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Shades of Darkness, Shades of Grace |
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Written by Editor
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Wednesday, 30 April 2008 |
Reviewed By Stuart Nachbar
Catherine Johnson’s Shades of Darkness, Shades of Grace is a story of a close Minnesota family thrown in turmoil over a poor marital decision; its consequences place them in a chain of financial, legal and moral struggles that go on for five long years. Johnson wrote Shades based on true events in her own family and reports they were toned down to make the story more believable to her readers. But Shades had more than enough compelling twists to keep me interested. I don’t want to know the true stories.
 Shades of Darkenss, Shades of Grace
Johnson, a former journalist and corporate communications professional narrates Shades from the viewpoint of Kay, loving, but frustrated by Paul’s alcohol addiction and lapses in character. She also becomes a surrogate mother to Kaitlin, Paul and Pamela’s only offspring from their ill-fated marriage. Kay is married to a minister, Tim, who is the only one in the story who sees any good in Pamela, and this frustrates Kay even more. Kay’s parents try to hold their composure throughout the story, as does Jack, but Kay is the only one who brings the necessary fight to expose Pamela for the crooked gold digger she is.
I come from a blended family, though thankfully not one broken by marriage like the Piersons, and it’s mentally challenging to welcome new blood into a lifestyle that’s become settled. It can take several years to put the differences between two families aside and become one. From personal experience, you learn to forgive, but you never forget your differences. And you can even find common ground.
That leads me to the only flaw I found in Shades: Pamela’s true intentions begin to come out at her wedding reception, too early in the story to me. It was one thing to show Pamela as rude so early, but too early to have her release hostility. If I were Paul, I would not have excused her behavior at that point. I would have wondered what I had gotten into, and certainly never had a child with such a woman. But if Johnson’s intention was to show Paul’s true character: weak and spineless, and his parents as naïve, then she succeeded.
Otherwise, I liked Shades very much. Johnson does an excellent job in detailing a family’s struggles, not only with Pamela, a common enemy, but also the demons that are hiding in their own closets.
Contact Stuart Nachbar at http://www.EducatedQuest.com , a blog on education politics, policy and technology or read about his first book, The Sex Ed Chronicle, a novel on education and politics in 1980 New Jersey, at http://www.SexEdChronicles.com .
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