The Precious One

While I am as avid a reader as I was when I was a kid, my reading experience is often different. Even with very good books, I seldom have the kind of transporting experience that I had when I was a teenager and a book would just grab me and not let me go. When I find a book that can do that now, at 43 years old, I am in love - and Marisa de los Santos' books always do that for me. I fall in love with her characters, and when I finish the book, I actually miss them as if they are real people. She also has a magical way of putting words together, so that her prose sounds more like poetry. I listened to the audiobook edition of The Precious One, and that quality is even more evident in the hands of a good narrator. Ms. de los Santos has show more given us another must-read novel, and I look forward to whatever she has next. show less

We are all shaped by our families. We not only learn our traditions and histories from them but we internalize our own self worth from them. Certainly people can overcome what they've learned, but it isn't easy or smooth when something has been so ingrained for so long. In Marisa de los Santos' addicting newest novel, The Precious One, she captures the way in which family molds and shapes a person, for better or worse.

Eustacia Cleary is 35 years old when she wakes up to a phone call from her father. This would not be remarkable except for the fact that the brilliant and cold Wilson Cleary left his family, Taisy, her twin brother Marcus, and their mother, for another woman 17 years prior and has had very little contact with his children show more ever since, all by his own choice. He's called to tell her he's had a heart attack and to ask her to move into his home with his artistic but seemingly spacey wife, Caro, their 16 year old daughter, Willow, and him so that Taisy can write his life story. Because Taisy makes her living as a very successful ghost writer. Although he couches it in non-emotional terms, Taisy can't resist him, the father whose withheld approval she's ached for her whole life.

But if Wilson has his own reasons for wanting Taisy around, and Caro is perfectly accepting of her stepdaughter's presence, Willow, the doted on, adored, precious daughter, isn't so sure she wants to share her beloved father or the title of daughter. Her world has come crashing down on her since her father's heart attack. Homeschooled by Wilson using an incredibly reductive curriculum of his own design and isolated from other kids her age because of his belief that she is too smart and special for them, Willow is a strange mix of highly intelligent and socially innocent, something that doesn't serve her well when she is enrolled in a local private school while Wilson recuperates. On top of having to navigate the unfamiliar channels of school for the first time, she has to cope with her suspicion over Taisy's sudden and unwanted presence in her life, her fears that her father won't recover, and the fear that she could ever lose his love and approval, something that she is certain has happened to Taisy.

This novel is really about Taisy and Willow coming together, to know each other and to learn what it means to be the others' sister. Each of them have experienced such different families because of Wilson's enormous difference within those families but they still have a lot to teach each other about learning to let go and be happy on their own terms. Even though Taisy has given up everything for her father, she must get past her craving for his approval or she will not be able to reclaim the love she once turned her back on for him. Taisy is an interesting character and her evolution from the young woman so hurt by her father's inexplicable outright rejection to a confident, determined woman who can defy his wishes and dig into his hidden past as a means to understand and forgive him in the present despite the years of happiness he's cost her is a slow and believable one. Willow's character is rather bratty but she's a threatened teenager even if she is certain of being loved. Her complete lack of street smarts and inability to sense danger is frustrating and her hostility to Taisy makes the reader want to shake her. But she's generally a believable, if appallingly naïve, sixteen year old under a lot of stress.

The novel's narrative switches back and forth between first person accounts from Taisy and Willow so the reader is always certain where their respective mental states are. Their voices are incredibly different and easily distinguishable and the gradual change each undergoes, not only with regard to the other but also in terms of their views of the secondary characters, is well detailed. The secondary characters, including acerbic Marcus, flaky but perhaps ultimately triumphant Caro, wary Ben, intense and honest Luka, and flamboyant Trillium come across as charmingly quirky if not always fully developed. The writing is lovely and the emotion is true and deeply felt. This is a warm, touching, and insightful look at learning to live and love for yourself and to find the value in family, both the one you are born into and the one that you create around yourself. show less

I tore through this book in less than 24 hours and then wanted to start all over again. There's just something about Marisa de los Santos' beautiful writing that elevates her books above the typical Women's Fiction. I did have some quibbles - Willow may be very smart, but her thought process did not resemble any genuine teenager I have ever encountered, and the two male love interests, Ben and Luka, are just a little too perfect. But the heart of the story is the relationship between Eustacia ("Taisy") and Willow, and it's delightfully rewarding to watch them go from distrustful strangers to true sisters.

Marisa de los Santos doesn't release new books very often, and I'm now sorry that I raced through this one and probably have to wait show more several years for the next. Highly recommended. show less

I've loved Marisa de los Santos since I read "Love Walked In" 8 or so years ago. She has a lovely, poetic way with words and "The Precious One" doesn't disappoint there. It's told in the alternating voices of two sisters: Taisy, a grown woman, who has always wondered why her domineering father, Wilson, was never a true father to her, and who has been basically estranged from him since 18, and Willow, her 16-year-old half sister, Wilson's pride and joy.

After Wilson suffers a heart attack, he summons for Taisy and her twin, Marcus. Only Taisy -- still longing for the fatherly approval she could never attain-- comes. There she learns that Wilson wants her to write a book about his scholarly life. As she embarks on that quest, she learns show more more than she bargained for about her father, her halfsister, her stepmother, and herself.

Here's the thing about this book. Much of it is incredibly implausible. It's kind of insanely implausible. There's a line where Willow, who is truly this pure, kind child of 16, after being isolated her entire life by her father, is talking to a school friend and asking how anyone could possibly be so nice. That's how I feel about half the characters in the book. Willow, said friend, Luka, Taisy... we also meet Taisy's high school boyfriend, Ben, whom she abandoned when the Wilson craziness happiness. Even he's amazingly nice.
They're all so kind and amazing and introspective. Well, except for Wilson, who is a completely horrible person: even after you learn about his past, he's just an ass.

But it doesn't matter if the characters seem a little too nice, or things happen a little to easily. There's definitely adversity, and poor Willow is certainly put through the wringer in a short period in this book. You find yourself rooting for her (she's just so nice, dammit) and Taisy (she's just so feisty and kind, dammit!) and for their relationship(s). There's also a beautiful moment, where things sort of come full circle, and you find yourself amazed about de los Santos' writing all over again.

It's a pretty book, and a romantic book, and a slightly improbable book, but still a good read nonetheless. Rated 4 stars here, probably truly a 3.5 rating (there's a little de los Santos nostalgia that goes into that rating).

Note: I received a free ebook copy of this novel from Edelweiss in return for a honest review. show less

As Marisa de los Santos' The Precious One opens, Taisy Cleary receives a phone out of the blue from her estranged father Wilson, the man who left her mother, twin brother Marcus and her to marry a young sculptor. After not hearing from the man in ages, he calls her to inform her that he had a heart attack two weeks ago and summons her to his home to discuss an important matter.

Marcus tells Taisy she is crazy to go see the man, but Taisy cannot say no. When she arrives, she finds that her father- a brilliant professor, inventor and self-made millionaire- wants her to help him write his memoir. Or rather, he will dictate it to Taisy and she can interview the many people who think he is brilliant too.

Taisy says yes, even though she has to show more stay in the poolhouse. (You wouldn't expect her to be allowed to stay in her father's house with his wife and brilliant and beautiful golden child Willow, would you?)

The only thing Willow knows about her half sister is that Taisy committed some horrible act when she was a teenager that made Wilson infuriated and lose all respect for her. Now Taisy is in their lives and Willow feels she must protect her father from her.

The story is told from the alternating perspectives of Taisy and Willow. Taisy is curious about her father and his other family and slowly comes to care for Willow and her mother. Willow has been isolated from most other people, being homeschooled and smothered by her father's attention.

As Taisy and Willow get to know each other, they come to understand and even like each other. Taisy helps Willow join the outside world, teaching her the things she needs to know.

As I read this book, I felt like Taisy could be a character in an Adriana Trigiani novel. She is a hardworking woman with a good sense of humor, and an even more developed sense of right and wrong. There's even a crazy family dinner scene that reminded me of the Roncalli family ones from Trigiani's Valentine series.

The ladies in the book club all agreed that we liked Taisy, she might even make a great addition to our book club. Her growing affection for Willow and Willow's mother was touching and sweet. One of our members has twins, so she especially enjoyed the relationship between Taisy and Marcus.

We did not like Wilson, he was pompous and self-righteous, although Taisy's discovery of his past helped to mitigate that feeling somewhat (OK, just a little bit).

This was the first book I have read of de los Santos, and I would like to read more of them. I like her style of writing, and the way she was able to write in the voices of two distinct characters.

If you're looking for a good family story, The Precious One is an excellent choice. show less

de los Santos is such a master at developing complex families with layers of connection and dysfunction, but who ultimately "win" through love. Like Anne Tyler but without the ambiguity. This is the story of Eustacia (Taisy) Cleary and her relationship (or lack there of) with her father Wilson, who is a first class jack-ass and abandoned the family when she and her twin brother Marcus were 17. He immediately re-married and had a daughter Willow who is his "do-over." A brilliant, but pompous man, Wilson and his artist wife Caro have raised Willow like a little robot of perfectionism, home-schooling her and exposing her to only the most wholesome things, which does not include his ex-family. When Wilson has a heart attack and is show more incapacitated, both Willow and Taisy's lives change dramatically. Willow at age 16 enters school, and Taisy, who ghost-writes for a living, is invited to write Wilson's biography. Taisy lives in the pool house and has a good vantage point to see the flaws in his new family. Willow struggles to make her way in modern teendom, and ends up getting involved with a teacher, though she is equally attracted to Luka, the only classmate to be friendly toward her. Taisy confronts her past, including a lost love, Ben and ultimately develops a relationship with Willow, saving her from a few scrapes made by her own bad judgment. Wilson never softens and remains the villain throughout, but even he is humanized while everyone else becomes part of the love fest. Sweet, feel-good story that is the perfect vacation read. show less

Lyrical, thought-provoking and filled with memorable characters, Marisa de los Santos’ The Precious One challenges our notions of family, loyalty and second chances. Though it got off to a slow start for me, I became lost in the beautiful language and sucked into the world of the complicated, broken Clearys.

In chapters alternating between Taisy and Willow’s viewpoints, the story begins with Taisy estranged from her father and his second family — but still faced with a longing to understand, and be understood by, her dad. While her brother has long given up on Wilson, Taisy can’t seem to shake her strange, misguided feelings of loyalty to the man who destroyed to their once-strong family unit. Even decades later, she can’t help show more wondering . . . why?

With Wilson now in his 70s and in questionable health, he calls his oldest daughter — a writer — for a favor: to ghostwrite his life story, one of his marvelous mind. An unquestionable genius, Wilson places education and knowledge above all else. His daughter, Willow, was molded in his image: a brilliant, savvy young woman who thinks easily for herself . . . but can’t function away from her father’s grasp.

Public high school is a new circle of hell for Willow. With Wilson unable to continue her homeschooling, she enters eleventh grade without any of the grasp of culture or social norms. And it’s painful. When the author has us join Willow in a dirty stairwell where she’s somberly eating her lunch alone, I ached for her. Who hasn’t felt like the misfit?

And that’s why it’s so easy to understand how she is quickly adopted by a new mentor: her English teacher, a 30-year-old man who easily quotes poetry and Shakespeare but harbors dubious intentions. The Precious One is as much the story of a family as it is one of predation and loneliness, hope and belief.

I related to Taisy — in her thirties, still smarting with the dissolution of her first love — and with Willow, this sad and lovely girl who can’t understand just how sad and lovely she really is. No matter your age, there is probably a bit of Taisy and Willow in all of us: people who still seek the approval of their parents, regardless of what’s come to pass between them. Willow’s fondest hope is to never make a mistake, and Taisy’s is to atone for her worst one of all.

Can you tell I liked this book? I really liked this book. I read it almost entirely in one afternoon with my swollen pregnant feet propped on a coffee table, lost in the Clearys and their myriad issues . . . swept up in the idea of Wilson’s mysterious past and how much he inflicted his own issues upon his unsuspecting children.

The evolution of the sisters’ relationship is at the heart of the story. Though we have sinister subplots peeking into the crevices between paragraphs, Willow and Taisy finding solace and camaraderie in one another — and the changes they help bring to each other’s lives — was moving, to say the least. Though Willow would have never admitted to needing a “sister” around (and Taisy could never imagine being that sister), their changing dynamic was my favorite part of The Precious One.

With a satisfying conclusion and engrossing plot, Marisa de los Santos presents a winning novel that swept me up with its gorgeous prose and compelling characters. This family isn’t one I’ll soon forget. show less