(21)Tuesday Night Miracles by Kris Radish

Thursday, February 16, 2012


Tuesday Night Miracles

Publication Date: January 3, 2012
Pages: 496


Okay.  I did it again.  I agreed to read a book without really knowing the synopsis.  I agreed to read this book, solely on the author alone.   I know that Kris Radish writes Fiction for Women and that her shelf in the bookstore has several titles.  I am not all that surprised when I got lucky and Tuesday Night Miracles turning out to be a fabulous book, but I was a bit surprised about the subject matter.

Tuesday Night Miracles is the story of four women, no let me correct that, five women.  Tuesday Night Miracles is about four women from different worlds who have been ordered by the court to attend Anger Management classes.   There is Kit, who just days after the death of her mother and several bottles of wine, attacks her brother with a broken wine bottle.  Jane is there because after a real estate deal fell through she attacked a man with her stiletto shoe.  Grace is there because after a long day of working at the hospital she did not feel  like dealing with the shitty attitude of her teenage daughter and her shitty boyfriend , she rammed her car into his.  Repeatedly.  Leah is there because, while living at a shelter for abused women, she found herself striking her children when they misbehaved.  And finally, Oliva is there as their leader.  She is the psychologist appointed by the courts to help these women heal and get through their anger issues.  As the weeks progress so does their friendship and their realizations that their lives have gotten completely out of control.  Will Olivia truly be able to put them back on the right track or is it too late?

I think what I enjoyed most about this novel is that I could see pieces of myself in each of the women.  For example, Kit.  I could actually see my Mother in Kit. Right down to being the only daughter and sleeping  by her Mother's bedside while taking care of her.  But it is *ME* that would go after my uncles with a wine bottle, not my mother.  LOL. None of these women, with the exception of maybe Leah, have lives not that different from yours or mine. Each of these women have daily issues in their lives that frustrate them beyond belief.  Their frustrations have reached a point where the only way they know how to  express themselves is through violence.  Whether it be verbal or physical.  Their classes, which meet every Tuesday night, help them each reflect on their lives and grow as women.

I think that as Wives and Mothers we place so much pressure on ourselves that we sometimes don't know how to release the pressure and let the frustrations go in a constructive way.    I think that because of those pressures, Tuesday Night Miracles is a perfect book to generate discussion at your local book club. Please let me know what you think!


Sam (Tiny Library) said...

It does sound like a book to generate discussion - it's so rare to read about women getting angry, that's usually men in fiction.

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