Customer Reviews

Shambles: A Novel

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Shambles by Debra Monroe is the story of surviving and coping the aftermath of neglect, terror, and tragedy. Delia Arco lives as a social worker, caring for hurt teenagers and a student intern convinced that she is a replacement for her murdered parents. Unable to keep a stable romantic alliance, and nearly frantic with worry for her adopted daughter, Delia struggles to navigate a new life for herself despite the devastation of the past. An emotionally wrenching and profound read.

Shambles is a smart, insightful novel and a good read. It's carefully attuned to ideas about belonging-and not-belonging; Delia Arco, the protagonist, struggles with figuring out where she belongs, all the while wondering whether this struggle makes her more of an outsider or less of one. Delia is a careful and thoughtful character, but totally human in making big (and often very funny) blunders. Shambles is definitely worth picking up. I got the kindle version - a steal.

Abandonment is the prevailing theme of Shambles. Center-stage and invisible, it is present in all facets of Delia Arco's life.

Delia Arco was raised by her father and has no recollection of her mother. Shambles examines the fallout Delia lives with from having been abandoned by her mother at a very young age. Married early to escape her sad childhood, Delia's marriage failed. However, she kept her ex-husband's name, likely because it was easier and doing so provided further distance from the emotional pain of being rejected by her mother.

I found Delia a bit slow in understanding why she had trouble with intimacy and relationships. Delia bounced between men, sleeping with Mike when he was in town from time to time and running to and sleeping with boss Hector when Mike mentioned anything about the future.

Delia has few friends outside of work and they are unusual and in shambles themselves: the Hispanic couple next door, "stand-in" parents, and the gay neighbor across the street. Delia (a social worker) is saddled with an inept intern whose parents were murdered and requires her own special kind of mothering. Delia grudgingly steps up and in the process begins to grow, finding strength to face the death of her mother, to embrace the reappearance of her father, and take charge of her infant daughter's care. She begins to heal and forge healthy relationships.

Originally published by Southern Methodist University in hardback in 2004, Shambles is now available in paperback. The book very much echoes Monroe's memoir, On the Outskirts of Normal, reviewed by Story Circle Book Review's Judy Alter.

by Judy Miller

for Story Circle Book Reviews

reviewing books by, for, and about women