Killing Time

by Roberta Parry

Regina Patterson Kendall is finding her life superficial and empty. She hankers back to the year she spent as a teenager in the Arizona town of Harden, where her anthropologist father took his family to study the Hopi.

There she met Casey Colter, a love she meant to leave behind but never did. Her increasingly morose, reclusive, and rebellious behavior is disturbing her parents, confusing her daughters, and jeopardizing her husband Howie's career as a corporatelawyer. At the advice of her grandmother, the family matriarch, Reggie returns to Harden in quest of the girl she was and the woman she wanted to be--and hopefully to confront her ghosts and finally lay them to rest.

Killing Time is a blend of humor, drama, love, sex, mystery, murder. And woven throughout, the soul of the novel, the Hopi Way of Life.

Genres: Literary Fiction

488 pages, Paperback

First published January 19, 2016

About the author

Roberta Parry is the author of novels, short stories, plays, and film scripts. Her writing has been greatly influenced by that of William Gaddis, Cormac McCarthy, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Two of Ms. Parry’s four plays won awards and received full production. One of her short stories was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her watercolor paintings are currently being shown in galleries and public exhibit spaces in and around Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Reviews

[Elyse Walters · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm Back:

Update:
I already shared how I feel about this book ...Pretty Damn moved!! The novel's
achievement is deeply affecting.

Regina Patterson Kendall (Reggie), is 35 years old. She's married to Howie - a corporate lawyer. They have two daughters: Katelyn is 13. Lindsay is 11. Regina was raised with a liberal New England upbringing - taught to respect diversity....an appreciation of valuing of races, religions, and cultures different from her own.

Her father, Arthur Claredon Patterson, ( Daddy), is an anthropologist. He's a Professor..but rather considers himself a scholar..."a student of life". He specializes in primitive ritualistic music and dance.
Her mother, Margaret Harrington Patterson, (Maggie), is a lover of literature - also a librarian.
Her grandmother, Abigail Claredon Patterson, ( Abby), is an artist.
So...Reggie, an only child - was raised by three bright - artistic - compassionate adults -they had a big influence on her life. .....
But so did the year she spent in Northern Arizona when she was a teenager. "Daddy"
took his family with them to live in the town of Harden. It was a year sabbatical. "Daddy" went to study the Hopi. "Maggie" got involved with the local library, her animals and fixing up the little house they lived in. Reggie was about to experience a life that was completely different from the one back in Boston.

Reggie is sobbing while talking to Maggie ( it's a rare event when she calls her mother 'mom'). Her husband is fine. Her kids are fine. Like there is nothing else?
"You know what I am, Maggie? What I've become? A Boston Proper mannequin playing out a shop-worn role".
The conversation continue about Howie's accomplishments - discussions about her
privileged life....( smug, superficial, and superfluous, with little freedom and even less excitement).
Reggie can't remember when she and Howie have really talked - communicated ...or had they ever? Boating..shipbuilding ..the legal system, corporate structure and government regulation... and she knew a lot about the politics of law.
They had talked about their future as a couple...."Howie's future"....
But 'their' future?.... Oh my...."it was like laying out a blueprint and making sure all the lines were straight and all the rooms in proper sequence".

So, Reggie looks like she is breaking down. She is. There is quite a scene she makes publicly which is crazy fun for us to read - very embarrassing if in her shoes - or husband's shoes.
The plan is GET HELP!!! This woman needs HELP!!!
What to do? Therapy is option. ( Maggie's suggestion)... Reggie declines - for now.
Reggie calls Abby...( Queen of all Grandmothers...can I have one like her???). Abby has Reggie over for lunch. Reggie plans to poor her heart out - and ask for advice.
She hears a couple of wonderful stories of her own from grandma Abby -- learns more about her dad - -and Abby. They, too, were once young ...'spirited' ...with artistic temperaments...( and juicy stories).
Abby tells Reggie to GO BACK "Retrace your steps, revisit your memories. And perhaps you'll find a new route home. To resolution to satisfaction".

