More and more I have been enjoying books that are written to tell a story. To dive right in the middle of someone’s life and roll along like you’ve known the characters a long time.
Brightside is one of these. The story starts right before the Election of 2016 with Mona trying to steal a neighbors Trump sign. A few weeks later, in the wake of the election, her barn gets burned down, and the sanctuary that Mona owns goes up for sale. Then we check in with Ariel, her long estranged daughter who left Mona years before to go to college. She is recently engaged and decides to go home to do something, she’s not sure what yet. During all of this we meet a host of other characters such as Gideon the sanctuary hand, Joy his girlfriend, Dex Ariel’s fiancé, and a few others.
Even though there are a few storylines that don’t get wrapped up by the end of the book, it is one of those books where it is okay that there are some questions left unanswered. Maybe there will be a next time.
Thanks to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster for letting me read this as an ARC!

This was a book right down my alley. I really enjoyed the strong main female character, Ariel, and I love how much of the book centered around animals. The dialogue was clever and fast paced, and it was an overall enjoyable, funny, heartwarming read. Would definitely recommend!

I liked this a lot more than I thought I would. It was a moving story with great characters. If you like Trump, you probably won't like this book, but who knows. This has been in my shelf for awhile, and I guess at this point in time it was kind of a perfect read. Although the ending felt a little abrupt, it didn't leave me hanging, and was overall a good story.

What an awesome book! I’m sorry it somehow got neglected on my NetGalley shelf for so long, but maybe timing IS everything and that particular “aging” made it a better read for the Pandemic Summer of 2020? So, the author, Becky Mandelbaum, has created some amusing, believable, engaging characters in this story and has set it in the post-Trump election days of 2016. As other reviewers have commented, if you’re a Trump fan, you probably won’t exactly love this book. BUT, if you’re an animal lover, liberal-minded educated human being, looking for a semi-light read with timely touches, you should give it a try. I found it to be about much more than hating Trump and rejecting bigotry. As a daughter and mother of grown children, I found the relationship depicted between Ariel and her mother Mona, to be touching and realistic.. I appreciated that the author presented both characters without sugar-coating their flaws, and was also pleased that the author didn’t try to tie up the conclusion with a “Happily Ever After” trite ending. I was especially impressed with this author after doing some research about her and looking for more written by her, as she’s quite young and hopefully has many more good books in her to share with grateful receptive readers, such as myself.

Beautifully written book about family set in wildlife sanctuary. It was a moving book and kept me engaged till the end .

Beautifully written family drama about mother and daughter. Each is trying in their own way to make amends. After an act of vandalism at her mothers animal sanctuary, Ariel, who originally left her overworked, slightly unhinged mother to try and find herself at college returns home after 6 years. With little to no contact between mother and daughter, tensions flare. Ariel also has to contend with the man she loved and left behind and figure out her feelings for the new man in her life. Mona, tries to forgive her awkward, quiet daughter while also confronting long held issues of her own. I found myself routing for Ariel.

All daughters have to figure out their relationship with their mothers. Mandlebaum was able to write a heartfelt, emotional, true tale about this timeless relationship. Told thru first person narrative chapters, an annoyingly popular narrative tool these days, Manlebaum makes it work. It seems almost natural, like that was how this story was meant to be told. She is able to not only give differing perspective but also easily move the plot and narrative along. I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Also, it had lots of animals which is always a huge plus in my opinion. Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC for review.

This brought back the feelings exactly of 2016. The hopeless, frightened feeling that you tried to will away, but it just got stronger as people began to show the worst selves they had hidden before and just let their racist, sexist homophobia run rampant. And yet reading it also brought back what a simpler time that was and how long the last 4 years have been.

In that backdrop, we have a story about relationships brought back together after a mother's home is attacked and defiled with racist messages. How that one relationship is changed and how it changes the other relationships around the two women is the story that unfolds. Touching and real.

This was a quick and easy read. I immediately bonded with Mona over her feelings about Donald Trump and his followers, but she is a complicated person with good intentions that ultimately alienated her family members. Ariel suffered as a result and seems somewhat lost. I thought this was an interesting look at a dysfunctional family and how sometimes family and forgiveness are more important than anything else.

