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Jan Ellison

Author of A Small Indiscretion

3 Works 312 Members 59 Reviews

About the Author

Jan Ellison graduated from Stanford University and San Francisco State University's MFA Program. She has published short fiction and received the 2007 O. Henry Prize for her first story to appear in print. Her first novel, A Small Indiscretion, was published in 2015. (Bowker Author Biography)

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*I received a copy of "A Small Indiscretion" free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Told from the perspective of Annie Black in a letter to her son, "A Small Indiscretion" spans multiple continents and follows Annie's life over twenty years, leading to the confession of a family secret brought to light by her son's involvement in a near-tragic automobile accident.

First, kudos to Jan Ellison for writing with a beautiful, powerful voice. The prose had me awe-struck at moments, had me identifying with Annie Black as a mother looking back on what it was to be her own woman. The observations about daily life, marriage, and motherhood lend sympathy to Annie's plight as she brings the reader along through her sometimes questionable past. Annie is a woman who has loved and who has been loved, not always realizing the impact of her reckless choices where men were concerned.

Characters are what made this story for me. The author does an incredible job weaving a complex tapestry of individuals whose paths become tangled. I suspected the ending of the book early on, as I assume most will, but this novel isn't as much about an A to B plot as it is about love and redemption. What is forgivable within the confines of a marriage? How do we perceive love after twenty years of life versus twenty years of marriage? How do our choices affect others?

Plot was a bit lacking for me. The author writes in intricate detail, often crossing the fine line between stunning and verbose. The actual point of Annie's letter came late, dragging me along solely with the quality of writing and the fact that I liked her as a character. There were points I was sure I might shelf the book. I'm glad I didn't. Fairly, I normally read mysteries, thriller, and horror novels that are much more fast-paced than this type of book. I can't say that didn't contribute to the fact that I felt that this was overall a slow read.

The first part of the novel (as this story is told in two parts) was somewhat frustrating in its going back and forth between past and present, often within the same chapter and without warning. It was easy enough to figure out who and when after a few lines, but it seemed that there should have been more attention to time and how it was conveyed.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. I found the story believable, the characters three dimensional, Annie's story just compelling enough to compensate for the slower pace and mundane detail, and the resolution to be satisfying. I went back and forth between three and a half and four stars, but the prose puts it over the top. Four stars for a well-written debut.
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bfrisch | 58 other reviews | Dec 9, 2022 |
This is an OK story that has moments of success and moments of failure. I was never tempted to stop reading, but the "surprise" element was not any surprise to me since I unraveled it fairly early on. It is too neatly tied at the end for my tastes, but that is why this kind of book is seldom my choice.

One of the least appealing parts of this book is the voice. Annie Black is writing this story to her son, Robbie, which might work for explaining the past...and does essentially since those are the parts of the story that were enough to hold my interest. The problem comes when she is explaining the present day events. Why do you need to tell your son, "A friendship developed. Mitch took a shine to you right away, and as you grew, he mentored you in your study of science." He obviously knows the influence that Mitch has had over his life, but this is information she needs to give the reader, and for me it is an awkward way of giving it. I might have liked the story better if she had just told it outright.

Sometimes I feel I need a break from heavy reading and I opt for what I think will be "just for pleasure" reading. Unfortunately that seldom works well for me. This book is surely someone's cup of tea, just not mine. Jan Ellison has a talent, but she needs to resist buying into the formula.
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mattorsara | 58 other reviews | Aug 11, 2022 |
I could not get past page 70 on this one -- the concept is interesting, and the mystery of why something that happened before the marriage/formation of family should tear this family apart is maybe appealing to some folks, but the young version of the character strikes me as unconvincing, and there is just too much crisis happening all at once.
 
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WiebkeK | 58 other reviews | Jan 21, 2021 |
As a young woman of 19, Annie spent some time living and working in London. She was having a flirtation/affair with her boss, a much older married man, but unbeknownst to her boss was actually lusting after and infatuated with Patrick, a much younger man who was the boss's wife's lover. Fast forward 20 years and Annie is happily married with 3 kids living in San Francisco when she receives a photo in the mail--a picture of her, Patrick, her boss, and the boss's wife on a trip they all took together to Paris. And just like that, the past comes back to bite her.

This kept me reading, so it gets points for that. But it is told in a very convoluted way. First, it's in the form of a long letter to her oldest son, which really makes no sense, because there's a lot of information being conveyed that I could not see a mother telling her teenage son. Secondly, it kept jumping around in time: there's before the photo was received and after; there's before Annie's trip back to London (in the present) and after she returns; there's before her son's accident and after--these are all befores and afters in the present, and on top of this there's Annie's time in London 19 years ago, and the present. As the story is told these various times are all jumbled together, and I frequently had trouble figuring out where we are in time (or in fact if it was even critical where in time we were). So I don't think the author did a very good job in planting us where we needed to be.

The big flaw to me though was its overall premise, which is that after 19 years, a mature woman with a good life was still not over a fling she had at age 19 with a man she knew even then was not a good person. It doesn't seem real that someone would risk losing their good life for a scoundrel from their past.

And beyond that, I can't say I cared for Annie. To start with, she is presented as an idealistic young woman who wants to live and work in London for a while to see the art and soak up the culture. So what does she do? She starts the affair with her boss the first day on the job, and thereafter spends all her free time drinking in pubs to drunkeness, being hung over everyday until the next round of drinking begins.

Overall, this is not one I recommend.

2 stars
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arubabookwoman | 58 other reviews | Dec 30, 2020 |

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