Dianne Dixon

The Book of Someday opens up with a chilling glimpse into a lonely little girl’s nightmarish existence. From there, the reader moves to strong-willed, no-nonsense Micah and a crushing diagnosis that changes everything. Lastly, AnnaLee enters the picture as a loving wife and doting mother struggling to stay upbeat about the disappointing provider her husband is turning out to be. These three very different women lead distinctly different lives but their stories twist and converge in a show more poignant conclusion.

Of the three women, AnnaLee is by far the most sympathetic and enjoyable. Her love of her husband and conflicts between that love and her frustrations about his lack of ambition create a lovely little struggle within her and force her to show her determination. Compared to her, Micah is a cold-hearted bitch without a genuine bone in her body other than the one that guides her self-interest. Even though the two women are distinctly different, their contrasts play off of each other perfectly, creating a vibrant dynamic within the book.

In comparison, one finds it difficult to enjoy Livvi’s story as much as either of the other two ladies’ narratives. On the one hand, Livvi’s difficult childhood – the psychological abuse at the hands of her stepmother, her isolation, her lack of affection and love – create a character with whom it is easy to sympathize. On the other hand, any sympathy one feels for her dissipates in light of her ongoing hot-and-cold relationship with a married man. Her excuses to her friends as well as to herself fail to ring true after a while, and the entire drama-filled relationship loses its impact the longer it takes her to walk away from a man who will never leave his wife.

Then there is the inexplicable bond between Livvi and Bella. While one can reconcile her strong feelings for the little girl based on her love-starved childhood, the either-or aspect of their relationship – the idea that it would be impossible for her to stay in Bella’s life if she were to end her relationship with Bella’s father – will not sit well with readers. There is no exploration of a future in which everyone wins, even though all other elements of the novel lead down that path. When all of the other narratives are shades of gray, this one subplot is too black and white, and ultimately leads to an unsatisfactory ending in an otherwise decent novel.

The Book of Someday is an ambitious, triple-narrative story, the success of which rests on Ms. Dixon’s ability to make all three narratives equal in importance and emotion. Unfortunately, it is the same area in which she does not entirely succeed. Ms. Dixon’s use of present tense regardless of narrator, and in spite of the fact that the entire novel spans several decades, is distracting. This not only takes a reader out of the narrative but also requires some effort on the part of the reader to remember what is happening to whom and in what decade. Another point of weakness is the genre crossover. In some aspects, the story has a romance novel feel, where all characters obtain the justice, redemption, and/or love they seek. However, the ending is surprisingly ambiguous and results in a decidedly contradictory tone that does not fit the rest of the novel. In fact, the disharmony of the ending is disruptive enough to counter one’s enjoyment of the overall story. Ms. Dixon’s concept is interesting, but a few key flaws in the narrative make The Book of Someday enjoyable but weak. show less

This is a quick read and the writing keeps the mystery moving along at a proper clip. I read the whole thing in a plane ride so at the very least it kept me turning pages. But -- this novel is bad, and the problem is that the plot is bad.

The plotline is straight out of a soap opera with amnesia and infidelity and dramatic reveals. Nothing in the plot makes sense. We start out with something so intriguing -- a man visits his parents' graves only to see his own grave beside theirs -- but the show more way we get there through the mystery is just nonsense. Nothing about Justin's childhood and reaction to his memories makes sense. The two families is possible but there is quite literally no way that he would come out of this identifying with the first family. It just doesn't make sense and the author kind of sweeps this aside as though it doesn't matter.

Also, some of the backstory was highly cliched. The father finding out about a question of paternity through the son's blood test? YAWN. And the tacked-on final chapter accomplished nothing other than to conk you on the head with a plot point so obvious it's insulting.

Not recommended. show less

The Language of Secrets is a tightly wound mystery, with a plot unlike any other I’ve ever run across. The entire story is unusual and grabs you immediately. The main character had moved to London to pursue a career, and remained out of touch with his immediate family. After many, many years, he returns to California and tries to reconnect. He finds his parents have died, and when he visits their graves, he sees another headstone next to them. His. Showing that he died at age four. show more Immediately he’s bounced into a living hell of flashbacks, waking delusions, and disquietude that infects his own marriage. He has no idea who he is and what has happened.

Thus begins this twisted and complex tale that takes you through the lives of several members of his family. It is suspenseful and anxious…so much so that I felt nauseated at times. Perhaps it was the suspense of the missing four year, nearly the same age as my own child, which made me anxious. All I can say is that this story fascinated me by just how off-the-wall it was. I read a lot, and running into an utterly unique premise is unusual.

That said, it’s apparent that this is a plot driven story rather than built on solid characters. I felt a bit cheated that some of these amazing situations came from some rather superficial characters who seemed predictable despite the unpredictable plot. Some were so shallow that I could actually foresee their actions, and others exemplified tremendous character values yet no rationale for their behavior was given. It was the characters that detracted me from the story.

The story proceeds at a quick pace, and the only other “blip” that occurred was when one character’s almost unimaginable actions were explained, in an ‘aside’ by the author, where she attempts to justify the actions in light of the socio-political values of the time period. It was only two paragraphs, but it didn’t fit. She should have been able to show those details without such an invasive explanation. It felt a bit preachy, actually, and it derailed the pace. And while she tried to account for the actions, it wasn’t sufficient to overcome the initial doubt about the behavior, and effectively made her argument less powerful.

This is a intriguing book, and one that I will share with friends. The minor flaws it has doesn’t take away from this tremendous story and fascinating plot. show less

Sometimes a book is easy to pick up and put down. It might be a good enough story but it just doesn't call you back when your reading is interrupted. Dianne Dixon's newest novel, The Book of Someday, is not a lukewarm book like this at all. Whenever I had to put it down, I found myself coming up with reasons to sneak back to its pages to read just one more chapter and to try and puzzle out where it was going, how the triple stranded narrative was finally going to come together, and just who show more the three women in these pages were singly and to each other.

Opening with a fearsome prologue where little Olivia endures a loveless childhood with an emotionally distant father and a nasty, fanatical stepmother, the main story quickly splits into the three narratives centered on Livvi, a successful author who is haunted by a nightmare memory of a silver lady; AnnaLee a young mother in Long Island who is having to sell her family's heirlooms to make up for her aimless husband's lethargy; and Micah, a world class photographer on a quest to right a long ago wrong. Each of the women's stories grows and expands, fleshing out the women even as they start to reveal small clues as to who each of them are in relation to the others.

The way in which the women are connected is mysterious and Dixon does a good job doling out just enough information on the women to keep the reader completely engaged and curious as to how it will all tie in together. By the time the reader realizes the connections, enticed there slowly by the author, it feels as if it's okay to have uncovered it and any remaining readerly curiousity is transferred to wondering what life altering decisions will come out of this newly revealed truth. While the mystery of the women's connections makes for compelling reading, some of the relationships portrayed in their stories are a bit too easy and convenient (Livvi's immediate and deep attachment to Grace and Grace's easy, unconditional acceptance of Livvi) and some are frustrating and cause the reader to lose some sympathy for the characters (Livvi's constant excusing of Andrew's cringing weakness and Micah's belief in divine universe-driven retribution), and some were just completely out of the blue. But despite these weaknesses, the novel will keep the reader turning pages long into the night, carried along by the cinematic tale, its hypnotizing climax, and the possibilities in its ending. A study on the past and how it shapes people for better and for worse, leaving its mark far into the future, Dixon's novel makes for engaging light reading. show less