*I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my truthful view of the book after reading.*

I have mixed feelings about Mandelbaum's "The Bright Side Sanctuary for Animals." On the one hand, Mandelbaum does a fantastic job of conveying the complexities of human relationships, whether they are between family, friends, neighbors, enemies, or some combination. She also does a great job of examining the love and loyalty between humans and animals.

However, I found myself highly uncomfortable throughout my reading. The first issue I had was the not-so-subtle political messages. I'm not opposed to political statements or influences. However, these felt disjointed from the overarching storyline. The second issue that made me uncomfortable was how Mona was living. Perhaps it is due to knowing individuals who live in similar squalor, but I felt sick to my stomach throughout most of the book. It was clear that the situation was unhealthy, and likely mental health issues were underlying it. I guess that Mandelbaum's writing made me feel quite sad for Mona (and most of the other characters), and I wish there had been some glimpse of hope.

This one started slowly for me, but I'm glad I continued to read, I ended up loving it. This story is all about the unexpected.
Mona owns and runs the Bright Side Sanctuary For Animals, located in a small town in western Kansas. With the help of only one employee, Gideon, it's stressful, hard work, and it's getting to be too much for Mona.
Her daughter Ariel left for college against her mom's wishes, and they haven't spoken or seen each other for six years. Ariel also deserted Gideon, they were once very much in love.
Ariel hears the sanctuary has been the scene of a hate crime, the barn is burned down and anti-Semitic graffiti is written on the walls. Mona has put the place up for sale, and Ariel realizes she must return home. She feels responsible, the suspect in custody is a neighbor and childhood friend.
When Ariel departs, her fiance Dex, begins to worry. He doesn't know anything about her early years, she's kept her upbringing a secret. He decides to follow her and make sure she's not leaving him for good.
As Mona and Ariel reunite, they must learn to forgive each other and discover how to communicate.
Written in a brilliant, unique style, with amazing characters that make you want to slap them and/or kiss them, sometimes at the same time!
This book is like real life, it doesn't wrap up neatly, and still leaves you with unanswered questions. An entertaining and unconventional debut novel, with heart and humor.
Thank you Simon & Schuster for the e-ARC via NetGalley.

Set in western Kansas, this story is a study of relationships, healing, grief and reconnections, all set within the confines of an animal sanctuary /rescue operation. Told in third person omniscient, the major voices here are Mona and Ariel, mother and daughter, and their relationship stressors and difficulties as the story moves forward. Essentially, the story starts right after the current administration’s election, and is laden with the disheartened, depressed and discouraged attitudes of the people, worried about what is to come. But the story started long ago, in Mona’s childhood after her mother’s death, her discomfort with emotions and people, and the repeat of the fractured childhood in her own life. When Ariel was due to enter high school, friendless and ostracized because of her mother’s obsession with and all focus directed to the animals she’s taken in, her father left the family – and left her feeling unseen and unloved: even more than before. When she takes her own steps and leaves home, it is six years and after seeing a report of a fire at the Bright Side that she returns. To make amends, to help, to see what may have been: even Ariel isn’t sure what she’s doing.

In the intervening years, Mona has isolated herself and been constantly against every bit of change or ‘new way’ of doing things possible. Her gruff manner, her obsession (to the exclusion of all else) with the animals, and her never-expressed feelings of abandonment, fear or even the inevitability of the sanctuary closure all seem to be designed to push away any chances for her to find compassion, empathy or friendship. With the return of her daughter, and the two having no idea how to bridge the gaps between them: the story has painful moments where the tension fairly crackles off the page, but it is easy (and a great feat from the author) to make both characters complex AND empathetic – you want to see them make amends, find peace and discover the answers to questions LONG unanswered, even those both are afraid to ask.

I’ll be honest and say I was about 4 or 5 chapters in before the pieces started to fall into place and bits started to make sense, and the introverted nature of both Ariel and Mona, and their communion with the animals did speak to me, and you can’t go far wrong with the interactions between animals and people. But contrasting the relative ease and comfort in relating to the animals is dramatically different from human interactions and the complexities, long-held hurts and slights, and the general fraught relationships between mothers and daughters that are ever-present even in the best circumstances. Mandelbaum has taken several easily-sorted issues (from a writing perspective) and added complexity, difficult (and often) not easily answered questions and issues that range from ‘good intentions’ to overwhelmed and barely striking a balance to the good, and made the story sing. A lovely debut offering that promised a story that was laden with good intentions and circumstances that pushed everything off course to deliver a story that ends with hope and heart, and leaves you thinking long after the book is closed.

