A Place We Knew Well by Susan Carol McCarthy

9780804176545

256 Pages
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group – Bantam Dell, Bantam
Release Date: September 29, 2015

Fiction (Adult), General Fiction (Adult), Cuban Missile Crisis, Mental Illness, Adoption

In October 1962, Wes Avery owns a Texaco gas station and is married to Sarah. Their teenage daughter Charlotte was named to the Homecoming Court. They live near a military base in the Orlando, Florida area. One morning, planes begin taking off in advance of an expected hurricane but then the storm changes course.

The military base is preparing for a show and Sarah is in charge of “Grandma’s pantry.” This includes all the food that should be stored in a bomb shelter. Sarah is dealing with emotional/mental issues after a necessary hysterectomy after a pregnancy with twins resulted in a miscarriage. She is under constant pressure from the committee chairwoman to get things done while trying to deal with everyday life and preparing for homecoming. It proves to be too much for her, and she takes a turn for the worse.

When Wes is asked to give a job to a displaced Cuban boy, Emilio, he readily agrees. Between him and his best friend Steve, they provide stability to Emilio. President Kennedy gives a speech announcing the Soviets placed missiles in Cuba which puts the military base on alert. Everyone is tense and no one knows if there will be a tomorrow.

The story is fast paced, the characters are well developed, and it is written in the third person point of view. The author shows how mental illness was treated during that time. It was sad to watch Sarah deteriorate while her family watched helplessly. This is an excellent book for anyone in the Florida area (I am in West Central Florida) or that likes military fiction.

A powerful novel about the impact of crisis - world-wide one and personal one, too.

During 13 days within October 1962 the world was immersed in the possibility of the nuclear world war, when the American and Soviet leaders were on the brink of an immediate attack due to the reports of Soviet missiles on Cuba. This crisis has had an enormous impact on the personal lives of individuals - Wes Avery, husband and father, with the past of a war pilot; his wife Sarah, on a brink of a nervous breakdown, their 17-year-old daughter Charlotte, whose Homecoming week is upcoming; Emilio, the Cuban boy and many others.
Life goes on, so does the Homecoming, but the shadow of a danger is very much present.
How one lives, when the tomorrow is not promised? Good question.

But the life does not wait for anybody. And certainly not for wes Avery, the kind guy, whose carefully built world is breaking down with the supersonic speed. His beloved wife is behaving strangely (might it be more than just the after effects of her hysterectomy?); his only daughter is changing before his eyes into a woman; the foreign - Cuban - crisis, of what he had never thought before, is suddenly very alive for him through the eyes of young Cuban helper Emilio with his own set of horrors set in his soul; and the world is on the brink of a catastrophy - and he, as one of the bombers of Japan, knows too much about the possibility of doom to be able to sleep peacefully.
These days will change their lives. Well, there might be a dose of goodness in all the negativity, but still - is the price for that good enough?
Good question.

Impactful book! I personally have never thought about the impact of a war threat to the lives of common American citizens. And I am shocked and full of compassion here. While, as a child of post-communist country myself, I think that the Americans still had it easier during these years than us under the regime, I recognize and understand that the life on the other side might not be much greener, too.
The anxiety is well described and the possibility of doom is very vivid.

Unfortunately, the personal crisis is a second one to the big crisis, which is a pity. While I recognize the power of the overwhelming impact of the world on fire, I would love to know more about how the individual lives of the persons I have come to love continued. We got some conclusions, but the are quite cut off into just short passages.

But having said all that - this book will stay with me. And I am thankful for opening of my eyes to the crisis of the other people, once again! A very much needed reminder.