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Connected Underneath
Madena, upstate New York. Like any other small town, everybody keeps an eye on everybody else’s business without recognizing the secrets that connect them. The wheelchair-bound Celeste conjures up lives from what she sees and thinks she sees while peering through binoculars from her kitchen fan vent. Fifteen-year old Persephone trades sex for tattoo sessions that get her high and help her forget her girlfriend doesn’t love her. Theo was the high-school bad boy who couldn’t have the respectable girl he adored from afar, but now, sitting behind the counter of the last video store in town, worries wretchedly about the restless daughter he never understood. Natalie, trying to grasp the last shreds of respectability, would do anything to forget the baby she gave up long ago, including betray her husband and son. Celeste, longing to connect, combines truth with fantasy, intervenes and interferes, finally understanding that things have gone terribly wrong and that she stands at the heart of disaster. Connected Underneath is a lyrical, scalpel-keen dissection of the ties that bind and of those that dissolve.
- GenresLiterary FictionFiction
139 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 15, 2016
1 person is currently reading
322 people want to read
About the author
E.V. Legters
3 books28 followersE.V. is an author, artist, and teacher. Her stories have appeared in multiple literary journals and her debut novel, Connected Underneath, was published in the Spring of 2016. Her second, Vanishing Point, is due to be released in May, 2017. She is at work on a short story collection and her third novel. For more information, please visit her website.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
May 26, 2016
Favorite Quotes:
“He came to realize - we all come to realize - our search isn't for family, exactly, but for connection, connections that will keep us, so we won't drown, won't fly off, something that will connect us underneath."
"There was nothing to be done about this DNA wiring, and it wasn't saying anything bad about Persephone, but all he'd ever wanted was for his love to mean something."
"Doug blanched. His hand fell to his side. Theo had read the word 'blanched,' how people blanch when they get startled. He had even looked it up... but it looked to Theo as if Doug's blood had drained into his shoes."
"Her moral compass was spinning and spinning, the way a needle does when challenged by too many magnets."
My Review:
I am more than a bit flummoxed by this intense and mesmerizing story. It was a bizarre and jagged puzzle with many oddly shaped and missing pieces. I was enthralled, frustrated, and entranced. The storyline weaved in and out among a variety of characters, which was at times rather confusing and unsettling. Yet it was delectably and intricately detailed with descriptions that placed me solidly within the scene as a voyeuristic spectator. I felt as if I knew the community well enough to identify the depicted residents and shopkeepers.
At the center of the story was a moody, broody, and disturbed teenaged girl named Persephone or Seph. Seph was unhappy, angry, uncommunicative, confused in her identity, and prone to brash, selfish, and self-destructive reactions in her acting out. Her thoughts were a jumble in her head and tended to flit about rather randomly. All the characters were more than a bit odd with some tipping over into bizarre, and with most also sporting twisted histories and buried secrets that were either denied, ignored, or reinvented – far too many devastatingly destructive secrets were never aired, when it would have prevented a world of hurt. There was a steady stream of malaise, underlying fear, and heaviness to the story with occasional bursts of fanciful, ethereal, and acid trip type musings. I was horrified yet fascinated by several characters and found the writing to be captivating, smart, highly observant, and eerily insightful. It squeezed my heart and then it wrecked me, but it garnered my attention and kept me thinking throughout, and I am the better for having read it. I’ll just need to even it out by finding a clever comedy for my next read.
“He came to realize - we all come to realize - our search isn't for family, exactly, but for connection, connections that will keep us, so we won't drown, won't fly off, something that will connect us underneath."
"There was nothing to be done about this DNA wiring, and it wasn't saying anything bad about Persephone, but all he'd ever wanted was for his love to mean something."
"Doug blanched. His hand fell to his side. Theo had read the word 'blanched,' how people blanch when they get startled. He had even looked it up... but it looked to Theo as if Doug's blood had drained into his shoes."
"Her moral compass was spinning and spinning, the way a needle does when challenged by too many magnets."
My Review:
I am more than a bit flummoxed by this intense and mesmerizing story. It was a bizarre and jagged puzzle with many oddly shaped and missing pieces. I was enthralled, frustrated, and entranced. The storyline weaved in and out among a variety of characters, which was at times rather confusing and unsettling. Yet it was delectably and intricately detailed with descriptions that placed me solidly within the scene as a voyeuristic spectator. I felt as if I knew the community well enough to identify the depicted residents and shopkeepers.
