Starfish

by Patty Dann

The author of Mermaids reunites the unforgettable women of the Flax family decades “Its plot twists will make you laugh—after you wipe away tears.” —Sally Koslow, author of The Real Mrs. Tobias

Now in her early forties with a grown son and two grandchildren, Charlotte Flax has never forgotten the year she spent as a teenager in Grove, Massachusetts, with her mother and little sister. When she finds out that their old house there, one of the many the family occupied over the years, is available for rent, Charlotte moves in and plans a birthday party for her flighty-as-ever mother. Some things have changed—the nearby convent has given way to real estate interests. Some things have not—Charlotte still has feelings about Joe, her first love. This upcoming reunion will stir up a lot of memories—and some trouble—and test the ability of relationships to survive over time . . .

“Patty Dann, through Charlotte’s unique voice, propels us back into the careening lives of the Flax women. Funny, sad, chaotic, mysterious, moving, searching, they are above all a family.” —Richard Benjamin, director of Mermaids

Praise for Mermaids and the novels of Patty Dann

“Dann gives us a magnificent voice in the young Charlotte . . . Both hilarious and tragic . . . a radiant debut.” —The New York Times Book Review

“A marvel . . . brilliant.” —Elinor Lipman, author of Good Riddance

“Poignant.” —Sheila Kohler, author of Once We Were Sisters and Cracks

“Both of [the sisters’] characters are sharply etched and recognizable.” —Publishers Weekly

208 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 6, 2013

About the author

I love talking with readers - for 1:1s and Book Club visits, find me on Skolay: www.skolay.com/writers/patty-dann

Reviews

[Sharon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I recently read Mermaids for the first time, despite having watched the movie dozens of times. I liked it, but the movie version holds a special place in my heart.

When I heard that there was a sequel, set nearly 30 years after the first, I couldn't get it quick enough - I was dying to know what happened to the Flax women.

This is told, once again, from the point of view of Charlotte Flax. No longer a wistful fourteen year old, Charlotte is now a fortysomething year old mother with a grown up son and grandchildren. She has returned to Grove, to the house she once shared with her mother and sister, and she is going to throw a sixtieth birthday party for Mrs. Flax, who has long left town.

This relies really heavily on material from the first book - at times it bored me, but that's probably just because I only read the first one a few weeks ago and it's fresh in my mind. For someone who read it years ago, this will be a nice refresher. In terms of plot - there's not much of it - or maybe there's too much. One or two of the issues concerning Charlotte would have been lots, but I just felt like the author was trying to please everyone by squeezing in as much as possible.

There's nothing wrong with that - but it read a little like fanfic in places.

If you liked the first one, I'm sure you'll love catching up with the ladies again. It was nice to revisit them - it just fell a little flat for me personally.

[Betsy Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Patty Dann’s excellent new novel Starfish occupies interstitial territory. “Interstice” means to stand still in the middle. It’s the space between things. And both the writing and the first-person protagonist, Charlotte Flax, live in this very difficult place. At age forty-two, Charlotte, who takes “no pleasure in change,” returns to her childhood home the way she does most everything—without a present connection, aimless, and searching. This is very difficult territory for a novel, but the writing is so beguiling that it holds you, makes you care, makes you wonder what happens next. Will this idiosyncratic woman from an equally idiosyncratic family ever connect to her present? If so, how?

What makes this novel work is a subtle, nuanced thread of awareness within a story of no awareness:

“All my life,” writes Charlotte, “I had felt like our family . . . had been on a ship without a captain drifting toward a dangerous waterfall.”

“When I was in elementary school . . . I once watched girls play jump rope during recess on a hot September playground, but I was afraid to jump in myself. I wasn’t sure how. A boy in horn-rimmed glasses walked up to me and held a conch shell to my ear. He said I’d hear the ocean, but I knew even then that all I was hearing was the sounds inside my own head.”

“I . . . stared at myself in the mirror. I’m not sure why I did that, probably just to see my own face and remind myself that I existed.”

I won’t give away the end, but suffice it say that connection finally comes. This book is a vibrant, sometimes funny, still life with a unique pulse and uncanny ability to move. I highly recommend it.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, and I can best pinpoint why by referencing how much I disliked the two books I've read by Amy Tan (Bonesetter's Daughter and Joy Luck Club). No offense to anyone who loves Amy Tan, of course. Those books drove me batty with the premise of a young generation of females misunderstanding an older generation of females, Tan uncovers the complexity of the older generation of females, empathy for all, character progression, blah blah blah. I've never heard of real life multi-generation female relationships ever getting to that level of actualization. Maybe someone's family is more advanced than mine, somewhere.

