Precious

by Sandra Novack

In the summer of 1978, sisters Eva and Sissy Kisch are struggling to deal with the confusion left after their mother Natalia runs off to Italy with her boss, when Sissy's friend Vicky disappears. While the Eva deals with her pain by starting an affair with her high-school teacher, Sissy spends her days dreaming up scenarios where she finds both her mother and her friend. When Natalia returns to her family, it is more disruptive than when she left.

This story started off strong, though I felt like it lost momentum nearly the end. Eva's affair with her teacher had potential that fizzled out I thought. At the end, when the unexpected happens to the Kisch family, I didn't really understand why it happened. Maybe I wasn't reading closely enough by then, but honestly, I had lost interest. I really just wanted to find out what had happened to Vicky and how Natalia and her husband Frank dealt with her return.

That being said, I think it is important to mention that I had started and abandoned 2 other books before Precious. I don't know if I'm too scattered these days to stay with a story or what, but it's entirely possible that if I went back and read this again later, I might find it more intriguing. It's hard to get into a story when you're reading in the bleachers before a baseball game or in the 20 minutes you have at work. I feel like I should have liked this more, since I can't really explain where it went south for me. I read several reviews on Amazon.com that were very positive, so I have to wonder if it was just me.