At the center of the story was a moody, broody, and disturbed teenaged girl named Persephone or Seph. Seph was unhappy, angry, uncommunicative, confused in her identity, and prone to brash, selfish, and self-destructive reactions in her acting out. Her thoughts were a jumble in her head and tended to flit about rather randomly. All the characters were more than a bit odd with some tipping over into bizarre, and with most also sporting twisted histories and buried secrets that were either denied, ignored, or reinvented – far too many devastatingly destructive secrets were never aired, when it would have prevented a world of hurt. There was a steady stream of malaise, underlying fear, and heaviness to the story with occasional bursts of fanciful, ethereal, and acid trip type musings. I was horrified yet fascinated by several characters and found the writing to be captivating, smart, highly observant, and eerily insightful. It squeezed my heart and then it wrecked me, but it garnered my attention and kept me thinking throughout, and I am the better for having read it. I’ll just need to even it out by finding a clever comedy for my next read.
April 18, 2016
This novel is fascinating. Set on the wrong side of the tracks in a small town in upstate New York, the story features characters who are flawed and flailing, anxious to get a grip on their longings for connection, for love, and for hope. Legters creates an amazing world of video rental shops, tattoo parlors, and train stations, spaces her characters inhabit with considerable angst.
Theo Messex has adopted a child whom he names Persephone. He struggles to raise her alone and to make a safe home for her. But by age fifteen, Persephone, motherless and confused, finds aberrant, risky behaviors her only release from her torment. The lack of communication between father and daughter is painful. In the meantime there is a creepy neighbor, Celeste, acting as a narrator of sorts, who sits in a wheelchair and spies on people through a fan vent. Though we wonder at times why Celeste is in the story, she comes to play a crucial part in Theo and Persephone’s lives as she manipulates truth and fosters tragedy.
This is a literary work with multiple layers of meaning, but it also is a suspenseful tale with a fine depiction of the underbelly of American small town life. Connected Underneath has much to offer.
Theo Messex has adopted a child whom he names Persephone. He struggles to raise her alone and to make a safe home for her. But by age fifteen, Persephone, motherless and confused, finds aberrant, risky behaviors her only release from her torment. The lack of communication between father and daughter is painful. In the meantime there is a creepy neighbor, Celeste, acting as a narrator of sorts, who sits in a wheelchair and spies on people through a fan vent. Though we wonder at times why Celeste is in the story, she comes to play a crucial part in Theo and Persephone’s lives as she manipulates truth and fosters tragedy.
This is a literary work with multiple layers of meaning, but it also is a suspenseful tale with a fine depiction of the underbelly of American small town life. Connected Underneath has much to offer.
March 30, 2016
Celeste, the wheelchair-bound narrator of this piercing novel, assures us from her first sentence that she will tell us everything, but mid-sentence she stops short and admits that she is already lying. Most of what she sees is through the slats in her kitchen fan vent, which she can open just wide enough to get her binoculars through. What she can’t see with her own eyes, she fills in with bits of gossip, local lore, what she later learns, and her imagination. Like most of the other residents in this sleepy, depressed town, Celeste is isolated. Or she isolates herself. Or, rather, she knows she’s alone but she thinks she’s connected to others because she knows who they are, but she doesn’t really, because who ever really knows another individual? Who among us is brave enough to reach past our own secrets, our own fears, our own secret fears and be truly honest with another? Or even with ourselves?
At first glance, readers might think Celeste, as the narrator, is the link among the main characters. Then we meet Theo, the tough guy we all knew in high school who hung out in the back parking lots, seemingly without ambition (except a singular drive to belong – to someone, somewhere), and we recognize that his leather jackets and tattoos are merely armor to protect his too-kind heart, and we suspect that he might be the link. Or perhaps the link is Natalie, Theo’s wish-she-were-my-girlfriend friend from high school, the damsel to his rescuer-hero, the one who will do anything to get away from THAT side of town. But then we meet Persephone – Seph is Theo’s 15-year old adopted and motherless daughter, who understands life only through pain, so the more she tries to figure out her place in this crummy world, the more pain she has to endure – whether by getting more and more tattoos (or is it just one large tattoo?), by enduring sex with her tattoo guy, or by consistently risking rejection by her girlfriend, who probably really doesn’t love her anyway. Where Seph’s pain is what keeps her alive, Celeste’s complete lack of feeling, her numbness, is what gives her life: bound by the restrictions of not being able to walk, she thrives on her abilities to see, to conjure, and to understand (she thinks) the story that she tells. Are they the two sides of the same coin, like Celeste would like to believe? Or is that simply another sad, secret desire to connect with someone?
