What Stinks Around Here?!? Day Late and a Dollar Short...OH YAHHHH!!!!!

What a drag...

Well, it pains me to say that this book was a real disappointment. Talk about perpetuating stereotypes, with little attempt to create a portrait of a real life family. "Well, you're reading fiction Claire!" you say. Ok, I realise that this is fiction, but Dollar Short just seems to be painfullly predictable.

This is a summary of the novel by Book Reporter: "Through the literary device of the talk story, we explore the ups and downs of "the Price family." At the opening, everyone is at odds with each other. Viola and her husband Cecil have separated after a tumultuous, 38-year marriage. Viola's second oldest daughter Charlotte and she are not speaking. Viola is troubled by a situation with her youngest daughter Janel. The only son, Lewis, is an alcoholic, in and out of jail and alienated from the family because he feels he is the "failure" among his middle-class sisters. Paris, who admittedly is living out her mother's dream, is the only one at peace with Viola. But even Paris is harboring secrets. Meanwhile, Charlotte is not speaking to Paris because she feels Viola and Paris triangulate against her. The whole family is in turmoil."

Here's my overview of the dysfunctional characters:

-Overbearing fat black mother who's on her deathbed and needs to fix everyone's problems
-Four siblings who are fighting in lumps;
-One daughter is constantly popping pills and abusing prescription drugs
-One daughter married to a man who is sexually abusing her daughter...and she is in denial about it
-One daughter who's husband has a secret child with another woman and is paying child support behind her back
-One alcoholic brother who has a son that he never parents

Needless to say, it's grim. So painfully grim and predictable in some ways.

This was my book club's September read, and it was chosen from the local library's Book Club collection set. We try to use this moving collection at least 50% of the time, so that we don't have to buy a new book every month.

This month's selection was really disappointing though, and I question how it could have been included in the library's collection.

Oh well, onwards and upwards. October's read will be much better, I am quite sure!