Leslie Hall Pinder

Leslie Hall Pinder is a phenomenal writer. She weaves the stories of Alicia Purcell, Austin Hart, the native tribes, Alicia’s mother and Austin’s family members into a well-constructed novel. Her characters are gritty, not usually completely likeable and all very real. They are the epitome of dysfunctional. Alicia is successful in the publishing business and an acclaimed poet. She accepts the job writing the libretto for the opera in part because she was strangely affected by Hart’s suicide many years earlier. The job brings her back to her childhood home only to find her mother ailing. As Alicia spends time researching the libretto, she and her mother work through a lifetime of animosity and misunderstandings.

The story of the native tribes’ decline before, and especially after, the taking of the totem poles is not the major focus of the story and yet is a very powerful component. Pinder doesn’t overanalyze history while doing an amazing job of portraying the struggles of an entire people. She doesn’t preach to the ruling class for their role in the tribe’s demise. She portrays the facts as she sees them and leaves us to find our own interpretation.

Her characters find a sort of redemption – Alicia with her mother, Hart’s family through Alicia’s research, etc. – but their anguish is not tied up in a neat little bow. There is no “happily ever after” here, just a “perhaps we’re better off from here on out”. BRING ME ONE OF EVERYTHING is a journey worth every reader’s time.

Submitted for an honest review.

Rating: 4.5

Heat Rating: None (minor discussion of sexual topics)

Reviewed By: Jeanne Stone-Hunter

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