So back to Starfish. There's a lot to love, but I am mainly impressed with how authentic the female relationships are. Sometimes people don't progress. Sometimes mothers are distant, forever, in a kindly way. Sisters stay locked in relationship patterns set decades before. And it's all written in a tight narrative style. Perfect.

I haven't read Mermaids or watched the movie (sacrilege to some of my friends), but this book stands up well on its own. I'm planning to read Mermaids after I can pick up a copy in the U.S. this summer. Hopefully a Kindle edition for Starfish comes out soon so my friends here in Phnom Penh can buy it from Amazon (hint hint, GoodReads' Amazon overlords). Until then, I have a feeling my paperback copy will be making the rounds.

[Kayla shaft]

Amazing. An extraordinary sequel to the masterpiece that is Mermaids. If you have read it I HIGHLY recommend reading Starfish.

[Melody · Rating 4 out of 5]

I sobbed my way into the new year as I often do watching the movie adaptation of Mermaids, so what better way to begin my reading this year than with the sequel, which came out a couple of years ago but I'd somehow completely forgotten existed (that was the year I finally read the original book, too, after realising just how great the movie was).

It's a sleight and slender read that will likely not be gracing the big screen (not least because Bob Hoskins is no longer with us - god, he would have been great in those Mr Landsky scenes…), and I can't even tell if this book will only mean anything to those who really love the original book or movie as much as I do, because, seriously, I love the movie a lot. Just about everything here rang true to me - Kate becoming a wild girl having stopped swimming when she went through puberty (at which point Charlotte found herself taking up the sport)… the little glimmers of Mrs Flax coming through in Charlotte's personality… those conversations that have been bottled up for decades suddenly bursting out (imagine how great the scene of Charlotte and Kate finally talking about the incident at the end of the first book, so close to where it happened, would be if they made the movie with the original cast…) What can I say it was just great to spend a few more hours with these characters, and if someone can find a way to adapt it without Mr Landsky (the screenwriter of the original did some wonderful things - that fight between Cher and Winona Ryder, for example, is total silence in the book) I think it'd be a weird but just as wonderful movie as the first. It really reads like Patty Dann wrote it with that in mind, with the music references and the slideshow near the end etc.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the book, but I need to know what happens next. Hoping we don't have to wait another 10 years for a sequel!

[Joyce · Rating 2 out of 5]

This wasn't so much a sequel as it was a rehashing of Mermaids. I get that some references are needed for those who maybe hadn't read Mermaids, but come on! I felt like I could have just reread that. Also the writing was mediocre at best. Repetitive, flat, I felt like I was reading a dull play by play of someone's very boring life. The characters didn't feel like they evolved from who they were in Mermaids, but rather they became entirely different people. None of the characters were very likeable and the story was just scattered and bizarre. I didn't like it. But I can't find myself giving a book a one star rating.

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75.

Aww a 'Mermaids' sequel! So cute!

[RP Madison · Rating 3 out of 5]

SPOILERS

You really can't go home again even though Patty Dann and Charlotte Flax really tried to. I have a relationship, I would say a lifelong relationship with Patty Dann's first novel 'Mermaids' and the film adaptation that came out in the 90s. For half my life I wished and hoped to find out what happened to the Flax family and the people in their orbit. Be careful what you wish for I suppose.

I didn't hate this book but I also didn't fall in love with this book like I really desperately wanted to. I feel like this was more fanfiction than an actual continuation of the lives of these people. So much happens that feels disingenuous. Why would all of these people converge for Mrs. Flax's 60th birthday party when they had really only known her for a year or so? Charlotte's father showing up at the end because of genealogy then she let's him stay over? I just didn't buy it. I wanted to buy it (technically I did)I really, really wanted to but I didn't and it made me sad. In the first story Charlotte's character is hilarious and sympathetic but in this book I find her to be dry , hopeless and just pathetic. She and Joe screwing in the kitchen while they don't know where Irving is? So you've learned nothing have you Charlotte? I was honestly expecting another near drowning or near fatality for the youngster. However it might have added some much-needed tension to this frankly kind of flat follow up.

