The Notion of Family

Rating:
Summary: refreshing book about family life
Review: I just recently discovered this book and enjoyed it immensely. As my children are teenagers and leaving for college, many of her writings described so well the experiences we have had within our own family. You will enjoy it, and I'm sure you will identify with many of the pages, or will know a friend that will.

Rating:
Summary: A rich and glowing collection. Beautiful. Funny.
Review: In these unusual and animated essays, nothing is ever quite as it seems.Mallet teaches us that families are mysterious and complex organisims, forever moving and changing and growing. The reader plunges into a beguiling drama featuring a constellation of relatives including sons, sisters and husbands; old-world Bobie; Aunt Izzie of the blueberry pies with crisscross crusts; the mother-in-law, Sarah, who loves Elvis; and Sarah's bookish Arthur, who keeps a bathtub mat by the front door. In this accelerated narrative, are the mysteries of growing up, growing old, and growing together. "At one time," Ms. Mallet writes, "I had all the answers." But she wisely decides, what endures is the passion for the whole enterprise. Her fast-forward chronicle of the perils of progeny encompasses the happiness and heartbreak that make up all families. But it does this so deftly, so lovingly, and so concisely, it is as if the reader had been given a flawless and heartfelt geographer's guide to the unchartered wilderness that is family. Her rich and glowing collection demonstrates that the besieged notion of family is---at least in this household---as strong and remarkable as ever.

Rating:
Summary: refreshing book about family life
Review: Mallet gets at the essence of growing up and family life in this lovely little book. Mallet's former Cleveland newspaper columns were among the best Northeastern Ohio has ever seen and I miss them. It's a joy to have this book and get a taste of her sensitive, sometimes humorous and thoughtful writings again. An excellent book to take a break from the "fray" and look at the reality of living to its fullest.

Rating:
Summary: Exquisitely-written and touching family vignettes
Review: Mallet gets at the essence of growing up and family life in this lovely little book. Mallet's former Cleveland newspaper columns were among the best Northeastern Ohio has ever seen and I miss them. It's a joy to have this book and get a taste of her sensitive, sometimes humorous and thoughtful writings again. An excellent book to take a break from the "fray" and look at the reality of living to its fullest.