Milwaukee, by Bernice Rubens

For obvious resons, I noticed this book on the shelf at the book store.

It was a pretty quick read.

The overal premise is a woman on her deathbed who is cycling through all her painful memories so that she can reach forgiveness and reconciliation. Milwaukee is where one of the characters is from. It's not a book about Milwaukee (and I wasn't expecting it to be either).

It was an interesting story as the time perspectives kept shifting back and forth from her memory to the present. It did seem like she and the members of her family were quick to blame one another and get themselves into situations where they would hold grudges for the rest of their lives. I guess there are families out there like that. But it seemed a bit odd to me that after 16 years of what seems like a pretty blissful family situation then her daughter gets mad enough at her for one mistake that she never forgives her for the rest of her life.

Gee - I hope my daughter is a bit more forgiving than that.

And this one lack of forgiveness leads to a series of mistakes and instances that essentially lead to an entire breakdown of the family (sorry for any plot spoilers there).

Didn't love it. Didn't hate it.

Recommendation: Not really - there are so many other things to read.