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The History of Great Things
A witty and irresistible story of a mother and daughter regarding each other through the looking glass of time, grief, and forgiveness.
In two beautifully counterpoised narratives, two women—mother and daughter—try to make sense of their own lives by revisiting what they know about each other. The History of Great Things tells the entwined stories of Lois, a daughter of the Depression Midwest who came to New York to transform herself into an opera star, and her daughter, Elizabeth, an aspiring writer who came of age in the 1970s and ’80s in the forbidding shadow of her often-absent, always larger-than-life mother. In a tour de force of storytelling and human empathy, Elizabeth chronicles the events of her mother’s life, and in turn Lois recounts her daughter’s story—pulling back the curtain on lifelong secrets, challenging and interrupting each other, defending their own behavior, brandishing or swallowing their pride, and, ultimately, coming to understand each other in a way that feels both extraordinary and universal.
The History of Great Things is a novel about a mother and daughter who are intimately connected and not connected enough; it will make readers laugh and cry and wonder how we become the adults we always knew we should—even if we’re not always adults our parents understand.
In two beautifully counterpoised narratives, two women—mother and daughter—try to make sense of their own lives by revisiting what they know about each other. The History of Great Things tells the entwined stories of Lois, a daughter of the Depression Midwest who came to New York to transform herself into an opera star, and her daughter, Elizabeth, an aspiring writer who came of age in the 1970s and ’80s in the forbidding shadow of her often-absent, always larger-than-life mother. In a tour de force of storytelling and human empathy, Elizabeth chronicles the events of her mother’s life, and in turn Lois recounts her daughter’s story—pulling back the curtain on lifelong secrets, challenging and interrupting each other, defending their own behavior, brandishing or swallowing their pride, and, ultimately, coming to understand each other in a way that feels both extraordinary and universal.
The History of Great Things is a novel about a mother and daughter who are intimately connected and not connected enough; it will make readers laugh and cry and wonder how we become the adults we always knew we should—even if we’re not always adults our parents understand.
262 pages, Paperback
First published April 5, 2016
107 people are currently reading
1975 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Crane
37 books131 followersElizabeth Crane is the author of two novels We Only Know So Much (now a major motion picture) and The History of Great Things (Harper Perennial) and four collections of short stories: When the Messenger Is Hot and All This Heavenly Glory (Little, Brown) and You Must Be This Happy to Enter (Akashic Books), and Turf (Counterpoint). Her work has been adapted for the stage by Steppenwolf Theater and featured on NPR's Selected Shorts. She is a winner of the Chicago Public Library 21st Century Award.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 100 reviews
May 19, 2016
It reads like a memoir but is described as fiction. How much is autobiographical? I don't know really, but I can't help but think that a good bit of it is . The author Elizabeth Crane has named the daughter in the book Betsy Crane. This is a fascinating dual narrative; a mother and daughter it seems are having a conversation talking about their lives . Well not telling about their own life but each other's as they saw it . The telling of each other's story , parts of which may or may not be exactly how things happened. Are they reliable narrators given the way they have decided to tell the story? At times they interrupt each other, and they sometimes let us know if that is exactly what happened or not and we are told why the story is being told this way.
"—Okay, you’re pretty good at this.
—Thanks, Mom.
—I mean, that might be made up, but it could have happened. Maybe it did happen. —Well, but it’s important that everyone understands this isn’t what actually happened, only what could have happened.
—That’s what I said, Betsy. It could have happened. I said “could.” In this case, it’s fairly close to what actually did happen.
—Yes, but that’s not what I want. I want it to be only things that could have happened but didn’t. I want the characters and their relationships to be real, but not the exact circumstances. Only similar, believable circumstances.
—But wait, why does it matter what the reader thinks about it? ......I’m just saying it could be true. I still don’t see why it matters how people read it.
—I don’t know, Mom. Because it just does.
—That sounds like a Lois answer.
—I am your kid. I’m never unclear about that."
I found this excerpt fascinating because it is perhaps reflective of most fiction and because early on we see that connection between mother and daughter . To add more to the mix , Lois Crane has died of cancer so it is really the daughter Betsy Crane or the author of the book , Elizabeth Crane orchestrating these conversations . What struck me most is not the story itself, but how the story is told . This mechanism depicts how much they knew and how much they didn't know about each other and how much they tell about themselves as they tell the others story.
I loved how this book reflected the times especially the role of women over the decades. I loved that it was both funny and sad as life sometimes is. It ultimately about their relationship over the years, alternating between Betsy as a child , a teen , an adult and Lois at other times reflecting on their individual ups, downs, challenges, disappointments in each other , in themselves , but also the love they have for each other.
Thanks to HarperCollins and Edelweiss.
April 5, 2016
It's here and if you have a mother or a daughter, or if you are human, go read it! Make Betsy rich.
I loved this book and have spent the last hour trying to get something written about it that would do justice to its use of interesting literary choices to make the stories of Lois and Betsy compelling, entertaining, wise and moving. I have failed miserably because it's late and I'm tired so everything I'm managing to come up with only makes the book sound odd, challenging and intimidating and it's not. It's very readable and brilliantly told -- complex, darkly funny, sad and wise. Think Kate Atkinson in her more experimental moments or a really good Dr Who episode.
Bottom line? You should read it when you get the chance. I'll try to write something more some other time, but you could save me the angst and just put it onto your TBR pile and give it a shot next April.
I loved this book and have spent the last hour trying to get something written about it that would do justice to its use of interesting literary choices to make the stories of Lois and Betsy compelling, entertaining, wise and moving. I have failed miserably because it's late and I'm tired so everything I'm managing to come up with only makes the book sound odd, challenging and intimidating and it's not. It's very readable and brilliantly told -- complex, darkly funny, sad and wise. Think Kate Atkinson in her more experimental moments or a really good Dr Who episode.
Bottom line? You should read it when you get the chance. I'll try to write something more some other time, but you could save me the angst and just put it onto your TBR pile and give it a shot next April.
April 29, 2025
There is just so much about this book I hated. It's woke and feminist--women should pursue their own careers and choices, and nobody, especially men, should hold them back, even if this means divorce and abortion. What is so ironic is that while the author seems to promote one thing, the story so obviously contradicts the message. For example, while she advocates for the woman's career over family and relationships, she eventually depicts the lives of two incredibly unhappy and unsatisfied women-- they're addicted to drugs, alcohol, and sex, and they require psychiatric help--but hey, they went out and became independent! People who pursue the self and their own desires will never be happy. Furthermore, she also promotes abortions (two to three abortions are casually mentioned), all in favor of the women's careers, and yet, the entire book is about the amazing bond between mother and daughter, and how this bond is exactly what life is all about. How does this make sense?
