Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Map of the World I met Jacquelyn Mitchard when she was in West Michigan in March at a lunch for the Librarians who worked on the Read Along the Lakeshore committee. We got talking about books, of course, and she suggested A Map of the World by Jane Hamilton. It is about a family living on a farm in Wisconsin. The mother, Alice, has had a problem at her part time job as a school nurse, but we don't know what has happened at the beginning of the book. She and her friend trade off babysitting to give each other a morning off and it is her turn to watch all the children. While getting ready to take them swimming she gets distracted, and when she tries to get the children ready she realizes that the youngest, her friend's child, is not in the house. The toddler has walked down to the pond and drowned. Alice is devastated, and starts to spiral down into a nervous breakdown. She is then accused of sexually abusing a boy at her school. This nearly rips her family apart and they all try to find a way back to a regular life. It is a powerful book and is hard to put down. Part of it is told from Alice's point of view, and part from her husband's, Howard, point of view. Mainly they tell different parts of the story, but where their narratives overlap, and the stories are slightly different depending on who is telling it, makes for an interesting view into their perspectives. A very good book. 2:45:05 PM

© Copyright 2008 Jocelyn Shaw. Last update: 11/18/2008; 2:36:53 PM. Photo curtesy of Marjorie O'Brien