Of course, as the title itself indicates, we are all connected underneath, but too often we fail to realize those connections, or we ignore them, or we secret them away. With heart-wrenching, exquisite sentences that sometimes go on for a whole paragraph, Legters’ novel builds in increasingly steep crescendos, often leaving the reader breathless, but unable to stop reading. The sense of inevitability is sometimes overwhelming, as are the painfully stark descriptions that remain emblazoned on your memory long after you put the book down. The ease in which we get caught up in these characters’ lives is precisely because they are, on so many levels, like our own, and yet enough different that we feel safe. But, if we are all connected underneath, and all our stories, as Celeste astutely reminds us at the beginning, start decades before they ever begin, perhaps our illusion of safety is just another secret we keep. This novel is a provocative and insightful read that raises both haunting and hopeful questions.
At first glance, readers might think Celeste, as the narrator, is the link among the main characters. Then we meet Theo, the tough guy we all knew in high school who hung out in the back parking lots, seemingly without ambition (except a singular drive to belong – to someone, somewhere), and we recognize that his leather jackets and tattoos are merely armor to protect his too-kind heart, and we suspect that he might be the link. Or perhaps the link is Natalie, Theo’s wish-she-were-my-girlfriend friend from high school, the damsel to his rescuer-hero, the one who will do anything to get away from THAT side of town. But then we meet Persephone – Seph is Theo’s 15-year old adopted and motherless daughter, who understands life only through pain, so the more she tries to figure out her place in this crummy world, the more pain she has to endure – whether by getting more and more tattoos (or is it just one large tattoo?), by enduring sex with her tattoo guy, or by consistently risking rejection by her girlfriend, who probably really doesn’t love her anyway. Where Seph’s pain is what keeps her alive, Celeste’s complete lack of feeling, her numbness, is what gives her life: bound by the restrictions of not being able to walk, she thrives on her abilities to see, to conjure, and to understand (she thinks) the story that she tells. Are they the two sides of the same coin, like Celeste would like to believe? Or is that simply another sad, secret desire to connect with someone?
Of course, as the title itself indicates, we are all connected underneath, but too often we fail to realize those connections, or we ignore them, or we secret them away. With heart-wrenching, exquisite sentences that sometimes go on for a whole paragraph, Legters’ novel builds in increasingly steep crescendos, often leaving the reader breathless, but unable to stop reading. The sense of inevitability is sometimes overwhelming, as are the painfully stark descriptions that remain emblazoned on your memory long after you put the book down. The ease in which we get caught up in these characters’ lives is precisely because they are, on so many levels, like our own, and yet enough different that we feel safe. But, if we are all connected underneath, and all our stories, as Celeste astutely reminds us at the beginning, start decades before they ever begin, perhaps our illusion of safety is just another secret we keep. This novel is a provocative and insightful read that raises both haunting and hopeful questions.
June 5, 2016
Celeste, the wheelchair-bound narrator of Linda Legter’s novel Connected Underneath, promises to tell us everything, even the parts too terrible to share. Then she admits “there, already: I’ve hardly begun and I’m already lying.” Whether or not Celeste’s lies are as pivotal to the story as she’d like to think is open to debate and, truthfully, she’s the least interesting part of the story, anyway.
Celeste lives in Madena, a tiny town in upstate New York. She introduces the reader to the novel’s key players: Theo and Natalie – high school friends, although Theo had definitely hoped for more. Natalie, however, liked boys like Mike Teague, high school basketball star, because “Theo was from the wrong side of town, her side, and she wanted a different side.” When she becomes pregnant, Natalie turns to Theo for help and he ends up adopting her daughter, whom he names Persephone. (A fitting name, as it turns out -Persephone was the goddess of the underworld – because Seph, at fifteen, is a little off the rails.)
