Karen’s Blog

Fatima’s Good Fortune
a novel by Joanne and Gerry Dyansky

Okay, there are no fairies or magic involved, but this is just a very sweet story with a nice happy ending. That’s why I say it is like a fairy tale, as it actually has an ending, and certain individuals do live happily ever after, and some events stretch credulity a little, but don’t let this dissuade you. I still smile seeing this book in my pile.

The Fatima of the title is a plain, ordinary Tunisian woman who comes to Paris, France to replace her much more slender and fashionable sister Rachida, who died suddenly (falling skylight on the head) while working for an elderly French countess. See, fairy tale-like, right? But Fatima is niether slender nor fashionable, and while her own habit of listening to her neighbor’s troubles and quietly advising them brings them comfort and happiness, she is not happy herself. She had been married, not very happily, but her husband has moved to America years before, and recently sent divorce papers so he can marry an American woman. So she is known as an unlucky woman in her Tunisian village.


The Parisian Countess is demanding and exacting in her ideas, even regarding her elderly poodle, but she is not the evil witch she first appears to be cast. She and the normally calm Fatima have a rough time at first, but the way their relationship evolves is at the heart of the story. Fatima’s gentle presence helps many she encounters, and lives are changed. We discover Paris through Fatima’s eyes, and it is obvious the authors love the city, and its neighborhoods and eccentricities. And though she misses her warm, beautiful home country, Fatima finds a new life for herself, and an unexpected romance and dare we say good fortune for her and her newfound friends ensues.


It is a sweet little book, with completely lovable characters, and it just made me smile. I recommend it!

I pulled these two books out of a box on the same day, and because I didn’t post yesterday, figured I’d give you a two-for-one today. The books sound so similar by their titles, yet are very, very different.

How To Meet Cute Boys by Deanna Kizis

This one is exactly what it seems from the title. It is Chick-Lit in every sense. A fun little entirely predictable story, good for reading on a day when you don’t particularly want to think. The main character is, of course a single, thin, attractive young woman in a “fun” job - she’s an advice columnist for a “girls” magazine. So various excerpts of her “articles” and quizzes are included, all the sort of stuff no one over the age of 14 really takes seriously, you know the kind I mean. Not very deep, but at least it’s a quick read.

******

The Great Husband Hunt by Laurie Graham

So I figured from the title this would be another piece of chick-lit fluff. Don’t get me wrong, I am female, and some days enjoy a bit of fluff. This, however, was not that. This actually counts as a novel. Rather than being just a “girl meets boy, girl pursues boy, girl wins boy” that you might expect, this is a wide-ranging tale of a rather interesting, if not terribly likeable, woman, from girlhood through adult.

Poppy Minkel is a willful child growing up in a wealthy family in New York City, being carefully schooled to wear bands to flatten her ears, spend torturous times trying to tame her wild hair and do other thinks so that she will be able to catch a good husband. She doesn’t attend school, and while she does have an older, about-to-be married sister, Poppy’s world revolves around herself, and her own ideas. Her father is killed when the Titantic sinks, and Poppy’s carefully planned existence - a plan she never intended to follow anyway - is turned upside down a bit.

She goes merrily through life, marries whom she wants without a whole lot of thought, gets pregnancies “taken care of” with little care, and basically does what she wants when she wants, through two World Wars, a couple of husbands - one married then discarded, the second killed in a car accident, and gives birth to two daughters, whom she doesn’t seems to care an awful lot about either. She sends them off to her sister, then takes them back when other people assume she must be missing them. No surprise they grow up pretty miserable.

She lives an enviable sort of existence, I suppose, learning to fly a plane because it seems fun, travelling abroad, going to France, settling in England, tracing her connection to the British Royal family through her second husband, and basically having a good time. But all-in-all, she seems too completely self-absorbed for example even be aware that, because she is ethnically Jewish, though never bothered to learn or practice Judaism, her life is in danger as Germany invades France during World War Two. In that instance, and others, those around her are always more aware, and more careful, and keep her out of harm’s way, without her ever realizing that she was in danger, never mind expressing gratitude for their help. She just seems to live without a moral compass, or morals, and doesn;t even know she’s not normal.

A decent book, but I just didn’t like the main character, or even hate her. So read the book if you want, but it’s like coming away from a decent meal with a lingering unpleasant aftertaste … I can’t really recommend it.