I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

Review first appeared at <a href=” https://wp.me/p3OmRo-aLt /” > <a> I am, Indeed </a>

This is a beautifully-written book about two very flawed characters, Mona and Ariel, estranged mother and daughter. Although the setting is spelled out in the title, the story is much more about humans and how hard it for them to connect with one another.

None of the characters in Mona's and Ariel's circle have any difficulty forming bonds with the animals that have been rescued and brought to Bright Side. (Even Dex, Ariel's fiance, who thinks he dislikes animals, eventually discovers otherwise.)

There is the grittiness of poverty and obsession (Mona seems like a high-functioning animal hoarder), and the disconnect at the heart of the book -- which is set in 2016 Kansas -- extends far beyond Mona's little "it takes a village" cadre. It was, after all, the election year that showed us just how divided and disconnected we are from our fellow citizens.

Just one comment on the ending, which has bothered some readers: I loved it! It wrapped up a troubling story with the suggestions of how each character was going to find her/his way forward into growth. Not neat-and-tidy, still messy,but not as hurtful as previously.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an advance readers copy.

A version of this review previously appeared in Shelf Awareness and is republished here with permission.

Becky Mandelbaum's debut novel, The Bright Side Sanctuary for Animals, is a fabulous entry to long form after her stunning and multi-prize-winning story collection, Bad Kansas. Mona Siskin kicks off a long-coming reckoning when she steals the Fuller brothers' pro-Trump sign. Soon after, Mona's estranged daughter, Ariel, reads a headline that knocks her cold--"Fire at Animal Sanctuary Ruled Arson." Antisemitic messages were also left on buildings and on Lady Madonna the pig. The suspect, Sydney Fuller, was Ariel's only friend growing up, the lone ally she unintentionally betrayed.

Worse is the news Mona has to sell the Bright Side, the sanctuary where Ariel was raised and that cost her family so much. Her father left one day without a word. Her mother, so busy caring for the animals, made Ariel feel more like hired help than a daughter. Six years earlier, Ariel also silently snuck away, to attend college against her mother's wishes. She left her home, the animals and her first love, Mona's ranch hand Gideon.

Insightful and cuttingly funny, Mandelbaum has a grand knack for character depth and point of view. The author handles rudderless Ariel's return to a marvelously complex mother masterfully; she doles out each woman's unspoken emotional history and trauma with precision and affection. Trailed by her hapless fiancé, Dex, Ariel also has to face Gideon and his girlfriend, Joy, both steady ships in the storm. The Bright Side is a thorny family drama filled with edgy humor and snappy prose, with love and dogs at its heart.

STREET SENSE: I fell in love with Mandelbaum's writing when I covered Bad Kansas for Shelf. Who could pass up a title like that? It was a very pleasant surprise and I couldn't wait to see what Mandelbaum did in the long form. I'm signing up for whatever she writes in the future.

COVER NERD SAYS: This beautiful cover amps up my desire to run away to a simpler place, even though what Ariel gets when she gets home is far from simple. But how could you not want to step into this cover image?

Yes, this one is a good one. Between the conflict of mom and daughter, to conflict between finances and one of them possibly being in love with another person - then throw in a ranch type situation, this is s really wonderful book. I think it's hard as children to go back to the parents who raised us poorly. Especially when we can be expected to help them. This one definitely gave me uncomfortable feelings. But in the way that you know is good.



3/5 Stars

The Bright Side Sanctuary for Animals // by Becky Mandelbaum

"It was one thing to talk about forgiveness, but it was another to forgive with the body, with the bones and skin and blood. It was something the animals understood instinctively, that the deepest emotions could not be translated into language, for they existed in the body and not the mind."

The Bright Side Sanctuary for Animals is in trouble - not only is it up for sale but it was also victim to an anti-semitic attack orchestrated by Ariel's childhood friend Sydney. Ariel has not been back to the sanctuary since she ran away six years prior but after finding out that news, she feels drawn back to her childhood home. She knew coming home to her mom would be complicated. They have not even talked once in the whole time Ariel has been away and she knew that there would be some resentment on all fronts back on the farm where her high school crush still lived. Add a clumsy fiance into the mix and the tension may turn into more than she can handle.

