book review: secrets of eden

Secrets of Eden
Chris Bohjalian

From Publishers Weekly:
Starred Review. Bohjalian (Law of Similars) has built a reputation on his rich characters and immersing readers in diverse subjects—homeopathy, animal rights activism, midwifery—and his latest surely won't disappoint. The morning after her baptism into the Rev. Stephen Drew's Vermont Baptist church, Alice Hayward and her abusive husband are found dead in their home, an apparent murder-suicide. Stephen, the novel's first narrator, is so racked with guilt over his failure to save Alice that he leaves town. Soon, he meets Heather Laurent, the author of a book about angels whose own parents' marriage also ended in tragedy. Stephen's deeply sympathetic narration is challenged by the next two narrators: deputy state attorney Catherine Benincasa, whose suspicions are aroused initially by Stephen's abrupt departure (and then by questions about his relationship with Alice), and Heather, who distances herself from Stephen for similar reasons and risks the trip into her dark past by seeking out Katie, the Haywards' now-orphaned 15-year-old daughter who puts into play the final pieces of the puzzle, setting things up for a touching twist. Fans of Bohjalian's more exotic works will miss learning something new, but this is a masterfully human and compassionate tale. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

my review:
chris bohjalian has written several books that many people love, but this was the first one of his that i have read. the first thing i noticed that i wouldnt have connected with a year ago was that it is set in vermont and new hampshire. after living here, reading things that take place in cities i have visited makes it much more real. the story started a little bit slowly for me. i had a hard time connecting with stephen, but as the story progressed and more details were revealed about this town and the main characters, i became fully engrossed in the story. i really didn't know what to expect from this author, and the ending was not at all what i thought it would be. it was a really book and i can't wait to read more of his work! if you are a fan of chris bohjalian or if you have never read any of his work, i think you would still enjoy this story.

still waiting...

everyone keeps asking the same questions. including us.

so, no, we don't yet know exactly where we will be placed (still probably in connecticut) or when we will be finishedwith our training (probably in about a week).

we are learning lots and making friends. last night, the owner of a moving company that works a lot with holiday had all of us over to her house for a cookout. it was really fun. she is a connection we will be able to use in ct, so that is exciting.

we have been doing a litttle bit of exploring in portsmouth and kittery. downtown portsmouth reminds me of berkeley and malibu mixed together with waaaaay less people.

i've been running with the portsmouth runner's alley folks and our 5k is this sunday. it is going to be really hot and my first race in a long while so i am a little bit nervous. my goal is always to PR but i am not confident that its gonna happen this race. still excited for it though!

today we spend time with the executive chef and tomorrow we are both housekeeping. it has been fun to learn all of the jobs of the people we will be supervising. i think the kitchen jobs are my favorite so far, although enrichment/activities is fun too. there is a great staff here - i can only hope that the staff at our building will be half as great!

as soon as we know something more solid about our job placement and actual address etc, we will let you know!

in training

we have been in training for about a week and a half. we are learning tons of stuff that we can take to our new building, which will probably be in connecticut (but we still havent received the final word). the residents and staff here at kittery estates are great. everyone has been so nice and helpful to us. i am falling in love with a couple of the ladies here and am going to be really sad to leave them.

however, i am very excited to have our own apartment again and be settled. all of our stuff is now in storage in middletown, connecticut except for our clothes and cats. we have a cute studio that we are staying in during training and its great, but i like my own bed and furniture.

cricket and rumpy like the studio bcause they can keep eyes on both of us all the time. rumpy keeps trying to run out inthe hallway and meet everyone that he sees walking past the window all day long.

we've been pouring coffee, giving tours and making phone calls. there is still tons of stuff to learn but so far so good!

kittery kittehs

we are going to be training in kittery, maine starting on monday. we drive up sunday after jeremy gets off work (his last day at citizens!). we get to take our kittehs, and they are thrilled. cricket has been teaching rumpy to be scared of boxesand packing tape and they both aren't acting like themselves.

we are super excited for training to start. it should last 4-6 weeks. at some time during that period we will find out for sure where we will be living and working. it will most likely be in connecticut, between groton, guilford and branford. and yes, wilimantic is romantic.

