I ate it up...
The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls
by Anissa Gray
So on my four day whirlwind trip to PA I listened to the audio version of the above title, having recently downloaded it through our co-branded site- libro.fm (link below).
Thankfully I had fourteen hours to while away in the car because this was one of those books that would have had me inventing errands just to get back in the car and listen. Yea, that good.
The book has a variety of narrators, most are related. It begins with the voice of Althea, a forty'ish woman born and raised in Michigan. Althea's mother died when she was twelve leaving her to do a lot of her own raising, along with that of her three younger siblings, while their preacher daddy was off spreading the word. Her baby sister is Lillian, an interior decorator recently returned to town from New York City with her ex-husband's Chinese grandmother, Nai Nai, in tow. (for what it's worth, I LOVE Nai Nai. Remember the grandmother in the Steve Martin movie Parenthood who is half loony most of the time then will just burst forth with a comment full of wisdom and life truth? That's Nai Nai.) Viola is the middle sister (brother Joe rounds out the four siblings), a promising young therapist whose specialty is helping young girls with eating disorders; something she has first hand experience with. At the moment she is suffering from an anorexic relapse and has just split from her wife of 15 years. Lillian and Viola also take turns narrating the story along with Proctor, Althea's husband of thirty years; their love story began at the wake following her mother's funeral. Together they have built a life together that includes a restaurant, catering and grocery business in the small blue-collar town of New River Junction and their twin teenage girls- Baby Vi and Kim. They are pillars of the community constantly throwing fund-raising picnics and parties and such to help the people of their community after the great flood.. after the plants shut down.. whatever the cause, they are always there ready to help others.
So back to the beginning.. and Althea. Spoiler/not a spoiler alert: she's in jail. She says so in the first sentence. It takes a little while to come out, but let's just say all the money they were raising at those barbecues and in their donation jars wasn't exactly going to charity. Well, their businesses were struggling just like everybody else in town, so they kinda saw themselves as a charity, but this didn't fly in the eyes of the law. Add in a food stamp buying scheme and they've found themselves in very hot water and on everyone's sh*t list.
Althea and Proctor are sitting in jail awaiting sentencing. Lillian is trying to handle her teenage nieces in the home she and her siblings grew up in which she has restored to the nth degree. Viola is bingeing and purging in a hotel room as she tries to make it from Chicago to Michigan to be there for her family. Joseph has followed in his father's preaching footsteps but his mean streak has put a wedge in his relationship with some of his sisters. Chapter by chapter, voice by voice, the story of how these four children became adults comes out.. as does the whole story of how Althea and Proctor ended up behind bars.
This is a captivating read about family dynamics, about motherless children who become motherless adults, even if they find themselves mothering. About making mistakes that you think won't hurt anybody else that show back up on your doorstep bearing handcuffs and prison sentences. I'm going to give it my best endorsement: READ THIS NOW! or, LISTEN NOW- download at libro.fm
by Anissa Gray
Thankfully I had fourteen hours to while away in the car because this was one of those books that would have had me inventing errands just to get back in the car and listen. Yea, that good.
The book has a variety of narrators, most are related. It begins with the voice of Althea, a forty'ish woman born and raised in Michigan. Althea's mother died when she was twelve leaving her to do a lot of her own raising, along with that of her three younger siblings, while their preacher daddy was off spreading the word. Her baby sister is Lillian, an interior decorator recently returned to town from New York City with her ex-husband's Chinese grandmother, Nai Nai, in tow. (for what it's worth, I LOVE Nai Nai. Remember the grandmother in the Steve Martin movie Parenthood who is half loony most of the time then will just burst forth with a comment full of wisdom and life truth? That's Nai Nai.) Viola is the middle sister (brother Joe rounds out the four siblings), a promising young therapist whose specialty is helping young girls with eating disorders; something she has first hand experience with. At the moment she is suffering from an anorexic relapse and has just split from her wife of 15 years. Lillian and Viola also take turns narrating the story along with Proctor, Althea's husband of thirty years; their love story began at the wake following her mother's funeral. Together they have built a life together that includes a restaurant, catering and grocery business in the small blue-collar town of New River Junction and their twin teenage girls- Baby Vi and Kim. They are pillars of the community constantly throwing fund-raising picnics and parties and such to help the people of their community after the great flood.. after the plants shut down.. whatever the cause, they are always there ready to help others.
So back to the beginning.. and Althea. Spoiler/not a spoiler alert: she's in jail. She says so in the first sentence. It takes a little while to come out, but let's just say all the money they were raising at those barbecues and in their donation jars wasn't exactly going to charity. Well, their businesses were struggling just like everybody else in town, so they kinda saw themselves as a charity, but this didn't fly in the eyes of the law. Add in a food stamp buying scheme and they've found themselves in very hot water and on everyone's sh*t list.
Althea and Proctor are sitting in jail awaiting sentencing. Lillian is trying to handle her teenage nieces in the home she and her siblings grew up in which she has restored to the nth degree. Viola is bingeing and purging in a hotel room as she tries to make it from Chicago to Michigan to be there for her family. Joseph has followed in his father's preaching footsteps but his mean streak has put a wedge in his relationship with some of his sisters. Chapter by chapter, voice by voice, the story of how these four children became adults comes out.. as does the whole story of how Althea and Proctor ended up behind bars.
This is a captivating read about family dynamics, about motherless children who become motherless adults, even if they find themselves mothering. About making mistakes that you think won't hurt anybody else that show back up on your doorstep bearing handcuffs and prison sentences. I'm going to give it my best endorsement: READ THIS NOW! or, LISTEN NOW- download at libro.fm
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