Missing Mom by Joyce Carol Oates
This is about a 31 year old independent women, Nikki Eaton. She has not paid too much attention to her Mother, even after her Father died a while back. She leaves most of the emotional support to her sister who lives closer. She does go home to check on her Mother after her sister calls and says she hasn’t heard from her Mother and she doesn’t answer the phone. The sister is tied up so can’t check herself. When Nikki gets there she goes through the house calling and when she gets no answer she checks the garage to see if her Mother’s car is there. It isn’t and she finds her Mother, dead, brutally murdered. They catch the murderer but he decides to plead not guilty so there will be a trial. It keeps being put off and the story is about how Nikki copes for that year, or tries to cope. During that year she discovers much about her parents. She becomes estranged from her sister and becomes closer to some relatives she has mostly ignored in the past. It does have a happy ending. This wasn’t a page turner but kept me interested enough to finish it.
I also read the Football for Pizza book and did like it even though I really have no interest in football.
Yesterday I attended the Opera, Carmen at the Met in NY. It was great. It was a bus trip that lets you off right there and early enough to have lunch. It was an enjoyable day, but I am tired today. It was worth it.