we will keep you informed as we are informed! looking forward to working and living on the maine coast for a while though!

our new job

this post will not be nearly as informative as you or i want it to be, and believe me, we are as frustrated as you are about that.

what we do know:

jeremy and i have accepted a position together as community co-managers for an independent living community for holiday retirement. check out their website - it is awesome!

we will be leaving manchester on may 10 for two weeks of on-site training at one oftheir new england communities and two weeks of sales and marketing training in a hotel. we have given our notice in our apartment butdo not yet know where we are going to be permanently placed. we do know it will be in either maine, mass or connecticut.

cricket has been whispering things to rumper ever since we started boxing things up. stuff like "if they try to put you in the car, run for your life!" and "be careful jumping into empty boxes. they may put stuff on top of you and seal it up."

what we are still waiting to find out:
what our new address will be. we have our lease until the 22nd of may, so we will be able to receive mail at our current address until then. after that we will know where we are moving to and will let you all know (and also set up mali forwarding for the in between time).

where we will be training and if we can take the cats. we can take them once we actually start our job, but they may have to board while we are training. cricket doesnt know it yet, but she is getting her shots updated next week. none of y'all tell her, ok?

everyone has tons of questions but we really dont know that answer to any of them except that we are SUPER excited about our new position together and can't wait to see what the future holds!

our birthday fish

jeremy has always always wanted an aquarium. this year with our birthday money we finally decided to go for the gold. we got a fifteen gallon aquarium and started with 9 fish - 5 neon tetras, 2 blood fin tetras, and 2 lyre tail guppies. we added four more fish to the mix a couple of weeks later. so far we havent lost one and the cats love watching them swim around.

rumper goes and sits by the tank every morning and evening when it is usually time to feed them and waits for jeremy to come. rump likes watching them in their feeding frenzy. if jeremy takes too long to come feed hem the cat will meow and chirp to get his attention. it is pretty awesome.

so thanks to everyone who sent birthday money - we love our new aquarium!

fred's first haircut

BEFORE

when i moved to new hampshire and jeremy was still in los angeles, he sent me a bonsai tree instead of flowers when i got my job. he knows me well because i have always loved bonsai. i named him fred and have kept him alive for six months. since i do not have a super green thumb, this is relly great. one thing i have failed at though is regular pruning. i am supposed to do it every six weeks, but hadn't done it once. so a couple of weeks ago i finally gave him a haircut. the cats were fascinated by the process and fred was thrilled with the result.AFTER

well, that was unexpected

this past weekend was the final weekend of rent at the palace. it was insanely busy and we had great crowds all weekend. monday was my usual day off (and much deserved after the weekend i had). back to work as usual on tuesday. tuesday afternoon i was called into the upstairs offices to meet with the boss. and he said "we are letting you go due to budget constraints." i thought he was joking. i really did. some kind of sick and twisted joke but a joke nonetheless. so i replied in the only way possible: "Are you kidding me?" but the answer was no i wasn't getting my leg pulled; i was getting "let go." and not for any good reason either.

i went downstairs to the box office and packed my stuff. thankfully it was jeremy's day off and he came right away and picked me up. i was crying but managed to hold back the actual sobs until he drove me away. we went home and sat on the couch for a couple hours just staring at each other and wondering what to do next.

bright and early wednesday morning i got up and sat on the couch with the computer and started applying for jobs and unemployment. it is going to be really rough financially for us for the next few weeks? months? until i find a new position. everyone keeps telling me that i will find something soon but i am really worried.

so there goes my trip home in may for missy's wedding and possibly our fifth anniversary trip. so that really sucks.

keep your ears open for any open positions and please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as i look for a new job and we navigate this uncertain time.

rent, rent, rent

since returning home from my little trip to la, life has been pretty normal. we got a few more fish for our tank, including one that has a mickey mouse outline on his tail, which is fun. we've both been working and living life as usual.

rumpleteazer is getting huge - his ears and tail are still proportionately large for his head and skinny little body. we celebrated two years of owning cricket before i left for the oscars and she turns three this month. enough of sounding like a crazy cat lady parent though.

