Review: Taking the good with the bad
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 12, 2012
What is it about our parents that when they get older, they seem to lose that verbal filter, and anything or everything they say is awkward or embarrassing for us? I guess it may be payback for the times we caused a fuss when we were children, as if our roles have now been reversed. I couldn't help but see my own parents in this story: the dad who whispers loudly, drawing even more attention to something that shouldn't be vocalized, and the mom who always seems to find something to fret or to complain about.Told in first-person from a much put-upon daughter's POV, this short story is very much a study in patience and forbearance, and really, a study in love, most of all. Even as it focuses on those family quirks you may have to choke down with a couple of aspirin, the tone of this story is gently honest and funny and never mean-spirited. It's a very nicely told slice of life story many readers will identify with- just a dinner with the parents that seems to exemplify all that is good but tiresome about those we love.