Welcome to the Great Mysterious [Hardcover]

Lorna Landvik (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 12, 2000

"All right, so I'm a diva. . . . For those of you who don't know me, I am Geneva Jordan, star of stage, screen, and television. (If you didn't see me accept my Tony, I'm sure you heard my voice singing the 'Sweetie Cat' litterbox and Chef Mustachio Frozen Pizza jingles.) . . ."

Now Geneva Jordan has a command performance in Minnesota, a challenging role set in reality. Making her entrance with her usual flair, she is coming to the rescue of her twin sister, Ann, and Ann's husband, Riley. They desperately need someone to care for their thirteen-year-old son, Rich, a boy with Down's syndrome, while the couple takes their first-ever vacation away from him. Though she and Ann are as different as night and day ("I being night, of course, dark and dramatic"), Geneva remembers she had a family before she had a star on her door. But so accustomed is she to playing the lead, finding herself a supporting actress in someone else's life is strange and unexplored territory.

Leaving behind the bright lights of Manhattan, a tumultuous relationship with a charming (if cheating) Brit--whose tastes run to doe-eyed ingenues--Geneva heads to Deep Lake, Minnesota. Vowing to have the part of June Cleaver (minus the pearls) down flat, she gracefully steps into her role with a determination that she will perform with great panache even if she bombs at navigating the perils of domesticity.

However, life, Geneva soon learns, doesn't always follow even the best of scripts. And just as the guileless Rich and the eccentric folks of Deep Lake begin to open her heart, an unexpected tragedy forever changes the lives of those she has come to care about, forcing her to redefine her own role as well.

Lorna Landvik delivers an extra special treat for readers who relished The Tall Pine Polka and Patty Jane's House of Curl. Hilarious and heart-wrenching, this wonderfully touching story is brilliantly told by a writer with a gift for portraying the dark side of comedy and the lighter side of tragedy to create a harmony that is the very essence of life and love.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

From the popular author of Patty Jane's House of Curl and The Tall Pine Polka comes a funny, heartwarming novel in which the voice of the self-absorbed Broadway diva Geneva Jordan holds ingratiating charm. It's not Geneva's singing voice that's the magic here, however, but her plainspoken storytelling. At age 48, Geneva is called upon by her twin sister, Ann, to come to her hometown of Deep Lake, Minn., and baby-sit Rich, Ann's 13-year-old son, afflicted with Down's Syndrome. Ann and her husband, Riley, desperately need a vacation, the first one since Rich's birth, so Geneva reluctantly agrees to leave her glamorous life in New York City to care for her nephew for a month. Geneva slips into the role of parental figure with a few minor snags, and she and Rich bond over a box of old toys, where Geneva uncovers a scrapbook she and Ann made as children. Titled The Great Mysterious, the book asks such existential questions as "What is true love?" and "What is the meaning of life?" to which each family member wrote an answer. This diversion motivates Geneva's metamorphosis. Reading the words of her grandmother and parents, she begins to feel the ache of having given up family for her career. Still reeling from a "doublehitterA-heartbreak and menopause" (she had broken up with her Broadway co-star), Geneva forges a special friendship with James, Deep Lake's wise mailman. She does, however, return to New York, where she considers marriage proposals until tragedy strikes a dear friend, forcing her yet again to reevaluate what's important in life. While the plot extends few surprises, Landvik's unpretentious story admirably captures the ups and downs of a small town from the humorous perspective of a big-city star. Agent, Betsy Nolan. (Sept.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Although she's a Broadway star, self-centered Geneva Jordan has butterflies in her stomach when she (grudgingly) travels to Minnesota to take care of her 13-year-old nephew, Rich, who has Down's syndrome, while her sister and brother-in-law take a month-long vacation in Italy. In addition to being inherently selfish, Geneva is also coping with fast-approaching menopause and a devastating breakup with her costar, Trevor. But staying with Rich proves surprisingly rewarding, especially after they discover a scrapbook Geneva and her sister put together as children, which forces her to confront life, death, and happiness. Of course, it doesn't hurt that she meets James, a concert pianist with a bad case of stage fright (now working as a mailman, much to the shame of his ex-wife). When Geneva returns to New York and her old life, Trevor's reappearance (with an enormous diamond ring) forces her to choose between the two men. It's a no-brainer, yet Landvik's fourth novel is sadly predictable and flat, completely lacking the vigor, delightful characters, and goofy plot that endeared readers (including this reviewer) to her third novel, The Tall Pine Polka (LJ 7/99). Purchase only to meet demand.
-DNancy Pearl, Washington Ctr. for the Book, Seattle
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; 1st edition (September 12, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345438817
• ISBN-13: 978-0345438812
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #980,133 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lorna Landvik is also the author of the bestselling Your Oasis on Flame Lake and Patty Jane's House of Curl. She has worked as an actor, a comedian, and a speed typist in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. She lives with her husband, two daughters, and their dog, Petunia.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A bit different Lorna Landvik, January 26, 2001

