Customer Reviews

White Picket Fences: A Novel

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(34)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Susan Meissner's new book White Picket Fences is one of the better books I've read in a long time. I find myself thinking about it over a week after I finished it . . . and when I read the last chapter, it actually brought me to tears. Not the one drop falling down your cheek kind of cry, but a "good cry" that lasted several minutes.

White Picket Fences is the story of a seemingly perfect family . . . which is anything but perfect. The members of this family have to learn to trust each other with their secrets, their feelings, their fears. The secondary theme of this book is the Holocaust -- the teens of this book interview two survivors of a concentration camp as a school project and unearth yet another family secret.

Since this is the second Meissner book I've read and really enjoyed, I even bookmarked her web page to my "favorite authors" page. I strongly recommend this book.

In Southern California, when her brother Bart Bachman runs off to Poland on some allegedly family roots drama, he leaves his motherless sixteen year old daughter Tally behind and homeless. Knowing her sibling's chronic irresponsibility, with her husband's support Amanda Janvier offers to give her teenage niece a roof. Amanda hopes she and her spouse can provide Tally positive role models.

Tally and her seventeen year old cousin Chase become friends while interviewing Holocaust victims on a class project. The teens soon uncover secrets re their extended family, but especially Chase, who suffers from nightmares involving a fire. As they dig deeper into the family mystery, the two cousins have unraveled the past that the older generation prefers left concealed back in the old country.

Purposely the family is hyperbolic characterizations of who are considered the "norm" for people residing inside the WHITE PICKET FENCES. Thus, the two teens bring freshness to this entertaining contemporary fiction when they nuke the so called paragon family model with their vigor for the truth. Although the forced ties to Europe and the Holocaust seem a stretch compounded exponentially by one another, Susan Meissner still provides her audience with a thought provoking look at families, past and present.

Harriet Klausner

This is the first book where I have to pause before I can pick up another. White Picket Fences is the story of a seemingly perfect family with secrets simmering beneath the surface. It blends the past and present in an emotionally intense story, and somehow this connected with me on a deep level. I really didn't think I could enjoy a Susan Meissner story more than The Shape of Mercy, but wow. That's all I can say--wow.

I didn't care for this book as well as Shape of Mercy and Lady in Waiting. I didn't feel it flowed as well and the characters weren't as believable.

Tally lives a carefree life on the road with her father until one day he insists he has to travel to Europe without her. He leaves her in the care of her grandmother without a forwarding address or phone number. When her grandma dies, the state contacts her aunt, Amanda Janvier, a woman Tally has only met once and who lives a life so different from Tally's, Tally wonders what they could possibly share besides some similar DNA.

Amanda Janvier's life is fine. Everything's fine or so she and her family want everyone to believe. If you just smile and don't talk about the issues, everything will be fine, right? Amanda soon finds out with the arrival of her niece that everything in her family isn't fine, but after years of avoiding the real issues, she doesn't know where to start unraveling the blanket of deception they've all hidden behind for years.

Tally and Chase, Amanda's son, work on a school project that not only directly relates to Tally's dad, but also to Chase's past. In learning about the Warsaw Ghetto, will Tally and Chase be able to resolve issues from their own past? Will their digging affect Amanda and the rest of the family?

In White Picket Fences, Susan Meissner creates a the White Picket Fence world where life is beautiful and the family who lives inside the fence has it all: two kids, good jobs, a secure future...the American dream. Meissners message hits home in a time where many of us are very rushed and do not stop to evaluate how our lives really are; mostly we think they are just fine. When we take time to slow down and look at what is really going on beneath the surface, we see things aren't "fine," they never were "fine," and we don't know how to make them "fine." Which I would like to think that they will never be "fine" in this world.

I picked up this book thinking that the story sounded very interesting and pretty original. However, I was disappointed when the book dragged on and on about one character's problems and didn't seem to totally move on until the end! I literally skimmed some pages because the story was moving so slowly! If you are a leisurely reader, go ahead. But if you like stories with more action in them, read something out of the Liberator series by Tricia Goyer. Her books have to do with a bit of the same subject as this one.

The day I was preparing to post this review I planned on posting it after I drove across the mountains to visit my sister in law for her birthday. We never made it to our destination however. Our car flipped over in a snow storm and we, my kids and I, were left hanging from our seat belts up-side-down. After a while another car came along and then another and the kindness of strangers was a blessing to use that day. Needless to say I never got my review posted.

However, today is another day and in our house we are planning for a family wedding. Which got me to thinking about the book White Picket Fences by Susan Meissner. I highly recommend this book. It is a touching story and deeply moving. It encompasses several generations, different life phases, family dynamics and it all works.

Meissner does a great job of intertwining the stories of all the characters involved. I was particularly pleased with the meatiness of this book. The subject matter was difficult and could have come across as trite or vapid, but to the contrary it is deep and meaningful.

Family is an important part of our lives. Deep meaningful relationships are to be cherished and appreciated. After seeing what could have happened to my own family last week I think it is important to foster good relationships, ask difficult questions and love with open hearts.

Good book. If you are as contemplative as I, you may well find yourself stopping at each chapter to think about the characters and what they are learning. Nifty story with some interesting spins and (I think) unusual youth. I liked it. What more can I say.

I won "White Picket Fences" quite a while back from another blog giveaway. I have to admit I had so many books to read that this one went into my "to be read pile" where it stayed for quite a while. The other day I was looking through those books for my next read. For some reason this one caught my eye. I really had no idea what the genre was or what the book was about. I just started reading.

The protagonists were three cousins as well as a friend to one of them. When I first started reading I thought it was geared to young adults, but after reading a while longer I discovered this was a story for all ages! It is a story of people holding onto secrets and not wanting to let them go for fear of what might happen - but in the long run the secrets begin to come out and effect those who are involved. This story is about the Janviers family who appear to have the perfect life to those who know them, but inside of their home more than one person is holding onto a secret that is beginning to destroy their lives from the inside out. Can an unexpected visit from their niece/cousin be the catalyst that begins a healing for this family. I urge you to read the book and find out. I believe this is something everyone can relate to at one time or another in their lives. I love it when I am pleasantly surprised.

I have read most books by Susan Meissner. This was not one of her best books. The story plot and subplots were very interesting, but they didn't compell you to stay up late at night to finish the book. I enjoyed the WWII subplot with the 2 gentlemen in the nursing home. I can picture their friendship over the years. The midpoint of the book tended to drag and then all of a sudden the book ended with all is sweet in the world. Not recommended for church libaries unless you have extensive collection.