Looking Back - Welcome to the Great Mysterious

Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.

Welcome to the Great Mysterious by Lorna Landvik

Fiction

2000 Ballantine Books

Read in January 2001

Rating: 3/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Megastar of stage, screen, and television, Geneva Jordan now has a command performance in Minnesota, where she agrees to look after her thirteen-year-old nephew, a boy with Down’s syndrome, while his parents take a long-overdue vacation. Though Geneva and her sister, Ann, are as different as night and day (“I being night, of course, dark and dramatic”), Geneva remembers she had a family before she had a star on her door. But so accustomed is she to playing the lead, finding herself a supporting actress in someone else’s life is strange and unexplored territory. Then the discovery of an old scrapbook that she and her sister created long ago starts her thinking of things beyond fame. For The Great Mysterious is a collection of thoughts and feelings dedicated to answering life’s big questions—far outside the spotlight’s glow. . . .

My Original Thoughts (2001):

While it was an enjoyable and quick read, I was disappointed in Landvik's latest novel. It read like a Sidney Sheldon or Danielle Steel book with all the sappy scenes you'd expect from those authors, but not Landvik. It could have been much better, I think. Too cliched and predictable. Obviously life-changing moments occur, including the requisite romance. It wasn't a bad book; just not the caliber I've come to expect of this author. 

I did like the idea of The Great Mysterious scrapbook. Very creative idea and thought-provoking.

My Current Thoughts:

Not surprisingly, I don't remember this book or anything about the scrapbook.