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A review by book_concierge
The Christmas Pearl by Dorothea Benton Frank
2.0
Theodora is the elderly matriarch of an old Southern family. She is nostalgic for the Christmas celebrations of her childhood. She fondly remembers the weeks of preparation to decorate, cook, and fashion gifts, all of which just heightened the anticipation. Now her 60-something daughter and son-in-law (Barbara & Cleland) are living with her in the family's Charleston mansion. And their two grown children – Camille and George – have arrived with their families: children Andrew and Teddie, and George's third wife, Lynnette. Despite the season all they do is snipe at one another, complain and generally misbehave.
Don't they realize this may be Theodora's last Christmas? Can't they put aside their mean-spiritedness and truculent behavior for a few days? Theodora doesn't know how to get the kind of Christmas she wants – the kind that she had with her own grandmother, and her grandmother's housekeeper, Pearl.
I did like the messages Dorothea Benton Frank was trying to impart here: a focus on the true meaning of Christmas, the value of family, the meaning behind traditions; but I didn't think she did a good job of imparting those lessons.
Even so, I was with the story up until the magic started happening. Theodora just irritated me. By her own account she did little but wring her hands for 60 years over her descendants's bad behavior. She confesses to having failed to help her daughter grow up to be a woman, a mother, a wife, a matriarch. So suddenly, because a ghost of her grandmother's housekeeper arrives, all is going to be perfect? I disliked the family. I didn't relate to the excesses of their lifestyle or way of celebrating, and I didn't believe in their transformation.
It was a quick read, and it did make me think of my own family traditions and celebrations, so I give it 2 stars.
Don't they realize this may be Theodora's last Christmas? Can't they put aside their mean-spiritedness and truculent behavior for a few days? Theodora doesn't know how to get the kind of Christmas she wants – the kind that she had with her own grandmother, and her grandmother's housekeeper, Pearl.
I did like the messages Dorothea Benton Frank was trying to impart here: a focus on the true meaning of Christmas, the value of family, the meaning behind traditions; but I didn't think she did a good job of imparting those lessons.
Even so, I was with the story up until the magic started happening. Theodora just irritated me. By her own account she did little but wring her hands for 60 years over her descendants's bad behavior. She confesses to having failed to help her daughter grow up to be a woman, a mother, a wife, a matriarch. So suddenly, because a ghost of her grandmother's housekeeper arrives, all is going to be perfect? I disliked the family. I didn't relate to the excesses of their lifestyle or way of celebrating, and I didn't believe in their transformation.
It was a quick read, and it did make me think of my own family traditions and celebrations, so I give it 2 stars.