it took two weeks to catch up on all the television i missed while i was gone.. i cantell you that we are love love loving parenthood, and the marriage ref is not living up to expectations. american idol is having a disappointing season and i cant wait til glee is back on the air. i am watching celebrity apprentice for the first time because i am mildly obsessed with bret michaels (not in a crush type of way!)

rent opened at the palace this past weekend and i have never been more excited about seeing a show. we went on saturday night and it was great. i managed to keep myself from singing along to any of the songs, although i may have mooed once or twice. the casting was great and the show is fantastic. yay palace! the full monty is our last professional show of the season and it opens at the end of april. jeremy is learning more about his job every day and hoping to move up in the company soon. there is a lot of turmoil at his branch (nothing that affects his job though) that may leave open positions. we will see where that leads.

oscar week pt 3: the show

thankfully i managed to make it all the way through oscar week this year without having an emotional breakdown like usually happens on friday or saturday as a result of stress and lack of sleep. this is especially good news since jeremy was not around to dry my tears.i even made it through richard's memorial service without crying. i know that if i would have let a single tear escape that it would have been all over. it was a beautiful service and i am amazed at the timing of his death that allowed me to be there for kim, ryan and kay.

the service was saturday morning so i didnt get a lot of sleep before saturday night. by the time i had to be dressed and ready for the red carpet on sunday afternoon i had had about 7.5 hours of sleep in the previus 48. being on the carpet is a high like nothing else though. the press, the celebrities, the energy... it was amazing and definitely kept me awake.

i saw most of the attendees walking the carpet. queen latifah looked incredible. she is totally my grush. ryan reynolds is very attractive, but it a normal sort of way (like the best looking kid inyour highschool class or something). other peoplelook ed less pretty in real life than theydo on scrren, but i dont want to name anynames. i watched the e! best and worst dressed when i got home and they were pretty much spot on there. what actually was the great part of the show was seeing all my press guide friends in the background of their coverage. look! its sandra bullock... and cesario! :) it was fun.

during the show i was in the interview room, which is a room with tons of media members with their computers and voice recorders. when the winners came backstage, they first stopped inthe photo room, where i have been for the last two years, and then came into the interview room where four or six people would get to ask them questions. it was great to see so many celebrities being natural and answering things off the cuff. sandra bullock was especially charming and her comments seem so sweet and kind in light of the massive scandal she is dealing with right now.

after the show i was insanely tired. lance and kris came and picked me up. i fell asleep almost as soon as we returned to their house. it was great to sleep for eight straight hours and while it was actually dark outside.

on monday, my last day in la, i was able to spend a couple hours with kim, drinking coffee and hanging out. i really miss my girls in la!!! she dropped me off at the flyaway and i was off to the races. my trip home to nh was rather uneventful and went quickly, although it was not fast enough for me to get home to jeremy and the kittehs!

oscar week pt 2 - the duby reunion

on tuesday ellen and cara came and picked me up and we went to dubnoff so i could see everyone. after saying hi to lots of people i really missed (and, if we are being honest, a couple i really didn't) it was time to go to the office. yes. is that not the best name for a bar ever? "hey i'll meet you at the office this afternoon." yep. brilliant. we had a drink or two, tons of french fries, and then it was time for me to head down to hollywood and highland for work. it was awesome to see all the girls again!

after another long cold lonely night, i got a few hours of sleep then walked over to IN'N'OUT (YES!!!) to meet the girls again for lunch. not only was i able to enjoy animal fries for the first time in months, it was great to see the girls again one more time while i was in la.

i miss you guys!

oscar week pt. 1

my trip to los angeles started badly. i slept through my alarm and barely made it to the airport in time for my 5:45am flight. if i could time it that perfectly without the heart pouinding excitement and with a shower next time, that would be great. i had a layover in atlanta, and someone took my gate-checked carryon. i wandered through the atlanta airport for huors until someone finally helped me get it back. (generally the united airlines customer service is AWFUL, although there were two notable exceptions to that rule. i am in the process of composing a lengthy letter to someone in charge over there to that effect.)



