So I'm reading The Violets of March by Sarah Jio - I have a feeling you'll see it in booksellers everywhere soon. It is already slotting into a sort of genre in my mind. The escape fantasy/healing from crisis genre - think Eat Pray Love, Under the Tuscan Sun, The Holiday, Hope Floats, P.S. I Love You... what else? There are more, I know. It's the sort of thing where a woman has a problem and gets on a plane to find herself or fix herself or just run away. And somehow it all magically works out.
Such a nice fantasy, but I think the idea of it has warped my mind so that when I find myself in a life crisis (gained 10 lbs, medical problems, exhaustion, burn out, existential crisis, unruly novel, dark night of the soul, way too much laundry to wash, etc) I find myself longing to be dropped into one of these stories. Longing to have a Great Aunt who just so happens to live on a gorgeous island in an evocative old colonial mansion who will invite me to stay for a month, who will make me pancakes in the morning for breakfast, command me to go for walks on the beach, admonish me to lounge by the fire while she makes me hot cocoa and brings me a blanket. And on the beach I will relax, find rest for my soul, find healing. And my life will be tied up in a neat little bow.
No wonder we like these stories. Unfortunately when real life crisis hits, there is no Great Aunt, no island house, no one month break from reality. Not even a week at a spa. I will just have to sink into the pages of the Violets of March instead.
If you were running away for a month, where would you go?
Tahiti!! I soooo want to go there for a month and read, walk the beach, and look at the fishes through the glass floor. MMMMMMM.. thank you for that quick mental vacation :)
ReplyDeleteMy brother and sister-in-law's house in Australia - bedroom has furniture from my grandmother's house, the most comfortable bed ever and a huge bookshelf stuffed with books I have wanted to read for ages. The living room has views of the most breathtaking sunsets and the garden has fabulous fresh peaches and apricots. Heather is right - it's great to have quick mental vacations.
ReplyDeleteTahiti has always sounded wonderful. So very far, far away. And a vacation involving the most comfortable bed ever and a huge bookshelf is always inviting.
ReplyDeleteHey Valerie,
ReplyDeletepicked up the book- adding it to my summer reading list when school is over and I can really enjoy it!