Abby, is a quiet minor character in this novel who leaves an impression...
Reggie is leaving...
"Abby waves from the steps, silver hair a halo in the sunlight. She looks so much like a part of the house".
"A grand house, stately and gracious, warm and comfortable, sprawled on its secluded, broad- lawned knoll, protected by trees and gardens. Blue-gray, pre-Victorian, with wide overhung Veranda, large windows, generously giving light, gabled servants quarters on the third floor, oversized fireplaces throughout. And a deep bay in the sitting room where Reggie spent hours curled on the cushioned window seat reading 'Jane Eyre', 'Anne of Green Gables', 'Green Mansions', "Anna Karenina', and 'Wuthering Heights'.

What I haven't described yet... is what Reggie's life was like for her in Harden, Arizona - at age 15. When she first arrived, she thought the locals inhabitants talked funny-- were simple people, not educated, and maybe not too bright. She never heard so much laughter and cussing--( friggin - humpin - screwin)
Over the year...she becomes friends with the local 'gang' of 'good' kids: Betts, Trixie, Billie, Ruthie, Curt, Walt, Glenn, Freddy..etc. The other female who is even a candidate for competition academically is Clydene Orton.
There are beach days, days spent at the swimming pool - swim team at the local High School -dances - Prom- root beer floats at the Dairy Queen or cherry comes at Walgreen, 'gang showers'. ( oh, you're in for fun reading about these shenanigans),
And: Casey Colter ....love of Reggie's life ..... a perilous relationship?/!? I could write pages about this relationship ( By the way--I happen to think Reggie is responsible for creating her own happiness -she's not a victim - not that she claims to be--but this is a complex relationship that haunts her soul)--details - my thoughts - and feelings - how I felt it shaped Reggie. I've thought about the entire sabbatical year for hours - how STRONGLY 1 year can shape a person's life forever ...especially at an impressionable age.
I haven't stopped thinking about this. ( I also remember my own 2 year run-away adventure when I left the country at age 19 and what that did to me). I was a little older than Reggie... but I took things from those two years that are tattooed on me - only it's not physically visible.

There are a few times Reggie is pulled away from her friends to take a family outing with her parents ... ( she went kicking and screaming - normal teenage pouty-ness of wanting to be with her friends more).
Yet... on one of these trips ...her father was invited to attend a baby-naming ceremony.
Her father had made friends with a man who carved kachina dolls at the Northern Arizona Museum. His grandson was being named.
I read this story three times ... ( way too much to share)....but, it was predawn when they reached the foot of the mesa. They officially entered Indian Country -- the huge wealthy encompassing Navajo Reservation.
The houses were small - flat roofed hovels- barely distinguishable from the dirt and rock. There weren't even screens on the Windows or doors. The hard packed earth floor was swept spotlessly clean. The ceremonial hair washing of the baby was a ceremony I had never heard of. - and fascinating ( to me)! Maybe some of you know about "The Corn Mother"?

If a reader is interested in the Hopi ... there is a little information to learn -- but if if this is not 'your thing'... this novel is NOT saturated with being a HOPI NOVEL.
I learned in one sentence though that it's only been a few decades that that the Hopi learned of white man's calendar. "The Hopi believe in living each day as it is and not counting their length of time on earth. For them, time is a flow at past and future cupped in the present".

It's possible this is the longest review I've written ( forgive me?) I'm not sure I'm very good at this...and I haven't even talked about when Reggie GOES BACK...and how she bounces around in the hollowness and hypocrisy. As the 'adult' Reggie she is looking at life with new eyes: socioeconomic problems as well as her personal problems.
THIS IS ALMOST A 500 novel - packed with juicy drama..(give me a break)...
So..
TWO MAIN ---topics... (questions - issues - call it what you want) - that I think about ---BESIDES ... the ease in storytelling, the characters, the lovely writing, the dialogue, the 'flavor', warmth. Humor - the *stories* within this story ... ( the book that Reggie writes within this story), the appreciation of the land - and appreciation of Roberta Parry is
1. A sabbatical year... -and the value people get from them.
2. Why do we sometimes need to - seriously look back - go back - to a specific time in our life... in order to find some type of inner peace? And ... isn't it possible that even the when we are very happy in our present lives - grateful ...we still - at times wish we could re-create a golden-box memory?