Reading this was like visiting old family members you share sunshiny memories of just to be reminded why you kept them at a distance. I left the last page liking these people less and that's unfortunate but often it really is how the story goes.

[Brandi Collins · Rating 3 out of 5]

I adore the movie adaptation of "Mermaids" from Dann's earlier novel of the same name. "Starfish" catches up with Charlotte Flax in the early 90s at 42-years old. She's now the mother of an adult son and the grandmother of twin baby girls. She's moved back into the house where she lived with her mother and sister almost 30 years before where she first met and fell in love with Joe, and not much else has changed. Mrs. Flax (Charlotte and Kate's mother) is still selfish and flighty, loving and leaving men all over the U.S. as she travels. Kate has turned promiscuous and now has a young son of her own. Charlotte still loves Joe, and although she holds a job and supports herself, she hasn't grown up much internally from her adolescence. She still romanticizes her previous affair with Joe, a man who was much too old for her at the time of their first encounter. While it was nice to catch up with these lovable and extremely flawed characters, this novel just doesn't quite have the magic of "Mermaids" and repeats many of the stories featured in the first novel.

[David Jay · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're a fan of "Mermaids" (and I am), this is a must read. If you're indifferent to "Mermaids," don't bother.

"Mermaids" ends in the mid 1960s and Charlotte Flax is 15. "Starfish" picks up nearly 30 years later. Charlotte is 42 and has returned to Grove, the town her mother moved her and her sister to in the first book. All major characters reappear and the unraveling is perfect.

[Violet Bell · Rating 2 out of 5]

In a word, disappointing. In another word... I don't want to be that cruel. This gets two stars only because of echoing fondness of the film Mermaids.

Charlotte is all grown up now, 42 and has returned to Grove to live in her old house and throw a birthday party for her mother, the incomparable Mrs. Flax, whose greater presence would have livened up this novel considerably. Alas, we are stuck with just Charlotte, who has random sex with an (adult) student from her English class she's barely spoken with, which at least gives her a change from her usual routine of constantly driving to outlet malls and wandering around the grounds of the former convent that played such a big role in the first novel, hallucinating that she can still see the nuns. Charlotte does finally hear from her long lost father via an aerogramme, and invites him to Mrs Flax's birthday party, seemingly uncaring as to whether her mother would appreciate her party being crashed by her first boyfriend who she hasn't seen in 43 years. This is all about Charlotte. Her solipsism makes you dislike her so much you want things to turn out badly for her. She reminds me of my son when he was 3 and would shout "only I have feelings!". Only Charlotte's feelings count, and they must be acted on, immediately.

We are joined by Kate, Charlotte's younger sister, who turns up to stay with her 3 year old son (who seems to exhibit signs of global development delay that Charlotte, as a teacher, should recognise but doesn't). Charlotte remembers examples of Kate's wild behaviour, sneaking out at night to see boys, but given the age gap between the sisters and that Charlotte was attending college by 18, Kate's offending behaviour would have started when she was ten.

And you thought Charlotte having sex at 14 with a 30 year old man was bad.

Kate now is still supposed to be "wild". But the worst she seems to do is sleep with men she doesn't know very well - no worse than Charlotte does herself. There's no substance abuse, unless you count Kate's habit of being seized by the uncontrollable desire to go - work as a nurse in an emergency room, which she does multiple times in the book. First, don't you need a licence or something to work as a nurse in a different state? Does Kate just show up at the ER saying "please help me! I GOTTA take a temperature and blood pressure. Come on man, I'm dying here"?

Anyway the party happens and oh of course look who it is, Joe Peretti, who Charlotte rudely snubs at the party but shows up at the house to make amends. Charlotte began a campaign to stop her house being taken by developers and I was looking forward to her taking on the big guys, but that fizzles out. Kate takes off for ERs in pastures anew and leaves Irving behind; Charlotte then again leaves a child unsupervised so she can have spontaneous sex with Joe Peretti. Charlotte's dad finally shows up, and leaves after an awkward and disinterested visit. Oh, and Mrs Flax and Lou hook up again. Will they get married? Who knows, but basically everything is tied up in a neat little package with a bow I sometimes wanted to wrap around Charlotte's neck.

