The Extra Large Medium
by Helen Slavin
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Book Summary Information
Author: Helen SlavinEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-05-10
ISBN: 0802170323
Number of pages: 240
Publisher: Grove Press, Black Cat
Book Reviews of The Extra Large Medium
Book Review: A witty and original ghost story
Summary: 4 Stars
British author Slavin's witty and rather melancholy debut posits some truly terrifying ghosts - drab souls who pester the narrator with the unfinished detritus of dull lives. "Lost cats, squabbles over wills, Crown Derby coffee sets and leather pouffes are about the limits of it....I exist as a kind of customer service department, running a stream of endless errands just to keep these people quiet."
As a small child Annie Colville is shadowed by Mrs. Berry, a former owner of their house whose rigid standards of cleanliness are in a perpetual state of outrage. As an adult the dead crowd in on Annie, and you can't really blame her for never quite being in control.
Then Annie falls in love and marries, a helpmeet at last. But before we can get to know him Evan Bees disappears and doesn't reappear, though Annie knows he could, living or dead. She waits, drifts and flounders, has a desultory love affair, looks for her unknown father, and employs various strategies to put her "gift" to good use, with mixed results.
Other voices alternate with Annie's, first her big-hearted mother who could never help the one person who needed it most, then an archaeologist who becomes interested in Annie from afar.
Slavin's comic flashes are quirky and original, and Annie's exhaustion makes her real. But her inability to cope wears on the reader and gives a disjointed quality to the narrative. Still, Slavin's colorful writing and the ever-present hope of something better draw the reader on to a surprising conclusion (that does, however, raise some more questions).
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