Delia Ephron

About a year after the death of her beloved husband, Delia, then in her early 70's, meets and falls madly in love again with a man named Peter, which she calls a late life second chance. As she and Peter were making plans for their life together, Delia was diagnosed with a rabid form of leukemia, the same disease that had killed her sister Nora several years previously. Harsh chemo treatments brought Delia only six months remission, an Delia was told that the only thing that could save her life was a bone marrow transplant. This was an option that her sister Nora had decided against, but Delia decided to go for it, even though the chances of success were only 20%-40%.

As I said I was mostly interested in the transplant aspects of this memoir, and it was interesting for me to read about her different but the same experience to what we went through. (She even has a Havanese dog, like we do). Unlike me, who wanted to know everything that was going on in great detail, she didn't want to be kept too informed. (She was like my husband in that regard). But her new husband Peter is/was a doctor, so he was able to closely monitor what was happening. She lived under the same strictures we did for many months: no going out, limited visitors (no young children, possibly sick people),no pets, no houseplants, no fresh flowers, no deli food, no sushi, no fruit without skin, etc etc.) One big difference is that because of her celebrity status she had access to her doctors (and their resources) that ordinary patients never have. She had their personal phone numbers and could call/text any hour of the day or night with concerns big and small. (I'm not saying the care we got was substandard--it was excellent, but we were just one patient among many).

A few of the quotes that resonated with me:

"I am officially a cancer patient now....My life is not mine anymore."

"I am living on what many cancers patients live on: the promise of science."

3 stars… (mere)

Two couples (Lizzie and Michael) (Finn and Taylor their daughter Snow) with little in common, Finn and Liz were a couple for a week or so many years back.
They all decide to go on vacation to Italy. And everything falls apart. Including the point of the story.
Was it supposed to be funny? It barely is. In capable hands - think Neil Simon it would have worked instead it was incredibly anticlimactic.
I didn’t care about any of the characters they were all total stereotypes of where they lived or their jobs.… (mere)

Siracusa by Delia Ephron was a book that completely snuck up on me. I had heard about it from a few friends, the cover kept catching my eye, and then when I saw it was a Book of the Month pick, I knew I had to read it.

Siracusa is the story of 4 friends- Michael and Lizzie (M is a famous writer and L is a non working journalist) and Finn and Taylor with their daughter Snow. The five travel to Siracusa to rekindle relationships, grow their friendship, and to see Italy.

Michael has a plan though. He is cheating on Lizzie with a young 20 year old waitress. His plan is to get Lizzie to sleep with Finn, as they were once young lovers, so he can divorce Lizzie and run off with his new woman. Finn and Taylor are having problems as Taylor is a high maintenance wife who has changed dramatically since having Snow. Finn is a laid back, hands off dad who thinks Taylor just needs to lighten up a bit.

Things get very interesting when Michael's plan goes awry when something unexpected happens while the group is in Siracusa.

When I started this book, I just was not into it at all. For some reason the story and the characters just were not grabbing me. I found the pace a bit slow, the idea a bit far fetched, and it just wasn't working for me.

Boy was I wrong! About a quarter way through the book, even before the group hits Siracusa something clicked. I found myself tearing through the book and became resistant to finishing it even though I wanted to find out what happened. The ending was one that I did not see coming at all.

The whole book is told from alternating points of view immediately after another character finishes speaking. Dialog overlaps in each chapter as we get into the head of the other person. While one character may feel he/she has successfully tricked another character, we read in the very next chapter that it not only hasn't tricked, but has made the other more suspicious, for example. It was a great way to tell this story.

I really wound up loving this one as it is not only a great mystery, but also a look at what really happens within relationships. Ephron plays with the characters well, so they remain believable even as they bumble a bit. I will admit it is hard to like these four people as they are all flawed, but the story holds them together.

I gave this one 4 stars.… (mere)