Hello All!
Last night we had our monthly meeting to discuss our December title-Call Me Mrs. Miracle!
A big thank you goes out to Joanna who took notes during the discussion!
Here are the questions we asked and some of the comments that were made along the way.
1. Do you sympathize with J.R’s unwillingness to leave the tragedy in his past behind, especially at Christmas? Should he have made more of an effort for his son’s sake?
Overall, we thought that J.R. should have moved on, for Jake's sake. His son needed to have something to believe in, have some magic at Christmas, and his father ignoring the holiday basically killed his hope. Mrs. Finley had bought Jake a train set for Christmas, something he desperately wanted, and for 21 years his father hid it in the closet. While we understand the pain and the grief, we thought that as a parent he needed to make more of an effort for his son and and that 21 years was too long to ignore the holiday.
2. Have you ever had the experience of trying to track down the Christmas season’s most popular toy, the gift of the moment? (Remember Cabbage Patch dolls and Tickle Me Elmo?) If so, share that experience and what the gift meant to the child who received it. Do you think Intellytron (if he was a real creation) would appeal to the kids in your life?
Those of us participating in the discussion do not have children, so we have been spared the holiday madness of shopping for that one great toy that every kid wants. (However, Nikki was all too proud to admit that she does have a Tickle Me Elmo...) And we can all agree that Intellytron, or Telly as he is affectionately known in his circle of friends, would be an overwhelming hit with the under 12 set in today's society. (Trust us, we're teachers.)
3. Mrs. Miracle has lots of clever, pithy sayings, which appear at the top of each chapter. Which was your favorite, and why?
Nikki's favorite quote came from chapter 15 "The best vitamin for a Christian is B1!"
4. What do you think of Lindy Lee as a boss? Have you ever had one like her, someone who’s constantly “delegating” and expecting her employees to implement all of her (or his!) ideas? Do you think she’s unreasonable—or ultimately fair?
We were not fans of Lindy Lee. We thought that she was unreasonable, and unfair. In the end she does change her mind and give Holly her bonus as well as turning out to be Gabe's future step-mother, but we thought that the character shift was contrived as well as a little unbelievable. Though, thankfully, none of us had stories to share about bosses such as her.
5. Looking after Gabe is Holly’s first real experience with a child. Does she do a good job? Does she make any mistakes? What advice would you give her?
We thought Holly did a good job raising Gabe, especially when you consider that it was her first real experience with a child. (Except for that one incident with her ex- Bill and his son. And no one was very fond of Bill.) We didn't find that she made any real mistakes, especially since parenting is all a series of trial and error and figuring it out as you go. Nikki was especially impressed by the "back-up plan" Holly created when she was at the store with Gabe, making sure he had a point to meet her at in case they were separated.
6. Holly’s parents are selfless in their volunteering. Have you or anyone you know done this kind of work? How would you describe the sacrifices—and the rewards?
We did not particularly agree with this statement. We think volunteering and helping those in need is a great thing for those more fortunate to do. However, their family was going through a difficult time and we thought they should have made an effort to be there for Gabe and for Holly as they went through this transition and hardship.
7. There are a lot of meals in this story! What’s the significance of preparing and serving food in Call Me Mrs. Miracle? Does your family have a special Christmas recipe?
I personally did not feel it was necessary to include the recipes while Nikki appreciated them :)
8. What was the most moving moment in this story for you? The funniest? The most romantic?
The overall consensus is that the most moving moment was when Gabe's father was standing at the door on Christmas morning. Nikki was especially thrilled to find that he was the one knocking on the door since she was expecting him to die! We were also so relieved to learn that Mrs. Miracle had given Gabe's robot to him, because we knew Mrs. Miracle would not have sabotaged Holly's Christmas surprise! Lindsey did not think the story was super funny because of how predictable it was. Nikki was especially moved that Holly's brother showed up in fatigues and the word "fatigues" was what ultimately made her cry. Alex was less concerned with the how moving the story was and was more concerned with why they named Mrs. Miracle "Emily" and wanted to know why her name wasn't Alex. (She was also a few more glasses of wine in at this point...)
And that's it for January's meeting! If you've read the book please feel free to comment and share your thoughts, we'd love to hear what you thought as well.
