FARTS, RAGE, ROMANCE & DEATH

This weekend I read a truly delightful book and it had a beginning, middle, and a very satisfying end. Hot Flashes and Cold Lemonade by Susan Flett Swiderski has been in my to-be-read queue for way too long, but I finally checked it off the constantly growing list.

My Review:

Hot Flashes and Cold Lemonade

By

Susan Flett Swiderski

                Hot Flashes and Cold Lemonade is a book of literary fiction that, and as you can tell from the title, touches on a time of life many of us could write volumes about. You know the one where female hormones fade and all those Y-chromosomes make their presence known in the form of unexpected rage, uncontainable bodily functions, and flashes of unemotional intelligence.

        This wonderfully humorous book follows the journey of one irrepressible glass half-full dirty-blonde, Pearl Bryzinski. She's married to George, a hardworking, beer drinking, not a romantic bone in his body, good guy. She has three lovely children, and the first-born can do no wrong, he's her little boy, until suddenly one night his expectations and her reality clash. Pearl has supportive gal pals, a volatile relationship with her mother, and a father she's put on a 'can do no wrong' pedestal. 

        It all sounds ideal, but nothing in life is that easy. I enjoyed following Pearl through the minefield that is the change. I especially enjoyed how menopause influenced her actions and reactions to the people in her life that she had managed to put in the crayon box of eight colors, only to find that true colors can't be found in a box of eight or even thirty-six.

        I hate crying, but when an author can evoke tears and laughter, empathy and compassion, I call that miraculous and take my hat off to Susan.

        Despite the fact that there is no mystery, no murder, and no horror, this will always be one of my favorite books!

         Writers who take ordinary life and write it with a cleverness that keeps me turning the page are, in my opinion, super talented. Susan Flett Swiderski is one of those writers.

          Read her blog, I Think, Therefore I Yam and you'll see humor and genius in every post. I look forward to more amazing reads from this brilliant writer.

Susan Flett Swiderski grew up in Dundalk, Maryland, where everybody calls everybody "hon", fishing and crabbing is a way of life, and eating steamed crabs is practically a sacrament. Although she loves her home in Georgia, a part of her heart will always linger beside the shores of the Chesapeake Bay. The rest of it enjoys life with her husband and love of her life (Luckily for her, they're the same person.) and their two spoiled cats Dot and Dash. Strange names, perhaps, but not for a couple of amateur radio operators. Susan and her husband, that is. Not the cats.

Her Blog: I Think, Therefore I Yam

 

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Hot Flashes and Cold Lemonade 

 Susan Flett Swiderski

Living the perfect life has always been easy peasy for Pearl Bryzinski, because she’s practically a pro at ignoring the negative and putting a positive spin on the facts, but it’s impossible for her to find anything positive about Daddy skipping town with that blue-haired floozy in a flashy brown Pinto. No matter how hard she tries, she can’t ignore the fact that he’s gone… or the fact that she’s becoming a drama queen who can sweat like a sumo wrestler doing push-ups in a sauna. It’s almost enough to suck the blush out of her rose-colored glasses. Whether she likes it or not, she’s gonna have to turn some of her wishbone into backbone.

Layer by layer, assumptions and misconceptions peel away, as Pearl learns to buck up in the face of reality, and to laugh at her imperfect… but not so bad… life. Supported by a down-to-earth husband who loves her with every blue-collar bone in his body, a mother who isn’t the self-centered witch Pearl imagined her to be, three terrific grown kids… okay, make that two terrific kids, and a Golden Boy who’s a far cry from 24-carat… and a bunch of wonderful wacky gal pals, Pearl comes to realize that her mixed bag of family and friends makes her life damned near perfect. Pearl being Pearl, she’ll never give up her rosy specs entirely, but learning to handle reality also means learning to deal with death.