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Book Review
As each woman struggles to deal with the changes in her life, we discover how the events of the past have pulled them apart and drawn them together. Lena, middle-aged and mentally handicapped, lives in Panorama City, a residential home. As the story begins, Lena has just set fire to her mom and her 80-year-old mother, Ella, must come to the home in an attempt to resolve the situation. Ella's mind is going and she must face surrendering control of her handicapped daughter's life as well as her own. Ella brings Shelley, her 12-year-old granddaughter, to Panorama City with her. Shelley, who is treading the fine line between child and woman, is trying to cope with her developing body and the changes in her relationships. While Ella tries to placate the home's manager, Lena and Shelley slip away for an unsupervised trip to the beach. Bender's characters aren't beautiful people who live picture-perfect lives. They are real people who make mistakes and have faults. But perhaps what shines most strongly through them is the pure unconditional love they show for each other. Although faced with difficult circumstances, the characters show us that with kindness and sacrifices, a family can provide a safe refuge for its members. This tender, often quite humorous, novel weaves back and forth through the lives of these three women as the author reveals their deepest hopes and longings. We see how an entire family is affected by the difficulties that a handicapped person must face. We follow their painful experiences, joys, disappointments, challenges, and triumphs. Although the story is about a family dealing with a disability, it is also about women coping with the normal stages of life. The images of these unforgettable women remain with us long after we've put this book down.
This book is available in the Mary Willis Library.
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