Review: Feast or Family: ‘What are the obstacles to happiness?’
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 10, 2013
Read a few page of this novel and it becomes quite apparent that the author, James Lawless, an Irish novelist, is moving his mind into the world of what is commonly called ‘chick lit’. This is his fourth novel, originally published in 2012, and the quality is nearly as fine as his original novel PEELING ORANGES, this reader’s introduction to the author’s talent. Lawless was born in the Liberties of Dublin, is an arts graduate of University College Dublin and has an MA in Communications from Dublin City University. Lawless divides his time now between County Kildare and West Cork.’FINDING PENELOPE continues Lawless’ unique perspective in setting a story that reflects the tenor of place - of Spain and Ireland. Of note, the author remarked the following about the origins of this novel: ’'Apart from casting a wry glance at the role of patriarchy in a family, FINDING PENELOPE is essentially a love story marking a growth in self-realization in the protagonist Penelope Eames. It delves into the drugs culture and its associated criminality in Spain (where a lot of Celtic Tiger money wound up laundered), Ireland and the UK. The prompt for the novel was from Cervantes and a motif may be interpreted as a sort of modern day parallel of Don Quixote's attack on the proliferation of romance novels of that time. As seventy per cent of fiction readers are now female, I wanted to understand more of the female mindset. So I picked the brains of women of my acquaintance, including two adult daughters and I researched contemporary women writers and books like Everywoman and I reread with new female (or at least androgynous) eyes, my well-thumbed de Beauvoir, Anna Karenina and Portrait of a Lady. Simultaneously, I was studying the crime culture on the Costa. The result was the character Penelope Eames.'Does it work? Yes! Very briefly, Penelope Eames, a curvaceous 33-year-old fluff novelist, relocates to Felicidad, Spain, both for solitude to write another book but also to escape the dysfunction of her oppressive father and her drug-addled brother, Dermot, in Dublin. At the playa she meets the hunky Ramón, a young Spanish schoolteacher to whom she is immediately attracted and stirs the longing for the happiness that has eluded her. She receives a disturbing call from Dermot saying he is at the mercy of one Charlie Eliot, a pimp and drug dealer on the Costa. Ramón, whose mother was killed by a drug addict, tells her to have nothing to do with Charlie Eliot. Penelope must decide whether to compromise herself with Charlie Eliot and jeopardize her chance of happiness with Ramón or heed the plea of her drug-addicted brother?Lovers of chick lit will respond whole-heartedly to this masterfully written romance laced with suspense and mystery. It seems James Lawless can handle any genre tossed his way. As expected, his style is radiant, sings, and makes for a very fine read. Grady Harp, December 13