The Excellent Lombards by Jane Hamilton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A very good read, one that I really hope will end up as one of our book club picks. It needs to be talked about!

I love the main character, Frankie, affectionately nicknamed Marlene by her father (no one knows why) and Imp by her brother. Frankie lives in her head a lot, and has a wild imagination. Their family shares ownership of an apple orchard with Frankie's uncle, a self styled, but not very successful inventor. This is Frankie's world, and she loves every inch of it. Because she lives in her head a lot, she makes a lot of situations in her life more dramatic than they really are.

We get to meet Frankie at an early age (4 or 5 years old) and follow her story through her high school years. I especially liked her moody, dramatic teen years. Who doesn't remember the angst of being a teenager and how you choose to be obstinate just for the sake of disagreeeing with your parents? Our world revolves around our ownselves in those years (at least they did for me), and we are woefully misunderstood and forced to do things we don't want to do. We don't even understand our obstinacy but we insist on being contrary anyway.

There are so many characters to love in this story. I love how the marriage relationship between Jim and Nellie (Frannie's parents) is portrayed. I like the scary Aunt who Frankie dislikes. I like Gloria, who is many ways was another mom to Frankie and her brother. I like how Frankie tries to understand these relationships as they relate to her.

I could really relate to how Frankie's love for her home and family was almost an obstinate love, and one that she could not let go of. A love that she selfishly wanted to keep for herself. She was hanging on to it so tightly because she was afraid of what change would do to her family and her place in it.

Ultimately this book is about just that. How do we love so passionately and get to that understanding that at some point, your love will change. To understand that your love can expand and that we don't have to be afraid to let other people in.


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