Review: Stutter Creek

Stutter Creek by Ann Swann

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



While i'm not quite ready to give up on this book, I will be putting it aside for awhile. So far I am having a hard time relating to Beth. She is practically incapacitated by grief for months it seems over the loss of her father through death and a divorce. Alright, everyone grieves differently, I get that. The issues I have so far is this:

1) She did not lose her daughter, no matter how much she seems to want to act like it. Yes, her daughter married and is now on another continent in another country. Nothing is stopping the two of them from calling, writing, facebooking, text, whatever desired communication. Her relationship with her daughter did not end. No need to act like it did.

2). She is one of those scary drivers you give a ton of room. Hysterics while driving is scary. Knowing your about to have hysterics and choosing, yes choosing!, to not pull off the road is just flipping stupid.

3). While the divorce has supposedly hit her hard, her ex is only mentioned as after thoughts. She will reminisce about going to the cabin with her father, and then her ex will be tacked on with a "I had thought he enjoyed it too". Her ex had mention to her how he felt jealous of her relationship with her father, I'm not surprised. Her memories seem to be almost always about her dad and her, with other people mixed in occasionally.

Given these points, I am struggling to relate and sympathize with Beth. More often I have an urge to grab her shoulders and tell her very firmly to get a hold of herself. Her life hasn't ended, the world hasn't stopped, she may wish it had, but it hasn't.



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