Life Is Too Short

Last chances on Happiness.

Irene Vartanoff, ‘Life is too Short’.

As an Hidden Gems ARC reader I received a free copy of this book and voluntarily promised an honest review. Here it is.

Rating: 4,5 (of 5 stars).

In general: Last chances on happiness.

Main characters:
- Kathy Kipling (65).
Married and with her constantly cheating husband, Rick, she had three children. Kathy and Rick didn’t want a divorce for the sake of the children. So, Kathy fled in child raising and - later - study and an own career. She and her husband lived an own live and for a long time didn’t want all the troubles of a divorce.

- Eileen Wagner (65).
She’s happily married to Cliff an easy-going, empathetic man. They have two adult children living in other parts of the country.
Her mother, (almost 90 years old) still lives in town together with an aunt, but the relationship with her mom is troublesome. Eileen is always criticized by her, the older sister Diane, who died young in a plane crash, did always everything better. They see each other regularly but often are bickering.

- Charlotte Paley (65).
She was a civil servant, who retired after she was declared cured of cancer. Charlotte was married to Rick for twenty years but divorced after they lost their 18 year old only daughter, Callie, in a car crash, now 12 years ago. Rick remarried with a younger wife, Amber and had a daughter, Leida.

- Brian Collins (ca 35).
He’s an army officer who returned home from the Middle East to attend the funerals of his sister, Amber, and brother-in-law, Rick (Charlotte’s ex) who died in a balloon crash. Brian, being the next relative, is selected by Child Protective Service to become the (temporally?) guard of his 8 years old niece, Leida, daughter of the sister who passed away. That’s a problem for him: he’s single, the army is his family and he’s constantly abroad. He wants Charlotte’s help with the guardianship.

- Steve Silver (65).
When he was a young boy his brother died in Vietnam. It made him an anti war hippie who even lived in a community for several years. In the mid 1970’s he became a ‘normal’ citizen with a manager’s job, married to a doctor, Alicia, and had children. A few years ago his wife died of cancer. His adult children already had their own families and were settled.
Recently Steve returned to his small home town near Washington when he inherited
the house of his parents.

The five main characters meet at a funeral of an ex teacher. The three women are friends since middle school and all three had cancer and recently were declared cured for the time being. It caused consciousness in all three that life was short and a feeling that they wanted to use the their remaining lifespan in focusing on things that are important to them.
The author Irene Vartanoff describes with a lot of feeling and insight how the three friends react on their illness and how it influences their attitude to their husbands, kids, parents and friends. An original, interesting plot.
Only I didn’t quite understand Kathy’s obsession with a sun eclipse and why it was so important for her (perhaps more important than her new relationship with Steve?)
But, all in all, for me the book was a pleasure to read.

R. Huiszoon.