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Over the longer holiday weekend I was able to finish another book. It was a quick read, because I really enjoyed it and it was written well.

"Six Figures" by Fred G. Leebron is a story about a man and his family/work life and all he feels is lacking. From the very beginning of the book you can tell how stressed out and bitter he is with everything.

Warner Lutz doesn't like where he is in life. He doesn't make much money. He has a wife and two kids and they all live in a dirty, small house that he can't stand. They have one car which requires constant car pooling through Charlotte, North Carolina. And he hates his job, which is why they have moved several times.

Warner's wife says he is one of the most negative people she has ever met. I'd have to agree with her. He resents the fact that they have a second child and he resents the fact that he can never seem to prove himself at work. He does fund-raising for a nonprofit organization and the person before him scammed the company out of a lot of money. So he needs to fix that issue while also getting back in good standing with local sponsors. Megan Warner (the wife) works in an art gallery. She makes money when the gallery makes money, so her job isn't particularly stable either.

Meanwhile there are two children who require constant love and attention. And grand parents who for the most part are not at all helpful or supportive of the family life.

An attempt on Megan's life is made while she is alone packing boxes in the gallery. Since Warner and her have been having troubles and he is an angry person, he becomes the suspect. Megan is in a coma for awhile and when she wakes up she doesn't remember anything. Without clear motive and without proof, the charges are dropped, but of course not before he lost his job and his family.

As readers we are left wondering who tried to kill Megan, with several blows to the back of her head via a hammer. We don't know if it was Warner, but would like to believe it's not. She doesn't know if it was her husband either, but she moves back in with him.

**SPOILER ALERT**

Everything turns around for Warner, because he is jobless and he ends up being a stay at home Dad, while Megan gets back to work in the gallery. He begins to calm down, be less angry and bitter, because he is spending quality time with the children and no longer in a job he hates.

Nearing the end of the book, Megan realizes it was not Warner who tried to kill her after all. When his mother dies he throws a fit at the funeral and while he is screaming he says something about the murder attempt and how everyone thinks he did it. What he describes is not exactly what happened and it is in that moment that Megan knows he has been telling the truth.

They end up leaving Charlotte and moving into a nicer house in Pennsylvania. They become a stable and happier family. So it all works out very nicely.

The only thing that bothers me is that the attempted murder sort of drops by the way side. But as long as Megan was able to move past it then I suppose it doesn't matter.

Labels: domestic life, family, psychology

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| 10:00 AM | 0 comment(s)!

As much as I thought this book would rock and as much as I wanted to delve into it and have it be a new favorite, I just couldn't stop wondering when it would be over. I like the premise of "Songs from the Black Chair: A Memoir of Mental Interiors" by Charles Barber because I'm very interested in reading about and discussing mental disorders and such. However, this book had a twist, because the author telling the story is actually dealing with his own anguish of being haunted by the suicide of his best friend whilst trying to help everyone else around him as their psychologist.

I guess I thought it would be more of a self-discovery book or more of hearing how he has helped his patients. Going into it with that assumption was a mistake I couldn't seem to back pedal from...

As someone has struggles with depression I had been hoping for insight from the outside. Instead, I remained on the inside hearing how the doctor was also struggling with his own issues stemming from childhood and forward.

With that in mind, I realize this would be an excellent book for someone who does not struggle from a mental health problem. It could help them to understand how deeply rooted depression can be and what goes on in the mind of the people who are feeling it. Though at times the context is raw and extremely emotional, I do think it was helpful for the author to write it all down and finally close those chapters.

Labels: books, mental health, psychology

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| 7:55 PM | 0 comment(s)!