Baggage

by Jill Sooley

ACCLAIMED NEWFOUNDLAND AUTHOR Jill Sooley’s second novel, Baggage, examines the step family. Drawing on humour and heart¬break, as she did in Widows of Paradise Bay, this story unfolds from the perspectives of three women – Marie, mother and stepmother; Floss, Marie’s daughter who grew up in a broken home and must deal with her mother’s second marriage; and Lolly, the rebellious step¬daughter and young single mother who has never felt comfortable in her place within the stepfamily. Baggage highlights the ties that bind the stepfamily in all its awkward, complex, and optimistic tension.

Genres: Canada, Fiction

356 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 2012

About the author

Jill Sooley grew up in Mt. Pearl, NL. She attended Memorial University of Newfoundland where she obtained her Bachelor’s degree in English and Political Science. She pursued a Masters in Mass Communications from the University of Southern Mississippi. Jill worked as a communications director with the government of Newfoundland and Labrador until moving to New York, where she became a publicist with a Manhattan public relations firm, working with such clients as PBS and the Empire State Building. She was awarded the Big Apple Award from the Public Relations Society of America for a public relations campaign she conceived on behalf of the New Yorker Hotel. She left the big city behind to raise her children, eventually settling in to write fiction. Currently, she resides on Long Island with her family.

Reviews

[Paula Dembeck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blended families are now an everyday part of our modern world. In this novel set in St John’s Newfoundland, Sooley describes what that experience is like from the perspectives of three women Marie, Floss and Lolly.

Marie and Danny were together only a short time and had a daughter Florence, who became known as Floss. When Danny fell down the rabbit hole of drugs and alcohol, he disappeared out West abandoning Marie, who was glad to see him go. Floss was young at the time and never knew her father. Years later Marie met Ray, a widow who had a daughter Lolly and had lost his wife to a long illness. When Marie and Ray met, they had an instant connection and after dating a short while they married. Marie had been lonely after so many years alone, was desperate for the comfort and security of a family and excited to start out on her new life with Ray. When they all moved in together everyone was uncomfortable. Marie and Floss had lived alone for almost a decade while Ray and Lolly were still suffering from the more recent trauma of losing a wife and mother. Both daughters were especially wary, not only of their new sibling but also their new step parent.

Marie and Ray hoped they would all get along once they got to know one another, although Lolly seemed unwilling to even try, treated Marie badly and seemed to do everything she could to annoy her stepmother. No matter how hard Marie tried, Lolly remained indifferent to her every act of kindness. Marie was determined to be a good wife and mother and show Lolly she loved her as much as she loved her own daughter Floss. But Lolly was still emotionally raw from the loss of her mother and feared losing her memory. Now she was also frightened of losing her father’s love to Marie and did not want to share him. She constantly threw hurtful comments at Marie, the person she felt she was forced to compete with for the affections of her father and the two constantly butted heads. No matter what Marie did, Lolly remained indifferent to her. Over time Marie learned that no matter what she did, Lolly would never feel anything for her that came close to the feelings she had for her mother. Discouraged, Marie let everything go with Lolly because she wanted Lolly to like her. Besides, she and Ray had an unspoken, unwritten rule that they would each be responsible for disciplining their own children.

In contrast to Lolly and Marie’s volatile relationship was the one that barely existed between Floss and Ray. They rarely spoke to one another unless it is was absolutely necessary and avoided being alone in the same room. Floss had never felt the love of a father and wanted Ray to show her the same care he showed his own daughter, but Ray was not sure how to show Floss he cared for her. He had difficulty expressing his feelings and was concerned about showing any affection to a teenage girl who was not his daughter. Unsure how to handle this new relationship, he avoided talking to her or being alone with her. As a result, Floss came to feel she was the only one in the house Ray did not love.

When there was a problem or confrontation in the family, Ray always defaulted to protecting Lolly. He was frustrated, pulled between his new wife and his daughter and feeling he couldn’t please either one, was forever apologizing to Marie for his daughter’s behavior. Sometimes he opted out by just avoiding what he didn’t want to see or hear.

The difficult dynamic set up by the new living arrangements created an atmosphere in the home that was often filled with tension. Marie and Ray argued with each other about their daughters, forced to choose sides in every facet of their lives. No matter how hard they tried to make it different, the children were extensions of themselves. Lolly was Ray’s and Floss was Marie’s and it was always going to be that way. Ray and Marie clung to each other because they each needed the comfort of that caring relationship. They loved one another. Ray felt Marie had saved him from an empty life without companionship and he made Marie feel she was the center of his world. They could manage their own relationship which had its sticking points, but all the rest was difficult.

Readers are dropped into the middle of this evolving family when the narrative begins as Lolly and Marie go to the airport to pick up Floss who is just returning home after three years in Calgary. From there the story drifts back to fragments of their story as this battered set of relationships evolved over time and continued to affect each member of this “put together” family. Readers see how, as the girls grew into their twenties and experienced their own relationships with men, they begin to appreciate and understand more fully what each had experienced in the past. Both learn they must share the love they direct at one person with others and what that feels like.