It wasn't until I reread the description for this book that I remembered that the entire story played out over just a single weekend because there was enough feeling and excitement and tension to last us several weeks! If you are looking for a book with a grand adventure and a big climax at the end - then this is not the one for you. But if you are a fan of character-driven novels that explore the deeper meaning of feelings and focus on how the characters arrive at the choices they make, then this is just the one for you. It is hard to believe that this book is Mandelbaum's debut novel because the feelings she evokes are deeper than I have come to expect even from some more seasoned writers. Ariel and Mona took me on a rollercoaster ride of emotions with their complicated relationship while Dex, a character I expected to dislike from the start, turned into someone far more caring than it would seem at first glance (or even all throughout Ariel's point of view). Sometimes having more than one or two narrators can feel overwhelming but Mandelbaum did an excellent job switching between her characters at just the right moments. While the ending is rather open-ended with some unresolved issues, I rather like that in this case because it feels so full of possibility. I'm excited to see what else we will see from her in the future.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars

This is Becky Mandelbaum’s first full-length novel. The author is from Kansas, and her knowledge of the book’s setting was refreshingly authentic. Fair warning for those who are not interested in encountering politics in their leisure reading, this book contains political discussion and views from the 2016 election. It did not bother me, but I think that it might not be some reader’s cup of tea.

This story about reclaiming an estranged mother-daughter relationship hit the right note on many levels. The book moved along via the viewpoints of three different characters; Ariel, Mona and Dex. First, there is Ariel. She is returning to rural Kansas after her Mom’s animal sanctuary was vandalized. She and her Mom, Mona have been estranged for six years. Ariel left Lawrence, Kansas right after accepting a marriage proposal from her boyfriend, Dex. She was entertaining thoughts of breaking up with Dex before his proposal. She accepted his proposal anyway, and then skipped town to go out to the sanctuary. To complicate matters further, Ariel is surprised to find that her first great love is still working at the sanctuary.

The main thrust of the book is about healing relationships, and finding the wherewithal to be true to yourself in an authentic way. The writing is superb. While there were many characters and viewpoints, the story moved along in a way that was easy to follow. I was not a fan of the ending. Some reviewers loved it, but for me I was left a bit disgruntled.

I would recommend this to readers who like Literary Fiction, and those who are interested in seeing how a caring mother-daughter duo empathically resolves long-standing issues. This is an intelligent book that I am glad that I got a chance to read.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the Publisher via NetGalley. These are my honest thoughts.

I requested this book because it sounded like something unique and interesting to read about. I am so glad I did. I really enjoyed the characters and felt many emotions as I read. I don't think it will be a book that everyone loves, and that's ok. But, I for one, did enjoy it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the ARC of The Bright Side Sanctuary for Animals in exchange for my honest review.

I was very disappointed right from the beginning. There were so many trump references within the first 10 pages. Even as an Independent, I thought it was overboard.

I was interested in this book because I grew up in Kansas and I love books with animals. Well - the Kansas in the book was nothing like the suburbs of Kansas City where I grew up and the sanctuary wasn't at all what I expected. The worst part was the political negativism thrown in throughout the book that served no purpose to the story I could see - don't we get enough of that in the news every day? I was beginning to wish I hadn't started reading this book - but I never abandon a book so I kept reading.

I had no respect for Ariel. How she could have no contact with her Mother for 6 YEARS was just incomprehensible to me! And she treated Gideon so shabbily - only to repeat that pattern with Dex. (Why Dex remained devoted to her I have no idea). As for Mona - she thinks she's doing good - and in some ways she is - but she thinks only of herself. Not her husband who she obviously loved but drove away, and not her daughter who she seemed to want only as a worker at the sanctuary.

I liked the stories about the animals and the overall book was ok. Just not at all what I expected.

Thank you to the publisher and to Net Galley. This is a heartwarming family story set in a animal sanctuary in Kansas. Ariel has to return home to her Mother's animal sanctuary amid its financial ruin and racist attacks. As Ariel proceeds to say and help her Mother to restore the sanctuary family bonds are once again established.

This is a nice story and the added bonus of a animal sanctuary setting is endearing. I like the charcters and how the author writes of family ties and blessings of a family. A very sweet story.