The Land of Mango Sunsets

by Dorothea Benton Frank

Book Overview

Miriam Swanson is thoroughly provoked and she doesn't mind letting you know. Twenty years ago her husband Charles, a powerful attorney with one of the last remaining white shoe law firms in New York, dumped her for a younger woman nearly half her age. Obviously it happens all the time and it's not exactly news, but what's fascinating is to watch Miriam evolve from pathetic to spectacular. Perfectly proper Miriam's great metamorphosis results from...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060892382
• ISBN13: 9780060892388
• Release Date: April 2007
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Touching and funny with great characters

A story about a woman of a certain age that finds herself challenging some long-held assumptions and habits. The story is filled with quirky, fun characters and will have you both laughing and crying. A very touching story with enough twists and turns to keep your interest.

Thoroughly Enjoyable

This was my first Dorothea Benton Frank book and it certainly won't be my last. The title caught my interest only by chance and I decided to read it even if though I'd never heard of the author (where have I BEEN?). What a breath of fresh air - I can't remember when I've enjoyed a book as much. The characters were vivid - well defined and colorful. Perhaps it's just that this is my first book by this author, but I wasn't absolutely sure where the story was going or how it was going to end. I found myself looking forward to having the time to read the book, which is always the sign of a good read. I loved the combination and contrast of locations between SC and NYC. I guess there isn't anything I didn't like about this book except that it had to end. I'm thrilled the author has written several other books so I can get and enjoy them.

Miriam is forced to reassess what she "wanted" and how she learns to appreciate the abundance that l

Miriam Swanson never planned to find herself in a Manhattan townhouse, renting out parts of it to make ends meet. But after her husband Charles betrayed her, that's exactly where she was. Kevin, her tenant and best friend, asks, "What's going through your head, Miriam? You've got that look again." And she responds, "Everything. I'm middle aged, Kevin. The game's half over and somehow I never got what I wanted." THE LAND OF MANGO SUNSETS tells the story of how Miriam is forced to reassess what she "wanted" and how she learns to appreciate the abundance that life has given her instead. Throughout the book this life-changing theme is repeated: When one door closes, another one opens. Every cloud has a silver lining. When life hands you lemons, make lemonade. As a cynical New Yorker, this Pollyanna approach to life never occurred to Miriam. For example, despite her divorce, she continued trying to hold open the door of Manhattan society by extensive volunteering and hobnobbing with the matrons who dictate its rules. She saw no silver lining in having to rent her upstairs bedroom to a young woman whose company was a gentleman caller. And she certainly had no hope of making anything good out of the flawed relationships she had with her sons. Yet, as she recognizes that change is necessary and with the help of her friends, she begins to let go of the beliefs that have not served her very well. The transformation that takes place will have readers cheering for this courageous woman and envying the goodies that life gives her once she becomes willing to admit that she has made mistakes and resolves to change. Part of the change involves returning to visit her mother and rediscovering the charm of Sullivan's Island, which is the land of mango sunsets that she remembered from her childhood. Her relationship with her mother is one that every woman can relate to, either because she has one like it or wishes she did. Miss Josie appears to have taken up the green lifestyle, growing her own vegetables, raising chickens and getting her dairy products from Cecelia, her miniature goat. Her friend, Harrison Ford, is always around to help out and even begins Miriam's transformation by renaming her "Mellie." She thinks he's better looking than the movie star with the same name and starts wondering if there will be a Ford in her future! The thing about memoirs, whether fictional or not, is that they are usually about rather unremarkable people who do some remarkable things. What makes them so enjoyable is when they are written by remarkable writers. Writers who pay attention to the smallest details of life, like a pet bird who repeats sentences with a sense of timing that Johnny Carson would appreciate. Like the nuances of love between friends. Like snappy New York dialogue from a middle-aged matron. Like a city girl trying to get a goat to cooperate with the milking process. Dorothea Benton Frank is a remarkable writer, and THE LAND OF MANGO SUNSETS is a book

Brava, Dottie!

How did we live without Dorothea Benton Frank? Each book she writes is better than the last. Every time I think I've died and gone to heaven, as in Sullivan's Island, Shem Creek, and all the rest, she comes up with a new, unique set of characters that win my heart forever. Meet Miriam, an uptight (to the point of being ridiculous) divorced New Yorker whose entire life is wound around her status in various society committees. My first reaction was, "ewwwww, who wants to read about this shallow person?" Of course I was dead wrong...as I learned in short order, when I met Harry the Bird, a character in his own right, and Kevin, the gender-bending, absolutey fabulous window designer who is not only Miriam's tenant, but her best friend. And THEN, we find out that our uptight Miriam is really a bona fide geechee girl, from Sullivan's Island, and once we fly down south with her to visit her wonderful mother Miss Josie, and to share in all the traditions and the lifestyle with which Miriam grew up, we entirely forgive her. Especially when she becomes "Miss Mellie," which is a story in itself. The book goes faster and faster, and gets better and better, and then all of a sudden it is finished, and readers like me are left to beg: "Please, Dottie, may I have another?"