One quote ... Just because it's beautiful. Anyone who has been in the desert after a rainstorm can appreciate the many temperaments.
"She'd seen tender spring rain, the color of young willows, like the time they'd visited the Sonoran Desert, between Phoenix and Tucson. It had been Easter break, they'd watched from their motel balcony. The sky had gradually veiled over, a high gray light
suffused with pale yellow. The shower never reached them, but they could hear and smell it. A soft hushed patter sweeping across sand releasing stored sun in moist redolent waves. It made Reggie's mouth water, literally. She'd wanted to eat sand".
"Next day they drove into it. The desert it seemed had come to life overnight. They stood on a high sand dune, gazing across miles and miles of color".
"Splashes of Mexican goldpoppy. Patches of purple owl clover and lavender sand verbena. Streaks of blue lupine. Strokes of white primrose. Splotches of pink and peach globe allow. Dashes of scarlet penstemon and dabs of flaming paintbrush".
"The fragrance was narcotic".
"They couldn't speak. Didn't want to. Finally Maggie shook head -- I heard about this sort of thing. I didn't believe it. I still don't".
"It was like being in the middle of a Van Gogh painting".

Thank you for those who read this review. It's long. I expect many might skip over it-- I can't blame you --we each have much to do - read ourselves! But THANK YOU!!!!
I didn't even come close to giving spoilers away - so not to worry!!!

Mostly ...I LOVED THIS BOOK!!! ......this story & characters have entered my consciousness.

Thank you Roberta Parry!!! You are an inspiration...and I wish you all the success in the world. You deserve it!!!



Review to follow:
but starters: This is one of the best books I've read in years!!!!! It took me 2 to 3 weeks to finish. I spent as many hours thinking about this book -when 'not' reading it. I had other books to read --so it wasn't the only book I was reading at the time --but it was THE BOOK that was living in my heart deeply everywhere I went.
My hiking has increased -- 50 to 70 miles a week -- I would be listening to opera music --'thinking'....(I'm tired of autiobooks -and besides books don't connect on the trails I've been hiking recently) -- so I would hike and 'think'........about this book "Killing Time".

I was SHOCKED to discover how wonderful this book was --(right from the start). I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I told Roberta Parry I would read her book. We had been friends here on GR's for many months prior. -- I read it slow because I didn't want to miss one word -one sentence. Its rich --so rich in quality --complex - wonderful story -great characters -much to think about --gorgeous writing.

Roberta Parry is in her 70's She is self published. I've 'never' -ever- read a better book by an indi -writer. By the way --she is an amazing painter. She designed the water-colored cover of this book as well. Her paintings are in galleries in Santa Fe and New Mexico.
I had seen her 'artwork'.....but I didn't 'get' that she was a writer, 'too'.
Why 'every' major publishing company is not fighting over her book --I have no idea.
Maybe?? its because they fear its too long. Or...truth...........they must not have read the book!

I haven't had the experience of wanting to savor a book -like this one - in a long time. I didn't care how long it took me to read it --or how many times I re-read pages --just because I wanted to... I was in no rush! ....................

So.....I hope you come back... I plan to write a more detail review of this book soon, with a few favorite quotes,.... early next week!
In the meantime: Happy week-end to all!
Many Congrats. to Roberta Parry...'outstanding' novel! Thank you for the gift!!!!

** authors I would compare Roberta to --in quality: (combinations of all of these) Ian McEwan, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Anne Tyler .............
Roberta also has a very unique style of her own: There is a story within this story....You can count on:
"humor, drama, sex, mystery, murder, and woven throughout, the soul of the novel, the Hopi way of Life".

More to follow soon!

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of Killing Time by Roberta Parry through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Mill City Press and to Roberta Parry for the opportunity.

"Should she open Pandora's Box and fly with her dementing specters? Or should she stay in her coffin, lid closed, and fight her demons in confined darkness?"

And are there ever any do-overs in life? Because that's exactly what faces Reggie Patterson Kendall. As a teenager, Reggie and her family move from Boston to Harden, Arizona. Reggie's father is an anthropologist and her mother, a librarian. Teenage years are certainly ones without sure-footing and this move is a true leap across the desert and into a mixed personal landscape for Reggie. She becomes taken with Casey Colter and her heart continues to beat in that rhythm for years to come.

Fast forward to the present and Reggie is married to a successful lawyer, Howie, and has two young daughters. But something is gnawing relentlessly at Reggie's inner self. What exactly is true happiness and true fulfillment? Did she allow it to pass her by years ago? With encouragement from her grandmother, Abby, Reggie decides to retrace her steps back to Harden and seeks answers to the unending questions lodging in her mind and heart. Her trek is a solo one as Howie steps aside and willingly gives her space.

Killing Time is told in flashbacks revisiting time and place. It is heavy lifting at 488 pages. And there is also a rapid fire of character names to sort through and keep track of. Roberta Parry writes beautifully and gives much detail to every scene. Know this going in. It is layered with descriptives of the Hopi culture (which I absolutely love) and also indepth characterizations (which can bog down the storyline at times). It is a feast of a book served with many courses.

Roberta Parry brings us to the shores of the waters in our lives that once brought deep satisfaction. She makes us all ponder whether or not to wade in once again. Which has changed more? Be it ourselves or the actual river itself? There's only one way to find out......

[Cheri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reggie is a 35-year-old “housewife” as the story begins; she was raised in Boston, among those who polish their souls with their titles, their philanthropic good deeds. She had attended all the “right” schools, associated with the “right” people, married the “right” kind of husband, a lawyer now, the kind of man who could provide the “right” things, so they could continue to attend the “right” parties, and socialize in all the “right” circles. She spends her days organizing things in her house, or buying groceries to prepare nutritionally sound dinners for her family, or driving the two girls they have to and from schools, parties, events. She waits, silently, for her family, anyone, to notice her, not the things she does, to appreciate her, not just the dinners she prepares, or the clothes she is wearing. Clothes that her mother selected for her, appropriate attire for the new wife of a young, up-and-coming attorney. She waits inside the walls of her home, inside the confines of the car, inside the walls and the bright lights of the grocery store, for someone to see her as she wants to see herself.

“Day sinks. She watches. Twilight rises, seeps from behind trees, spreads across street, and lawn, spills over sill, floods across floor, splashes onto lamp shade and chair cushion, drifts across the toe of her shoe, and comes to rest in dark corners. She listens. Only the swing of the pendulum in the Set Thomas on the mantle.”

She tries to recall the magic she felt as a teenage girl, when she felt the world was still wide-open to her. The year they lived in Arizona. The year she felt alive with possibilities.

Arizona and its wide-open skies, its seemingly endless horizon. It’s no wonder Reggie is longing for those days, that view of the horizon, that view of life. Every time she turns around, there’s another wall. Walls of silence, but not because those around her aren’t talking to her, how could they? They don’t see her, they see mom the driver. They see wife, the correct adornment for cocktail parties, the dependable wife, the witty, gracious, and always-proper wife. They don’t see the young woman who fell in love with life that year in Arizona, who loved learning about the Hopi way of life, who fell in love with a young boy that year. She needs to feel that sense of really living life, not going through the motions; she needs to break free of these proper restraints.

And, so she does. In a rather disastrously memorable, socially horrendous episode. Everyone will be talking, but now they’ll be talking about her.

Reggie turns to her grandmother, Abby, who offers her advice, the best advice because of all the people in her life, her grandmother sees her. She tells her to go back to Arizona, go back until you find what you’ve lost, what you’re missing.

Reggie’s journey takes her back through those years, the young boy she left behind, and the times she spent learning about the Hopis. The joys and heartbreaks of those years. It’s a thoughtful, thought-provoking, emotional, spiritual and a very memorable journey.

Of all the Hopi rituals, my favorite was the inclusion of the baby-naming ceremony. There’s a reverence for life, for death, for every bit in between that is so incredibly lovely, and so beautifully shared. I loved all of the events the family is invited to attend, this baby-naming ceremony was definitely a memorable one for me.

Roberta Parry does a tremendous job, weaving these stories together into a wonderful rendering about the youthful passion of first love, and the ghost it leaves in one’s heart, about friends, families, all those who touch our lives, and about finding and seeing one’s self maybe for the first time.

Many thanks to Mill City Press, NetGalley and to the author, Roberta Parry for an amazing story that will stay with me.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Killing Time by Roberta Parry
First I want to say that Elyse did an outstanding review of this book. I agree that publishing companies should be fighting over this novel for it is a masterpiece. I agree that the publishing companies must not have read this unique, multicultural novel. I would give this multilayered story more than five stars if I could. I don't remember anything similar in scope. The novel tells of a poignant love story. It is about first love and the indelible marks it imprints upon our memory. It at the same time treats the reader to the Native American Hopi's pure peaceful philosophy on life. As a reader we get to vicariously experience the Hopi's sacred rituals. Like the Russian doll with this story within lies another story about a chorus woman turned mob informant.

The novel opens with our protagonist of the main narrative named Reggie, who at 35 years old is feeling unhappy in her marriage to Howie, a corporate lawyer. Reggie has two daughters with Howie who are young teenagers. Howie comes home from work at 8:00 PM, forgetting that he had plans to take Reggie to dinner and a movie. Howie tries to salvage the evening, but Reggie is not accepting his appologies and locks Howie out of the bedroom for the night. Howie fixes dinner that night and breakfast the next morning for their two daughters.

"A mistake, a terrible mistake, I wish I'd never done it, I knew I shouldn't do it, I didn't want to. I warned you, Maggie, I told you......." This is what Reggie is thinking. Her marriage is one that she was talked into by her mother, whom she calls Maggie.

"I don't think I can go through with this." (Reggie)
"What are you talking about? Of course you can go through with it." (Maggie)
"I'm not joking, This whole thing's a terrible mistake." (Reggie)
"The invitations are out." (Maggie)
"Send regrets, Issue rain checks." (Reggie)
"We've ordered the food and the flowers." (Maggie)
"Cancel them. Send back the presents. With the money you and Daddy'll save, you can hide me out in Europe until the stink blows over." (Reggie)
"You know your father and I don't worry about putting a few noses in the air. It's your future we care about." (Maggie)
"And I'm telling you. This isn't going to work." (Reggie)
"What do you mean? Howie adores you. He'll make a wonderful husband and father." (Maggie)
"It's not Howie, Maggie, it's me. I don't think I'm right for Howie." (Reggie)
"You'll break his heart." (Maggie)
"Better now than in ten years." (Reggie)
"You're being silly, I don't know what's gotten into you." (Maggie)
"I don't feel the way I should." (Reggie)
"You're just having bridal jitters, that's all." (Maggie)
"I don't think I understand love." (Reggie)
"That's not what you said four years ago." (Maggie)

OH CASEY (Reggie)
"That's just it. I don't feel the way I did then." (Reggie)
"And thank god for that. What an adolescent fiasco that was! We thought you'd never outgrow it. You had us scared to death you were going to marry him." (Maggie)

OH CASEY (Reggie)

"You talk about mistakes, what a mistake that would have been." (Maggie)

OH CASEY (Reggie)

"Can you imagine? Where would you be now?" (Maggie)

...WHERE WOULD WE BE NOW? (Reggie)

Is this a marriage that ever should have happened? Roberta Parry uses beautiful language to deposit us back in Reggie's imagination of when she first met Casey Colter, a much less affluent boy. Thus begins Reggie's first great love. The year the family spent in Harden, Arizona. As readers we witness that year. I don't want to reveal any more spoilers. You are in for great storytelling, beautiful desert descriptions, vivid thought provoking masterful writing. As Reggie must make peace with her past, I felt like I was traveling with her. There is much to discover.
Don't miss this imaginative, realistic, heart driven piece of art of a novel. I have not even scratched the surface for the interwoven cultures. This is some of the best writing I have ever experienced.
Highly recommended! One of my favorite themes in the book is how we remember a time in our life that is special. It can be a memory of a person, place, or thing. When we revisit or go back to a special time or place, does it seem exactly the same as our memories or do we see this special something differently?

Thank you to Roberta Parry. You are a fantastic storyteller. I will read anything you write. Wishing you all the success you deserve!

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Roberta Parry is a painter and that skill shows itself in her writing. She paints her locale and you see it in brilliant colors and waves of heat and natural splendor.

First light comes as a soft gray, suffusing into the night like a gentle tide, pushing back moon and stars. The gray gradually diffuses into a wash of translucent sea green, which flows into a wash of shimmering lemon yellow. The silhouetted mountains blend from deep indigo to pale cerulean to vibrant lavender. A flush of peach announces the imminence of the sun, which suddenly cuts above the now-mauve mountains in a fiery slice of orange. The violet and blue streaks of the desert flee before the wave of fire, to hide beneath scrub and rocks as cobalt shadows.

It is liking watching a watercolor creation come into being and you feel the magnificence and see it.

She knows the area she writes about intimately, intimately enough to weave the customs and beliefs of the Hopi Indians into the story in a fascinating way that informs and teaches but makes perfect sense to the story line and never intrudes. Some of my favorite passages in the book are those devoted to the Hopi dances and rituals and one of the most moving is related to an Indian ritual involving eagles. I literally had to close the book and sit with the information, digesting it, before I could move on.

As to plot, Reggie Patterson Kendall is a thirty-five year old who is still lost in her past, tethered to her high school experiences and unable to let go of her first love. She is married with two children, but she is incapable of being happy with her life and she spends far too much of her energy speculating on where she might be if she had not lost the boy she thinks of as the “love of her life.” When we meet her, she has finally reached that wall that must either be climbed over or will forever hold her in, apart from the people who are present in her life and the joys she might have. The book bounces us between the struggling woman and the girl she was and introduces us to a cast of characters who shaped the fifteen year old Reggie.

Less than half way through the book, Reggie observes, ”But it wasn’t a closeness of convex curve melding into concave curve, complements. Theirs was a closeness of friction that produced sparks and heat. They kept abrading against one another, trying to find the need in the one the other might meet. Reggie adjusted herself to make the fit.” This seemed to me to be a theme in Reggie, she was always trying to fit herself into someone else’s mode and when it didn’t work (as it never does), she abraded against everyone in her life.

This is Reggie’s emotional growth story, but it contains some mystery. It is obvious something more happened in Reggie’s past than we are privy to at the beginning and the desire to unearth the key to that mystery keeps you reading and wanting solutions and greater understanding. I think this novel would have great appeal for a woman of a certain age, one who is still grappling with her own identity, how she fits into the world she occupies, and how to be an individual while still being a wife, a mother, a daughter and a lover.

Parry writes in a quick, staccato style when she deals in conversational episodes, interspersing the words with thoughts (which is how all of us really talk to other people, thinking of what we just said, what we would like to say but can’t, watching reactions and wishing we could call words back even as they leave our mouths). I liked this. It made the conversations believable and wove them into the fabric without breaking the action.

One thing I cannot close without saying, is that the book contains some sexual content that is fairly graphic and, for me, a little uncomfortable. I did not feel that it always drove the story or was necessary for the understanding of the characters. Please remember that I am a big fan of 19th Century literature, where sexual contact is always more implied than exhibited. I imagine most of us have had sex and know what goes on between two people in the heat of passion. I prefer something left to the imagination. For those who like some fire and steam in their reading, I believe Roberta Parry knows how to write these scenes well.

My thanks to Roberta Parry for the opportunity to read and review this novel.

[Christy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my Gosh-where do I start on such a book as this? I could say it's beautiful. Entertaining. Educational. But those words mean nothing.

Now, on the other hand, Roberta's words are fertile, rich, potent. Her vast vocabulary makes each page come alive. I found the lack of repetition refreshing and the story pregnant with issues that many can relate to in their own ways: Racism, isolation, first loves, the rich power of forgiveness, heart-wrenching loss and regrets, reconciliation, and lastly-classism.

At first, my goal was to keep this book, with the beautiful inscription to me by the author, pristine. But as I moved through the story I became overwhelmed with particular passages-whether about wisdom for life, or her many unusual and poetic ways of describing a land of both "starkness and majesty"-that I wanted to return to over and over, so I began to underline these places and write a few notes.

Throughout the story-which I will get more into shortly-my mind was awakened to much I had no knowledge of. I began to spend as much time studying this new culture as I did reading the book. My mind has been enriched, and really, isn't that what great literature should do-open one's mind to new and different worlds-install a desire to grow in knowledge? And Roberta was able to do all of this wrapped up nicely in a great page-turner.

The story starts with Reggie, a middle aged housewife surviving an unfulfilling and stifling black and white East-coast existence. Reggie actually really lives her life in highly defined technicolor memories twenty years old of her time in the West. Her time of coming of age, seeing a completely new way of living without the confines she knew in the East, learning to love the openess and beauty of the desert, and finding her first love. Her colorless life at home in the East with her overworked, very proper and reserved (yet devoted) Bostonian husband, working his way toward partner in the law firm, and her two loving daughters, learning all that is required of them in this upper-class world.

As the story proceeds we see glimpses of both time periods contrasted- the bright, glowing thoughts of the time she spent on a sabbatical with her father, an anthropologist who has traveled to study the ritualistic dances of the Hopi in Arizona, where she met her true love-and her superficial existence in New England's elite society.

Living in the past as she does brings her to some pretty dark places, as she focuses on the life she dreams should have been hers, and begins to truly disdain how hers turned out. Then she starts isolating herself, staying up late writing a novel with one of the main characters being her lost love and another herself, and drinking-a lot....leading to horrible behavior in public embarrassing herself and family, crushing her daughters spirits while they try to express love....

But let me allow you to find out the rest, I'll only say one more thing about the story-she goes back to the town in Arizona, sees things through new eyes-and finally returns home with a sense of purpose....reconciling with her ever loving husband and the rest of her family.

While I enjoyed the story, my personal favorite part of this book was the time spent on the Hopi Indians. I love learning about cultures, and the story of the Hopi is spattered through this book. Their rituals, past and present day lifestyles, their mythology of where they came from and where the Great being is trying to lead them, their hilarious clowns, and their stunning dances-all described so vividly that I could taste the sand in my mouth and hear the stomps and rattles as if they were right in my room. BRAVO Roberta!

This led me, as mentioned earlier, to study the Hopi. I won't share much-I'll just pick one item I came across that interested me greatly (and I was encouraged to share!), believing as many do that the region in Mesopotamia called the Cradle of Civilization, is where civilized society began to develop. The Hopi are waiting for their "Older White Brother"(white here certainly does not have to symbolize skin tones-their are other interpretations-he's also associated with red, according to some prophesies) to come from the East and unite the world. It seems the Hopi were instructed to have a certain way to build their houses and keep their hair. It is interesting that their way of building houses is very similar to the construction of the Western Wall of the ancient temple in Jerusalem, and the cutting of their hair very similar to the style of the ancient Egyptians...from around the time Joseph helped Pharaoh rule. The ancient Hebrew connection interests me-with the spreading of civilization throughout he world and peoples losing track of their ancient ancestors. This book really invited this reader to pause and think-and learn more.

One final word-an Eagle passed over me the other day and I felt my prayers being lifted toward Heaven....

[Scrapsandsass · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've really struggled with this book. I wanted to love it. From the reviews I read, it sounded like it was going to be amazing. I just haven't been able to get into it or enjoy it as much as others have. To me, the main character (Reggie) was so unlikable, it made the reading difficult. I slogged through the first 20% of the book and was about to give up, but I continued on in spite of Reggie. Yes, characters are flawed, and that is a good thing, but from the beginning, I couldn't figure out what Reggie's problem with life was, and even when it sort of became apparent, it just didn't seem realistic to me. It felt incredibly shallow. As a mom, I can't imagine just shutting out my family or being selfish enough to just check out of life for so long. To me, Reggie came across as a spoiled, prissy brat... even as an adult. And the descriptions of Casey, her high school love, didn't make him seem appealing in the least, so it was really hard for me to imagine her pining for him so many years later, and seemingly out of the blue.

I did really appreciate the information on the Hopi and the cultural stories surrounding them. To me, that was the best part of the book, but it ended up being sort of lost in the self-centered character of Reggie. Even when she wanted to educate others about the Hopi, it was still all about her. That was frustrating to me.

[Malcolm · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't say enough about how I enjoyed this multilayered, well written book. It was a joy from start to finish.

Reggie Kendell is a thirty-five year old native of Boston's well-to-do. Married to a highly successful and respected attorney and mother of two young girls, she should be happy with the future. Yet her nagging feelings of unhappiness and lack of purpose, turn serious when they start affecting her marriage and family and she becomes obsessed with "what could have been" after spending her fourteenth year in a small Arizonia town when her anthropologist father was studying the Hopi Indians. Before she is through, she finds herself returning to that town thinking to rekindle the happiness she found there.

Both a story of coming of age and returning to youth, Parry weaves a story of real and imagined love, the power and weakness of memory and the discovery of purpose and redemption.

And throughout the story, almost as characters themselves, are the high deserts of the Southwest and the spiritual foundation of the Hopi Way of Life.

Based on the number of ratings and reviews, this book and author is not getting the exposure they deserve. I truly hope that changes. I look forward to what she may bring us in the future.

[Alexis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! It spoke directly about issues of love and friendship and how they change, or don't change, as women grow up, get married, have kids. Parry creates incredible scenes of the Southwest, giving the reader a real sense of how the landscape can affect a person. As a married woman with kids, I related immediately with the main character, Reggie, and found it cathartic to follow her "what-ifs" both in reality and in her own fiction (the book within the book adds another layer of intrigue and entertainment). Killing Time is astonishingly blunt, playful, and esoteric, and I found it to be personally transformative--I highly recommend!

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I truly enjoyed this book. I think Roberta is such a wonderful author!!! I highly recommend grabbing this book, curling up on the couch or in bed and get all comfy and get ready for an AMAZING read :)

[Susan C · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a 4.5 star book for me and sonI rounded it up to 5 stars. It took me awhile to get into this story only because of the unusual format - the present and past format is something I am use to. However the main character “Reggie” decides to write a book about her boyfriend from high school “Casey” and this story is interwoven throughout the entire novel.
It was very creative of the author (Roberta Parry) to have a third format. Once I got accustomed to the 3 formats then I had difficulty putting the book down.

I learned about the Hopis and and their customs - I love it when I can learn something factual in a fiction novel!!It was SO interesting!!

This is about Reggie...her marriage to her husband Howie and her two daughters, her parents and Grandmother (Abbey). It’s about Reggie’s high school year in Harden, AZ, the friends she makes and the boy she falls in love with “Casey”....and about Reggie’s life after she returns to Boston with her parents. And her going back to AZ to relive the life she had for a 10 day trip.

This book was published in 2016...but because it’s an older book...that does not mean it’s not worth taking your time to read!!

Thank you Ms. Parry for a wonderful novel and one that is so very different than the most fiction I have read!!