Lolly, now a single mother to Kevin, has difficulty coping when her boyfriend Gabe enters a relationship with another woman named Vanessa. Lolly does not want to share Kevin with this new woman, resents Vanessa mothering her son and fears the feelings her son is developing for a woman who is not his mother. When Lolly develops a loving relationship with a police officer named Carson, it is not long before she discovers he has relationships too and once again she is in the difficult position of having to share someone she has come to care about with other people in their life.

Floss develops a relationship with Leo, a divorced man with a young child who reminds her a little of Ray, the way he seems slightly lost, a man with half a family who wants to feel whole again. Marie tries to warn her daughter about the pitfalls she may encounter being with a man who already has a child. She tells her that no matter how much you love one another, the child always comes between you. It means love gets divided into pieces, you always get the smallest piece and are expected to be grateful. Floss listens, but fails to heed the warning until she finds herself portrayed as the other woman by Leo’s wife Cathy and finds her newfound relationship with Leo being ruled by the moods of his eight-year-old daughter, Faith.

Sooley has created strong characters in each of the woman and portrays them in a way which allows us to see their different points of view. The two men Gabe and Ray are also well developed but the two men, Carson and Leo who come into the girls later lives are less fleshed out, serving more as a way to tell another side of the girls’ stories.

Initially I had difficulty keeping this tangle of relationships straight as the reader is dropped into the arms of these complicated family relationships in the opening pages when Lolly and Marie drive to the airport to meet Floss who is returning home from Calgary. We meet the characters as the story begins to unfold before fully understanding their tangled relationships. I was lost trying to figure out all their past connections. Sooly helps the reader by titling each chapter with the name of the character being profiled, but I sometimes found the jumps back in forth in the evolution of their story jarring. Still, it is without a doubt a compulsive read. Once I started and got the relationships straight, I just want to keep going and find if out how these characters sorted everything out or if they ever did. Sooley presented her characters so empathetically, that I was pulling for each of them, hoping they somehow could find happiness in this crazy world.

This is one of those times when I wished Goodreads would allow for half stars. This read is more than a four star but not quite a five star because of the way the characters are introduced and the sometime jarring transitions in time. However I decided this time to push it to a five, knowing that the concerns I have raised may well be ones I alone had trouble wrapping my head around, while others may have had no problem with them at all.

[Patsey]

Yeah we all carry a whole lotta baggage. I related to so many ideas explored in this book. Made me sad, sorry, grateful and even laughed out loud. Great writing.

[Serisop · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quando ho letto il primo capitolo, la mia prima reazione è stata inviare un messaggio ad una mia amica per dirle "Secondo me non mi piace, è una sensazione. Non lo vedo proprio come una trama che mi può conquistare".
Poi ho letto il secondo capitolo.
Poi ho letto il terzo capitolo.
Poi sono arrivata a metà, ai tre quarti.
Poi l'ho finito.
La mia opinione finale è questa: un libro meraviglioso, una storia familiare ben costruita come piace a me e tanti intrighi che non riuscivano a farmi staccare dalle pagine.
Penso che sia uno dei libri di narrativa più belli che abbia mai letto della casa editrice Giunti, di solito delle storie così le ho lette con Garzanti.
Qui si parla di Marie e di sua figlia Floss che incontrano Ray e sua figlia Lolly. Ecco che nasce una grande famiglia allargata, ma le cose non sono tutte rose e fiori.
Attraverso il passato ed il presente, ricostruiamo pian piano tutti i legami tra i vari personaggi e le loro vite.
Marie ha sposato Ray, ma prima aveva avuto una relazione con il padre di Floss. Quest'ultimo era un alcolizzato e le ha abbandonate, un giorno all'improvviso, senza farsi più vedere.
Ray è vedovo, ha perso sua moglie per un malattia, e incontra Marie su un autobus proprio il giorno del funerale della donna che gli era stata accanto nel matrimonio.
Quando Floss e Lolly si incontrano, il problema non è tanto tra loro quanto per i rispettivi genitori dell'altra. Insomma: Lolly odia Marie, Marie odia il fatto che Lolly sia al primo posto nella vita di Ray, Ray non dimostra di volere bene a Floss e Floss odia il fatto che Ray non le voglia bene.
A tutti questi problemi di famiglia si aggiungono le relazioni di Lolly e Floss. Lolly ha un figlio con Gabe, ma i due non stanno insieme. Incontra un poliziotto e pensa che potrebbe iniziare una storia con lui, ma odia il pensiero di vedere Gabe con un'altra. Floss, invece, appena tornata a casa dopo aver vissuto lontano con il suo fidanzato, è ormai single. Incontra un idraulico e pensa che potrebbe essere amore, ma lui ha una figlia.
In questo libro si ripetono molte situazioni.
La storia tra Floss e l'idraulico, per esempio, potrebbe essere vista anche nella situazione di Lolly e del poliziotto. Come Floss deve accettare la presenza di una figlia, il poliziotto deve accettare quella di un figlio.
Marie, non rendendosi conto, fa spesso dei paragoni e noi riusciamo perfettamente a vedere come ci si possa ferire in una famiglia, volontariamente o involontariamente. I sentimenti di Lolly le dicono che forse nessuno la vorrà mai, perché nessuno vorrà mai davvero bene a suo figlio. Forse solo lei e Gabe potranno amarlo come si deve.
Marie ha perso Ray, che muore all'inizio del libro, e ora è sola con una figlia sua ed una che non le è mai appartenuta. Continuamente indecisa tra il mettersi in mezzo ed il lasciar correre.
Ho adorato tutto: ogni pagina ed ogni parola.
Complimenti a Jill Sooley. <3