Theo and Seph are actually disconnected these days. Seph is in love with a girl called Krista, but she trades sex for tattoos. Billie, the tattoo artist, is “sweet, gentle, swift, so it never seemed like a very big deal, not even the first time, the time that drew blood.” Of course, Seph keeps the tattoos and the sex from her father, but even so, Theo is beginning to worry about his daughter; “he was sure his girl was in trouble.”
So that’s the impetus for a visit to Natalie’s house across town. She lives with her husband, Doug, and their son, Max. Natalie doesn’t really want anything to do with Theo and shows little interest in the daughter she gave up fifteen years ago. In fact, when Theo admits he’s afraid of losing her, Natalie’s response is callous and decidedly un-motherly: She tells him, “You’re too late. Not my fault.”
Connected Underneath is a story about secrets – those we keep from each other and those we keep from ourselves. It is also a story about the damage we can do, both willfully and inadvertently. Everyone in Connected Underneath seems to operate, ironically, without actually realizing how they are connected and when the secrets bubble to the surface, discretion is abandoned and truth is used as a weapon.
Theo is definitely the most sympathetic character. Despite a fraught childhood, he has always tries to do the right thing. He loves his daughter, even if he isn’t quite sure how to keep her safe. Natalie is another story. I didn’t like her and also, more importantly, didn’t believe her. Not for a minute. And then there’s Celeste. As she watches Theo’s world unravel, her world – miraculously – begins to right itself. Can’t say that I was all that invested in her, either.
On the plus side –Connected Underneath is an elliptical, strangely compelling story about the ways we try to save each other, even when we can’t. It is well-written, even if I didn’t believe in some of the characters. It is almost relentlessly grim, but sometimes life is just like that.
Celeste lives in Madena, a tiny town in upstate New York. She introduces the reader to the novel’s key players: Theo and Natalie – high school friends, although Theo had definitely hoped for more. Natalie, however, liked boys like Mike Teague, high school basketball star, because “Theo was from the wrong side of town, her side, and she wanted a different side.” When she becomes pregnant, Natalie turns to Theo for help and he ends up adopting her daughter, whom he names Persephone. (A fitting name, as it turns out -Persephone was the goddess of the underworld – because Seph, at fifteen, is a little off the rails.)
Theo and Seph are actually disconnected these days. Seph is in love with a girl called Krista, but she trades sex for tattoos. Billie, the tattoo artist, is “sweet, gentle, swift, so it never seemed like a very big deal, not even the first time, the time that drew blood.” Of course, Seph keeps the tattoos and the sex from her father, but even so, Theo is beginning to worry about his daughter; “he was sure his girl was in trouble.”
So that’s the impetus for a visit to Natalie’s house across town. She lives with her husband, Doug, and their son, Max. Natalie doesn’t really want anything to do with Theo and shows little interest in the daughter she gave up fifteen years ago. In fact, when Theo admits he’s afraid of losing her, Natalie’s response is callous and decidedly un-motherly: She tells him, “You’re too late. Not my fault.”
Connected Underneath is a story about secrets – those we keep from each other and those we keep from ourselves. It is also a story about the damage we can do, both willfully and inadvertently. Everyone in Connected Underneath seems to operate, ironically, without actually realizing how they are connected and when the secrets bubble to the surface, discretion is abandoned and truth is used as a weapon.
Theo is definitely the most sympathetic character. Despite a fraught childhood, he has always tries to do the right thing. He loves his daughter, even if he isn’t quite sure how to keep her safe. Natalie is another story. I didn’t like her and also, more importantly, didn’t believe her. Not for a minute. And then there’s Celeste. As she watches Theo’s world unravel, her world – miraculously – begins to right itself. Can’t say that I was all that invested in her, either.
On the plus side –Connected Underneath is an elliptical, strangely compelling story about the ways we try to save each other, even when we can’t. It is well-written, even if I didn’t believe in some of the characters. It is almost relentlessly grim, but sometimes life is just like that.
August 18, 2016
This highly literary and complex novel is accessible to general audiences, but those readers with a solid foundation in the classics, especially William Faulkner, Virginia Woolf and Victor Hugo will get so much more out of it. Despite being less than 150 pages, this novel is not an easy-breezy read. You have to be able to digest the long sentences, follow the shifts in point of view and third versus first person narrative. There are many references to ancient Greek mythology and some creative usage of archetypes. What blew me away is the dichotomy of the inner voice versus spoken voice. The characters engage in lengthy, eloquent internal monologues, and when they open their mouths in real life, short, choppy sentences come out. That reminds us that people can be crude and rough and unbending on the outside and be very vulnerable and conflicted on the inside.
