This LDS fiction novel is a little bit older than those I generally choose to review. Published in 1988, some of the mentions of clothing and fads are dated, but the story is timeless and the writing is great.
Maxine Heffelfinger is a woman who has it all. She runs her house with efficiency, she has a successful multi-level marketing group, she fulfills her church callings on time, and she has everything right under her thumb. Her husband, Ernie, and her son, Pete, are used to her controlling ways. As long as everything goes the way she thinks it should, all is well.
One large part of her life is not going the way she wants. Her father, formerly a dapper, elegant man, was in a car accident and lost all his memory. Now he wants the simple things in life. He’s no longer interested in the opera, fine literature, or gourmet food. Maxine feels the loss of her father keenly and wants him back. She can barely stand the man her father has become.
Other things begin to spin out of control when Pete decides he’s tired of being invisible and goes punk. Maxine nearly loses it when she sees what he’s done with his hair, but nothing she says will convince him to change it back. And when Ernie decides he’d rather wear brown than gray, she really doesn’t know what to do. She’s starting to lose her control over her little world, and it makes her very uncomfortable.
A crisis with her health helps her to realize that being a success means different things to different people, that the world will not fall apart if she loosens up, and that she needs to give those around her room to grow.
I enjoyed the characters, I enjoyed the story, and I really liked the ending. This one’s a keeper.
(This book was published in 1988 by Deseret Book.)
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