By 

Nancy Kaye "reader_in_wi" (Wisconsin) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Welcome to the Great Mysterious (Hardcover)

This isn't "Patty Jane's House of Curl" or "Tall Pine Polka" but it is an ejoyable read. It was the books premise which made me want to read "The Great Mysterious." A very popular, very busy diva on Broadway is reaching middle age, approaching menopause, and recently having been dumped by her boyfriend who has decided he needs a younger woman on his arm, is asked by her sister to babysit for her nephew who has Down Syndrome in a small town in Minnesota. She decides this might be just the thing for her at a time when she feels the need to "get away" and to slow down. Along the way, she finds out what is really important in life with the help of an old notebook she finds......The Great Mysterious. Somewhat predictable, a bit of a romance novel feel to it, but well worth it.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A PREDICTABLE ROMANCE, November 7, 2000

By 

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Welcome to the Great Mysterious (Hardcover)

With Patty Jane's House Of Curl (19 ) and The Tall Pine Polka (1999) Lorna Landvik served laughter, reader satisfaction, and casts of original characters (mostly endearing).

With Welcome To The Great Mysterious we find a stereotypical protagonist, a Broadway actress in her descendency (she is 48!) plus a rather formulaic soap opera plot. And, to ensure a good cry, there is a child with Down syndrome and another with cerebral palsy.

This is not to say that Ms. Landvik has abandoned her trademark humor, it is there but more predictable than surprising.

The Broadway star is Geneva Jordan who has been divorced by Jean-Paul, an irresistible Frenchman who wanted a green card rather than a wife, and dumped by British matinee idol Trevor, "a modern version of Errol flynn and Laurence Olivier." A tad shallow and an admitted diva, she sees "nothing wrong with a little self-aggrandizement." Geneva explains, "There are worse things - a mass murderer, a bigot, a telephone solicitor. And why shouldn't one take privileged treatment as a right?" She is plagued by loneliness, a black fear that she has named "Petunia" in the hope of blunting its powers. And, Geneva is also a fraternal twin.

So, despite a mountain of misgivings, when her sister, Anne, calls with a plaintive SOS Geneva responds. Albeit reluctantly. She heads for Deep Lake, Minnesota, to babysit Rich, her 13-year-old nephew with Down syndrome, while Anne and her husband take their first vacation in as many years.

Once in the middle of Minnesota she meets Ann's best friend, Barb Torgerson, mother of Conrad who has cerebral palsy, and possessor of a frizzy permanent that Geneva's hairdresser "would never have allowed to leave his shop."

And, romance readers, rejoice! She also meets recently divorced James, evidently Deep Lake's one Renaissance man - he plays the piano, coaches the girl's hockey team, and has thrown over a top of the corporate ladder job for a mailman's route on which he often ponders spiritual matters.

Now, the moment James and Geneva appear on the same page, readers know what's going to happen - it just takes a while plus a few jigs and jogs before it does occur.

The Great Mysterious of the title is a makeshift book with cereal box covers that Ann and Geneva made as young girls. They entered weighty questions into it, such as the meaning of true love, and the meaning of life, then left the book open so adult family members of could write in their responses. Upon rediscovering the book in the nether world of Ann's closet, Geneva faces these questions again as she reassesses her values and goals.

The Great Mysterious is a pleasant read. It's not Ms. Landvik at her peak, but it definitely is Landvik and for her many fans that may well be enough.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just what I needed, September 21, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Welcome to the Great Mysterious (Hardcover)

The thing about Lorna Landvik's writing, is that it's not necessarily GREAT literature... but when I read it, I get done and think, that's just what I needed. Her characters become like friends, and the sometimes soap operatic plots are like the soap operas of everyday life. Welcome to the Great Mysterious has this great friendship at its core.... Conrad and Rich's. Their simple love of each other is enviable. It's what holds this book together. Landvik writes about the great mysteries of life - love, death, friendship, family, snow on Halloween... that make me look at my life a tiny bit differently...With a little more awe at all that is there.