Review: Things I Wish I Told My Mother by Susan Patterson, Susan DiLallo, James Patterson (audio)
what have you left unsaid?
Things I Wish I Told My Mother by Susan Patterson, Susan DiLallo, and James Patterson, narrated by Ellen Archer, is another one of those books that relies on a late-in-the-story plot twist to justify the narration from daughter Laurie’s point of view. The narration is clearly meant to be a realistic account of a mother-daughter trip that happens after her mother experiences a heart attack, but what is lacking is the perspective of the mother, not told through the daughter’s eyes. This is cleared up by the end, and I won’t spoil it for you, but it is a bit predictable.
Dr. Liz, who is Laurie’s widowed mother, is a character in Laurie’s narration of their trip to Paris and later to Oslo. First, about the narration, I listened to Ellen Archer read these characters and their dialogue, and they both sounded similar, though Dr. Liz seemed a little more Indian in speech than native of Norway. That threw me totally off for much of the book, especially when you get to the part where she was born in Norway and left for America to become a doctor.
In many ways, this book is a complaint-fest about what Laurie believed was wrong with how she was parented and how her mother interacted with her, but she doesn’t take into account her own over-reactions to things her mother says. She’s a grown woman with her own marketing career, you’d think she would have matured enough to realize relationships take two people and that being defensive about everything your mother says is a recipe for disaster.
It’s clear to me that Things I Wish I Told My Mother by Susan Patterson, Susan DiLallo, and James Patterson has a little too much James Patterson in it - very short chapters, very little character development beyond the main protagonist, and a surprise ending that isn’t all that surprising. I was disappointed in this one and wanted a more heartfelt story between and mother and daughter reconciling.
Rating: Couplet
About the Authors:
Susan Solie Patterson has a Bachelor of Science/Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she was also an All-American swimmer. She is the author of Things I Wish I Told My Mother and Big Words for Little Geniuses, which was a New York Times bestseller.
Susan Dilallo is a Kleban Award winner who wrote book/lyrics for the Richard Rodgers Award winning Once Upon A time In New Jersey, as well as book for Iron Curtain, Pinocchio, a Family Musical About Adoption, Hear Our Song and Outer Critics Circle nominee That’s Life, and both book and lyrics for the Clear Channel/Mattel production of Barbie Live! In Fairytopia. Currently Susan is working on the libretto for the Broadway-bound A Tree Grows In Brooklyn.
James Patterson is the most popular storyteller of our time. He is the creator of unforgettable characters and series, including Alex Cross, the Women’s Murder Club, Jane Smith, and Maximum Ride, and of breathtaking true stories about the Kennedys, John Lennon, and Tiger Woods, as well as our military heroes, police officers, and ER nurses. Patterson has coauthored #1 bestselling novels with Bill Clinton and Dolly Parton, and collaborated most recently with Michael Crichton on the blockbuster Eruption. He has told the story of his own life in James Patterson by James Patterson and received an Edgar Award, ten Emmy Awards, the Literarian Award from the National Book Foundation, and the National Humanities Medal.