The book serves as a therapeutic exercise for the author who had a difficult relationship with her mother; moreover, the mother died before they could ever resolve their differences; so, in this book, she and her deceased mother try to tell each other's stories in order to understand and empathize with each other. There is lack of clarity as to who is speaking, and whenever there is a dialogue, the conversation is all italicized and within one paragraph without information as to who is saying what, much like a stream of consciousness. Later, the author says she's intentionally doing this because of how similar she and her mother are, and more importantly, she is speaking for her mother, so there really only is one voice--her own. In the end then, there is no true relationship--it's just an imaginary one in her own mind, so it still promotes the self!
I know it's postmodern, but it just doesn't make sense. Toward the end, they start doing whatever they want, because hey, it's a story, and there are no rules in stories--they time travel, the deceased mother resurrects and attends her daughter's funeral, they go on vacation to Machu Picchu.
I finished this book only so I could write a review and warn readers to avoid it.
The book serves as a therapeutic exercise for the author who had a difficult relationship with her mother; moreover, the mother died before they could ever resolve their differences; so, in this book, she and her deceased mother try to tell each other's stories in order to understand and empathize with each other. There is lack of clarity as to who is speaking, and whenever there is a dialogue, the conversation is all italicized and within one paragraph without information as to who is saying what, much like a stream of consciousness. Later, the author says she's intentionally doing this because of how similar she and her mother are, and more importantly, she is speaking for her mother, so there really only is one voice--her own. In the end then, there is no true relationship--it's just an imaginary one in her own mind, so it still promotes the self!
I know it's postmodern, but it just doesn't make sense. Toward the end, they start doing whatever they want, because hey, it's a story, and there are no rules in stories--they time travel, the deceased mother resurrects and attends her daughter's funeral, they go on vacation to Machu Picchu.
I finished this book only so I could write a review and warn readers to avoid it.
December 26, 2016
This book was unique and I enjoyed it very much. The sidebar conversations between the mother and daughter, as they each tell the other’s story, were delightfully believable. Combined with the way they each sometimes exaggerated or made things up in the other’s story to make a point, the author used the conversations to create a very believable mother-daughter relationship. I’ve rarely seen any relationship, especially a non-romantic one, brought to life so well. I also enjoyed their stories for their own sake. Each highlighted challenges facing women during different time periods and each woman had a distinct personality and way of dealing with those challenges. An excellent character study.
Read
January 11, 2017I wanted to like this book, but I struggled with it. The structure confused me though I could sense it was wonderfully imaginative and inventive. I'm simply too linear in my thinking to go the way Crane was taking me. Fellow readers, whose assessments I usually agree with, with loved the book, so it has to be me. While the book jacket endorsements say this book "thrums with wisdom, buzzes with truth," I never found this to be so.
July 3, 2016
3.5 stars, I liked how different it was, an imagined conversation between a daughter and her deceased mother. Definitely not like anything I've read before!
May 9, 2016
I want to thank my cousin Wendi for going with me on April 21st to the Elizabeth Crane reading in Kalamazoo, MI, at the Book Bug independent bookstore, where we bought our copies of this book.
The History of Great Things is the first Crane novel I’ve read. I am familiar with her short story collection You Must Be This Happy to Enter, which I also taught to freshman at an all-women’s college. The students deemed the stories “just silly,” but the silliness is what appealed to me. So many novels are about destruction, sadness, addiction. During her reading, Elizabeth Crane explained that she wondered if it was possible for a writer to create when he/she is not unhappy. Does art, she wondered, require misery? I guess my students would be on the side of “yes.”
I was curious to see how this playful author would turn her special flavor into something novel-length, and when I learned she would be reading in Kalamazoo, only an hour from me and where my favorite cousin Wendi lives, I made the drive. Prince had died that day. That shouldn’t matter, except the employee of the store kept making subtle Prince references instead of properly introducing Elizabeth Crane. She even started her speech with, “We are gathered here today….” Why was she mixing business with her sadness over a pop icon? She also kept saying “Betsy.” I had no idea who Betsy was, but after a few minutes I learned that the store employee was talking about Elizabeth Crane. It turns out that the author’s husband is from Kalamazoo, so she knew several people in the audience, including the woman introducing her, and they’d been hanging out and having fun all day — and drinking based on the wondering non-nonsensical introduction. It made for a lousy reading, but seeing Wendi was worth it, and the brief passages Elizabeth Crane read made me want to buy the book.
The History of Great Things has a confusing premise, but when you start reading it makes total sense. In real life, Elizabeth Crane is fondly known as Betsy. Her mother was Lois, who was an opera singer who died of cancer.
In the book, Lois tells her daughter’s life as she understands it. Betsy tells about Lois’s life as she understands it. It’s an interesting premise that asks, “What do daughters and mothers actually know about each other?”
Since the author’s mother is deceased, she is the puppet master in all of this. She is writing the book, pretending to think like her mother, who is pretending to understand her daughter. Whoa. Explaining it feels like the Matrix, or that scene in Chicago during which Richard Gere uses Renee Zellweger as a puppet to confuse the media. During the reading, Crane was insistent that this is not a memoir. These are characters, not “real” people (even though they are/were real people). Crane wasn’t there for a lot of it, she said (I’m paraphrasing as closely as possible), and at some points in the book she time travels, so yeah, it’s fiction. Crane also points out that while both of her parents are dead and left behind a lot of stuff, she didn’t go through those things, including letters, to write this book because she “didn’t want this book to depict events with any accuracy.”
To give you an idea of how this book starts, here is a sample from Lois’s perspective. Remember, she’s writing what she thinks Betsy’s life is like in 1961:
My favorite parts of the book are when Lois and Betsy interrupt each other mid-story. Here is a continuation of the previous quote:
At one point, Betsy tells the story of Lois as a little girl playing with another little girl, Ginny, whose great-grandmother was black. As a result, Lois’s racist father makes Ginny leave. The way Betsy tells the story sounds accurate, but she adds on that Lois is determined to be friends with Ginny when they grow up. Lois interjects:
As the novel progresses, you start to notice similarities between mother and daughter. Lois is a professional opera singer stuck in a time when women are supposed to be wives and mothers. When she finds herself married at 19, and then pregnant, she simultaneously chases the dream of singing in New York City because she’s been accepted by a highly-coveted voice coach. Betsy imagines her mother thinking, “You do want this baby, you’re sure of it, pretty sure, granted the timing is suddenly not great, but it’s too late now.” Betsy flounders when it comes to fitting in as she should, too. Into her 30s she still is not gainfully employed and frequently moves back home. Lois images Betsy thinking, “Does everyone have to want the same thing? Does everyone have to know exactly what they want? Is there a cutoff date for knowing what you want? And if you go beyond it, what then?”
