There Was an Old Woman

There Was an Old Woman by Hallie Ephron
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I give this book 4.5 stars. This book was a complete surprise for me. To be honest I wasn't for sure if I would like it, and I actually ended up really enjoying it. The first few days that I had it I was only able to read a couple of chapters here and there. It didn't have anything to do with the book it had to do with life itself, cleaning, cooking, laundry, running here and there, but once I was able to actually sit down and read the book, boy it swept me off my feet. One thing I will say, the author and I have a different understanding of " needing to know"...lol. Every time something popped up "I" needed to know what would happen, who it was, and the author would only tell what "she" wanted to me to know at that time, or that I didn't "need to know" until she felt I ready. I loved that about this book. It didn't give you everything right away and not everything all at once that would leave you with a bunch of questions or things you would forget about. Although this was a fast pace book, you were able to remember what the author had already presented and she kept you guessing as to what would happen next or who did/would do what.

The story starts off by Mina, a 91 year old woman who lives alone in her house that she grew up in. On this morning her neighbor is taken to the hospital by ambulance and before she goes, she asks Mina to call her daughter Ginger and tell her, "don't let him into the house until I'm gone". No body knows what she meant by that, but Mina calls Ginger and leaves a message on her voice mail about her mother. Ginger isn't able to stay and take care of her mother's house and affairs while she's in the hospital so she calls her sister Evie and tells her she has to go to the hospital and take care of things. Evie, who is working for the Historical Preservation is getting ready to open an exhibit with in the next week and is working late to get everything ready for the grand opening of an exhibit from the history of the Empire State Building that happen shortly after WWII. She thinks this is caused by her mother's alcoholism and it's not anything major. Ginger guilt's her into going to take care of her mom and Evie agrees that it's her turn to drop everything and go.

After Evie leaves the hospital and returns to her mother's house, she is horrified to see that her mother's house is in total wreckage, not from someone breaking in, but how fifthly the house is, there's cockroaches, broken windows, mail piled up every where, broken stairs, boxes, the house looks like it needed to be condemned, however there was a brand new flat screen in her mother's house. Evie is in shock as to how her mother could of let this happen. When Evie goes to the garage, she finds cases of Grey Goose and cigarettes in their along with cans of empty cat food cans.

Evie talks to Mina to see if she know anything about how long the condition of the house has been like this. Mina, who seems to think that her memory is slipping more and more each day has her own problems to deal with. But somewhere the two starting building an adult friendship and come to each other, when they both start noticing the change in the neighborhood, how her mother's bills are all paid off and an envelop full of $100 bills,and the break-in at Evie's mother's house where some boxes are taken. Mina discovers that someone has taken the whistler out of her tea kettle and she has several smoke incidents from the tea kettle going dry, when she's cooking the temperature is set higher than she had it, and why would she find her billfold in the refrigerator? Mina is also dealing with her annoying, greedy, self-center nephew Brian, who pretends to care about his aging aunt and wants to put her in a nursing home and be done with her.

Mina reminds you of your grandma or aunt that you just want to wrap your arms around her and protect her. She's as feisty as all get out and you can't help but love her. You see that develop in Evie, who believes that Mina isn't losing her mind.

You can believe the characters, for the author has made them just like your normal neighbors, friends, and family members. The suspense will keep you on the edge of your seat, and is a very enjoyable read.

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