•10:06 PM
"My characters feel completely real to me, like old friends whose stories I know well and happen to have been the one who committed them to paper." Lori Lansens (source)
When I finish a book, I feel like I know the characters. Like they are friends of mine. And, often I miss them, because we have been a part of each other's lives for the last few days and by then it is difficult to let go. As I have written before, sometimes I slow my reading pace just so that I have a little more time with them.
I missed Addy Shadd when I was finished reading Rush Home Road, By Lori Lansens. A lot. And I missed little Sharla, hoping that she found some love and stability in her life. As I read, the characters seemed real, like people I might know. But that might be because the story takes place in the same area that I grew up. More on that later...
Rush Home Road begins as the story of little Sharla, who has a horrible excuse for a mother. Sharla is left with a stranger, because her mother wants to run off with her boyfriend. Seventy-year-old Addy Shadd is the stranger, and she opens her home to the little five-year-old girl, treating her as if she were her own child. But in doing so, Addy is forced to confront some unpleasant memories. And as Addy revisits her memories, we (the reader) re-live her life with her. And, that is how the story becomes one of Miss Adelaide Shadd.
A few friends suggested this book when I announced I was going to try and read one hundred books in a year. Lansens is from Chatham, Ontario ... the same town I grew up in. And, although I did not know her, I do know her cousins. So ... it's like I know her, too ... right? I can say that I know a famous author whose brain I can pick, to learn about the writing process - whenever I want. And she can invite me to her "author" parties, where she will happily introduce me to her publishing friends. What? That's not going to happen? Well, I do know her cousins ... that much is true. And I did grow up in the same town as she did.
It gives a story a unique perspective when you know the area you are reading about. In fact, just the other day - for reasons that are much too lengthy to get into now - I drove through Rushton Corners, near Buxton, which is the small town on which Rusholme is based. And there are familiar (last) names throughout the story, too. Plus Lansens has said that she based The Oakwood Bakery (found in all three of her novels) on a bakery/coffee shop that she worked at (in Chatham) as a teenager (source). Lansens and I also attended the same elementary school in Chatham, so we must have lived in the same side of town. Did I know her? She is a few years older than me, but our paths could have crossed. Maybe she brought me a hot chocolate when she was waitressing at that little coffee shop ... 'cause my Mom and I like to go out for hot chocolates.
But even if you are not familiar with the area, you will love this book. It is about being true to yourself and doing what you think/know is the right thing to do (even when it is really hard); it is about surviving the best way you know how. To bring some depth to the story, there is a running theme of feeling like an outsider. Haven't we all felt like an outsider at some time in our lives? I know I have ... several times, in fact. And just wait until I return to university in twenty-two days (but who's counting?) because amongst all the teenagers, I will most certainly be an outsider.
Lansens says this ...
I think that most writers are by nature outsiders, since as observers we live on the fringes and find the most intriguing company there. (source)
So, I am left with the hope I can be included in that company some day ...
When I finish a book, I feel like I know the characters. Like they are friends of mine. And, often I miss them, because we have been a part of each other's lives for the last few days and by then it is difficult to let go. As I have written before, sometimes I slow my reading pace just so that I have a little more time with them.
I missed Addy Shadd when I was finished reading Rush Home Road, By Lori Lansens. A lot. And I missed little Sharla, hoping that she found some love and stability in her life. As I read, the characters seemed real, like people I might know. But that might be because the story takes place in the same area that I grew up. More on that later...
Rush Home Road begins as the story of little Sharla, who has a horrible excuse for a mother. Sharla is left with a stranger, because her mother wants to run off with her boyfriend. Seventy-year-old Addy Shadd is the stranger, and she opens her home to the little five-year-old girl, treating her as if she were her own child. But in doing so, Addy is forced to confront some unpleasant memories. And as Addy revisits her memories, we (the reader) re-live her life with her. And, that is how the story becomes one of Miss Adelaide Shadd.
A few friends suggested this book when I announced I was going to try and read one hundred books in a year. Lansens is from Chatham, Ontario ... the same town I grew up in. And, although I did not know her, I do know her cousins. So ... it's like I know her, too ... right? I can say that I know a famous author whose brain I can pick, to learn about the writing process - whenever I want. And she can invite me to her "author" parties, where she will happily introduce me to her publishing friends. What? That's not going to happen? Well, I do know her cousins ... that much is true. And I did grow up in the same town as she did.
It gives a story a unique perspective when you know the area you are reading about. In fact, just the other day - for reasons that are much too lengthy to get into now - I drove through Rushton Corners, near Buxton, which is the small town on which Rusholme is based. And there are familiar (last) names throughout the story, too. Plus Lansens has said that she based The Oakwood Bakery (found in all three of her novels) on a bakery/coffee shop that she worked at (in Chatham) as a teenager (source). Lansens and I also attended the same elementary school in Chatham, so we must have lived in the same side of town. Did I know her? She is a few years older than me, but our paths could have crossed. Maybe she brought me a hot chocolate when she was waitressing at that little coffee shop ... 'cause my Mom and I like to go out for hot chocolates.
But even if you are not familiar with the area, you will love this book. It is about being true to yourself and doing what you think/know is the right thing to do (even when it is really hard); it is about surviving the best way you know how. To bring some depth to the story, there is a running theme of feeling like an outsider. Haven't we all felt like an outsider at some time in our lives? I know I have ... several times, in fact. And just wait until I return to university in twenty-two days (but who's counting?) because amongst all the teenagers, I will most certainly be an outsider.
Lansens says this ...
I think that most writers are by nature outsiders, since as observers we live on the fringes and find the most intriguing company there. (source)
So, I am left with the hope I can be included in that company some day ...
