunately, Bean was caught in between. I truly laughed out loud at some passages and cried at others. A beautifully written and touching story of love, healing, family, and truth. Ms. Henderson has made me an instant fan!
May 15, 2016
Check out my review for this at ! (Posted Nov 12, 2011)
July 26, 2019
Some things synonymous with this writer after just reading my second book by her are:
1) pretty complicated and well described characters
2) characters reflect these complications with humour
3) there seems to always be a strong religious presence in one or more of the characters
With this in mind, i think her books speaks to the type of readers that either view them as mirrors of their own lives or/and those that genuinely appreciate the understanding of the complicated characters therein. On the downside, the flashbacks though well described to know who was having one, were actually too many... In my opinion, perhaps the writer ought to have written it in sections from the point of view of each main characters then conclude the last section with the present. Anyways, good book.
1) pretty complicated and well described characters
2) characters reflect these complications with humour
3) there seems to always be a strong religious presence in one or more of the characters
With this in mind, i think her books speaks to the type of readers that either view them as mirrors of their own lives or/and those that genuinely appreciate the understanding of the complicated characters therein. On the downside, the flashbacks though well described to know who was having one, were actually too many... In my opinion, perhaps the writer ought to have written it in sections from the point of view of each main characters then conclude the last section with the present. Anyways, good book.
April 18, 2020
Another good read from Clifford Henderson. This is the second one of hers I have read. Both terrific. I will be reading more. She’s so good at dialogue, the individual characters in the book are very real.
April 6, 2011
I enjoyed the voice of the young woman who the story was about.
April 20, 2014
Not as engaging as Middle of Somewhere but still a very good read.
October 25, 2015
2011 Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention (5* from at least 1 judge)
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews