Brooke's Pick: Bad Ideas by Missy Marston

Missy Marston’s latest novel, Bad Ideas, is a unique little book. Coming in at just over 200 pages, this short piece of Canadian fiction peeks into the life of one Ontario family as they grapple with the choices they have made that have gotten them to where they are now.

Trudy’s life has never been anything special. She spends her days looking after her 4-year-old niece, Mercy, who has lived with Trudy and her mother ever since Trudy’s sister Tammy jumped ship and left their small town of Preston Mills, Ontario to pursue a life that doesn’t include her daughter. Trudy’s nights are no more exciting - she spends them sewing pillowcases at the local linen factory, where she dares to dream of something more.

Trudy is completely immersed in the hum-drum of her exceedingly ordinary life until the day Jules Tremblay comes to town. Daredevil Jules, who has plans to jump the St. Lawrence River in his rocket car, catches Trudy’s eye, and from that day on, she is a goner.

Bad Ideas is literally about a series of bad ideas. Teenage pregnancy, marital affairs, family abandonment, jumping a river in a car - this novel covers it all. In short pithy, vignettes, Marston explores the lives, inner thoughts, and dreams of her characters. If anything, Bad Ideas is a true and honest portrayal of real life. Nothing exciting happens here, there are no dramatic twists. Instead, the novel examines what it means to be human, and what it feels like to make difficult decisions.

Availability: eBook & eAudiobook in both cloudLibrary & Hoopla
 Rating: *** Stars (I liked it)
 Reviewer: Brooke, Public Relations Librarian

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 Bad Ideas

GENRE: Historical Fiction
 THEME: Sad Small Towns (A town with few prospects and little privacy, as everyone knows everyone's business. The kind of place most folks leave, if they can.)
 WRITING STYLE: Compelling
 TONE: Bleak; Haunting; Moving
 TIME PERIOD: 1970s
 LOCATION: Ontario
 SUBJECT: Blue Collar Workers; Factories; Familial Love; Hope; Loyalty; Men/Women Relations; Mothers & Daughters; Night Work; Shift Work; Sisters; Small Town Life; Stunt Performers

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