Around the middle of the book, Lois dies (just as she died of cancer in real life). This part is playful because Lois definitely wasn’t there, so there can be no accuracy in what she thinks. She has sections on how she thinks Betsy dealt with her death, everything from buying a house boat and having twins after going through in vitro fertilization, to trying for a career as a preschool teaching and dating but failing to find the right one so Betsy becomes celibate, to getting married and having twins and riding away on a whale. They’re all rather silly. Eventually, Betsy interrupts and says that she’s actually married to a man named Ben (no children). Her mother says, “–You’re with someone? Oh, sweetheart!” Now, isn’t that just cute? You could just imagine anyone’s mother saying that, but this mother is saying it from beyond the grave, as if Elizabeth Crane wanted or needed to hear it.
As the book goes on, Lois expresses that she feels miserable from the stories Betsy’s reminding her of — sad or painful parts of her past — and so things get a bit crazy. Together, they decide to re-do some of life. And here is where we get to the part that made me decide to buy the book: Betsy imagines that she and her mother are sisters on the day that the little African American girl, Ginny, was thrown out of Lois’s house. I’m just going to quote because this scene is fantastic:
Yet, there are some problems with the book. First, the author doesn’t keep her characters consistently named. When Betsy’s telling Lois’s story, instead of referring to herself in first person, she calls herself Betsy, which is confusing. Imagine Betsy writes something like “you’re holding Betsy after she is born” instead of “you’re holding me after I am born”). Instead of calling her parents mom and dad, they are Fred and Lois. Since the book made it so very clear that Betsy is telling the story, using Fred is strange. And sometimes he’s dad, which isn’t consistent. She also calls her grandparents what Lois calls them (Mother and Daddy) instead of grandma and grandpa. Whomever is writing should use the terms they would use to keep everything sorted.
Also, there are some language problems. Lois writes using phrases like “stupid-ass hat” and “cost about infinity more money than you have,” which sounds odd coming from a woman born in the 30s. Yes, she’s telling Betsy’s story, but it’s Lois’s voice. Could the author’s mother spoke that way? Sure, but if she’s going to insist this book isn’t a memoir, then Crane needs to adjust the voices so they are believable within the novel.
When I got to the end of the book, I wasn’t sure why we were stopping. What exactly was the arc of this book? In the very end, after the acknowledgements, the author explains why she wrote this book, but doesn’t give any new reasons beyond what’s already stated in the novel. She also includes a bunch of pictures and newspaper clippings from her and her parents’ lives, though they are small, grainy layered black-and-white images without labels, so I wasn’t sure what to take from them. And why add them to a book that purports to NOT be fiction?
Finally, the quality of the book itself could be better. I’m used to reading small press books, which are often designed with integrity, but this Harper Perennial book was cheaply made. I felt like I was trying to read print cooked lasagna noodles, and the pages hadn’t been completely been cut in the process, so I was constantly picking bits of paper fuzz from the bottom edge.
Despite my criticisms, I would recommend everyone read this book because it is uniquely told. If you are a writer, The History of Great Things could give you some ideas on how to play with style and point of view. The novel is a speedy read. You might find yourself thinking “just one more” like I did many times because of the digestible length of chapters.
This review was originally published at Grab the Lapels.
The History of Great Things is the first Crane novel I’ve read. I am familiar with her short story collection You Must Be This Happy to Enter, which I also taught to freshman at an all-women’s college. The students deemed the stories “just silly,” but the silliness is what appealed to me. So many novels are about destruction, sadness, addiction. During her reading, Elizabeth Crane explained that she wondered if it was possible for a writer to create when he/she is not unhappy. Does art, she wondered, require misery? I guess my students would be on the side of “yes.”
I was curious to see how this playful author would turn her special flavor into something novel-length, and when I learned she would be reading in Kalamazoo, only an hour from me and where my favorite cousin Wendi lives, I made the drive. Prince had died that day. That shouldn’t matter, except the employee of the store kept making subtle Prince references instead of properly introducing Elizabeth Crane. She even started her speech with, “We are gathered here today….” Why was she mixing business with her sadness over a pop icon? She also kept saying “Betsy.” I had no idea who Betsy was, but after a few minutes I learned that the store employee was talking about Elizabeth Crane. It turns out that the author’s husband is from Kalamazoo, so she knew several people in the audience, including the woman introducing her, and they’d been hanging out and having fun all day — and drinking based on the wondering non-nonsensical introduction. It made for a lousy reading, but seeing Wendi was worth it, and the brief passages Elizabeth Crane read made me want to buy the book.
The History of Great Things has a confusing premise, but when you start reading it makes total sense. In real life, Elizabeth Crane is fondly known as Betsy. Her mother was Lois, who was an opera singer who died of cancer.
In the book, Lois tells her daughter’s life as she understands it. Betsy tells about Lois’s life as she understands it. It’s an interesting premise that asks, “What do daughters and mothers actually know about each other?”
Since the author’s mother is deceased, she is the puppet master in all of this. She is writing the book, pretending to think like her mother, who is pretending to understand her daughter. Whoa. Explaining it feels like the Matrix, or that scene in Chicago during which Richard Gere uses Renee Zellweger as a puppet to confuse the media. During the reading, Crane was insistent that this is not a memoir. These are characters, not “real” people (even though they are/were real people). Crane wasn’t there for a lot of it, she said (I’m paraphrasing as closely as possible), and at some points in the book she time travels, so yeah, it’s fiction. Crane also points out that while both of her parents are dead and left behind a lot of stuff, she didn’t go through those things, including letters, to write this book because she “didn’t want this book to depict events with any accuracy.”
To give you an idea of how this book starts, here is a sample from Lois’s perspective. Remember, she’s writing what she thinks Betsy’s life is like in 1961:
So you’re a giant bowling ball coming out of me. If bowling balls were square. It hurts like a bitch. Honestly. No one mentioned this detail to me in advance. I may as well be pushing out a full-grown adult. Wearing a tweed pantsuit. Think about that. That’s what they should tell kids in sex ed. Not that sex ed exists now, because it doesn’t. Sex exists. Not ed.In the next chapter, Betsy writes what she thinks her mother’s life was like in 1936:
Okay. Muscatine, Iowa. June of 1936. You’re born in Muscatine. Edna, your mother, has been a homemaker since your older sister, Marjorie, was born a couple years earlier. Before that she worked at the Heinz factory for a while. Walter, your father, is the editor of the Muscatine Journal. Member of the lodge.And that’s how the book reads: each woman tells the story of the other…or how she thinks it was, including the other person’s feelings and motives. Here, I can see a clear distinction in the voices. Betsy and Lois are definitely different speakers.
My favorite parts of the book are when Lois and Betsy interrupt each other mid-story. Here is a continuation of the previous quote:
–Which lodge?These little squabbles are both funny and significant. Imagine if you could sit down with your parent and tell them what you think their life was like. Now, imagine that parent is dead, so you have to uphold both ends of the conversation. I’m positive therapists use this tool with patients. Also, Betsy points out to her mother that she wants to skip sex scenes because, ew, why would she want to imagine that? Her mother retorts that she’s already written three sex scenes for Betsy, but the Betsy points out that really she’s just imagining her mothering imagining herself, so all in all, it’s not hard for her to imagine herself having sex. These are very playful moments in the book!
–I don’t know, some lodge. A lodge is a lodge.
–Don’t tell him that.
–Mom, Grandpa’s long gone.
–Well, so am I, Betsy, but you’re talking to me.
–Okay, whatever! Let’s say it’s a Moose lodge.
–Let’s say? You don’t think we should try to be accurate?
–Well, it’s not a memoir. It’s just a story.
–But it’s a true story.
–It’s not a true story, though. That’s not what we’re doing. Do you think you know my story?
–Yes. I don’t know. Maybe. More than you think.
–Lemme just keep going.
At one point, Betsy tells the story of Lois as a little girl playing with another little girl, Ginny, whose great-grandmother was black. As a result, Lois’s racist father makes Ginny leave. The way Betsy tells the story sounds accurate, but she adds on that Lois is determined to be friends with Ginny when they grow up. Lois interjects:
–Okay, you’re pretty good at this.Elizabeth Crane makes sure her characters remind the reader that they’re reading a fake conversation, that it isn’t real and only what might have happened is allowed in the book. I feel this is important because we’ve got some sneaky metafiction here. The book is aware that it’s a book, and I haven’t read any good metafiction lately, not since Kurt Vonnegut’s Breakfast of Champions in which he inserts himself in the final scene.
–Thanks, Mom.
–I mean, that might be made up, but it could have happened. Maybe it did happen.
–Well, but it’s important that everyone understands this isn’t what actually happened, only what could have happened.
As the novel progresses, you start to notice similarities between mother and daughter. Lois is a professional opera singer stuck in a time when women are supposed to be wives and mothers. When she finds herself married at 19, and then pregnant, she simultaneously chases the dream of singing in New York City because she’s been accepted by a highly-coveted voice coach. Betsy imagines her mother thinking, “You do want this baby, you’re sure of it, pretty sure, granted the timing is suddenly not great, but it’s too late now.” Betsy flounders when it comes to fitting in as she should, too. Into her 30s she still is not gainfully employed and frequently moves back home. Lois images Betsy thinking, “Does everyone have to want the same thing? Does everyone have to know exactly what they want? Is there a cutoff date for knowing what you want? And if you go beyond it, what then?”
Around the middle of the book, Lois dies (just as she died of cancer in real life). This part is playful because Lois definitely wasn’t there, so there can be no accuracy in what she thinks. She has sections on how she thinks Betsy dealt with her death, everything from buying a house boat and having twins after going through in vitro fertilization, to trying for a career as a preschool teaching and dating but failing to find the right one so Betsy becomes celibate, to getting married and having twins and riding away on a whale. They’re all rather silly. Eventually, Betsy interrupts and says that she’s actually married to a man named Ben (no children). Her mother says, “–You’re with someone? Oh, sweetheart!” Now, isn’t that just cute? You could just imagine anyone’s mother saying that, but this mother is saying it from beyond the grave, as if Elizabeth Crane wanted or needed to hear it.
As the book goes on, Lois expresses that she feels miserable from the stories Betsy’s reminding her of — sad or painful parts of her past — and so things get a bit crazy. Together, they decide to re-do some of life. And here is where we get to the part that made me decide to buy the book: Betsy imagines that she and her mother are sisters on the day that the little African American girl, Ginny, was thrown out of Lois’s house. I’m just going to quote because this scene is fantastic:
…I run back downstairs to find Daddy smoking out in the backyard, and I say Daddy, Ginny is a person just like you, and he says You are asking for big trouble, young lady, and I say I don’t care! I am here from the future! We have an African American president! and he says What the hell is “African American”? And I say It means black, negro, colored! We have a colored president! There are two little colored girls in the White House! I’m going to wash your mouth out with soap for just for thinking such a thing! And I say I don’t care! The future is here! …Ginny really does want to go home now, and you [Lois] are rather unsure about this whole scene, and I yell loud enough for the neighbors three houses down to hear A racist lives here! A racist lives here! ….Daddy tells us we’re both grounded until we graduate from high school; that’s when I say Fuck you, I’m going back to the twenty-first century.Oh, wow, can you imagine going back in time and righting the wrongs? I loved this moment where Betsy really gives it to her racist old grandpa! And, it pulls the story out of the sticky sadness that real life can be. Fiction is a place where people can do whatever they want, so why not?
Yet, there are some problems with the book. First, the author doesn’t keep her characters consistently named. When Betsy’s telling Lois’s story, instead of referring to herself in first person, she calls herself Betsy, which is confusing. Imagine Betsy writes something like “you’re holding Betsy after she is born” instead of “you’re holding me after I am born”). Instead of calling her parents mom and dad, they are Fred and Lois. Since the book made it so very clear that Betsy is telling the story, using Fred is strange. And sometimes he’s dad, which isn’t consistent. She also calls her grandparents what Lois calls them (Mother and Daddy) instead of grandma and grandpa. Whomever is writing should use the terms they would use to keep everything sorted.
Also, there are some language problems. Lois writes using phrases like “stupid-ass hat” and “cost about infinity more money than you have,” which sounds odd coming from a woman born in the 30s. Yes, she’s telling Betsy’s story, but it’s Lois’s voice. Could the author’s mother spoke that way? Sure, but if she’s going to insist this book isn’t a memoir, then Crane needs to adjust the voices so they are believable within the novel.
When I got to the end of the book, I wasn’t sure why we were stopping. What exactly was the arc of this book? In the very end, after the acknowledgements, the author explains why she wrote this book, but doesn’t give any new reasons beyond what’s already stated in the novel. She also includes a bunch of pictures and newspaper clippings from her and her parents’ lives, though they are small, grainy layered black-and-white images without labels, so I wasn’t sure what to take from them. And why add them to a book that purports to NOT be fiction?
Finally, the quality of the book itself could be better. I’m used to reading small press books, which are often designed with integrity, but this Harper Perennial book was cheaply made. I felt like I was trying to read print cooked lasagna noodles, and the pages hadn’t been completely been cut in the process, so I was constantly picking bits of paper fuzz from the bottom edge.
Despite my criticisms, I would recommend everyone read this book because it is uniquely told. If you are a writer, The History of Great Things could give you some ideas on how to play with style and point of view. The novel is a speedy read. You might find yourself thinking “just one more” like I did many times because of the digestible length of chapters.
This review was originally published at Grab the Lapels.
October 22, 2019
I loved the unique style of this odd, absorbing book, which is written as a conversation between a daughter and her dead mother, in which each character tells the story of the other. Crane isn't shy about letting the reader know that the dual biographies aren't "true" in the traditional sense, but I loved the way the relationship between mother and daughter unfolded page to page, and the way the vignettes were followed by bickering between the living daughter and her own imagining of her mother's ghost. The only reason I'm not giving this five stars is because it didn't seem to really arrive anywhere at the end, digressing more and more into imagination. That said, considering how autobiographical it is (something I didn't realize until the end of the book), perhaps that's no surprise -- life is rarely a good linear narrative.
April 2, 2016
This review was originally posted on www.125pages.com
The History of Great Things took me a bit to get my head wrapped around what was happening. It is a story of a mother and a daughter and they are speaking to each other as they are writing. I will admit that I was super confused for at least the first third of the book. The story is written as almost an autobiography of the lives of mother Lois and daughter Elizabeth. Each is telling the others story, sometimes true and sometimes made up and then they speak to each other at the end of the chapter.
The plot of The History of Great Things was very interesting. It ebbed and flowed between the two lives, but not in a straightforward way. I enjoyed the writing of Elizabeth Crane. I loved the humor and snark sprinkled throughout the story. The pacing was confusing as the time lines went back and forth between the two women and their lives. The world built was also a bit confusing as each perspective was skewed by the second hand telling. The emotions in The History of Great Things were great. The interplay between mother and daughter, the love and at times hate rode high. I had some trouble connecting with the characters as they were speaking for each other and so I never got a solid grasp on who they were.
I did like parts of The History of Great Things, but honestly I was so confused by the story telling that it was a difficult read for me. Elizabeth Crane was able to interject a lot of subtle humor in her writing and I really enjoyed that. I normally hate introductory chapters that lay out the story first, but I think The History of Great Things might have been a better read for me if I "got" the concept before I started. I did really enjoy the last half of the book, so hopefully others grasp this better than I did.
Favorite lines - That’s the argument I started. I said “Mom.”
-You made me yell.
-I made you yell.
-You called an old lady with cancer a cunt.
-I didn’t say it to her face.
Biggest cliché - I'm your mother, you should listen to me.
Have you read The History of Great Things, or added it to your TBR?This book was most likely received free from the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The History of Great Things took me a bit to get my head wrapped around what was happening. It is a story of a mother and a daughter and they are speaking to each other as they are writing. I will admit that I was super confused for at least the first third of the book. The story is written as almost an autobiography of the lives of mother Lois and daughter Elizabeth. Each is telling the others story, sometimes true and sometimes made up and then they speak to each other at the end of the chapter.
The plot of The History of Great Things was very interesting. It ebbed and flowed between the two lives, but not in a straightforward way. I enjoyed the writing of Elizabeth Crane. I loved the humor and snark sprinkled throughout the story. The pacing was confusing as the time lines went back and forth between the two women and their lives. The world built was also a bit confusing as each perspective was skewed by the second hand telling. The emotions in The History of Great Things were great. The interplay between mother and daughter, the love and at times hate rode high. I had some trouble connecting with the characters as they were speaking for each other and so I never got a solid grasp on who they were.
I did like parts of The History of Great Things, but honestly I was so confused by the story telling that it was a difficult read for me. Elizabeth Crane was able to interject a lot of subtle humor in her writing and I really enjoyed that. I normally hate introductory chapters that lay out the story first, but I think The History of Great Things might have been a better read for me if I "got" the concept before I started. I did really enjoy the last half of the book, so hopefully others grasp this better than I did.
Favorite lines - That’s the argument I started. I said “Mom.”
-You made me yell.
-I made you yell.
-You called an old lady with cancer a cunt.
-I didn’t say it to her face.
Biggest cliché - I'm your mother, you should listen to me.
Have you read The History of Great Things, or added it to your TBR?This book was most likely received free from the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
March 27, 2016
The History of Great Things by Elizabeth Crane is a quasi-autobiographical novel that features a dual narrative between a mother and daughter. In this recommended novel a mother and daughter narrate each other's lives using real stories or various alternate stories. This would be a good choice for those who enjoy experimental literature.
Lois Crane is the mother; Betsy (Elizabeth) Crane is the daughter. This chronicles the strained and complicated relationship between mother and daughter. As one tells the other's story, the two also argue/editorialize what the writer of that part is doing or how it could be done better. Some stories the mother and daughter share are real, based on facts. Others involve speculation and made up episodes as they reinvent each other's lives to fill in blank spaces.
Lois Crane leaves her husband to pursue her career as an opera singer in NYC (as did Elizabeth Crane's mother, Lois). She left young Betsy for her father to raise until she divorced him and insisted that Betsy needed to be with her mother, a decision she regretted almost immediately. Betsy Crane stumbles after college, taking dead end jobs and becoming an alcoholic. She does insist that she always wanted to be a writer, and eventually sobers up and does so.
Crane does a good job in the narrative expression of her character's inner voices - this is a daughter and her deceased mother writing each other's life story, after all. She doesn't shy away from the complications in a mother/daughter relationship, and deals with grief and forgiveness. I found the beginning of The History of Great Things interesting and it held my attention, however, that interest started to wane as the novel progressed. The voice of the mother and daughter are not always as distinct as their individual stories, therefore occasional back tracking is required to establish whose voice is whose during their commentaries/inner dialogue. The ending becomes even more confusing with several, alternate endings. While I appreciate the creativity and the experimentation this novel represents, in many ways it might have been better had Crane went with a memoir.
Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of HarperCollins for review purposes.
Lois Crane is the mother; Betsy (Elizabeth) Crane is the daughter. This chronicles the strained and complicated relationship between mother and daughter. As one tells the other's story, the two also argue/editorialize what the writer of that part is doing or how it could be done better. Some stories the mother and daughter share are real, based on facts. Others involve speculation and made up episodes as they reinvent each other's lives to fill in blank spaces.
Lois Crane leaves her husband to pursue her career as an opera singer in NYC (as did Elizabeth Crane's mother, Lois). She left young Betsy for her father to raise until she divorced him and insisted that Betsy needed to be with her mother, a decision she regretted almost immediately. Betsy Crane stumbles after college, taking dead end jobs and becoming an alcoholic. She does insist that she always wanted to be a writer, and eventually sobers up and does so.
Crane does a good job in the narrative expression of her character's inner voices - this is a daughter and her deceased mother writing each other's life story, after all. She doesn't shy away from the complications in a mother/daughter relationship, and deals with grief and forgiveness. I found the beginning of The History of Great Things interesting and it held my attention, however, that interest started to wane as the novel progressed. The voice of the mother and daughter are not always as distinct as their individual stories, therefore occasional back tracking is required to establish whose voice is whose during their commentaries/inner dialogue. The ending becomes even more confusing with several, alternate endings. While I appreciate the creativity and the experimentation this novel represents, in many ways it might have been better had Crane went with a memoir.
Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of HarperCollins for review purposes.
May 7, 2017
I read this book for my monthly bookclub-- so I had no choice but to keep trying to finish it. It was hard--almost like torture-- to finish it. Luckily it was short. I hated the casual language and found the shifting narrative very confusing. Because I didn't care about the characters, I didn't worry about who was speaking--mother and daughters' voices were too similar to distinguish easily. This is maybe what is described as contemporary female literature--by women for women..... you can see most reviews are by women, as are the online reviews. I am not sure if this is a specific genre but it was overly preoccupied by feelings and dysfunctional relationships. That the mother was a real-life person and in many ways that this was a memoir was quite interesting (so that is what the star is for). I was impressed or surprised to learn that someone could go on to greatness in the opera world only beginning voice lessons in their twenties. She must have been a real talent--that is maybe impossible with a stringed instrument or the piano and I had assumed all opera talents had started training earlier--though I am now remembering one tenor who started in college. For me, this book could have been a winner if it had been less about feelings and relationships and more about the world of music and some big ideas that the author was interested in. Anyway... this was our last meeting for the year and we begin again with new books in September. Yikes!
January 30, 2018
It pains me to give this one a mere three stars, considering I LOVE Elizabeth Crane aka Betsy. (We're Instagram friends. And by that I mean I stalk her on IG and she has no idea who I am). She is one of my favorite authors; she's quirky, funny, crazy (in a good way!), and such a sharp observer of details. But... I just couldn't get into this book. It started off moderately and then kind of petered out. I just wasn't compelled to keep turning pages. I ended up skimming the final 20% or so. The writing is still funny and weird (good weird) but I didn't feel there was enough tension to keep the story moving forward. And as much I appreciated the way she mixed fiction and memoir and alternated perspectives, I found it hard to keep track of who was narrating. Betsy and Lois' voices were so similar.. Which made sense b/c Betsy was telling both sides of the story.. but I don't know how many times I had to remind myself "Okay, this is Betsy telling Lois' kind-of story as if she were Lois and it's Betsy imagining how Lois would tell her half of the story if she were still alive and if she fictionalized it some." I consider myself a smart person but this was mentally fatiguing after a while. Just started Turf. I'm not giving up on Crane. I will always love her other work, particularly When the Messenger is Hot.
June 17, 2016
A reader's and writer's book. This is an interesting fictional experiment. A mother and daughter who have had little relation with each other combine to tell the story of each other's lives. The mother narrates the daughter's life and the daughter, her mother's. The stories they tell cannot be true (this is a fiction after all), nor can they be out of the realm of possibility. If that isn't complicated enough, you soon discover that mother's voice is also a fiction. So the daughter is writing as her mother, imagining her daughter's life. Despite the literary games, this novel has deep emotion. Crane is wise to keep the rest of the story simple and straightforward. I haven't read something like this in awhile. Most of the time I bristle at literary games, but Crane proves to be an adept author who doesn't let gamesmanship substitute for her considerable talent.
April 15, 2016
3.5 Have never read anything like this before. A mother and daughter try to make sense of their lives, together and apart by telling stories about the other. Some are made up, things to explain incidents that may or may not have happened. I kept picturing my own daughters, what I would say if I told a story about some happenings in their lives, or what they would say about mine. Anyway, some of the made up stories are amusing, some sad, but all things that play out in people's lives at different times, on different days. Of course, some truisms also emerge as does understanding, sympathy and forgiveness. A quasi memoir I think, since the author is the Betsy in the story and her mother, Lois. Quite good and original.
SRC from publisher.
SRC from publisher.
December 10, 2016
The story moves back and forth between the mother telling/making up the daughter's story and the daughter telling/making up the mother's story, but the book itself doesn't make this clear. It probably would have gotten another star from me if I wasn't confused and annoyed for the first chunk of the book before I figured this out.
In an artistic sense this book is very interesting because it blends the characters' "actual" lives and the lives made up by the mother and daughter for each other. Also, the mother is already deceased at the start of the story.
It was hard for me to grasp the point of it all. This book certainly was not what I anticipated when I chose it. I say take it or leave it as a read.
In an artistic sense this book is very interesting because it blends the characters' "actual" lives and the lives made up by the mother and daughter for each other. Also, the mother is already deceased at the start of the story.
It was hard for me to grasp the point of it all. This book certainly was not what I anticipated when I chose it. I say take it or leave it as a read.
November 10, 2018
I’ll start by saying that I don’t typically like books where the back jacket description is mandatory reading to understand what in the hell you’re reading. I think it’s a sign of a weak book. It’s a sign that the author is maybe propped up a bit too much by their editing/publishing team as they try to help the reader decipher the book. It should be snappy enough to make you buy/borrow/download the book, but then has served its purpose.
I was utterly lost as I tried to start this book a couple weeks after purchase. What in the world was going on? I pieced it together with help of the back description, but it really just wasn’t worth it. It was a quick read mercifully, but it wasn’t endearing in its quirky little premise. It was tedious and kind of confusing.