the flight to lax was fine. kris picked me up and we headed down the 405 towards the valley. it felt like i had never left the city. i didnt realize how much i missed little things about la. (not enough to move back and deal with the crap that made us leave in the first place though). as much as i have mised my friends there, when i saw then all again it was almost like i had never left. there was obviously tons of catching up to do, but none of that awkwardness that often comes after not seeing someone for a long time.

kris and lance were awesome and hosted a taco party at their house that evening. i got to see the stellers and the dronens. it was the first time i got to meet the littlest steller, and the first time i had seen owen since he started talking. he is so grown up! speaking of grown up, miss ashley was so tall too! she and owen played so cute with each other.

monday i took myself on a date to coffee bean (YUM) and started work that evening. i worked over night every night, but managed to make time to see almost everyone dring the days. the first night back at the oscars was cold - i realized that i hadnt packed nearly enough clothes for the trip. thankfully kris rescued me by pulling out their ski bag and loaning me some more layers. i forgot how cold it is in the desert at night, even when it is 70+ degrees during the day!

my little troublemaker

last night i made spaghetti for dinner. jeremy and i were sitting on the couch eating and watching tv. i heard a thud in the kitchen. jeremy went in because i was too scared to look. turns out that rumpalicious had climbed onto the stove and knocked the spoon out of the sauce onto the floor and wasw happily licking away.

he was reprimanded and i cleaned the rug and we resumed our activities. soon, we heard a crash. he had jumped onto the other counter and knocked a waterglass onto the floor. it had shattered and jeremy was worried about rump having glass in his paws. he checked him over while i swept up the glass. i thought i got it all, until this morning when i woke up extra early to go into work for our ticketing system upgrade and found out that there was a huge piece of glass on the bathroom floor. thankfully i didnt step on it. don't know how i didnt notice it last night when i was getting ready for bed.

i think he is going to be either a plumber or a dish washer when he grows up, considering his obsession with sinks, drains, and licking dishes.*

*don't worry - we arent crazy cat people. all of our dishes get washed with soap and water post-rumpy, pre-cabinet.

my birthday

these posts are waaay belated... sorry!

the morning of my birthday, jeremy and my mom woke me up with breakfast in bed. the cats joined us and they sang, i blew out a candle (it was a taper in a candlestick holder and not birthday candles), opened my cards and ate my heart shaped egg over medium. basically it was perfect.

sunday afternoon we had a show at the palace so i went into work for a couple hours. jeremy was also working. when we both got home, we all three got ready for birthday dinner at gauchos, a brazilian place downtown. there were twelve types of meat on giant skewers being served, as well as a salad bar and other sides. (beka: BEEEEEF!) basically, we gorged on delicious food. at the end of the meal, they sang happy birthday to me and jeremy in portuguese and we had our desserts. not sure how we had room for dessert but we did.

that's such a lie. i put my extra dessert where i always do. in my hollow leg. unfortuantely due to lack of exercise the hollow leg is all but filled up. hopefully i can rememdy that in the future, because i do like eating!

SURPRISE! (pt. 1)

on thursday of last week i went to work like usual. jeremy was in training across the street so after work we headed to the red cross to give blood. steph's business, the custom massage, was sponsoring the night so everyone who donated blood got a five minute chair massage and entered in a drawing for a free half hour session at her office. we didnt win the drawing but did help save up to 6 lives - so i guess thats just as good as a free massage.

i helped steph pack up her chair and stuff and she took me home so jeremy could go out birthday "shopping" for me (aka picking my mom up at the airport). when they walked through the door i was very surprised! and also glad that i wasnt naked. ;)

she stayed the weekend to help celebrate my birthday. on friday we went to lunch at susans before i had to work. jeremy had the day off so he and my mom stayed home and baked my birthday cake! on saturday went shopping for my oscars dress. saturday night was dinner and a show at the theatre. we ate at ignite beforehand (where else?) and it was delish as always. swing fever (an orginal palace production) was fun and my mom loved it. the dancers were full of energy and the musicians were hot (and also full of delish food from ignite - it is the neighborhood hot spot). our theatre looks so pretty when it is lit up at night!