Official Review: The Unraveling of Abby Settel
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khamneithang
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- Latest Review: "The Unraveling of Abby Settel" by Sylvia May
Official Review: The Unraveling of Abby Settel
[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Unraveling of Abby Settel" by Sylvia May.]
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The Unraveling Of Abby Settel by debutant author Sylvia May and published by Turquoise Morning Press (August 2011) received the 2011 Reader Views Literary Award for General Fiction (Honorable Mention). It is a powerful and compelling book that deals with self-discovery, re-inventing oneself in life and learning to take one day at a time as one strive for the right balance in life.
The story begins one autumn day in Richmond, Virginia. Abby Settel is a university professor in English or used to be, with a doting husband Peter and two children, Hanna and Ben. The Unraveling Of Abby Settel follows the trials and travails of the central character in the story as she faces a string of crisis one after the other – Abby’s aged parents’ conditions are fast worsening, her husband loses his job, and her children are living a thousand kilometers away. To make her condition more pathetic, even the cat owned by her parents seems to be conspiring against her. When her husband’s new job took her miles away from Canada, she is unable to get even a social security number as a dependent and have no status on her own.
The Unraveling Of Abby Settel is about all vicissitudes, vagaries and trials a person goes through in life when unexpected changes come along. For Abby and her family, the move they were forced to make was not only unforeseen but comes as a bolt from the blue. It paints a realistic and moving picture of the predicaments Abby was forced into when she had to move her parents into a nursing home. She was feeling guilty although it is something quite ordinary. But it has to be pointed out that it was a necessity even before the move came about.
Think of yourself in her shoes. It would not be easy. She feels guilty about leaving her two children to look after themselves. She does not know the city. And she feels lonely and begins to blame her husband for her miserable condition. And yet, it is in this state of unhappy situation that she learns her lessons.
Sarah Collins Honenberger, author of Catcher, Caught pretty well sums up everything: “An intimate portrait of where today's women often find themselves in mid-life. May's debut novel sings with the very real despair of loneliness and celebrates the unique talent of women to discover happiness in small things. The Unraveling of Abby Settel is meant to share with friends.”
The Unraveling of Abby Settel is a compelling story of mid-life, family, parenting, loneliness, self-discovery and finding one’s purpose in the midst of life’s crisis.
I would rate this 3 out of 4.
***
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The story begins one autumn day in Richmond, Virginia. Abby Settel is a university professor in English or used to be, with a doting husband Peter and two children, Hanna and Ben. The Unraveling Of Abby Settel follows the trials and travails of the central character in the story as she faces a string of crisis one after the other – Abby’s aged parents’ conditions are fast worsening, her husband loses his job, and her children are living a thousand kilometers away. To make her condition more pathetic, even the cat owned by her parents seems to be conspiring against her. When her husband’s new job took her miles away from Canada, she is unable to get even a social security number as a dependent and have no status on her own.
The Unraveling Of Abby Settel is about all vicissitudes, vagaries and trials a person goes through in life when unexpected changes come along. For Abby and her family, the move they were forced to make was not only unforeseen but comes as a bolt from the blue. It paints a realistic and moving picture of the predicaments Abby was forced into when she had to move her parents into a nursing home. She was feeling guilty although it is something quite ordinary. But it has to be pointed out that it was a necessity even before the move came about.
Think of yourself in her shoes. It would not be easy. She feels guilty about leaving her two children to look after themselves. She does not know the city. And she feels lonely and begins to blame her husband for her miserable condition. And yet, it is in this state of unhappy situation that she learns her lessons.
Sarah Collins Honenberger, author of Catcher, Caught pretty well sums up everything: “An intimate portrait of where today's women often find themselves in mid-life. May's debut novel sings with the very real despair of loneliness and celebrates the unique talent of women to discover happiness in small things. The Unraveling of Abby Settel is meant to share with friends.”
The Unraveling of Abby Settel is a compelling story of mid-life, family, parenting, loneliness, self-discovery and finding one’s purpose in the midst of life’s crisis.
I would rate this 3 out of 4.
***
Buy "The Unraveling of Abby Settel" on Amazon
Buy "The Unraveling of Abby Settel" on Barnes and Noble
Latest Review: "The Unraveling of Abby Settel" by Sylvia May
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bermudasyl
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Thanks for this great review!
