About the book: A beautiful heirloom ingrained with family memory has become a totem of a life Saffee would rather forget---a childhood disrupted by her mother's mental illness.
Saffee does not want the table. By the time she inherits the object of her mother's obsession, the surface is thick with haphazard layers of paint, and heavy with unsettling memories.
After a childhood spent watching her mother slide steadily into insanity, painting and re-painting the ancient table, Saffee has come to fear that seeds of psychosis may lie dormant within her. But as an adult with a family of her own, Saffee must confront her mother's torment if she wants to defend herself against it.
Traversing four generations over the course of a century, The Painted Table is an epic portrait of inherited memory, proclivity, and guilt. It is a sprawling narrative affirmation that a family artifact---like a family member---can bear the marks of one's entire past . . . as well as intimations of one's redemption.
Purchase your copy: http://ow.ly/rIosh
About the author: Suzanne Field, a graduate of the University of Minnesota, has taught English as a Second Language in China, Ukraine, and Hawaii. She has also been a magazine editor and home-school teacher. She and her husband have five children and divide their time between Kansas and Hawaii where she is a tutor and mentor.
Learn more about Suzanne at:
https://www.facebook.com/
https://www.facebook.com/
My thoughts:
I really enjoyed this book. I was doubtful when I began the book, however. When I started it, it was a little difficult to follow and to get into. I don't really even know when but at some point I was hooked! The style of the book is a little disjointed {at least it felt that way to me}, but I think that it goes along well with the subject. As the book went on, I came to expect it and it felt right.
It begins with a fire, flashbacks to Joann's mother's death, and the table that is there through it all. The table is Joann's refuge through her childhood but it holds so many painful memories for her. Her mother's mental illness, meant to be a secret from her, haunts Joann through her life. Through it all, Saffee is a witness. As she gets older she comes to realize the magnitude all the while worrying that the fate of her mother -and her grandmother- will be hers as well. Through both Joann and, eventually, Saffee's life, they look to God. For whatever reason, Joann cannot find the relief she needs, while Saffee comes closer.
This book was a bit different than I expected but I am very glad to have read it. It shows, I think, an accurate portrayal of some families that live with mental illness. The characters were well defined and each came to be cared for as I read {with possibly the exception of April- she has such a different personality that I am sure stemmed from the way she was expected to be by her family and the way they treated her because of that}. I would recommend this book to others who are willing to open their hearts and minds to this part of life. Many people do not see this and choose to ignore it if they do.
***Disclaimer: I received this free from LitFuse for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own. See Disclosure/Policies.***
Read more reviews: http://litfusegroup.com/author/sfield
One winner will receive:
- A beautiful hand-painted table (see it here: http://etsy.me/15L90cD)
- The Painted Table by Suzanne Field
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