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5.0étoiles sur 5
Padded Cells For Hormone Heaven. Don't Go There ... Unarmored., Mai 13 2007
THE CLASS MENAGERIE (# 4 in the Jane Jeffry series) takes on a classic life event, the class reunion. I can't think of an author or character more suited to dive into the squeamish vulnerability, the foibles and fun of high school friends re-uniting after decades of battles through the wars of time. When youth is lost, what replaces the waste? When hope has diminished, what replaces naivete. If humans are vulnerable during the hormone years, they're quintessentially at risk during an aged return to wounded memories. Is there another event more humbling that meeting friends not seen since they lost all their pheromones?
Why do so few of us (if any) attend such a reunion with a warm interest in discovering beauty buried in old friends. Why do so many of us focus on faking stuff to strut in one-upmanship?
Jane came to this reunion in a unique position, since this was Shelley's reunion, not Jane's and since Jane, being a family-traveling-military-brat, would not ever have a true reunion of her own. What an opportunity to develop rich characters, exposing their "table manners" by the way they respond to Jane's position in the group. I was warmed by the situations in which Jane's easy compassion was expressed through listening, as she singled out each woman in the group, with no malice in her intentions. Even the normal suspicions during a murder investigation were somehow subdued by Jane's honesty in wanting to know the "good sides" in these women, possibly more than dark sides which might have led them to do harm.
I enjoyed being part of a class reunion in a position once removed from Jane, yet accompanied by her wit and wisdom in observation of human folly (with her appealing, natural caring often overcoming the wit this time). I enjoyed the easy in of chapter 1 opening in the middle of an intriguing conversation between Jane and Shelley, in which Shelley was cajoling Jane into the web of this emotionally chaotic situation. Much to the reader's surprise, Shelley the teen had an opposite personality to Shelley the woman, wife, mother, neighbor, adult friend. Painfully, pitifully SHY? Shelley? Too many of us know how easy it can be to fall back to what we were "then" no matter what we've become now.
Churchill used an ingenious ploy here, of working the event through a small group of women who called themselves the Ewe Lambs, who met a couple days ahead for event prep and fund raising. In this way each character could be focused in the semi "closed room" of the ambiance of a Bed & Breakfast Inn (in which one of the owners was a chef par excellence and worked a few meal concoctions in front of Jane and her drooling reader).
I hate to admit that I identified with one of the characters with whom I would NOT want to identify, but only during the first description of her (she wasn't the murderer). As the characters grew in clarity I couldn't identify with any of them, though parts of all of them fit. This didn't prevent me from enjoying the story through spunky Jane's eyes, though, as usual.
Aging, failure, death (suicide/murder), needs for approval and compassion rather than rejection and pity: A class reunion would seem to be the worst situation in which to deal with these life passages. Yet, might a slight chance exist that this could be the best situation in which to get unstuck, heal, and grow? Is that why some of us succumb to attend these panic attack landmarks of time and culture? (I enjoyed Jane's son Jeff's comments on to attend or not.) Is the situation like a gauntlet? If one could pass through a class reunion and not feel little or less than... If one could do that, then would one have arrived at a place called actualization?
I was once honored to share a short visit in the home of a woman in her 20's (when I was holding that age as well, but with caution). This woman, I quickly discovered, was able to point out her insecurities for scrutiny, then laugh at herself... The "liabilities" were transformed into assets by that open laughter, tinged slightly with healing chagrin. That was one of the freeing moments of my life. Too many of us hide insecurities like leapers wrapping themselves in rags and sliding into shadows.
Unadorned, unadulterated. Aging. Grey. Here I am. Whoever can look in the mirror and see absolute and eternal beauty is one who is wrinkled, flabby, and grey, but an easy smile and sparkle in the eye carries the day ... and age fades away.
As anyone would know who has read even one of Churchill's Jane Jeffry novels, Jill's a perfect author to write about a high school class reunion, get the nuance right, and elevate the day into rambling redemption. It's always a joy to read a novel that says something within the guise of a fast, entertaining read. Sometimes authors rise to a destiny of being cultural healers. Judicious insertions of ridiculous humor work well in that vein, sometimes sarcastic, always sensitive at the core.
In CLASS MENAGERIE, the culprit was set up to be a perfect Sherlock Holmes type pick. There was no other viable choice for villain. Given every detail not only in the plot, but about Jill Churchill and Jane Jeffry, who they are, what they value and believe in; this murderer is the antithesis to the Nth Degree of the essence of what Jane is. This murderer subtly exposes the revulsion of everything Jane finds disgusting and false. (Actually, Jane's mother-in-law, Thelma, does a better job of that, but she's not the murderer, and appears in this one only in the shadows of Jane's mind).
I avoid reunions like the plague. Why else would I live on a mesa in the middle of nowhere with an unlisted telephone. I didn't need Stephen King to show me why I don't need a (padded) cell, though I do admire his work ... and what would HE be like at a class reunion? I might go to that one, just to see the crowds swirl around him, with flickers of caution. And, yeah, going to someone else's class reunion. That would be the thing to do. Maybe.
On this special Mother's Day, thank you, Mom, for my life, and for your warmth and belief in me ... But especially for the fat,juicy coconut donuts and Chop Suey Rolls (from which Bear Claws were named and were an incomplete copy of Mom's original sweet roll which has 4 additional, secret ingredients never discovered) which slid steaming onto the shelves of your professional bakery... And for coming up with the idea and purpose of The SLOPPY JOE sandwich in our Malt Shop in the 50's, so Annie Rocchio could perfect those first drooling, red drippers, and I could name them after Uncle Joe, who wasn't sloppy, the sandwich was/is. (See my Amazon Short on the USA site, "COAL & COCA-COLA.")
We both know you can see me now, Mom. I see you in the blue birds flying by my windows, up high, on a mesa in Colorado. Salute! There was a reason for me to post this particular review on this Mother's Day. That reason involves the ultimate mystery of life, the essence of motherhood, and the values set forth in CLASS MENAGERIE.
Living in the clouds of the mind, which we each step through daily to do what we do,
Linda G. Shelnutt
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5.0étoiles sur 5
Murder at the Reunion, Nov. 2 2003
Jane Jeffry is a suburban mother who is asked by her friend Shelly to help out at a gathering of her old high school club called the Ewe Lambs. Jane can't help hearing the Lambs gossip about the good old days and, as they are reminiscing, she picks up dirt on old crushes, lies and the mysterious death of a high school heartthrob on Prom Night. Then one of the Ewe Lambs is found murdered and Jane is determined to find out why and, wouldn't you know it, I was just as involved in the mystery as Jane was as I eagerly turned page after page to see what happened next.
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5.0étoiles sur 5
My favorite one so far..., Nov. 5 2001
This is the third Jane Jeffrey mystery I have read and so far it is the best! Jill Churchill introduces several interesting characters which make the suspense even greater. This is a fun mystery with a bit of comedy from Jane and her friend Shelley. I hated to put this book down! After reading this I went out and bought the rest of the series. I can't wait to get started on the next one!
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