Strange but True Summary and Reviews

Strange but True
by John Searles

Strange but True
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Book Summary Information

Author: John Searles
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-08-01
ISBN: 0688175716
Number of pages: 320
Publisher: William Morrow

Book Reviews of Strange but True

Book Review: "It has been five years, enough for most anyone to move on."
Summary: 4 Stars

Melissa Moody has been grieving for five years, ever since a prom night accident in Radnor, Pennsylvania, killed Ronnie Chase, the only person she has ever loved. Scarred both physically and emotionally, Melissa lives alone, unable to work. Charlene Chase, Ronnie's mother, is also devastated by the accident, which contributed to her divorce, the loss of her job, and her binge eating. Though her older son Philip is recuperating at home in Radnor after a strange accident in which he fell from a fire escape in New York, Charlene has little interest in him, herself, or anything else. Suddenly, Charlene and Philip receive a middle-of-the-night phone call from Melissa Moody, whom neither of them has seen in five years. At two a.m., she arrives, nine months pregnant, announcing to Charlene and Philip that she is carrying Ronnie's baby, though Ronnie has been dead for five years.

Alternating between the present and five years in the past, author John Searles establishes the relationship between Ronnie and Melissa, their activities on the night of the prom, and the relationship each has with his/her parents. At the same time, he reveals through specific, homely details, the hopelessness and squalor of Melissa's and Charlene's present lives--their lack of hygiene, their untidy living conditions, and their total disinterest in the present world. Melissa has taped Ronnie's photographs to the dashboard of her trash-filled car and still has her prom corsage in her freezer, while Charlene has made a shrine of Ronnie's room and refuses to let anyone enter it. Philip, the living son, is ignored, though he has been living an equally hopeless life in New York.

As Philip and his mother try to deal with the mystery of Melissa's pregnancy and her insistence that she has had no lovers, the author introduces peripheral characters--Melissa's landlords, her parents, and Charlene's ex-husband--and soon real danger threatens their lives. The symbols, omens, and portents the author inserts into the narrative (especially the crows) are obviously used to increase tension and to highlight private secrets, revelations, and bizarre plot twists. The dramatic changes made by some characters, especially Charlene, strain credulity, since they come suddenly and with little preamble, but they are necessary to resolve the Gothic plot. Some readers may be put off by the intrusive personal detail, some of which seems unnecessary, and by the amount of coincidence, but, overall, this is a good summer read--a suspenseful popular novel which builds to a blockbuster conclusion. Mary Whipple

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