The Fiction Class
By Susan Breen
“You’ve known there was something special about you for a long time, haven’t you?”
With those words, Susan Breen drew me into the story of Arabella Hicks. I read the first half of the book little by little, absorbing the writing advice being given as Arabella teaches her class. I found Arabella a bit awkward, stiff and perhaps formal, and I was uncomfortable with how much I related to her character for those reasons. (Who likes to be reminded of their faults?) About midway through, I set the book down for a few weeks, unable to give it my full attention.
Then questions about what happened in the story drew me back: What happened between Arabella and her bitter mother? Did Arabella find a way to connect with her students? Did Arabella ever finish the novel she had started? Did Arabella grow out of her awkwardness - in other words, is there hope for me yet?
I returned to the book, beginning where I had left off. The three parts of the story (the fiction class, the visits with her mother, and the story her mother had written) wove themselves into a beautiful whole that hooked me in completely the second time I picked up the book. I found the writing prompts at the end of each chapter allowed me to go through the class along with her students, so that I became more of a participant in the class.
As amusing, and even educational, as Arabella’s fiction class was, the part that moved me, the part that really reached down to the core of me, was the relationship between Arabella and her mother. I know the desire to please a parent who seems difficult to please. [Disclaimer here: I do not have such a difficult relationship with either of my parents. In fact, I think my parents are wonderful. But I still find myself doing things which I hope will please them...and sometimes being disappointed by the lack of response my efforts draw.] I also know the guilt of putting a loved one in a nursing home: Our son, Sullivan, was in a Hospice Home when he passed away. The decision to turn to the Hospice Home for respite care was a difficult one, and at the same time we made it, we began discussing the options for a long term care facility. It’s not an easy decision, be it for a parent or a child.
The Fiction Class was a good read, but not always an easy one. Perhaps because it did speak so well to parts of me that I don’t always want to face, I found it harder to read than another might. I appreciated the new ways Ms. Breen offered for looking at things, from writing, to the relationships in my life. I think that marks an excellent book, when I enjoy it and learn a new perspective at the same time. This book will be on my shelf to reread many times in the future. I suspect I will find yet more new perspectives during those future readings.
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