Pamela Klaffke: "They think they invented irony."

When I first picked up Every Little Thing (Amazon) by Pamela Klaffke, I was expecting a Gossip Girl-esque novel. I'm pretty sure this is because I didn't read the back cover carefully enough. Every Little Thing is the story of a woman named Mason, who has serious mommy issues. Her mother, Britt, was a columnist in San Francisco who loved to write painfully detail accounts of embarrassing moments in Mason's life. The story opens after Britt's death, and is the tale of Mason dealing with her strange new situation.

I have very mixed feelings about this novel. It has some shining moments, such as when Mason realizes that her mother truly cared for her. Unfortunately, Mason seems to suffer some sort of short term amnesia, as only a few scenes later, she is once again whining about how awful her mother was. That's really what killed the book for me. There's no way around it-Mason is a whiny woman. She does exhibit some character growth throughout the novel, eventually participating in various public-spotlight activities to empower herself, similar to her mother. However, Mason stubbornly insists the whole time that she is not anything like her mother, and even gets into huge fights with her friends when they dare to compare the two.

Overall, I thought that the concept was good, and there were definitely moments when I was on Mason's side. However, by the end of the book, she did start to get on my nerves. However, other readers may find the character more relatable and sympathetic, so my description should not dissuade any interested readers. If you've read the book, please feel free to comment and let me know what you think!

I wasn't entirely sure if I should write to this author or not, but in the end I decided to.

"I just finished reading Every Little Thing. I found this book to be a very interesting dissection of a mother-daughter relationship. Unfortunately, I was unable to sympathize very much with Mason, but that could perhaps be because I have a very different, and healthier, relationship with my mother. However, the book definitely kept me reading, wondering what would happen in Mason's life next."

Later today, I'll post the author reply from Haywood Smith, who also graciously agreed to do an interview. Tomorrow either the interview or another book will be posted. Have a great day!