Today I told my students that I have written a novel. They were duly impressed. I told them about the nights I've spent writing, revising, and sending the dang thing to 80 some agents (none of whom were as impressed as my dear seventh graders). I told them this as a way of inspiring them to revise their own writing and to show them I'm in it with them. I told them this because they'd rather listen to me tell them something personal and real than read to them out of a text book about why revising is important.
But I didn't tell them the truth, that deep down I am terrified I will never get published and also that not so deep down I am extremely jealous of those who have.
So when I read a book like this one, with a sweet story and a few good twists, I have a hard time enjoying it. Because the whole time I'm thinking I COULD HAVE WRITTEN THIS. I'M AS GOOD A WRITER AS THIS KRISTIN PERSON. WHY DID SHE GET PUBLISHED AND NOT ME? WHEN'S IT MY TURN? WHY DID KRISTIN HARMEL WIN THE PUBLISHING LOTTERY? WHY GOD WHY?
It's not pretty, I know, and also not why you read this blog, so I'll just step past the green eyed monster here and try to share a little about this book. But now you know, if I sound just this side of nice, it's because part of me wants to kick Kristen Harmel in the shin, and then ask for the name of her agent.
The Sweetness of Forgetting starts with a sob story; Hope's husband left her, her teenage daughter hates her, her mother recently died, her grandma is getting lost in Alzheimers, and her family owned bakery is failing. So sad. When Hope's grandma Rose has a moment of clarity, she reveals a secret about her background that sends Hope on an ill-timed trip to Paris to discover family she didn't know she had. There's a lot of baking, World War II connections, and some interesting religious talking points. It ends happily and neatly. Sounds like my kind of story, huh? Yep. Exact for that bitter pill being hard to swallow.
Rant over.
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