Now, I am not someone who absolutely needs a hero to root for in order to enjoy a work of fiction. I do not need to latch onto that nipple of fake positive energy. In fact, I am much more likely to attach myself to a grotesque character, and track his/her downfall. Theo and Persephone "Seph" are a father-daughter team that in a strange way remind me of Jean Valjean and Cosette. I must be in the .001% of the population who did not sympathize with that duo from "Les Miserables". That's the kind of heartless monster I am. But that's the beside the point. Just like Jean Valjean, Theo is an outcast - self-loathing, socially awkward and sexually repressed, looking towards his adopted daughter as an opportunity for redemption. And that's a really risky thing to do, putting your spiritual redemption into the hands of another person, especially a troubled teenage girl.
Which brings me to the character of Seph. I will not go as far as criticizing the author for creating an over-the-top character, but sometimes Seph comes across as a composite character instead of a credible, tangible person. It's almost as if the author had taken part in a contest: let's see who can create a most dysfunctional teenage female character. Let's see how much black hair dye and eyeliner we can slap onto her. Let's cover her up in tattoos. Let's make her addicted to pain and cutting. Let's make her a lesbian, but one who is willing to have sex with her adult male tattoo artist, which also puts her into the child prostitute category. I guess, there is a reason for that. Underneath all those dysfunctions and alterations, there is a human being that has a potential for being balanced and functional, who is capable of building healthy human relationships. We see a glimpse of that person. Unfortunately, Seph discovers that a little too late. She cannot find her real self underneath all that ink and scar tissue.
Now, I am not someone who absolutely needs a hero to root for in order to enjoy a work of fiction. I do not need to latch onto that nipple of fake positive energy. In fact, I am much more likely to attach myself to a grotesque character, and track his/her downfall. Theo and Persephone "Seph" are a father-daughter team that in a strange way remind me of Jean Valjean and Cosette. I must be in the .001% of the population who did not sympathize with that duo from "Les Miserables". That's the kind of heartless monster I am. But that's the beside the point. Just like Jean Valjean, Theo is an outcast - self-loathing, socially awkward and sexually repressed, looking towards his adopted daughter as an opportunity for redemption. And that's a really risky thing to do, putting your spiritual redemption into the hands of another person, especially a troubled teenage girl.
Which brings me to the character of Seph. I will not go as far as criticizing the author for creating an over-the-top character, but sometimes Seph comes across as a composite character instead of a credible, tangible person. It's almost as if the author had taken part in a contest: let's see who can create a most dysfunctional teenage female character. Let's see how much black hair dye and eyeliner we can slap onto her. Let's cover her up in tattoos. Let's make her addicted to pain and cutting. Let's make her a lesbian, but one who is willing to have sex with her adult male tattoo artist, which also puts her into the child prostitute category. I guess, there is a reason for that. Underneath all those dysfunctions and alterations, there is a human being that has a potential for being balanced and functional, who is capable of building healthy human relationships. We see a glimpse of that person. Unfortunately, Seph discovers that a little too late. She cannot find her real self underneath all that ink and scar tissue.
May 17, 2016
Admittedly, this book is kind of... strange. It's narrated by Celeste, who is wheel chair bound but hasn't always been that way. It's been a gradual deterioration of the leg function, and her aide says she really needs to get out more. Celeste isn't inclined to do that since she has an entire world she watches through the vent in her kitchen. She sees Persephone, who is adopted by Theo, and she never knew her birth mother. She's pretty sure she's a lesbian, but she has sex with a man in exchange for tattoos all over her body, which is a really bizarre form of self mutilation for her (kind of). Little does Persephone know, her mother is closer to home than she realizes, and Theo made a promise to mom Natalie to never reveal her identity. Which is just really sad that after all this time, Theo still lets that woman walk all over him with nothing in return but yet- here we are.
