Kiss the Joy as It Flies

Mercy Beth Fanjoy is in a panic about her life and is trying to get certain things in order before she undergoes surgery. The characters were interesting and quirky and the town of Odell is based on Fredericton,New Brunswick, so it was cool to have a context of place. The author has stated she feels this book to be a tragicomedy. There certainly are tragedies but I expected to laugh more. Mercy got into some funny situations but nothing was laugh-out-loud for me. The first two-thirds of the book were each set one day at a time in sequence. The last third of the book jumped weeks and months ahead in time and I felt as though a lot of details were left out. The end seemed abrupt. This is Fitch's first foray into adult literature (she had been a children's author) and, overall, I did enjoy the story. My issues may have more to do with the editing. ( )

Titled from lines in a Wordsworth poem ("He who binds to himself a joy Does the winged life destroy; But he who kisses the joy as it flies Lives in eternity's sun rise"), Sheree Fitch's first novel for adults tells the story of Mercy Beth Fanjoy receiving news from her doctor that they've found a lump on one of her ovaries and the subsequent weeks of waiting for biopsy results. But don't let the grim-seeming plot fool you--KISS JOY AS IT FLIES is much more comedy than tragedy and is laugh aloud funny in places, even while Mercy makes poignant observations about the important things in life that we don't always appreciate or even notice until we contemplate (possible) early death. My copy of the book is dog-earred in several places where I just had to mark spots I wanted to jot quotes down from later.

I really liked Fitch's exuberant use of language. Her background in children's fiction shows in how she skillfully and unabashedly throws over the top descriptions about and uses wordplay and just, well, shows a lot of enthusiasm as she brings us Mercy--a hyperactive, eccentric character who's a tad self-obsessed and self-pitying (though in the story's immediate circumstances who can blame her?), who ends up being one of those people you really love even though you have to occasionally roll your eyes at her. ( )