Since I
started by blog, I’ve done an annual Advent Book Calendar highlighting books I
have enjoyed and authors I really like.
This year I thought I’d do an Advent Book Calendar with a twist; for
each day leading up to Christmas, I’m going to post a review of a book to which
I’ve given only one star (Throw a book at this one) or two stars (Don’t put this book in your book bag). Though I would not recommend these books,
others have disagreed with me. Each
book, on Goodreads, has received a 3 or 4 Star average rating.
Review of The Virtues of Oxygen by Susan
Schoenberger
2
Stars
This is the story of two women.
One of them, Holly, is a 42-year-old widow with two teenage sons. She works at
the local newspaper in Bertram Corners, a two-hour drive from New York City.
She struggles with finances, trying to keep up mortgage payments on her home
and survives only with the assistance of her wealthy mother. Holly volunteers
as one of the assistants to Vivian, the other main character. Vivian is a
63-year-old quadriplegic; she contracted polio and has spent the last 57 years
in an iron lung and is totally dependent on others for 24-hour care. The two
have become good friends over the years.
Part of the
novel is narrated using the third person limited omniscient point of view,
focusing on Holly. Periodically, Vivian’s first person narration is included in
the form of her unaired podcasts. It is these podcasts which I found most
interesting. Providing the viewpoint of a woman who describes herself as
“someone alive but trapped like a fly in tree sap” is original. Vivian tells
her life story in these podcasts, explaining how she coped and made a life for
herself despite her extreme circumstances. I found myself wishing her story
were more developed.
Holly’s
story I found much less interesting. Her situation, trying to provide for her
sons and to make ends meet, is one with which many people could identify. It is
sometimes difficult to have sympathy for her, however, because, though her
financial situation worsens, she has not done much to help herself and her
family, relying on her wealthy mother to help her pay the mortgage. It is only
when her mother can no longer help that Holly seems to realize the severity of
her financial straits. Only then does she fear losing the house and not having
the money for her sons’ college tuition? Even then, she only panics and does
little constructive to help the situation. She is the damsel in distress
awaiting a knight in shining armour to rescue her.
A stranger
does come riding into town. Vivian decides to invest in a cash-for-gold store
and Holly serves as her assistant, meeting with Racine, the man who has set up
a number of these stores. As expected, a relationship develops between Holly
and Racine, but it consists primarily of Holly running away after dates and
Racine mysteriously leaving town. Since little information is given about
Racine, the relationship hardly seems grounded.
The plot is
weak. Some events are totally predictable; for example, when Holly’s mother’s
engagement ring goes missing, we know exactly where it will show up. There are
a lot of convenient coincidences; for example, everyone in Holly’s family
suffers financial setbacks at the same time. Inclement weather always seems to
cause a power outage? And then there are the unbelievable events. Vivian
studied the stock market and built a financial portfolio, going from penny
stocks to blue chips, and is described by her broker as having the Midas touch
so she is able to invest $120,000 in a business. But then this same woman
learns that “’most of my investments are basically worthless right now’”?
The novel
examines society’s relationship with money. The author makes a parallel between
oxygen and money: “If money were oxygen, [Holly] was the one flopping around
like a fish outside the iron lung. Society expected people to have money. It
really didn’t know what to do with people who found themselves outside the
norms of earning and spending and paying taxes.” Unfortunately, the resolution
to Holly’s financial problems weakens the realism of the novel’s thematic
development.
This book
is a quick read. I just wish that the focus had been more on Vivian’s story
rather than on Holly’s.
Note: I
received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.
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