Welcome to the Great Mysterious

It's another Lorna Landvik book, and I think it's one of my very favorites. It is very predictable.. from the beginning you pretty much know that Geneva the Broadway actress is going to connect with her Downs' Syndrome nephew in a deep way and fall in love with the small town mailman...but, that's not the great part.

The great part is how it all happens. This isn't one of the amazing surprises that sometimes Landvik throws, instead it's a comfortable stroll through the growing up moments of one very self-centered former Minnesotan!

Geneva is a twin to Ann who has been offered a once in a lifetime 2nd honeymoon to Italy. The only problem is childcare for Rich - the 15year old son. Geneva has been patronizing of Rich, but to think about show more spending time with him is more than a little daunting. So, she agrees because she likes the thought of doing it - that seems to be more important to her than actually doing it. What she discovers is an amazing young man and his surrounding cast of characters. She becomes friends with Barb and her son Conrad, Rich's best friend. Connie has cerebral palsy and a contagious outlook on life! But, most of all she meets James, the mild mannered mailman next door.

But, my favorite part of this book is the book they reveal...The Great Mysterious. When Ann and Geneva were girls they created a pocket book with a question on each page. Their mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, ant and uncle wrote their answers on slips of paper to be read by the group. I love that idea. Adults and kid answering the questions together. Each sharing their answers and thier ideas to create a great mysterious. The best part is that they continue the practice through this book. I really like this idea... I would love to try it...

Anyway - I would happily recommend this book! show less

What does it take to raise a special needs child? I imagine most people would be daunted by the task but imagine if you were a forty-something woman who had never had children. I imagine the prospect would be terrifying. And yet, Geneva Jordan agrees to look after her nephew, Rich, while her sister Ann goes to Italy for a month with her husband. I’m not sure I would have had the nerve; I’m also not sure my siblings would ever leave their children with me for an extended period of time (I have hosted my nieces for a few days without their parents in town).
Geneva was an actress with awards to her credit, living the life in New York that she had dreamed of growing up in Minneapolis. However, she was not exactly happy. Her engagement to show more her co-star Trevor had been broken off when she discovered he was having an affair with a younger actress. She had quit her job as the star of the hit Broadway musical Mona because she was suffering from stress and exhaustion. Ann’s phone call to ask her to look after Rich in their home back in Minnesota came at this low point and, after some deliberation, Geneva agreed. Rich was born with Down Syndrome but he was fairly high functioning. He went to school, had after-school activities, had a best friend and was pretty much a normal teenager. Rich did like a strict routine and Ann had compiled a binder of all of his scheduled activities and likes and dislikes. The first big problem Geneva ran into was when she forgot to pick up Rich and his friend, Conrad, from swimming practise. Rich went berserk when Geneva showed up at Conrad’s house to get him. Later when he apologized for his behaviour he was almost as emotional. That was life with Rich; he never inhibited his emotions but people loved that about him.
The book’s title comes from an old scrapbook that Ann and Geneva’s mother had recently sent to Ann. When the girls were young they went to a relative’s cottage for a week in the summer. One year the weather was awful and the girls came up with a plan to put together a book of really big questions like “What is true love?” and “What would you be if you weren’t human?” Under each question was a pocket for people to put their answers which were anonymous but since everyone at the cabin was related it wasn’t hard to figure out who had written what. Geneva had completely forgotten about the book but found that it brought back powerful memories and reconnected her to her family and to what she used to believe.
Geneva and Rich make it through the month; in fact, they grow very close and Geneva also becomes close to Conrad and Conrad’s mother, Barb, and the neighbourhood mailman, James. When she resumes her life back in New York she thinks the month was just a pleasant interlude but it was life-changing as she finally realizes. I enjoyed sharing her journey and I’m sure others will as well. show less

I like Lorna Landvik's novels - her quirky characters and unrealistic plot twists make her books fun to read. This one had me crying in parts. Geneva - a broadway star - comes home to her small town to babysit her nephew - who is 13, but has Down's syndrome - while his parents take a much needed vacation (the first since he was born).

It's not a great work of literature, but it's enjoyable, and for me the first rule of reading is that it should be enjoyable.

A middle-aged Broadway star reluctantly agrees to spend a few weeks in rural Minnesota babysitting her twin sister's 13-year-old Down syndrome son while his parents escape for a much-needed holiday. Need I tell you that the Broadway world is bitchy, vapid and shallow and that small-town Minnesota is full of warm-hearted quirkiness? Or that the middle-aged Broadway star feels her life is not complete because she – gasp! – forgot to have children? Throw in a hokey and heartwarming mailman who turns out to be an escapee from the cutthroat corporate world (losing his wife in the process) and you can pretty much guess the rest. Not without its moments of charm, but generally unsurprising. A fairly easy, brainless read, though, which is show more not, in itself, without its merit. show less

Sentimental story about Geneva Jordan, a Broadway star, and her journey from selfish, self-centered diva to a loving and caring person. This is accomplished mainly through a much-dreaded month-long babysitting gig with her 13-year-old nephew Rich who has Down syndrome. No surprises, but I came to care about the characters, and that is what kept me reading.

Geneva Jordan, self-centered Broadway actress, agrees to "babysit" her twin sister's seventeen-year-old Down Syndrome son. Ann, the twin, and her husband have decided to take a much needed and long put off vacation to Italy for a month. Aunt Gennie returns to her roots in Minnesota, where she reconnects with her nephew Rich and an interesting assortment of people: Conrad, Rich's best friend, who has CP; his mother, whose outlook on life is amazing; James, a mailman gave up a highly successful corporate life and lifestyle for happiness; and James's 7 year old daughter Natalie.

Heartwarming story that was not what I expected. The relationship between aunt and nephew is developed well and is the centerpeice of the novel. Geneva, the aunt, has come to babysit her nephew and left her life as a broadway star. I felt she could have had a better backstory. When the reader is taken back and forth from her life in New York, the story gets disjointed. The book is worth reading, if you are in the mood for a tear jerker. All in all, it was a good book.