I guess the second star is also due to the fact that Starfish is set the same time period as the film Mermaids came out. I like that. There wasn't much else to like in this clumsy, awkward book with its clichéd situations, stilted prose, and insufferable protagonist.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading Mermaids, it led me onto this book, called Starfish. Presumably the author likes sea creatures, since the title seems to have no significance to the book.

This is once again narrated by Charlotte, much like the first book, and the film. It picks up when Charlotte is 42, in 1991, at the end of the Gulf War, and planning for Mrs Flax's 60th birthday. We also find her back in Grove, in the little house where she thought about Saints and Joe.

Kate, the little girl obsessed with swimming, has grown up too, and become quite the wild child. Both girls have followed in their mother's footsteps, and become quite "loose", as Charlotte would describe it. Both have a child born out of wedlock, both to married men and Kate seems quite flighty, not really taking responsibility for her son.

Charlotte (or "Shahlotte Rose" as Lou calls her in his Boston accent, which is a new thing) is now a teacher, teaching English to immigrants, and sleeping with her (married) student. She still reminisces about the great love of her life, Joe, and being back in the same town/house brings a lot of this to forefront.

Quite a few chunks of text are lifted directly from the original book, having read them back to back, it's quite obvious, instead of re-writing them, they've just been directly copied over. This gives it a very repetitive feel, particularly if like me, you have finished the first and then straight away picked up the second. It is slightly longer than the original book, at 210 pages and was only written in 2013. So there was quite a gap between the original in 1988 and this one. I was expecting this book to be influenced perhaps by the film, although apart from Lou's accent, the author hasn't really let the film release influence her characters or the periods that relate to the original.

I just don't feel like this book goes anywhere though. It's filled with quite an eccentric cast, and Mrs Flax only appears in person three quarters of the way through. Joe also reappears and the love is still there. There's all this build up to the party and Charlotte potentially losing her house, because the new owners of where the convent used to be, are making it a gated community. But everything's left sort of in the open by the end of the book - perhaps there's another book, however I have not been able to find anything obvious. We're left not knowing what happens to the house (even though Charlotte seems determined to fight for it, but this storyline doesn't go anywhere), or whether Charlotte will follow Joe or what happens to Kate and her child.

This is quite expensive and is self published, so I would advise if you can find it at a reasonable price, and you liked the first one, to get it. But I just don't think it should have really been written, or why the author thought after such a time, that another book needed to be written or the characters needed to be revisited. It's probably up there with Beaches II in my opinion, it just doesn't hold the same magic as the first, and leaves a lot of things unresolved.​

[Nadya Booyse · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a 2.5 at best. I loved Mermaids and in this particular case the movie was much better than the book, but the books is definitely good in its own right. Both ended on a note of hope and changes to come. Imagine my surprise then when the sequel ended up just being a regurgitation of its predecessor. The story line is the same and there are so many flashbacks that are just verbatim copies of the first novel. Add to that the audiobook voicing being a woman with slight hysterical twinge to her voice, making her sound much more like angsty teen than a woman in her forties.

Mermaids was good because it captured the intensity of being a teenager who is struggling to understand her sexuality within the context of society and her mother’s unconventional lifestyle. But Starfish is basically a rewrite of that intensity except that the girl is now a woman in her late forties. It would have been great if this had been an exploration of ageing or something. Instead it is a haphazard copy and paste project that I suspect was just riding the coattails of Mermaids, perhaps in the hopes of another movie-deal.

There’s a marginal exploration of a couple of themes, but it is all very sloppily done.

Don’t read this if you loved Mermaids. I think it left us with enough of an end that hinted at life being a bit more like life for the people involved; a hope that was entirely spoiled by everyone being exactly in the same place, just thirty plus years later, in the sequel.

[Emalissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this! It came at a perfect time. :,)

Some favorite quotes:

“For me, the second year after my grandmother’s death marked the beginning of my return to the real world. The first year was like the first night camping out alone—uncomfortable and a little frightening but breathtaking to see the night sky, to feel the extreme solitude. The second year was like camping out forever. I had had enough. I did not want to be camping out anymore”(85).

“You’re a grown woman. You have to start learning to accept loss… You need to be like a starfish. If they lose an arm, they grow it back”(96).

“Whobody” is a new favorite word of mine now lol.