What's really strange about this book is that it isn't one that I would have picked up and devoured based on the cover, but yet... the story is kind of bizarrely addicting. It's like how we spy on our neighbors to see what's going on. We might not know but based on what we see we form an opinion and go with it. Celeste sees herself like Persephone but they go about their journey to feel anything in totally opposite ways. I finished this book in just a couple of hours because I want to know what happens to Celeste and Persephone. Even from early on in the book you feel like we're working up to something big, like a train wreck that you know you're coming up on and you can take a detour but you find yourself driving towards it anyways. I have to say, this would be an EXCELLENT pick for a book club. There is so much meat to this story, so many what if's and discussion points, that despite it being a shorter book you could really discuss this for awhile.
You can find your own copy of Connected Underneath on Amazon as well as Barnes & Noble. Linda Letgers also has a website you can peruse, too. I'm really interested to see what she does for her next book because this one was written really well and you felt like you were sitting right there with Celeste at her table, listening to her recount the neighborhood gossip. Those are the books I adore, the ones I forget I'm only reading and not listening to in real time.
What's really strange about this book is that it isn't one that I would have picked up and devoured based on the cover, but yet... the story is kind of bizarrely addicting. It's like how we spy on our neighbors to see what's going on. We might not know but based on what we see we form an opinion and go with it. Celeste sees herself like Persephone but they go about their journey to feel anything in totally opposite ways. I finished this book in just a couple of hours because I want to know what happens to Celeste and Persephone. Even from early on in the book you feel like we're working up to something big, like a train wreck that you know you're coming up on and you can take a detour but you find yourself driving towards it anyways. I have to say, this would be an EXCELLENT pick for a book club. There is so much meat to this story, so many what if's and discussion points, that despite it being a shorter book you could really discuss this for awhile.
You can find your own copy of Connected Underneath on Amazon as well as Barnes & Noble. Linda Letgers also has a website you can peruse, too. I'm really interested to see what she does for her next book because this one was written really well and you felt like you were sitting right there with Celeste at her table, listening to her recount the neighborhood gossip. Those are the books I adore, the ones I forget I'm only reading and not listening to in real time.
May 16, 2016
Much like how the Upstate New York town of Madena, is broken-down and decaying, the residents who run the video rental shop, tattoo parlor and bars are fragile and worn-out. Linda Legters, CONNECTED UNDERNEATH (Lethe Press) contains deeply flawed characters from the wrong side of the tracks, who carry lots of secrets and desperately try to push us away, as we rush to turn to the next page.
Persephone is a fifteen year-old girl who would rather run around naked at the High-School track, than go home and talk to her father. She trades sex for tattoos, because she believes her girlfriend doesn't love her. Her Dad runs the last video store in the area. He was a loser in high-school, but turned his life around and did a remarkable unselfish act. Now he's raising Persephone as a single dad but she's entered those difficult teen years and he doesn't know where to turn for help. Natalie's trying her best to regain a little bit of self-respect by marrying a nice man and raising a son who behaves. She only wishes she could forget that baby girl she gave away fifteen years ago. And then there's Celeste, bound to her wheelchair, spying on everyone with her binoculars through the kitchen fan vent.
CONNECTED UNDERNEATH is a short novel, at one-hundred and eighty-four pages, but each one is rich, full of texture and depth. I will remember this narrative and these characters for a long time, but question the ending. It's not that I didn't like it, there were several options. I imagine Linda Legters struggled with her decision, but it's the author's novel and she's always right.
Linda Legters is a teacher, novelist, short story writer, and painter. She lives in Connecticut. You can contact Linda on her website www.lindalegters.com or at her publisher's website www.lethepressbooks.com There you can also find links to the places where her novel is available to purchase.
Thanks to TLC Book Tours www.tlcbooktours.com and Lethe Press, we have one copy of CONNECTED UNDERNEATH to giveaway. Just leave your name and what you hope to accomplish this week in the comments section! We'll pick a winner next Monday.
Happy Monday!
Persephone is a fifteen year-old girl who would rather run around naked at the High-School track, than go home and talk to her father. She trades sex for tattoos, because she believes her girlfriend doesn't love her. Her Dad runs the last video store in the area. He was a loser in high-school, but turned his life around and did a remarkable unselfish act. Now he's raising Persephone as a single dad but she's entered those difficult teen years and he doesn't know where to turn for help. Natalie's trying her best to regain a little bit of self-respect by marrying a nice man and raising a son who behaves. She only wishes she could forget that baby girl she gave away fifteen years ago. And then there's Celeste, bound to her wheelchair, spying on everyone with her binoculars through the kitchen fan vent.
