“Somebody Tell Aunt Tillie She’s Dead,” by Christiana Miller

FM’s ratings:

1.      Premise 9

2.      Prose 9

3.      Plot 9

4.      Characters 8

5.      Overall 9

Comments (optional - but try to keep it under 3000 words!)

This novel is as frivolous, in many aspects, as the title would indicate; but it’s done so well that I found it vastly entertaining!  The characters were fun, especially Mara, the protagonist, and Gus, her gay friend, but the characters were arguably the weakest element.  I think many people will be thrown off by the “Voice”; the personality projected in the first-person narrative in much the same way that they were in the Twilight series, by Stephenie Meyer.  They might attribute the character’s naiveté as the author’s inability to tell a good story.  But the evidence of great writing skills is in the ability to grip the reader and hold them, as well as in the ability to project “atmosphere” as Miller did masterfully, especially in the more surrealistic scenes in this novel.  The love of the secluded cabin and its charm are infectious; the reader (this one, anyway) falls in love with it, too.  The depictions of the spirit world and its manifestations are as believable here as in any novel I have ever read.  Thank you Christiana Miller!

Here’s the March line-up!

“J is for Judgment,” by Sue Grafton [3-4-17]

“Slow Apocalypse,” By John Varley [3-11-17]

“There Goes the Bride,” by M. C. Beaton [3-18-17]

“Beautiful You,” by Chuck Palahniuk [3-25-17]

(As always, if there are any books you’d like to recommend for next month, please do so.  Also, if you have already read one on our previous lists, you are invited to send your ratings and or comments for that book!)