Book Review- Annie Lyons' The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett

Thank you to HarperCollins Publishers for providing me with a copy of Annie Lyons’ novel, The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett, in exchange for an honest review.

Eudora Honeysett is eight-five years old and done with life. She decides that the most dignified death would be to pursue assisted suicide through a company in Switzerland. The process is not simple. It requires doctors appointments and months of thought, during which Eudora’s otherwise predictable life changes with the addition of new friends, including an unusual little girl named Rose and a fellow senior named Stanley. As Eudora discovers that there might be more to her life than she imagined, she is forced to confront difficult issues in her past.

I loved The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett. It’s an emotional journey that had me in tears for the last quarter of the story. I had to put the book down many times, because I became overcome with emotion. The best, most memorable books are ones that shake me to the core, and Lyons’ characters are sure to stay with me for a long time.

The story alternates between the present and Eudora’s younger years. We learn that trauma from Eudora’s early years has led her to put up walls, to protect herself. Octogenarian Eudora is tough, and even has a difficult time softening towards her cat, Montgomery. Lyons carefully balances the difficult senior Eudora, with the hurt child Eudora, giving us a well-rounded, relatable character.

I was struck by how much Eudora reminded me of my mother-in-law. This is not to say that they had similar situations, but more in the general way that senior Eudora has firm ideas about how a person should behave and tends to discredit activities that others use for joy. I also found my niece, Charis, in the character of Rose. Like my niece, Rose is an absolute force of nature, who gathers other people in her orbit. It’s a wonderful quality in a person, but it also means facing criticism by those less comfortable in their own skin. Eudora tries to resist Rose, but Rose simply won’t let her.

The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett is the perfect story to remind us to be compassionate towards others and to remember that we don’t always know the trials that other people face. It’s also a story about the importance of building our own tribe and that blood relatives are not our only family. Lyons has written an absolutely beautiful story with unforgettable characters. She is a new author discovery for me and I was thrilled to learn that she has written many other novels. I look forward to reading them all.

Intima: Crossroads Blog

I recently had the joy of learning that author Michael Lund picked my essay, “Weight” to reflect upon in his recent post that was published in Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine’s Crossroads Blog.

My essay detailed my grief and complicated emotions after my beloved aunt’s death in 2013. Lund’s fictional short story “Bees” involves grief that comes from a terminal diagnosis. Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine offers an interesting opportunity via its Crossroads Blog. It asks those who are published in the current issue of Intima to write a blog article that connects their contribution with that of a previous submission. Lund’s story was published in the Fall 2020 edition of Intima and he connected to my Spring 2020 story.

I also contributed to Crossroads, when I reflected on artist Inés Ixierda’s drawing “Fasciotomy” from the Spring 2016 edition. One of the missions of Intima is to facilitate communication and understanding between patients/caregivers/medical professionals. This fits well with the concept of connecting unrelated submissions in the Crossroads Blog.

I have to admit that I had never heard of Intima prior to discovering them through Submittable and taking a chance that “Weight” might be a good fit. I was thrilled to be published in Intima, but even more, it has led me to discover new artists and writers. The idea of a medical journal might send some people away, thinking it is not for them, but as someone who is not in the medical field, I find Intima to be very accessible. All of us humans go through grief and pain. A majority of us will experience our own medical problems or be caretakers for people that we love. Intima is a platform for conversations around these issues. I encourage you to check it out.

As a sweet bonus, Lund’s blog was posted on Veteran’s Day. Lund is a Veteran and he also teaches creative writing to a Veteran’s group. He couldn’t have known it, but this holiday also has a connection with my family. Although “Weight” is primarily about my Aunt Trudy, it is also connected to my Uncle Larry. My aunt and uncle had an epic love story and both passed in 2013. The grief from my aunt’s passing and the difficulties in carrying for her in her last months, we most certainly compounded from losing my Uncle. He passed in April and she passed in December. My uncle was a Navy veteran and they are buried together at Riverside National Cemetery in California. Prior to learning about Lund’s post, I had been thinking about my uncle and missing him on Veteran’s Day.

I will close with a picture of my aunt and uncle on their wedding day in Las Vegas. They are loved and very much missed.

Florida 2020: Congo River Golf

We love mini-golf and decided to try to play at every course in Orlando. Probably the best course was Congo River Golf. They have many locations, and we played the East Orlando course. We arrived late at night on a weekday in September and practically had the place to ourselves.

Congo River Golf is split into two courses: Stanley and Livingstone, each giving us the story of the famous explorers. I’ve probably never been to a better themed mini-golf course. It has waterfalls, rivers, caves, a crashed airplane, boats, et…every aspect is highly themed.

In addition to playing mini-golf, we were also given a list of items to spot as we walked through the course. For example, we needed to look for a mask and for spears, when we found them, we were to note the hole on our score cards. Since we were playing through so quickly, we didn’t keep up with the game, but I think it would add an additional fun factor when the course is crowded and the waits are long.

The holes had spinner games to add additional challenges to the golf. Due to covid, we thought it best not to touch the spinners, but I like the thoughtful touches to add additional elements to the mini-golf experience.

My favorite hole was waterfall themed, where you had to hit the ball over the edge of a very steep hill. There was no way to control the ball or utilize any sort of skill, but it was fun to send the ball over the edge.

After playing mini-golf, we got to feed the baby alligators, which was the best part of the evening. I could spend all day feeding the gators. They are adorable and so gentle.

Congo River Golf is one of the best, if not the best, mini-golf course in Orlando. The theming is top-notch and the course is a challenge. I look forward to exploring their other locations.