Why Did I Ever
by Mary Robison
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Book Summary Information
Author: Mary RobisonEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2002-10-08
ISBN: 1582432554
Number of pages: 208
Publisher: Counterpoint
Book Reviews of Why Did I Ever
Book Review: Brilliant
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the story of Money Breton, her children--Mev and Paulie, the men in her life--Hollis and Dix, the people she works with and for, and the odd cast of characters she meets in her daily wanderings.
Told in short flashes and blurbs with only the occasional scene that is more than two or three paragraphs, and with Robison's dry and spot on humor and her characteristic ability to make you cry without even trying, this book is nothing short of brilliant as it weaves the reader through the addled and complex brain of Money, script doctor, lover of bad men, mother of lost children, and sufferer of ADD.
Ultimately, this is the story of how Money falls apart and comes back together, continuously, and just keeps on living. She lives despite the fact that her daughter is addicted to methadone and despite the fact that her son has been brutally raped and because of that is imprisoned in a witness protection program. She lives despite the fact that the people she works for are crazy and produce crappy movies (which she writes) and despite the fact that the men she spends time with are all wrong. She lives because everywhere she sees herself or a there-but-by-the-grace-of-god version of herself. Her friends are the Deaf Woman next door and the version of herself she talks to and her cat who keeps running away, only to die in the last section.
But Money keeps going. Because that's what you do.Like Money, Robison takes risks and, in the end, they pay off. Read this writer, is what I say. You won't be sorry.
Summary of Why Did I Ever
After a ten-year silence, Mary Robison has emerged with a novel so beguiling and funny that it has brought critics and her live-reading audiences to their feet. Why Did I Ever takes us along on the darkest of private journeys. The story, told by a woman named Money Breton, is submitted like a furious and persuasive diary--a tale as fierce and taut as its fictional teller.Literary Books
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