CONNECTED UNDERNEATH is a short novel, at one-hundred and eighty-four pages, but each one is rich, full of texture and depth. I will remember this narrative and these characters for a long time, but question the ending. It's not that I didn't like it, there were several options. I imagine Linda Legters struggled with her decision, but it's the author's novel and she's always right.
Linda Legters is a teacher, novelist, short story writer, and painter. She lives in Connecticut. You can contact Linda on her website www.lindalegters.com or at her publisher's website www.lethepressbooks.com There you can also find links to the places where her novel is available to purchase.
Thanks to TLC Book Tours www.tlcbooktours.com and Lethe Press, we have one copy of CONNECTED UNDERNEATH to giveaway. Just leave your name and what you hope to accomplish this week in the comments section! We'll pick a winner next Monday.
Happy Monday!
August 8, 2016
Connected Underneath, by Linda Legters, is not a book I would have normally picked up on my own; however, I was pleasantly surprised while reading it. It a strangely fascinating story.
In the beginning, wheelchair-bound Celeste, makes assumptions about her neighbours and the lives they live. It's not that crazy. We all make these kinds of speculations about others everyday. In Connected Underneath, Celeste think about acting on hers. And when we make snap judgements and comments based on the small amount of other's lives that we observe, those comments may have far reaching consequences.
This short novel is very much about connections. That burning desire, or really, need for everyone to be deeply connected to someone else. And when those connections may not exist as we thought they did, it can shift us in profound ways.
"...we all came to realize - our search isn't for family, exactly, but for connection, connections that will keep us, so we won't drown, won't fly off, something that will connect us underneath." - Connected Underneath
Celeste is desperate for a connection to the outside world, and those she sees are either seeking connections in their own lives or grasping at connections that are about to slip away.
Legters' writing in Connected Underneath is so thoughtful, and the storyline weaved seamlessly in and out through the different characters. It is a quick read that will leave you thinking!
In the beginning, wheelchair-bound Celeste, makes assumptions about her neighbours and the lives they live. It's not that crazy. We all make these kinds of speculations about others everyday. In Connected Underneath, Celeste think about acting on hers. And when we make snap judgements and comments based on the small amount of other's lives that we observe, those comments may have far reaching consequences.
This short novel is very much about connections. That burning desire, or really, need for everyone to be deeply connected to someone else. And when those connections may not exist as we thought they did, it can shift us in profound ways.
"...we all came to realize - our search isn't for family, exactly, but for connection, connections that will keep us, so we won't drown, won't fly off, something that will connect us underneath." - Connected Underneath
Celeste is desperate for a connection to the outside world, and those she sees are either seeking connections in their own lives or grasping at connections that are about to slip away.
Legters' writing in Connected Underneath is so thoughtful, and the storyline weaved seamlessly in and out through the different characters. It is a quick read that will leave you thinking!
July 6, 2016
I don't envy the author/editor who had to come up with the Amazon summary. It's a good one, and better than anything I could do. The story itself is difficult to describe plot-wise, made up of an eclectic group of characters and their complex histories. Linda Letgers' writing is beautiful, smart and compelling. It's heavier on narration than dialogue, and I worried that might slow things down, but it didn't. I zoomed through this.
There are so many amazing descriptions. Here's one of a punch to the gut: "Billie needed to fold in two, but Theo held him upright long enough for the pain to point back into Billie's brain and out through his toes and to become shooting sparks from his pupils, syllables in his mouth.".
This may be the first book I've ever read with an unreliable, omniscient narrator. The concept was unusual and well done. Mixed with first-person narration, the omniscient narrator turns out to be a character in the story who thinks she has everyone else figured out and also admits to being a liar. It's up to the reader to decide if she can be trusted.
I offered to read and review this honestly in exchange for a copy of the ebook, and I'm glad I did.
-Katie O'Rourke, Finding Charlie
There are so many amazing descriptions. Here's one of a punch to the gut: "Billie needed to fold in two, but Theo held him upright long enough for the pain to point back into Billie's brain and out through his toes and to become shooting sparks from his pupils, syllables in his mouth.".
This may be the first book I've ever read with an unreliable, omniscient narrator. The concept was unusual and well done. Mixed with first-person narration, the omniscient narrator turns out to be a character in the story who thinks she has everyone else figured out and also admits to being a liar. It's up to the reader to decide if she can be trusted.
