What Comes After Crazy: A Novel [Hardcover]

Sandi Kahn Shelton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 8, 2005

Fast-paced, warm, and laugh-out-loud funny, What Comes After Crazy chronicles a quest for normalcy that nearly drives a woman nuts.

Maz Lombard craves a nice, quiet life—and who can blame her? Having grown up as the daughter of Madame Lucille, “Fortune Teller to the Stars,” she spent her Southern childhood traveling from town to town, wondering which of the many men her mother brought home would become her next stepfather (in a long line of stepfathers). Maz’s soon-to-be-ex-husband Lenny left for Santa Fe after his very public affair with a fetching young daycare teacher imploded. And Maz’s daughter Hope has become convinced she’s inherited the family “seeing” gene and is scaring her classmates with séances and dark prophecies.

When Lenny shows up on the doorstep wanting another chance, and Madame Lucille pulls into town with her newest husband, any chance Maz has for a simple, ordinary life seems to go out the window. But is life at its craziest also at its most instructive? Will seeing her family in all its complicated, infuriating, and mystifying splendor enable Maz to define herself on her own terms and live the life she’s always wanted?

Delightful, rollicking, but most of all unforgettably touching, What Comes After Crazy marks the debut of a radiant new talent in women’s fiction.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

After a childhood spent in thrall to her sex-crazed, manic depressive fortune-teller mother, Maz Lombard is, understandably, a proponent of normalcy. But her carefully constructed family life in New Haven, Conn., collapses when her husband has an affair with the teacher at their daughter's babysitting co-op and then decamps to Santa Fe. Equal parts energetic comedy and earnest domestic saga, this brisk novel by the author of three parenting books hovers somewhat uneasily at a crossroads between poetry and punch line: very funny scenes, such as when Maz's precocious 10-year-old daughter, Hope, makes Maz's potential boyfriend deeply uncomfortable ("Look, just so you know, I do not want a new daddy"), butt up against gritty but mythologized memories of Maz's carnival circuit rounds with her mother, Madame Lucille. The plot thickens when Maz's husband, Lenny, unexpectedly returns to find Maz entwined with a new young lover and Madame Lucille shows up with husband number six for a long-term visit. But when Lenny and Madame Lucille kidnap Hope and whisk her away to Santa Fe, Maz realizes she must once and for all find the courage to defy her past in order to protect her future. Though lovely descriptions often grace the pages, and there are plenty of laughs, readers might feel that Maz is a bit curmudgeonly for a heroine.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Maz Lombard isn't crazy, but her life sure is. Her husband, Lenny, had an affair with a nursery-school teacher named Jolie, and then up and left for Santa Fe. A year later, Maz finally goes out on a date with Dan, a handsome doctor, but it gets sabotaged by her wacky family: her mother, Lucille, calls to tell Maz she's getting married for the sixth time, and Maz's eldest daughter, Hope, interrupts the date to inform Maz and Dan that Lenny is coming back home. Maz breaks things off with Dan, even though he accepts Maz's eccentric family. But Maz soon finds herself drawn into a different relationship: a passionate affair with an attractive younger man who just happens to be Jolie's boyfriend. When both Lenny and Lucille descend upon Maz's household, she realizes that if she wants to keep her family together, she's going to have to get her life in order. Shelton's lively novel is perfect for readers who enjoy the antics of quirky characters. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Shaye Areheart Books; First Edition Stated edition (March 8, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400082951
• ISBN-13: 978-1400082957
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,236,972 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was born in Jacksonville, Florida, where I wrote my first book of fiction (a story about a king who was tired) when I was five years old and sold it to the neighbors so I could get money for ice cream. Since then, I've been a newspaper reporter, a columnist for Working Mother magazine, a free-lance writer, the author of three non-fiction humor books about parenting--and now, at last, as the author of two novels, I'm happy to be back to my fiction roots. Someday perhaps I'll do an update on the tired king. Meanwhile, I'm working on a new book, a love story, in between letting my golden retriever in and out of the house every couple of minutes or so.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars good old fashioned story telling, March 17, 2006

By 

A. Smith "avid reader" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: What Comes After Crazy: A Novel (Paperback)

Ms. Shelton is a masterful storyteller. Her easy, readable style brings complex characters and situations to life. Once I started this book, I found I couldn't put it down. I carried it with me everywhere and treasured every spare moment when I could pull it out and read a few pages. To me this is a coming of age book for adults. It takes a life time to "grow up" and Ms. Shelton illuminates the journey with intelligence,grace and compassion. The main character, Maz, is a deliciously flawed heroine, who fights her way back into the center of her life. I couldn't help but be compelled by her story. I certainly saw myself in her. Don't just take my word for it. Pick up this wonderful book and enjoy!

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a FUN read!, January 24, 2006

By 

A. Warner (washington) - See all my reviews

This review is from: What Comes After Crazy: A Novel (Paperback)

I guess humor is relative for those not finding this book funny. I found it hilarious and the characters couldn't have been more real. It was easy to get into, character development couldn't be more on track and the story was fun. I'm looking forward to more from this author.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Really enjoyable fun book, November 15, 2004

By 

Reb (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews

This review is from: What Comes After Crazy: A Novel (Hardcover)

I read the advance copy, but I assume it's about the same as the final edition. I really enjoyed the novel; it's witty, funny, touching, and the main character, Maz, is likeable and vulnerable. I generally don't read the genre, but am glad I made an exception, because the book was delightful and entertaining.