I was utterly lost as I tried to start this book a couple weeks after purchase. What in the world was going on? I pieced it together with help of the back description, but it really just wasn’t worth it. It was a quick read mercifully, but it wasn’t endearing in its quirky little premise. It was tedious and kind of confusing.
April 21, 2016
I feel like this book deserves another category, not just fiction. Meta-fiction? Is there such a thing? I'm not even sure how to describe it: a woman internalizing her (dead) mother and engaging in a dialogue between herself and her internalized mother about what they know and understand about each other, and what remains a mystery.
It's both effortful and effortless to read.
To the extent it's effortful, it's well worth the effort.
The issue of what we, mothers and daughters, understand about each other, and what we fail to understand, is sort of central to most women's approach to life.
And I enjoyed it.
It's both effortful and effortless to read.
To the extent it's effortful, it's well worth the effort.
The issue of what we, mothers and daughters, understand about each other, and what we fail to understand, is sort of central to most women's approach to life.
And I enjoyed it.
May 15, 2016
I got this book in a giveaway. I loved the cover, and the title, right away. I didn't realize, because I'm not super smart, that it was a psuedo-memoir. And that actually ended up being the best and most touching aspect of the book for me. I found it innovative and charming and a little challenging, as it was written from the second person as a sort of conversation. Summarization doesn't work for a book like this. You just have to read it, and I encourage you to do so!
February 4, 2017
4 1/2 stars--the unusual, experimental style of the tale might take some getting used to, but keep going. You'll be rewarded.
tried-to-read
March 2, 2017This book really got on my nerves-I hated the side bar conversations, and I couldn't tell anymore what was the actual story vs her made up scenarios. I think this author is known more for short stories, which makes sense-book felt like a bunch of short stories thrown together to make a longer story overall, but it just didn't work for me. I tried to finish this, but I got so aggravated with the writing style I couldn't make it through the last 100 pages.
January 26, 2017
I love metafiction, and I love what this writer has done: a dead mother and a living daughter imagining each other's stories and telling them to each other. This is all about how little we really know of those closest to us and how that limited knowledge affects our ability to love each other. Brava!
September 4, 2016
Such a great start, such a slog to the finish. Why is everything a slog to the finish?
October 14, 2018
Just couldn't get into it.
September 20, 2017
“ Like Mother, Like Daughter” is a quote that many girls can relate to thinking of the memories and moments they've shared with their mother. However, the main character Betsy can't say the same as she’s never engaged in a conversation with her larger-than-life mother. In the novel The History Of Great Things the author, Elizabeth Crane, writes a tale between a mother and a daughter who don't know anything about each other. As they both write about what they think the other has experienced they defend what really happened, eventually knowing more about each other as time goes on. As the novel progresses Betsy and her mother Lois give you funny, wise and theatrical stories of there private and public lives resulting in a recommended captivating 4 star book.
As I read, I started to ask myself what genre would this novel be categorized? Well, I’ve come to a conclusion that it can be perceived as a memoir and read like one too because the characters don't depict her but she replaces names and certain stories to add more excitement. Even though parts of the book maybe fiction the idea itself is a true story from the author's life. However, it is purely fiction. Elizabeth Crane writes this book as a dual narrative as if she were reading letters out loud that were sent back in forth between mother and daughter. The author decided to write this novel because she wanted to capture the essence as if she had talked to her mom before she had died in 1988 (page 4, “about the author”). When reading the stories it’s written by using a timeline structure of each others lives. Lois, the mother of Betsy, goes first as she tells her what happened the day she was born and by the end of the book she writes her a happy ending. Every mother wants a happy ending for their children. However, some people aren't destined to. As they go continue rewriting and editing how the story goes they find that there happy ending was finding more and more about each other.
I find that some books have an amazing start. However, some end in a monotonous way, this novel instead has it all. In other words it can captivate you when needed and then simmer down to let you think. Betsy and Lois’s life is the definition of reality, both of them becoming successful people in life but having a very inflexible way of getting to there happy ending. Just like everyone they have happy and easy times, but then thunder crashes down and things become tough. In these letters they figure out together what could have been done differently, inspiring the reader to think back to times in their lives no matter how long or how short. A small detail I particularly liked was how there were small footnotes at the end of each story where they would both have small conversations criticizing each other on how certain instances didn't happen. This added a comical and fun side to the novel also showing that no matter how close or distant you can be to someone it's okay to not get along.
All in all The History Of Great Things by Elizabeth Crane is a fun, witty and compassionate story of two women, a mother and a daughter, who revisit time and look at what little they know about each other adding little twists to each others stories. They show reality and funny dramatic sides to each others personality realizing how similar they are from a young child to a sophisticated woman. I would definitely recommend this book to any young teen or anyone who wants a fun laugh at life.
As I read, I started to ask myself what genre would this novel be categorized? Well, I’ve come to a conclusion that it can be perceived as a memoir and read like one too because the characters don't depict her but she replaces names and certain stories to add more excitement. Even though parts of the book maybe fiction the idea itself is a true story from the author's life. However, it is purely fiction. Elizabeth Crane writes this book as a dual narrative as if she were reading letters out loud that were sent back in forth between mother and daughter. The author decided to write this novel because she wanted to capture the essence as if she had talked to her mom before she had died in 1988 (page 4, “about the author”). When reading the stories it’s written by using a timeline structure of each others lives. Lois, the mother of Betsy, goes first as she tells her what happened the day she was born and by the end of the book she writes her a happy ending. Every mother wants a happy ending for their children. However, some people aren't destined to. As they go continue rewriting and editing how the story goes they find that there happy ending was finding more and more about each other.
I find that some books have an amazing start. However, some end in a monotonous way, this novel instead has it all. In other words it can captivate you when needed and then simmer down to let you think. Betsy and Lois’s life is the definition of reality, both of them becoming successful people in life but having a very inflexible way of getting to there happy ending. Just like everyone they have happy and easy times, but then thunder crashes down and things become tough. In these letters they figure out together what could have been done differently, inspiring the reader to think back to times in their lives no matter how long or how short. A small detail I particularly liked was how there were small footnotes at the end of each story where they would both have small conversations criticizing each other on how certain instances didn't happen. This added a comical and fun side to the novel also showing that no matter how close or distant you can be to someone it's okay to not get along.
All in all The History Of Great Things by Elizabeth Crane is a fun, witty and compassionate story of two women, a mother and a daughter, who revisit time and look at what little they know about each other adding little twists to each others stories. They show reality and funny dramatic sides to each others personality realizing how similar they are from a young child to a sophisticated woman. I would definitely recommend this book to any young teen or anyone who wants a fun laugh at life.
