Customer Reviews

A Scattered Life

5 star:		(99)
4 star:		(51)
3 star:		(26)
2 star:		(25)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

Three women living a small-town life in Wisconsin. Karen McQuestion's novel is narrated by these three voices. The first, Skyla Plinska, a former free-spirit, now firmly seeded into a middle-class life with her level-headed husband and their well-behaved daughter. The second is Skyla's mother-in-law, Audrey. Audrey has spent her life caring for her now three grown-up sons and husband, but always longing for a daughter. Will Skyla fill this void? The third is Roxy, Skyla's new neighbor and friend. Roxy is totally obsessed with her five sons and longs for more children, particularly a daughter.

Karen McQuestion draws us into the life of these three women in an engaging and easy fashion. The story line is entertaining and touching on many different levels, as each of the characters are fleshed out and their personalities and quirks revealed. I am very much looking forward to the movie adaptation of this novel. Thanks for a great read, Karen.

In this nice, but unremarkable, story set in small-town Wisconsin, the lives of three women are followed for about a year. Skyla, after a childhood of moving around the country with her father, has settled down with Thomas and has a six-year-old daughter; Audrey is Thomas' mother and is obsessed with keeping order in her and others' lives; and Roxanne, who exudes friendliness, has just moved in next door to Skyla with her five children and a clearly messy and chaotic life in full display. Skyla with her long-repressed artistic side is immediately attracted to the free-spirited Roxanne, much to the dismay of Audrey.

But things change for these women. Skyla takes a job in a nearly defunct book store and virtually single-handedly turns it around. Leaving her daughter Nora to be cared for by Roxanne after school distresses Audrey no end, which she intends to do something about. However, the unexpected intervenes in both Roxanne's and Audrey's lives. Especially, Skyla and Audrey are forced to question stances that they have taken in their lives. It is a book that has the intent of exploring personal growth, understanding others, and learning what is important.

The book is not without its appeal but lacks depth and breadth. The characters are not fully developed; they seldom rise beyond being stereotypes. After a couple of events, the story just fizzles out. The book is easily read, but just does not really try for much. Nonetheless, it is a fairly pleasant and heartwarming story, though tragedy does stalk.

I wasn't sure what to expect from an independently published novel, but figured for $1.99 (less than a cup of coffee at Starbucks!) I could take a chance.

I am so glad that I did. This is a remarkable book. It is beautifully written, well paced, with characters who seem real. It easily ranks with books published by the big houses, and is in fact considerably better than many books I have read (and I read quite a lot).

I hope that Ms. McQuestion is picked up by the big publishing houses as she has a true gift. I would love to recommend this book to several people, but as they don't own Kindles they won't be able to read the book. That is a shame, as her books could and should have a wide audience.

I will certainly be trying out McQuestion's other books available on Kindle.

This was a compelling, heartwarming, thought-provoking read. The characters are real -- complicated and flawed but still likable, even those who do unlikable things. (I want to move to this small town and become friends with the main character!) There are twists that kept me reading well past my bedtime...I was sad when the book ended.

I hope the author gets picked up by a big publishing house, because I think this book could stand with any of the bestsellers in women's fiction. And then I could say that I read her when she was selling her novels for $1.99 on Kindle.

First of all- this review contains a minor spoiler. It won't ruin your enjoyment of the book, but if you want to go into the book knowing NOTHING about the plot, then you may not want to read this review.

Second of all- I'm not a fan of books that make me cry uncontrollably. I know great fiction sometimes needs to contain great pain, but it just doesn't make me more fond of a book when something really tragic happens to a character I have grown very fond of. "A Scattered Life" made me cry- hard. And even though I braved through the last few pages after the sad event took place, nothing in the book made all that crying worthwhile or will make me remember this as a happy story.

This is the story about three very different women. Skyla is a young creative mom who has never had the security of friends or family, Audrey is Skyla's critical and domineering mother-in-law who insists on inserting herself smack-dab in the middle of Skyla's life, and Roxanne, who is a young mother of five children who moves in next to Skyla and sets the course for the three women's lives to change.

The book was *so* enjoyable that I could see why Amazon chose it as an Encore Selection. While it won't win any literary awards, the story was really nicely written and the narrative flowed smoothly between the different perspectives of the three women. This evening, as I sat down to finish the book, I kept thinking "I am so happy to be reading this book, to be lost in the pages of this story..." and then tragedy struck. And my opinion of the book changed. While I loved most of the book, I kinda wish I hadn't read it, to be honest. I guess I am way too sensitive and I'm just hoping I can shake off the residual heartbreak in the next few days.

