Story for the Week
Not many people would guess my favorite snack. I discovered it quite by accident about 25 years ago.
Several jobs ago, I worked for a consulting firm that published a magazine. When we launched, our design firm was in New York. Every other month, a group of us traveled to Manhattan to prepare the issue to go to press. On one of those trips, I went to a small shop around the corner from where we were working and discovered the delicious snack that is Pirate’s Booty.
An amazingly light white cheddar-flavored puffed rice and corn snack, Pirate’s Booty wasn’t available in Chicago when I discovered it. But every other month wasn’t going to cut it for me, so I figured out how to buy it online. I ordered two cases at a time—one for the office and one for at home. Yes, I liked it that much.
Eventually, I started to see at home the single-serving one-ounce bags that I first discovered in New York. Gradually, the bags became bigger (four ounces)…and bigger became family size (ten ounces)…and family size became the 18-ounce bags I now purchase from Sam’s Club. 🤭
If you’ve never tried Pirate’s Booty, I mean…get on that…and know that you’ll have to share it with any dogs you have. Our dogs swarm around me as soon as they see me with the red cup I fill from the bag, and they expect their share. They also expect me to give up the empty cup so they can lick all the cheese out of it.
It truly is my favorite snack. So imagine my pleasant surprise when I was reading the book below and there was a reference to having to provide healthy snacks: “carrots and bottles of special water and little packets of dried kelp and something called Pirate’s Booty.”
Book Review
⭐⭐⭐½
3.5 Stars for A Happy Catastrophe by Maddie Dawson
385 pages
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Publication Date: May 26, 2020
This title was a bonus Amazon First Reads selection.
Publisher’s Description
Marnie MacGraw and Patrick Delaney have been in love for a few years now, enough to realize that they are imperfectly perfect together. Still, there are some things that maybe need a little attention. Marnie’s ebullient; he’s brooding. She thrives on change; he prefers stability. She sees marriage and parenthood in their future, but he can’t see beyond the shadow of an earlier tragedy.
Then an eight-year-old surprise from Patrick’s past shows up on their doorstep, cartwheeling into their lives and spinning things in all directions. While it’s not exactly the change she envisioned, it looks like instant family to Marnie. But Patrick, afraid of being hurt again, retreats further into himself. Suddenly, two very different pieces of a beautiful puzzle find it harder and harder to fit. How can Marnie trust in the magic of the universe when it seems to be doing its best to knock her off her feet?
But some love stories are worth waiting for. And what’s love without a little chaos anyway?
************
Main Characters:
- Marnie MacGraw – 33 years old, owns a flower shop in Brooklyn, lives in the brownstone that she inherited from Blix whose grandnephew Marnie married and divorced, has been with Patrick for four years after Blix convinced them they were destined to be together
- Patrick Delaney – 36 years old, an artist who was badly burned in a fire that killed his then-girlfriend, used to do sculptures and is trying to reinvent himself as a painter
- Tessa Farrell – 49 years old, mom to Fritzie, recently started a relationship with Richard who will be working in Rome for a year, he wants her to go with him but “doesn’t have room” for Fritzie
- Fritzie Farrell – eight years old, Tessa’s daughter
Marnie MacGraw fancies herself to be a matchmaker. She sees sparkles around couples destined for love and believes in the magic of the universe. She owns a flower shop with a space for people to gather because she loves the community more than selling flowers. She is madly in love with Patrick and wants to have a baby more than anything else.
Patrick Delaney believes that Marnie believes in the magic of the universe, and the one thing he wants more than anything else is not to have a baby. Happy with his and Marnie’s lifestyle, he wants nothing more than to stay the happy couple they have been for the past four years. But Patrick is the most introverted of introverts since being badly burned in a fire, and Marnie loves to be surrounded by as many people as possible.
Enter Tessa Farrell and her daughter Fritzie—Patrick’s daughter Fritzie….
Tessa wants to go to Rome for a year with her boyfriend Richard, and he can’t (or won’t) accommodate Fritzie. When Tessa’s mother refuses to keep Fritzie for a year, she decides to approach Patrick who never even knew he was a father.
I almost stopped reading this about 25 pages in. Marnie is a lot (she sees sparkles?) and seems to have no concept of how low Patrick’s self-esteem is or how much he doesn’t want a baby or why. I could not understand how they have been together for four years, madly in love, but Marnie is oblivious to how Patrick feels and Patrick doesn’t tell her the truth.
But I kinda love Fritzie. A happy-go-lucky, spirited eight-year-old, Fritzie finds herself in a situation she’s not sure how to navigate. She’s thrilled to meet her bio-dad Patrick, but she is too young to manage the feeling of being abandoned by her mom and Richard. I had to see it through.
The story takes readers through a lot of emotions. Patrick withdraws when he starts to face his feelings about losing his first love in a fire that left him disfigured. He is a classic case of someone who would benefit from a lot of therapy. Marnie’s sunny disposition takes a hit when she can’t figure out how to bring Patrick back around. It was tough to get through honestly. I grew increasingly annoyed at Marnie’s obliviousness, and I felt horrible for Fritzie who really just wants to feel like she’s loved.
While there are things I didn’t like about the journey, though, I did think the end was worth it, which is why I rated this a little better than average. If you can get through the darkness and have faith in a little bit of magic, this is one worth picking up.
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