A Lighter Read
After reading Peace Like a River, the Land family’s search for a new life after the eldest son is convicted of murder and flees cross country to avoid prison, the subdivision book club clamored for a lighter read in October.
Knowing that Patty Jane’s House of Curl has been characterized as a, “unique blend of Lake Wobegon and the tender but tough female cast of Fried Green Tomatoes“, we made that our selection.
That being said, Lorna Landvik’s story does not avoid heavy issues, but chronicles the tragedies of life with such a light hand that the reader finds each twist and turn enjoyable.
The setting is Minneapolis, the time spans the twenty years between 1950 and 1970 with the Dobbins sisters as the main characters.
After suffering through a miserable childhood as the offspring of alcoholic parents, the lives of Patty Jane and Harriet have taken a definite upswing.
Patty Jane has just married the most handsome man in Minnesota, Thor Rolvagg, an architecture student at the university.
On the way home from Donaldson’s Department Store, Harriet is ambushed by Mr. Right, the 5 foot, 2 inch, balding Avel Ames.
The photogenic Thor poses for the cover art of Mighty Bites, a product of Ames Grains, and then disappears leaving Patty Jane pregnant and alone.
Besides making wedding plans, Harriet along with Ione, Thor’s grieving mother, support Patty Jane through Nora’s birth and the all-compassing depression that follows.
In Part II, Patty Jane opens the House of Curl to support her family and provide the women of Longfellow neighborhood with, “a place where they could share their stories and receive a flip or page boy in return”.
Harriet livens up the establishment with harp melodies until tragedy also enters her life and she retreats into alcohol to dull the pain.
Patty Jane has adopted the motto, “Expect the Unexpected” and that’s exactly what happens in the latter section of the book.
Clyde Chuka, a Lakota with a long black braid, becomes the manicurist for the salon while a loud-mouthed, belligerent woman keeps reappearing to stir up things. And is Thor really alive and sending those $50 checks?
There are plenty more surprises, laughs and tears in store before the novel’s end.
One reviewer heralded Patty Jane’s House of Curl as a sappy story made unbelievable by the vast number of catastrophes suffered by the two sisters.
Another reader, tired of the boring crime novels of King and Koontz, praised PJHC for its positive and uplifting message. “You’ll either love it or hate it!” she remarked.
Discussion Questions can be found by clicking here.