If you can handle a tragic turn of events within a story without it ruining your opinion of an entire book, then this is a GREAT read. "A Scattered Life" draws you in and keeps you locked in its warm story. But if you prefer books that tell a great story without great sadness, skip this one.

What a book ... I cannot explain how great it was to read "A Scattered Life" and how it touched my heart. Right from the very beginning I was captured by the characters portrayed, and how it made me feel like they were part of my own life. I immediately could place myself in each of the family settings and felt like I became part of their families and friends. The book is exciting, funny, sad, and also made me shed some tears. I have read many books since getting my Kindle, and I have to admit ... this authors books take the lead! And, the price is right.

I have read all three of this authors books: "A Scattered Life", "Easily Amused" and "Lies I Told My Children". All are great, and I can't wait until her next book becomes available, which I'm hoping is right around the corner. If you haven't read any of Karen's books, don't wait. You, too, will be amazed how wonderful her books are to read. Karen McQuestion is now my favorite author, and I will be having withdrawal until her next book is released.

5 Star
Karen McQuestion does a superb job, yet again !!!!
"A Scattered Life" is the 2nd story I have read on my Kindle by Karen. I laughed and I cried with this story . I felt once again that the characters in this book also make you feel that you know them. Karen has the ability of capturing your interest quickly, and the ability of such precise timing of inserting humor at the right time. Karen's descriptions of a tree, a house, a person, a piece of clothing,an animal,food etc. any object actually, is done with short detail and leaves you with such a vivid picture that amazes me. Check out the snowman's headgear in this story. I am still laughing out loud.There are so many things I could list but I am not a spoiler.
The depth of this story will touch your heart and soul. Karen has a serious side, a humorous side, a well knowledgable insight ,compassion, on any story she write's. She can intermingle all of her writing talent together. All her characters have different personalities from grouchy,funny, in their own world, optimistic characters, pessimistic characters etc.
Karen doesn't leave you hanging at the end of her stories, she finishes with such finesse.
I wasn't going to buy her "Lies I told My Children " story but after reading 2 of her different style stories I am going to get her 3rd ebook from the Kindle Store. IMHO I think Karen can write about anything and draw you in quickly and you would come away completely satisfied .
Hopefully we won't have to wait to long for Karen's next story. I also hope that when people read these reviews they will give Karen Mcquestion a try and read her books. I have never met Karen, I am not related in any way, let's simplify this by saying I know Karen as much as I know you.
I Highly Recommend Author Karen McQuestion books and hope she gets recognized big time.

I downloaded this book because of the many great reviews and the very reasonable price. I can't believe I'm reading the same book. I'm 40% of the way through this book and am still waiting for the plot to develop. As far as I can tell the plot consists of a very nice young mother married to a controlling husband with a controlling mother-in-law. There's a wacky, unconventional friend thrown in too. Seriously, when does it get good?? The writing is plain and the story is too boring to waste my time finishing.

Ms. McQuestion was a refreshing breath of air - her writing style is clear, clean, and comfortable. I liken her style to that of Anne Tyler's - especially of the Morgan's Passing time period. I am very impressed that she self-published. I'd love to know the secret of doing that. Her characters were unique and original - yet, anyone from a small town would know them from their next door neighbors! I found myself engrossed quickly - and I didn't want to put the book down. The ending was sad - but also refreshing. I would recommend that the author get more "bold" and dig into her character's backgrounds a bit more. I'd like to understand better why the main character married Thomas. The words "I love you" never once appeared in the book - which was strange. That one item made me worry through the entire book that he was going to abuse her...and it caused me to lose empathy for both of them. Was that a goal of the book? Perhaps - but unnecessary. There were times I almost feared this was going to be a "Sleeping with the Enemy" type book - but it wasn't! His "let me be your friend" at the end was sweet in an almost creepy way. The 4 year old daughter implied they had a long relationship before the book started but they seemed like strangers...even though the MIL felt the wife had pushed her aside in Thomas's life. McQuestion - keep on writing - I think if you work a bit more at giving more character background - you will have your winning "big publisher house" recipe. I'm reading "Favorite" now - and will review that as well when done. I love it so far!

I stopped trying to get into this story after a few chapters. I wanted to like the book because the story seemed interesting. But for me, a book has to have two things to keep me interested: excellent character development and beautiful writing. I love several books where plot seems to be an after thought, but because the characters leap from the pages, I'm entranced. I can't keep plugging along with a book just to find out what happens. I couldn't find a flow with the writing style and found myself having to reread paragraphs because my mind would wander away from the story. There is something simplistic about her characters, which made them seem like basic stereotypes right away, and that's boring.