I offered to read and review this honestly in exchange for a copy of the ebook, and I'm glad I did.
-Katie O'Rourke, Finding Charlie
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May 9, 2016Visit Raven Haired Girl for more reviews & giveaways
An emotional read exploring the dangers of harboring secrets, adoption and single parenting of a teen, relationships.
Theo and Seph are on the verge of a major collision. Theo desperate to mend rents in the relationship with his daughter as he achingly tries to figure out how along with what's eating her alive, clawing at maintaining the thin tether of connection. Parents will be able to relate to Theo's dilemma and conundrum. His pain, confusion and love for Seph is evident, I thoroughly empathized with his struggle. Natalie and Celeste frustrated me to no end, selfish troublemakers period. I felt for Seph, confused, wounded, lost. Interesting perspectives from protagonists, truly reveling their inner thoughts and feelings, no doubt all the characters are seriously flawed with yearnings for more as they flounder.
A glimpse into small town life full of suspense, moments of tenderness, leaving the reader with lots to contemplate, plenty avenues open for deep discussion. Understatedly moving story.
An emotional read exploring the dangers of harboring secrets, adoption and single parenting of a teen, relationships.
Theo and Seph are on the verge of a major collision. Theo desperate to mend rents in the relationship with his daughter as he achingly tries to figure out how along with what's eating her alive, clawing at maintaining the thin tether of connection. Parents will be able to relate to Theo's dilemma and conundrum. His pain, confusion and love for Seph is evident, I thoroughly empathized with his struggle. Natalie and Celeste frustrated me to no end, selfish troublemakers period. I felt for Seph, confused, wounded, lost. Interesting perspectives from protagonists, truly reveling their inner thoughts and feelings, no doubt all the characters are seriously flawed with yearnings for more as they flounder.
A glimpse into small town life full of suspense, moments of tenderness, leaving the reader with lots to contemplate, plenty avenues open for deep discussion. Understatedly moving story.
Read
April 26, 2016This is such a sad book. It will stay with you and have you thinking "what if" over and over. It is extremely well written and heart wrenching. The characters are deeply developed. I felt so bad for Seph. She never realized how much she was loved. Natalie is evil and is lacking in humanity. Theo is doing the best that he can. Celeste, well is Celeste. The story flows well throughout this book. You will be left feeling heartbroken, I know that I am. In the end we are all connected through our mutual humanity, good and bad, aren't we? We all want what we can't have or have what we don't want. I recommend this book in good faith that it will make you think and it will stay with you. I know I will remember it for a long time to come. Thank you , Linda Legters, for writing such a profound book. I recommend this book highly. You will feel such a wide range of emotions. A book should make you feel and this one does this, at least it did for me.
April 7, 2016
I loved Connected Underneath! The story concerns a worried and outside-the-box father and his teenage daughter Persephone and an odd, wheelchair-bound narrator, Celeste, who gets caught up in both of their lives. Yes, Persephone has a girlfriend instead of a boyfriend who doesn't love her, but the real theme is how profoundly a father can love his daughter without truly grasping her pressing and unltimately devastating wounds, wounds that outstrip her fierce struggle to find her place in the world.
The writing is gorgeous and the story will surprise you over and over. This is art that also manages to be a page turner. I highy recommend this novel, the promising author's debut.
The writing is gorgeous and the story will surprise you over and over. This is art that also manages to be a page turner. I highy recommend this novel, the promising author's debut.
July 3, 2016
This was a fascinating story about residents of a small town in New York. The story weaves around their actions and reactions of particular events.
What this story shows us is how secrets can poison our relationships. That we should be weary of the consequences of failing to do what we can and should do to help others. And most importantly to trust in love.
I received this book as part of the Goodreads giveaways and I am so happy to have had the opportunity to read it.
What this story shows us is how secrets can poison our relationships. That we should be weary of the consequences of failing to do what we can and should do to help others. And most importantly to trust in love.
I received this book as part of the Goodreads giveaways and I am so happy to have had the opportunity to read it.
June 25, 2016
It's not just ripples in the pond, it's what made the stones that caused the ripples. Fantastic read with multiple layers. Best read in one sitting.
June 1, 2016
Great story of the angst that is teenage, family, heartbreak and parenting. Small town story with universal reach, trying to find where one belongs and what makes a family.
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