2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Book Review, June 1, 2008
This review is from: Chasing Stardust (Paperback)
Chasing Stardust gives an accurate and realistic portrayal of a woman being pregnant and facing the prospect of being a single parent in the 1960s. The author, Laurel Rain Snow, gives a detailed and vivid description of the lead character in the story, Merrilee Hennessey, in which you as the reader feel that you are living her life story.
The progression over the years into the late 1990s is easy to follow along with, and the other characters are introduced into the story in a natural flow that feels like they have been part of Merrilee's life forever.
I would highly recommend this book to everyone as it is a well written and precisely detailed book about one woman's journey through life when obstacles are placed in her way.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Compassionate, powerful story of family, love and friendship..., January 12, 2010
This review is from: Chasing Stardust (Paperback)
Laurel-Rain Snow is one of my favorite authors because her characters are such real people; they could be your neighbors, my neighbors...or even our relatives. Although her books are similar in theme--mostly about women struggling to overcome unhappy childhoods who come of age during the "hippie" generation--each has a stellar cast of main and supporting characters who stir the emotions.
I have read four of this author's five novels, but
Chasing Stardust is my favorite so far. It was a hard choice because I loved the characters in
Miles to Go, Web of Tyranny and
An Accidental Life, also.
Chasing Stardust opens with a flash-forward prologue depicting Merrilee Hennessy as a grandmother going to bat for her granddaughter, which is something no one did for her when she was young.
Through the period of this book, Merrilee develops into a strong, compassionate woman despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles that life throws her way. Always somewhat of a romantic dreamer when it comes to male relationships, the young girl learns the hard way, making some mistakes repeatedly...but eventually triumphing through her innate strength, determination and the help of good, caring friends.
Author Snow carries the character through the book in such a realistic manner, I feel like I know Merrilee. I cried when she got pregnant and I cared deeply about her raising a child alone. I rejoiced at each of her triumphs--triumphs that are slow in coming--but as Merrilee's character matures and she enters the workforce, her life gradually gets better.
Although Merrilee learns to control her own actions and reactions, her son gives her a great deal of trouble throughout the book, making life miserable for her and her granddaughter Brandi...but enough! If I tell anymore, I'll give away too much of the plot. But here are a few questions that will be answered in this true-to-life novel:
How does Merrilee cope while raising her son alone? And when she eventually marries, what happens to that relationship? What are her parents' shortcomings that they can't help her more? And when she's doing well financially, what happens when her long-estranged sister comes back into her life? Why does she come back? And where was her son's natural father during all this time?
Laurel Rain Snow answers all those questions in such well-developed, realistic scenes that the story moves along in a smooth, yet dramatic flow. While in some books the plot is gripping, in
Chasing Stardust it is Merrilee Hennessy who is gripping, giving the book an easier, more natural flow. This is a rewarding reading pleasure with a satisfying ending that brings the troubled young girl's life full circle.
Now that I have followed Merrilee and Brandi into happier straits and can breathe a sigh of relief, I can't wait to read the only one of Snow's books that I haven't read:
Embrace the Whirlwind.
Endnote: If you would like to sample this author's style before you splurge on her books, try her Amazon Short story, Family Values. At the small price of forty-nine cents each, Amazon Shorts are a wonderful bargain. I'm certain you will be hooked on Laurel Rain Snow, as I am. She has a deep passion for her characters that probably comes from her long career as a social worker in Central California.
Review by Betty Dravis, January, 2010
author of Dream Reachers (with Chase Von)
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Women's Literary Fiction about coming of age in the 60's and 70's, November 24, 2010
This review is from: Chasing Stardust (Paperback)
About a persistent woman who holds onto her dreams. It is about her life during the sexual revolution, developing feminism, and the war in Vietnam.
About: A contemporary story about the life of Merrilee Hennessy, a woman born in the US during the late 1950's. It extends through her life experiences into the early 2000's. With an omnipresent narration we see her life and what she feels and thinks, as a strong and driven woman, at first in her late teens and then into her middle age. With the historical back drop of the Vietnam war, the sexual revolution and the growth of feminism, it is a look inside a woman, her beliefs and the myths of her life and the generation.
Thoughts: Chasing Stardust starts out slowly, almost like a diary, with the issues being resolved through the main character's ability to hold on to her dreams through pure perseverance and positive thinking - an important perspective for understanding the character and her life during that time. As she struggles with her dreams of a romantic ideal, akin to the romance novels she devours, she is strengthened by the ideals (held internally and supported culturally) of the perfect home and family. While things are not quite right for her, she perseveres by pushing the acknowledgment of her difficulties out of her consciousness; a key element for the story.
Some significant themes within the novel are - contrary to our internalized myths about motherhood, at times and even with a woman's best efforts, bonding with one's child is not a possibility; the love of a woman's life is not necessarily a romantic love, but can be the love of a child; issues related to drug and alcohol abuse; the US legal system and its methodology for placing children from neglected and abusive homes.
My recommendation for the reader is to be aware that the first part of the novel moves along with Merrilee with her ups and downs just a bit slowly - as readers we are sometimes accustomed to the "drama and trauma" contained in the very beginning of books. It is, however, important for understanding this character. The story significantly picks up about a third of the way through and becomes heart wrenching and insightful where the consequences of the main character's choices are made clear.
Highly recommended if you enjoy women's fiction, strong female characters, this recent era in period fiction, and/or if you like stories with addiction and recovery as a theme. It is a wonderful self published and edited novel, amazingly without any errors in syntax as well as spelling. I give this excellent effort and book 4 stars.
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