Our Short History

January 30, 2017
Karen Neulander has a rotten deal. Diagnosed with stage-IV ovarian cancer, she tries to manage her health—surgeries and treatments to prolong her life—as well as her career—political consultant to a philandering New York City councilman running for reelection. Most important is her six-year-old son, Jake. While Jake knows she has a terminal illness, Karen fiercely protects his world and pens a book for him—the very book we are reading, in fact—so that she can leave him something tangible as a guide for his life without her. Knowing she won’t be around forever, Jake suddenly wants to find his father, Dave, the love of Karen’s life, who ditched her when he learned she was pregnant. Grodstein (A Friend of the Family) deftly explores family relationships, but the device of Karen writing a book for her son is cumbersome and artificial. The power of the book is also undermined by the sentimental circumstances and predictable ending: will Karen let Dave, who has changed and is eager to have a meaningful relationship with the son he never knew he had, be a part of her son’s future without her?

January 15, 2017
This novel is posed as a book written by a mother with stage 4 ovarian cancer for her young son about her coming to terms with her mortality.Karen Neulander is a successful political consultant and a happy single mother, raising her son, Jacob, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. As the book begins, she and 6-year-old Jacob are spending the summer on Mercer Island, near Seattle. The hope is to get Jacob acclimated to life there with his aunt, uncle, and cousins, who will adopt him when Karen dies, in two to three years. At Jacob's insistence, Karen contacts his biological father, Dave--a tough task, because Karen loved Dave, was heartbroken when his response to her unplanned pregnancy was to reiterate his lack of interest in kids, and therefore left him and never told him she'd kept the baby. To her dismay, Dave is now excited to learn of his son and hopes to be involved in his life. This brings Karen to an emotional breaking point as her health deteriorates and she attempts to act as though everything is still within her control. Karen is a character many will love--determined, flawed, loving, witty. But two things get in the way of Grodstein's (The Explanation For Everything, 2013, etc.) natural storytelling abilities. First, the whole book is written in the past tense, but much of it takes place in the present time of the story, often making it tricky to know when an event is happening. Second, despite the title, Karen mostly describes to Jacob pieces of her past from before him or the agony she is going through as she writes. Ultimately, this seems to be more an investigation into the stages of Karen's self-grieving and less an edifying guide for her son. A poignant and realistic portrait of the struggles with ovarian cancer that chafes a bit against its frame.

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Starred review from February 1, 2017

Karen Neulander is writing what no mother wants to give to her child: the story of their life together, to be read when he's an adult. Karen has Stage IV ovarian cancer, with a possibility of two years to live. She'll never get to see her six-year-old son, Jacob, go to college, or play sports, or marry. As a single mother, it's always been the two of them against the world. She's made plans for him to live with her sister's family after her death. Then Jacob asks to meet his father. When Dave learned Karen was pregnant, he insisted he didn't want to be a father and even questioned whether the baby was his. But now he's eager to meet his son, and Jacob and Dave bond immediately. Now, on top of her guilt, anger, and grief, Karen faces a new emotion: fear that her ex will take Jacob since she is dying. VERDICT Grodstein's (The Explanation for Everything) heartbreaking, character-driven story is told in the remarkable, believable voice of a courageous, sympathetic character. Recommended for readers of Jodi Picoult, Lisa Genova, or Sally Hepworth's The Mother's Promise.--Lesa Holstine, Evansville Vanderburgh P.L., IN

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from March 1, 2017
Karen Neulander wasn't afraid of much, until she had to call her ex-boyfriend, Dave, to tell him about Jake, the six-year-old son he didn't know she'd had. Adding to this emotional chaos, Karen is a survivor of ovarian cancer and has no idea how long her current period of remission will last. A custody arrangement for Jake has already been planned out in the event of Karen's death, but she can't shake the feeling that Dave will try to interfere. In the face of so much turmoil, Karen decides to keep a written record of Jake's life to pass down to him after her death, and her journal, entitled Our Short History, is that effort, composed of Karen's innermost thoughts, memories of Jake's first six years, and her dreams for his future. The novel's creative structure feels incredibly personal, since Karen isn't afraid to editorialize. Grodstein manages to walk the fine line between pathos and melodrama by painting Karen as a fully realized mother, sister, and friend, never allowing the cancer to consume her complex identity. Fans of Camille Pagan's Life and Other Near-Death Experiences (2015) will love Karen's unflinchingly honest journey.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)