February 18, 2020
Did not finish. Couldn't finish. Didn't want to finish. Made it 44% through and only because it was for book club.
I am surprised at the high ratings for this book. It kind of makes me wonder whether people rated this highly because they *thought* it should be? I don't care how acclaimed the author or this book is supposed to be. It was painful trying to figure out who was talking, whose story was being told (daughter/mother), what time period we were in, etc. The lack of traditional formatting, etc., might be seen as cool/edgy/avant-garde. I found it distracting and pointless.
I feel like this might be a fun writing exercise, but as a novel to publish and inflict upon readers? No. Also, if the stories that mother/daughter were making up about each other were actually fictional (but believable), do your daughter a service and make her sound more appealing. I had no desire to read about her fictional messed up existence in second person.
Also due to the fact that it was written sort of stream of consciousness/listing of events/etc., there was no relationship developed between the reader and the characters. (At least not on my part.) Which them makes it less likely that I am going to carry on reading about them with all the other distractions/obstacles like formating, etc.
I am surprised at the high ratings for this book. It kind of makes me wonder whether people rated this highly because they *thought* it should be? I don't care how acclaimed the author or this book is supposed to be. It was painful trying to figure out who was talking, whose story was being told (daughter/mother), what time period we were in, etc. The lack of traditional formatting, etc., might be seen as cool/edgy/avant-garde. I found it distracting and pointless.
I feel like this might be a fun writing exercise, but as a novel to publish and inflict upon readers? No. Also, if the stories that mother/daughter were making up about each other were actually fictional (but believable), do your daughter a service and make her sound more appealing. I had no desire to read about her fictional messed up existence in second person.
Also due to the fact that it was written sort of stream of consciousness/listing of events/etc., there was no relationship developed between the reader and the characters. (At least not on my part.) Which them makes it less likely that I am going to carry on reading about them with all the other distractions/obstacles like formating, etc.
November 8, 2020
I started out kind of enjoying this book. The premise--a mother and daughter telling each other's lives, occasionally interrupting each other as someone takes speculation too far--was kind of interesting. The dialogue within the stories was difficult to follow--basically a paragraph of two people talking the mostly alternated sentences but sometimes didn't so it was hard to tell who was saying what. Still it was an okay book.
But as it went on it got more and more weird.
It's fairly obvious that while the book is fiction, it's based largely on the author and her mother and their struggle to understand each other. I got the feeling toward the end that the author might have started this as a way of dealing with unresolved issues with her mother but toward the end realized she really didn't know how to resolve them and didn't know where she was going, so she just started playing with ideas that didn't really go anywhere and didn't make any sense. The last third of the book was a real struggle to get through, and the ending was abrupt and empty feeling.
But as it went on it got more and more weird.
It's fairly obvious that while the book is fiction, it's based largely on the author and her mother and their struggle to understand each other. I got the feeling toward the end that the author might have started this as a way of dealing with unresolved issues with her mother but toward the end realized she really didn't know how to resolve them and didn't know where she was going, so she just started playing with ideas that didn't really go anywhere and didn't make any sense. The last third of the book was a real struggle to get through, and the ending was abrupt and empty feeling.
April 13, 2020
What an unique way to write a book! If you like clean narratives and linear storylines, this book is not for you. If you like a book that makes you think about relationships in different ways and gives glimpses into personal lives, pick this one up. I've never read a book with this type of dialogue flow: 1) conversations not separated by paragraphs; 2) meta-dialogue between two people (mom and daughter) about the story as it unfolds; and, 3)
May 3, 2022
2.5 stars.
the history of great things is beautifully written and the creativity behind it really made me think. sometimes too much though, there were parts where I had to stop and reread because I just no longer understood what was going on. The time jumps were hard to follow, same with whos time it was and what and wh0 the story was about. though I do think that was how it was supposed to be. confusing. I rated this book 2 stars not because I didn't enjoy it because I did, it was a quick witty read that had lines that made me laugh out loud, no I rated it 2 stars because it says its a book of fiction but it read more like a memoir, I personally like to know beforehand if I am going to dig into something like a memoir. I wasn't in the mood nor was a looking to read a memoir that I found this book put me in a bit of a reading slump. I would recommend this book to someone I would just give a warning that they may spend some of it confused.
the history of great things is beautifully written and the creativity behind it really made me think. sometimes too much though, there were parts where I had to stop and reread because I just no longer understood what was going on. The time jumps were hard to follow, same with whos time it was and what and wh0 the story was about. though I do think that was how it was supposed to be. confusing. I rated this book 2 stars not because I didn't enjoy it because I did, it was a quick witty read that had lines that made me laugh out loud, no I rated it 2 stars because it says its a book of fiction but it read more like a memoir, I personally like to know beforehand if I am going to dig into something like a memoir. I wasn't in the mood nor was a looking to read a memoir that I found this book put me in a bit of a reading slump. I would recommend this book to someone I would just give a warning that they may spend some of it confused.
January 6, 2018
I've been a fan of Crane's since When the Messenger is Hot, but somehow I missed this one. I discovered it this morning when she posted the cover of the French edition on twitter. Opera singer and musicologist and writer? A life oscillating between New York and the Midwest? This book seemed to have an awful lot of elements that might resonate with my own life. I downloaded it immediately, sat down and read it until I was done, growling at any who attempted to interrupt. The novel (not a memoir) is framed as a conversation between Crane and her mother as they tell each other the stories of their lives, both as they were and also as they might be/have been. It is in parts laugh-out-loud funny but is also a poignant description of one's emotional wrestling with the death of a parent.Highly recommended. Loved it.
April 2, 2021
This book took me a really freaking long time to read. Largely because at the nearly half way point i tidied it up and it landed in an out of sight/out of mind pile.
It’s the story of a mother and daughter in novel form but likely intended as something of a memoir. It is complicated by being written in the second person where the mother tells the daughter’s story and the daughter tells the mother’s story. There is a lot of conjecture. There is some mystical realism. And there is a heavy sadness at both the loss of the mother and the complicated relationship the mother and daughter had. It is a processing of all things emotional. But that second person narrative is sure hard to read.
It’s the story of a mother and daughter in novel form but likely intended as something of a memoir. It is complicated by being written in the second person where the mother tells the daughter’s story and the daughter tells the mother’s story. There is a lot of conjecture. There is some mystical realism. And there is a heavy sadness at both the loss of the mother and the complicated relationship the mother and daughter had. It is a processing of all things emotional. But that second person narrative is sure hard to read.
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