[Secret Girls · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dopo essere rimasta sola con la figlia, Marie cerca di riprendersi la sua vita, senza cercare alcuna storia o un altro padre per la figlia ma si sà il destino ci dq quello che non cerchiamo nel momento meno opportuno ed è così che Marie si innamora di Ray, un uomo che sta cercando anche lui di andare avanti nella sua vita dopo la morte della moglie. Travolti dalla passione i due si sposano, unendo così le loro famiglie, si perché Ray ha anche lui una figlia. Le cose sembrano andare bene, o almeno così pensano loro, ma alle volte unire due famiglie non è così facile e non tutti i membri ne sono felici, ma fingono. Uno scenario reale che rispecchia un pò la vita fi alcune coppie. Una storia vera e divertente ma a tratti anche commovente. Una romanzo che insegna la realtà di una famiglia moderna, allargata, come spesso ormai si vede nella vita di tutti i giorni.

Ho trovato i diversi punti di vista molto interessanti, le diversità di pensieri e i modi di vedere e pensare dei singoli personaggi. Un testo abbastanza scorrevole e interessante che fa riflettere. L'ho trovato carino , la scrittura dell'autrice è molto scorrevole e non ho trovato punti noiosi.

[Kelly Osmond · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5ish. I liked the writing and the characters, just the flow was a bit off for me.

[Ilaria_ws · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Le coincidenze erano le uniche cose che ci facevano andare avanti."

Dispetti di famiglia è un romanzo che racconta la storia di una famiglia non convenzionale. Marie ha quarant'anni, è stata abbandonata dal marito e ha una bambina, Floss. Ray invece è vedovo, anche lui ha una figlia, Lolly. L'incontro tra Marie e Ray dà vita ad una nuova famiglia, una famiglia in cui le incomprensioni e le difficoltà che si trovano in ogni famiglia, si amplificano. Anni dopo saranno proprio Marie, Floss e Lolly, alternandosi, a raccontare la storia di quella famiglia un po' strana e sopra le righe.
Da questo libro mi aspettavo una storia di una famiglia particolare, una storia ricca di ironia e di belle sensazioni. purtroppo devo ammettere che la lettura mi ha delusa parecchio.
Il romanzo ripercorre gli eventi principali che hanno segnato la nascita di questa famiglia allargata. Nel corso del tempo le donne della famiglia si separano per poi ritornare a vivere nella stessa casa ricordando quelli che furono i loro inizi.
Lo stile dell'autrice è molto semplice e scorrevole, l'ironia è abbastanza presente ma a tratti l'ho trovata quasi inadatta al tono della storia. Il ritmo della narrazione è lento, in alcuni punti anche troppo. La storia ruota principalmente attorno a Marie, madre quarantenne abbandonata dal marito e poi unico punto di riferimento rimasto nella famiglia, Lolly, figliastra di Marie incastrata in una vita che non è sicura di volere, e Floss che è appena stata lasciata dal fidanzato e torna a casa per ricominciare.
Nonostante i personaggi siano ben caratterizzati, li ho trovati spesso troppo confusi e indecisi. Tra passato e presente ci vengono spiegati gli inizi e la fine di una famiglia come tante, con i problemi, i dolori e le gioie che ogni famiglia si trova ad affrontare. La trama del romanzo mi attirava molto ma credo che potesse essere sviluppata meglio. Se amate le storie familiari con relativi dispetti e conflitti, allora questo è il romanzo per voi!

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thoroughly engaging examination of the stepfamily, told through the alternating perspectives of Marie (the mother and stepmother), Floss (Marie's daughter) and Lolly (the daughter of Marie's second husband, Ray). Although some of the ways in which the women's stories related to one other were a bit too convenient at times, the writing was nonetheless beautiful and incredibly emotional. This novel truly epitomizes the idea that you have to see all angles of a story before you pick a side, as it's impossible to pick one of these characters to root for over the others. All three have had heartbreaks and triumphs, and you cheer and cry alongside each one of them.

Full review to come in Quill & Quire.

[Mark Sunflower · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. I discovered it by chance at the MUN library and felt "good energy" from it. It is an authentic account of the humanity of blended families and the feeling of differences, but how at the end of the day families might not just be based on blood. We all have our baggage and I appreciated the gentle resolution for all the characters.

A good read.

[Irene Carboni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recensione: http://telefilmelibri.altervista.org/...

[About Crime Girl · Rating 3 out of 5]

La recensione è presente nel mio blog:

http://voglioesseresommersadailibri.b...

[Abcdarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars.