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marjorieapple 's review for:
The Last List of Mabel Beaumont
by Laura Pearson
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
No one is more surprised than me that I bestow 4.75 stars on Pearson's heartwarming book. The cover, blurb, and title all made me expect something twee and predictable. A grief story that would crank tears out of me and make my eyes swell up.
The list device seems a bit unnecessary to me since the story (or stories) are so engaging. We hardly need the repeated reading of "the list." Still, it was nice T-bar to lean against on our way up the gently rising arc of this story.
First person narratives definitely have an easier time showing readers the interiority of the protagonist, their foibles, and their secrets. The trick is to not drop too many clues. I don't feel this book was predictable but Mabel's thought clues added up quickly. I knew her secret long before she seemed to know it herself. That was fine. Sometimes a story works because you want to know how and what will happen as a result of a secret revealed so I was still curious until the end.
The characters are delightful individuals, each emotionally-needy and generously-supportive. It seems improbable they would all have so few bad qualities. In fact, its really only Mabel who seems at all flawed and she is quickly forgiven for quite problematic behavior. I like that Mabel is flawed. In the beginning, when her husband was alive, I didn't care for her at all. By little by little, as she developed, I grew to care about her.
Pearson is masterful at building the story slowly, increasing the complexity, the tiny details, and I suppose, the stakes. I would not say this novel has high stakes. It definitely is not a thriller! But revealing your heartache, even to friends you love, comes with risk. Admitting regrets, righting wrongs, too.
The prose is smart, believable, tender. Pearson captures the interiority of a widowed octogenarian so well. Clearly Pearson is someone who is an observer of people. She does not waste her words on backdrops. I have a basic idea of what the Beaumont home was like but I couldn't describe any other scene with any accuracy. As a writer who likes setting as much as character, I would say this is an area for Pearson to work on. With her skills, she would paint her scenes delightfully well. Perhaps she had done so but her word count was too long and so she sacrificed those specifics to save the story.
This is a special novel that makes us think about the big decisions we all make in life, usually at moments when we are too inexperienced to bring any wisdom to the task. It has lessons about how we get through our lives, living with the results of our choices. There is grief in this book but it resides there as it does in life. Yes, I briefly cried with Mabel, not out of grief, but out of hope.
As a comparison to "A Man Called Ove," a 1st person novel about a widower who finds new meaning in his life because of found family, I found Mabel and her friends to be far more believable and likeable. The author was not toying with her readers's emotions as Backman does. And best of all, its not categorized as "humor."
This book deserves more stars than 4.5 but I don't think its quite a 5-star book. First because I did see the handwriting on the wall, and second because I don't think it breaks any new ground. Trust me, I am not into experimental or avant garde literature. But I do think that 5-star novels should challenge us in some way. Still, my reading enjoyment was at a 5-star level. I encourage you to pick it up. It is not twee; it is not ordinary; it is not ridiculous. It is not the story of a crabby or misunderstood old lady.
The list device seems a bit unnecessary to me since the story (or stories) are so engaging. We hardly need the repeated reading of "the list." Still, it was nice T-bar to lean against on our way up the gently rising arc of this story.
First person narratives definitely have an easier time showing readers the interiority of the protagonist, their foibles, and their secrets. The trick is to not drop too many clues. I don't feel this book was predictable but Mabel's thought clues added up quickly. I knew her secret long before she seemed to know it herself. That was fine. Sometimes a story works because you want to know how and what will happen as a result of a secret revealed so I was still curious until the end.
The characters are delightful individuals, each emotionally-needy and generously-supportive. It seems improbable they would all have so few bad qualities. In fact, its really only Mabel who seems at all flawed and she is quickly forgiven for quite problematic behavior. I like that Mabel is flawed. In the beginning, when her husband was alive, I didn't care for her at all. By little by little, as she developed, I grew to care about her.
Pearson is masterful at building the story slowly, increasing the complexity, the tiny details, and I suppose, the stakes. I would not say this novel has high stakes. It definitely is not a thriller! But revealing your heartache, even to friends you love, comes with risk. Admitting regrets, righting wrongs, too.
The prose is smart, believable, tender. Pearson captures the interiority of a widowed octogenarian so well. Clearly Pearson is someone who is an observer of people. She does not waste her words on backdrops. I have a basic idea of what the Beaumont home was like but I couldn't describe any other scene with any accuracy. As a writer who likes setting as much as character, I would say this is an area for Pearson to work on. With her skills, she would paint her scenes delightfully well. Perhaps she had done so but her word count was too long and so she sacrificed those specifics to save the story.
This is a special novel that makes us think about the big decisions we all make in life, usually at moments when we are too inexperienced to bring any wisdom to the task. It has lessons about how we get through our lives, living with the results of our choices. There is grief in this book but it resides there as it does in life. Yes, I briefly cried with Mabel, not out of grief, but out of hope.
As a comparison to "A Man Called Ove," a 1st person novel about a widower who finds new meaning in his life because of found family, I found Mabel and her friends to be far more believable and likeable. The author was not toying with her readers's emotions as Backman does. And best of all, its not categorized as "humor."
This book deserves more stars than 4.5 but I don't think its quite a 5-star book. First because I did see the handwriting on the wall, and second because I don't think it breaks any new ground. Trust me, I am not into experimental or avant garde literature. But I do think that 5-star novels should challenge us in some way. Still, my reading enjoyment was at a 5-star level. I encourage you to pick it up. It is not twee; it is not ordinary; it is not ridiculous. It is not the story of a crabby or misunderstood old lady.