[Jacque · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this sequel so much!! I can just imagine this one being made into a movie too, it would be so fantastic. I love the Flax family, and this felt like the perfect sequel! I REALLY hope Patty writes another installment in this family's saga. I just love these characters so much, I'll definitely be re-reading this (as well as Mermaids).

[Iranita · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5
Charlotte vive en el pasado
Kate es irresponsable con su hijo
y la Sra. Flax sigue igual
En el último capítulo se acomoda su vida con dos reencuentros.

[Rosa · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's everything. I really appreciated the closure for these characters.

[Natalie Lewis · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is part verbatim of the first novel and part the ramblings of an insane person.

[AS · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like when the follow up does not have a movie as well. This was a fun read to follow up with the characters and learn what happens and how they developed into adults.

[Violet Bell · Rating 2 out of 5]

In a word, disappointing. In another word... I don't want to be that cruel. This gets two stars only because of echoing fondness of the film Mermaids.

Charlotte is all grown up now, 42 and has returned to Grove to live in her old house and throw a birthday party for her mother, the incomparable Mrs. Flax, whose greater presence would have livened up this novel considerably. Alas, we are stuck with just Charlotte, who has random sex with an (adult) student from her English class she's barely spoken with, which at least gives her a change from her usual routine of constantly driving to outlet malls and wandering around the grounds of the former convent that played such a big role in the first novel, hallucinating that she can still see the nuns. Charlotte does finally hear from her long lost father via an aerogramme, and invites him to Mrs Flax's birthday party, seemingly uncaring as to whether her mother would appreciate her party being crashed by her first boyfriend who she hasn't seen in 43 years. This is all about Charlotte. Her solipsism makes you dislike her so much you want things to turn out badly for her. She reminds me of my son when he was 3 and would shout "only I have feelings!". Only Charlotte's feelings count, and they must be acted on, immediately.

We are joined by Kate, Charlotte's younger sister, who turns up to stay with her 3 year old son (who seems to exhibit signs of global development delay that Charlotte, as a teacher, should recognise but doesn't). Charlotte remembers examples of Kate's wild behaviour, sneaking out at night to see boys, but given the age gap between the sisters and that Charlotte was attending college by 18, Kate's offending behaviour would have started when she was ten.

And you thought Charlotte having sex at 14 with a 30 year old man was bad.

Kate now is still supposed to be "wild". But the worst she seems to do is sleep with men she doesn't know very well - no worse than Charlotte does herself. There's no substance abuse, unless you count Kate's habit of being seized by the uncontrollable desire to go - work as a nurse in an emergency room, which she does multiple times in the book. First, don't you need a licence or something to work as a nurse in a different state? Does Kate just show up at the ER saying "please help me! I GOTTA take a temperature and blood pressure. Come on man, I'm dying here"?

Anyway the party happens and oh of course look who it is, Joe Peretti, who Charlotte rudely snubs at the party but shows up at the house to make amends. Charlotte began a campaign to stop her house being taken by developers and I was looking forward to her taking on the big guys, but that fizzles out. Kate takes off for ERs in pastures anew and leaves Irving behind; Charlotte then again leaves a child unsupervised so she can have spontaneous sex with Joe Peretti. Charlotte's dad finally shows up, and leaves after an awkward and disinterested visit. Oh, and Mrs Flax and Lou hook up again. Will they get married? Who knows, but basically everything is tied up in a neat little package with a bow I sometimes wanted to wrap around Charlotte's neck.

I guess the second star is also due to the fact that Starfish is set the same time period as the film Mermaids came out. I like that. There wasn't much else to like in this clumsy, awkward book with its clichéd situations, stilted prose, and insufferable protagonist. (less)n a word, disappointing. In another word... I don't want to be that cruel. This gets two stars only because of echoing fondness of the film Mermaids.

[Jacqui Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the movie Mermaids, and will rewatch it over and over again. There is no huge drama in this sequel set 20 years on, but I loved revisiting characters I really love. Both Charlotte and Katie Flax now have children of their own. Charlotte has moved back into the house that was next to the Covent, once again living in the house that her first love, Joe Perretti, had been born in, under the same kitchen table. Charlotte is throwing a party for Mrs. Flax’s 60th birthday and there is the possibility of Charlotte finally meeting her Father.
If you like Mermaids as much as I do this is a lovely easy read, to find out what has become of the unique character we are familiar with.