Tucker's outstanding novel (after Shout Down the Moon) is as structurally dextrous as it is emotionally satisfying, boasting a chorus of extraordinary voices and assured parallel plot lines separated by four decades. In the present day, 23-year-old Dorothea has left her overprotective father's secluded 35-acre New Mexico estate, called the Sanctuary, where she and her brother, Jimmy, had been sheltered from current news and all modern-day innovations. Searching for her runaway brother in St. Louis, Dorothea meets a recently widowed doctor-turned-cabbie, who introduces her to the vibrant outside world he's been trying to escape. A parallel tale set in the 1970s follows the budding romance between a successful film director and the waif who becomes his muse, his wife and the object of his obsessive control. The tour de force resolution that ties both stories together is a lyrically poignant reminder of the necessity of hope. An exceptionally empathetic storyteller, Tucker has created a haunting, gripping novel that brims with graceful writing and fragile characters. This should be catnip for book clubs, whether they devour it as a page-turner about parenting and family or discuss its subtle meditations on fate and coincidence, wealth and poverty, freedom and safety, fairy tales and American dreams.THE UNABRIDGED AUDIOBOOK:Tucker's complexly structured novel could be a tight wire act for a reader because the story has multiple narrators and follows two compelling story lines separated by almost two decades. Fortunately, Joyce Bean is a dexterous performer who is more than up to the challenge. She does an admirable job, not only reading chapters in alternating character voices but also enlivening dialogue within those chapters with subtle, compelling and entertaining voices for each character. She adapts a higher, airy lightness to portray Dorothea, who is thrust out into the modern world to discover family secrets after having been sheltered from the outside world for decades by her overprotective father. Bean portrays Dorothea's emotionally damaged brother, Jimmy, with a scratchy, raw rasp and her cab-driving protector, Stephen, with the laid-back ease of a lower register. (The only voice that seems off is Dorothea's father, who sounds like a robotic Hannibal Lechter.) Tucker's tale is a twisty one filled with surprising revelations and multiple emotional payoffs, and Bean maneuvers the terrain with ease.
This novel, by Lisa Tucker, has a great "what if" premise: "What if you were raised in complete isolation, protected from every possible threat, and then suddenly had to cope with the modern world?" Of course, the plot is rather more complicated than that, and with the viewpoint shifting from time to time, it's hard to know where to start. With Stephen the cab driver? Or Dorothea, who knows only Father, Jimmy, and Grandma for as long as she can remember? Or Lucy, whose fairy-tale life took a tragic turn once upon a day?I have mixed emotions about the whole thing, but looking back, mostly negative. I liked the storyline, by and large, but not enough to read it again. Father was a well-developed character, Lucy and Stephen less complete, Jimmy a mere cipher. Dorothea I find somewhat unbelieveable. How could a girl so sheltered and so willing to accept the reality her father presented adapt so completely to the modern world? She has panic attacks with disturbing frequency, and yet she drops the manners and morals of her Ozzie-and-Harriet upbringing without a qualm and embarks on an affair with remarkable speed and self-possession. Right. That would happen. And, while we're on the topic, I am bored bored bored with all the open discussion of everyone's sex life. Can we stop pretending that a relationship is defined by the physical, and close the bedroom door?And in the end, after all the sordidness and upheaval, all the mental illness, drug addiction, kidnapping, near-death, heart-wrenching grief, rebellion, hostility, anger, blah blah blah---all this is tied up in a neat little package in the end. Oh, there is a disclaimer--all this will take time, etc., but you know everything is on the right track after all, and everyone will settle down to a pleasant and healing reality. Pardon me while I lift a skeptical eyebrow. Life just isn't that simple.And so, I cannot recommend this story. If you find the premise intriguing, and it was, ask me and I will give you the short version, complete with thematic elements. No, don't ask me, I've forgotten them. Meanwhile, go read something else.
What do You think about Once Upon A Day (2007)?
I'd been wanting to read this book since we read The Cure for Modern Life: A Novel for book club a few years ago. A couple of the other girls read it before me to varying reviews, so I'd held off for a while. Listen, here's the thing: the concept for this book is absurd. A famous director (on par with Spielberg and Scorcese) kidnaps his children from his (much-younger) wife, who also happens to be his protege and an up-and-coming film star. And yet, for 19 years....they cannot be found. Absurd. Come on. Someone would have found him, even with the reclusive lifestyle he maintained. Anyways, I got on board with the general premise and then I really got into the suspense and human interest of the story. I don't think Lisa Tucker had especially deep and fascinating insights into the lives of people undergoing such trauma, both in the case of the mother and her kidnapped children, but she does weave a good story. I was hooked pretty early on and followed through to the end. The one thing that bums me out is that this book, with such a serious topic, could have been really fascinating and such a character study and probably something I would have loved. Tucker takes a much lighter view of it all, but it's still entertaining nonetheless.
—Bridget
An absolutely beautiful story. Hard to believe that a group of people could sustain so much damage, physically, psychologically, and emotionally and still find each other and find love in the process. The story moves back in forth in time, and slowly brings the whole narrative together into a cohesive, stunning whole. It demonstrates that trying to fully protect the ones you love from harm inflicts its own damage in so many ways. While isolation may seem to reduce the chances of outside forces destroying what you are trying to protect, it causes a false dependence and an inability to function normally in the outside world. Part mystery, part love story and altogether lovely, Ms Tucker has crafted a terrific story. Makes me want to read her other works.
—Mark
This was a really good and interesting book. The story is basically about a girl and brother who were raised in seclusion away from everyone by their father. The boy decides to go off into the world away from their secluded life, the sister goes after the brother some time afterwards. The sister meets a man who helps her find her brother and they learn some secrets about their past. There is romance, mystery, suspense, all rolled into this book and we learn just how far some parents are willing to go to "protect" their children.But overall I thought it was a pretty good read. I also liked at the end of the book the author had a section where she answers some questions about the book. And it also had some questions for if you are reading this in a book club which I thought was pretty nice to. I would have liked the ending better if it would have said what happens to the characters, the end kind of just leaves you hanging.
—Heather
