When It Happens to You

June 4, 2012
This “novel in stories” is set in the L.A. you see on television, the one where everyone is somehow connected to everyone else. Stories or titled chapters center on Phillip and Greta, who have a daughter, fertility issues, and a marriage going sour, but we also meet people whose lives touch Greta’s and Phillip’s in a variety of ways, like their much older neighbor; a mother at their daughter’s school; and a semi-washed up actor, his twin sister, and her French boyfriend. In many ways Ringwald (Getting the Pretty Back, a memoir) knows of what she speaks, having spent many years in the ’80s as a fixture of the Brat Pack, and she has the mechanics of writing down, but you can hear the gears grinding; the stories are often exposition heavy, the characters seem more defined by their situations than their idiosyncratic histories, and things tend to resolve a little too tidily, even when the point is the continuing messiness of relationships. As a result, this debut work of fiction, which reads well, never gets traction in your mind. It’s probably best seen as an example of one of celebrity’s mixed blessings: your name gets you in the door but your apprenticeship takes place in public.

October 29, 2012
In her literary debut, actress Molly Ringwald’s collection of interlinking stories explores the lives and relationships of a variety of everyday people (a housewife, an elderly woman, even a former child star much like the author herself) and unites these very different people in surprising ways. In this audio edition, Ringwald proves as good a reader as she is an actress: her narration is crisp, well paced, and passionate. With just slight vocal modifications, she provides her characters with distinct voices. Additionally, she subtly alters her tone and cadence to highlight moments of tension and drama. From the very start, listeners will find it easy to get lost in Ringwald’s narration and stories. An impressive display of both prose and performance. An HC/It hardcover.

August 1, 2012
Everyone hopes that love will last forever, that only other people's loves will fail. But what if the unthinkable happens to you? Ringwald's (Getting the Pretty Back, 2010) debut novel employs a series of interlaced stories with a constellation of characters at different stages of life facing varied obstacles (many self-created) in the path of love. Among the characters fumbling to understand their own behavior and bewildered by the consequences of their actions is Greta. She and Phillip have built a secure, happy marriage, one that helps her endure the indignities of a third round of fertility injections and the difficulties of raising their energetic 6-year-old daughter, Charlotte. When Phillip confesses he has cheated on her with Theresa, Charlotte's 19-year-old violin teacher, Greta is staggered. She returns to her mother, Ilsa, who faces her own challenges in love, including her plan to take in Greta's drug-addicted nephew, Milo--Milo, who is so difficult that his own mother has run away to join a New-Age yoga practice. Ilsa challenges Greta: Doesn't everyone deserve a second chance? But Greta cannot forgive Phillip. As she tries to repair her life, Greta embarks on a relationship with the much younger Peter. Estranged from Greta, Phillip forges a friendship with Marina, whose son, Oliver, is a friend of Charlotte's. Oliver, however, likes to dress up in Charlotte's clothes, which leads to his being attacked by older boys. Ringwald deftly weaves together the threads of these stories, creating a tapestry that captures the emotional landscape of both young and well-worn relationships. Amid the dust of that landscape lies a sort of letter to Theresa, a letter that exposes the myriad emotions swirling in the aftermath of a betrayed love. This is a beautiful exploration of how the heart's irrational responses to love and betrayal can stand in the way of forgiveness.

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August 1, 2012
The repercussions of an infidelity ripple throughout the linked stories that constitute actress Ringwald's first foray into fiction. Greta and her husband, Phillip, are trying desperately to have a second child when she discovers he's been unfaithful to her with their daughter's 19-year-old violin teacher. Greta kicks Phillip out of the house and wrestles with her anger over the betrayal and the question of whether she wants to end their marriage or not. In the wake of their family's disintegration, Greta, Phillip, and their daughter, Charlotte, all find themselves seeking solace elsewhere. Greta falls into a passionate affair with a younger actor who is the star of a popular children's show, while Phillip entertains a flirtation with a single mother whose young son, Oliver, is reinventing himself as Olivia. Charlotte begins spending time with an elderly neighbor who is still grief-stricken after the death of her husband five years earlier. Ringwald's name will no doubt draw lots of curious readers who will find that she acquits herself well in this graceful and deft debut.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)