The Flying Troutmans

I feel ambivalent about this book. It was well written I wasn't crazy about no quotation marks but I got used to that but the subject matter isn't my favorite--mental illness. I doubt that it's anyone's. I can see what mental illness can do to a family and this poor family has been through the wringer with Min, the mother of 15 y.o., Logan, and 11 y.o., (Theodora) Thebes. Hattie, Min's younger sister, came from Paris, her live-in boyfriend broke up with her right then anyway, after getting a middle of the night call from Thebes that Min is ill again. There is no one else to call!

Min is committed to the phych hospital and Hattie doesn't know what to do with the kids so she decides to tell them their mother wants them to go see their father, Cherkis--Min chased him away when Thebes was a baby and he finally gave up trying to see them. He moved to South Dakota from Canada.

In flashbacks Hattie gives us a lot of her life with Min through the years and I couldn't believe what had happened in their lives. Min has been sick from the day Hattie can remember and maybe so are the rest of the family!

The author has created a bunch of 21st Century hippies-they are artists and strange souls LOL To be truthful I had a hard time with all the characters I couldn't believe that they were so very different and so young really--I don't think anyone in the book is over 35. I was compelled to finish the book and it was only the last chapter that I did finally like Hattie. She becomes a person not just Min's shadow! 

I'm sure several of you are familiar with the Vine program at amazon.com and this is one of the books. It will be released in hc 10/08 it sure wasn't a romance