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A Thousand Tiny Cracks
There were a thousand tiny cracks in her protective coating, but it only took the right one for the entire shell to fall away... Stella Maddox is approaching forty. After sacrificing her career to become a stay-at-home mom, her marriage and life disintegrate. Birthdays don't bother her, but screaming kids, superficial friends, and grey hairs do. She compromises her spirit over and over, and finds herself slipping through the cracks as her family's lives take priority over her own. She strikes up a friendship with her neighbor's college-age son, Tad. Stella desires his company, but faces the possibility of destabilizing her marriage and family for an outlet to ease her loneliness. As the bond with her husband frays, she must decide when a connection becomes an affair, what actions she can live with, and which pieces inside she can still claim for herself. Stella is trapped in a cage that she worked most of her life to build.
188 pages, Paperback
First published March 2, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 25, 2013
I opened the book and liked the book. Snarky, but intellectually satircal-based writing at the start often holds my interest.
Early on we learn Stella is intelligent, analytical, and a generally good person great at sizing up everyone and everything within and around her marriage. Her difficulty however is, she's unable to engage her critical thinking skills to connect the dots on how to manage her new life. The kids exasperate her; the hubby isn't responding the way she desires, and her overall morale and confidence is shaken. How does she deal with this?
Oh, here we go… Tad; a teenager soon about to enlist in the Army who conveniently lives next door and is granted full access into Stella's home under the innocent guise of helping the family with repairs to the home.
Tad comes in early into the picture… ready-made too… all the things marriage and children are not. The mutual connection is instant, like attraction at first sight, perhaps the same attraction that lured her and Ethan together, before he became the hubby and she the wife. I could almost feel the energy canvass the page as Stella enjoyed a sweaty day at the gun range with Tad, but later wasted her time spending a day with her daughter Maya, because her child likes daddy better.
Overall I really enjoyed Stella evaluating her feelings, and the assessments she penned to others, but would have enjoyed seeing more storytelling. A deeper premise (early on) leading to anticipating a unique ending would have really made this story sing. The cover and the title was also a nice treat.
Early on we learn Stella is intelligent, analytical, and a generally good person great at sizing up everyone and everything within and around her marriage. Her difficulty however is, she's unable to engage her critical thinking skills to connect the dots on how to manage her new life. The kids exasperate her; the hubby isn't responding the way she desires, and her overall morale and confidence is shaken. How does she deal with this?
Oh, here we go… Tad; a teenager soon about to enlist in the Army who conveniently lives next door and is granted full access into Stella's home under the innocent guise of helping the family with repairs to the home.
Tad comes in early into the picture… ready-made too… all the things marriage and children are not. The mutual connection is instant, like attraction at first sight, perhaps the same attraction that lured her and Ethan together, before he became the hubby and she the wife. I could almost feel the energy canvass the page as Stella enjoyed a sweaty day at the gun range with Tad, but later wasted her time spending a day with her daughter Maya, because her child likes daddy better.
Overall I really enjoyed Stella evaluating her feelings, and the assessments she penned to others, but would have enjoyed seeing more storytelling. A deeper premise (early on) leading to anticipating a unique ending would have really made this story sing. The cover and the title was also a nice treat.
May 2, 2013
After looking through possible books to review, I chose this one and I’m so glad that I did. I really, really enjoyed it. I felt like it was written in such a beautiful way to show the devastating emotions Stella was facing. I was first intrigued about the book after reading the synopsis and I was hooked from the beginning. There are emotions and feelings in the book that I think most people, especially women, can relate to. Especially in a less than perfect world, and let’s face it, most of us are in a less than perfect world. Stella’s personal reflections on how she lives, how her life ended up, choices she made and ultimately the potential circumstances surrounding those choices made for a very, very good read. I definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a read about how life sometimes goes awry.
~ Crystal
~ Crystal
July 22, 2013
Perhaps if I was younger I would have enjoyed this book more. I've lived through raising kids and not being able to communicate w/my husband, so there was nothing new to me here. This was almost like reading someones diary or a very well written blog.
June 1, 2013
This is the story of a highly educated woman who chooses her family over her career. Although she knows this is the right decision, being married to a busy husband leaves her with emotional emptiness. She longs to be heard and validated, to feel connected and worthy.
I love books that get inside the mind of the protagonist and put the reader in touch with the many nuances that drive motivations and behavior. A THOUSAND TINY CRACKS does a superior job of this.
As an author myself, I found myself envying Ms. Maddox's style and candor.
Page 162: "Something within me longs for him to comprehend the damage he has created."
Page 170: "The truth is that he never did know all of me. He just found the one portion of me that no one else could reach."
Page 177: "When I expected nothing, Tad gave all. But when my expectations overwhelmed him, he fled."
Page 177: "His silence insulted me. It was a slap in the face. My insecurity and anger overshadowed every other emotion."
As a reader, you'll appreciate this moving, engaging story. You'll connect with the characters and how they interact and what compels them to do what they do. Ms. Maddox's words will stay with you long after you've closed the book.
I love books that get inside the mind of the protagonist and put the reader in touch with the many nuances that drive motivations and behavior. A THOUSAND TINY CRACKS does a superior job of this.
As an author myself, I found myself envying Ms. Maddox's style and candor.
Page 162: "Something within me longs for him to comprehend the damage he has created."
Page 170: "The truth is that he never did know all of me. He just found the one portion of me that no one else could reach."
Page 177: "When I expected nothing, Tad gave all. But when my expectations overwhelmed him, he fled."
Page 177: "His silence insulted me. It was a slap in the face. My insecurity and anger overshadowed every other emotion."
As a reader, you'll appreciate this moving, engaging story. You'll connect with the characters and how they interact and what compels them to do what they do. Ms. Maddox's words will stay with you long after you've closed the book.
January 4, 2014
I cringed my way through the first scene of this novel. The narrator is so intensely dislikable and I could not, at all, understand why she had to be such a raging hosebeast to her husband - I took a good, long pause after the first scene because it was just that unpleasant. The narrator never becomes any more likable. She seems bitter for the sake of bitterness, talks herself down constantly, and takes everything her husband says as a sleight. Her internal dialogue made me set the book down numerous times because I was eye-rolling so hard. She is just so nasty, so mean, so intentionally disparaging, that I felt it bordered on comically melodramatic. The few times she actually DOES have a reason to be upset, the circumstances are so ridiculous that they read as a parody vs reality - that is, I just didn't buy them. Her relationship with the younger guy feels forced; I didn't for a moment feel like he was "challenging" (as the narrator insisted) nor particularly interesting.
I honestly just can't find a lot to like about this book. The setting, maybe? I think Maddox's writing has promise, and I'd certainly not dismiss any future novels she writes just because this one sat so poorly with me.
I honestly just can't find a lot to like about this book. The setting, maybe? I think Maddox's writing has promise, and I'd certainly not dismiss any future novels she writes just because this one sat so poorly with me.
May 9, 2013
One of the best books I have ever read. I immediately related to the story. It is some fiction & some reality from Ms. Maddox's everyday life. If you've ever had a relationship where you felt disconnected from your significant other thus book well be impossible to lay down until you are done. The book was hot & so is the author.
May 13, 2014
It reads like mediocre fanfiction, but is raw, real, and I cannot put it down. Part of me feels like she tries a little too hard to write an A essay rather than merely tell her story. Nonetheless, I'm loving every morsel if it, trying to go slow because I don't want to finish.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews