Once Upon a Day

After reading Lisa Tucker's recent A Cure For Modern Life, I promised I would make my life happier by reading more of her novels. And I did. Once Upon A Day was my next dip into her oeuvre.

Dorothea and her brother Jimmy are the children of Charles O'Brien, and never, in Dorothea's memory, have they stepped one toe outside The Sanctuary, their beautiful, reclusive New Mexico home. Charles keeps them safe there, safe from everything from sunburns to corrupt pop culture. Finally Jimmy has had enough and he leaves; when he stops writing, Dorothea knows she has to go find him. But first she finds Stephen, a widowed cab driver who helps her navigate the scary new world she finds herself in; and then she finds that nothing - literally nothing, show more not even her own name - is quite as her father explained it.

Just like A Cure For Modern Life, none of this is QUITE believable. But what the heck. Tucker is a wonderful storyteller, and I do love a writer who piles on the plot. Tons of plot in this one - a real Gothic, with scandalous family secrets, ambiguous villains, a pretty and innocent heroine, and a wounded hero. If I wanted real life, I'd read...um...non-fiction, I guess. show less

My love affair with Lisa Tucker's writing style all began with a .99 Kindle book, Agoraphobics In Love. Tucker builds a story with the perfect pace all while the characters are dealing with a life changing event or events. Another characteristic of Tucker's writing is that there is more than one major story going at once but one assists in developing the other. The best way for me to describe it is that it is "simple complexity."

We begin the story with Stephen Spaulding who comes across as a bitter angry cab driver. He's actually a doctor trying to deal with a tragic accident from the past that took to driving a cab to cope with the pain. One day he picks up a young lady from the bus station that looks like she just walked out of the show more 1950s and his life and her life is changed forever. Dorothea O'Brien and her brother Jimmy have lived a sheltered life to say the very least. They have never watched TV or been outside the home they share with their father Charles and his mother. The only connection they have to the outside world is a set of outdated encyclopedias and a few copies of old books, classics mainly, that their father allows them to have. Even though Charles is not a tyrant per se he has a controlling personality that he covers under the disguise if protecting Dorothea and Jimmy. Dorethea and Jimmy are told that their mother is dead but Charles and their grandmother know that this is far from the truth. Charles tell his children their mother's name is Helena when it is actually Lucy. Needless to say for over nineteen years Charles has been telling and living a lie to/with his children.

I was immediately drawn into Once Upon a Day via Stephen Spaulding's story who stumbles upon Dorothea whose life was birthed from Charles and Lucy's story. These characters of Once Upon A Day are so rich and Tucker allows us to spend time with and get to know each one of them and yet doesn't overwhelm. Charles and Lucy are the foundation of this story and their's is a beautiful love story until tragedy strikes. They seem to be going on perfectly in their marriage. He is famous Oscar winning movie director. She was a orphan runaway that he fell in love with and made into an actress. They were wealthy with two beautiful children living in Hollywood. On what seemed like a "normal" day intruders broke into the Keenan (I know I said O'Brien earlier this is not a mistake--you have to read the book) home and their life and family began to fall apart.

I bet you are wondering how Stephen Spaulding fits into this story. Well Tucker fits the disgruntled cab driver non-practicing doctor into the middle of this family beautifully. While helping Dorothea, who has never even seen a pickle or been to a Wal-Mart, find her brother Jimmy he falls in love again and helps to mend this broken family. As bad as I wanted to hate Charles there was this endearing loving side of him that you could not deny. I found myself thinking, "His intentions are good." My heart hurt for Lucy who I saw as this wounded, caged, defenseless spirit who found her peace by forgiving. There were many layers to this story but they unfolded beautifully with some rough edges. show less

This is quite an unusual book, but it's a real page turner. A famous man disappears, taking his two children with him, and 19 years later his daughter, Dorothea, leaves her home for the first time.

Dorothea is looking for her missing brother, who has run away from home due to their father's oppressive influence over them. The chapters where she is in the big city, learning how the real world carries on, are lovely. She's so innocent and quaint that I couldn't help but smile.

I liked the way the background to the disappearance was only fully revealed as the story went on, and it made for an interesting read because of that.

This is a very easy read, but a bit of a change from the norm, and that's the reason I liked it so much.

I was so entranced by this book. Dorothea and her brother were raised by their father in remote New Mexico. Believing their mother dead, they are kept completely isolated from the real world and grew up believing in 50's values (think Blast from the Past or Leave it to Beaver). Jimmy (her brother) takes an exodus from the family and eventually stops contacting Dorothea. So, she takes her lack of knowledge and a lot of money and heads into the real world to find him.

I just fell in love with this book: the characters are all so flawed and human, the plotline completely believable, I just couldn't put it down. What a talented author!

Stephen is trained as a doctor, but his life lost all meaning after the death of his wife and daughter in a terrible car accident. Although he doesn't have to work for a living, he bought a cab so that he has the excuse to drive all night. One of his fares is a young woman named Dorthea. Dorthea is leaving her home for the first time at the age of 23. Her father brought her brother and her to The Sanctuary "for their protection" when they were toddlers. Unfortunately, he thinks everything will hurt them (Dorthea is not allowed to cook because she might burn or cut herself; her brother is not allowed to paint because paints might be toxic, etc.). They are banned from doing much and never are allowed to leave the house. Her brother show more rebelled and left years ago, but Dorthea believed in her father and complied. Now her father is ill and asking for her brother, and Dorthea must venture into the world to find him.

The premise is wonderful, and the characters are richly drawn. Ms. Tucker skillfully introduces each new character and gives him/her a distinctive voice to move the story along. I thoroughly enjoyed the ride she was taking us on until the very end, which I found to be quite disappointing. show less

Very nicely written. Compelling story, interesting premise and characters. Ending left me scratching my head.

Charles was a famous movie director who seemed to have every thing he could want: a beautiful wife, 2 adorable children and a luxurious home in LA. But one day something happened that made him leave LA and sequester his children away in a remote location where nothing could hurt them. But he couldn't undo the hurt they had already received - a hurt that made Jimmy leave home in search of answers. And then Dorothea leaves too, to search for Jimmy and at last the truth begins to be revealed.
This book is told from a number of different viewpoints with each character having a distinctive voice and believable personality and life story. There are, ultimately, no villians in this story - just a group of people, scarred by events and trying to show more do the best they can. show less