The Bee Season by Myla Goldberg

Now *this* book shows the true dysfunction of American families - none of the members really knows each other, and everybody's looking for God in their own way.

The protagonist, a rather unremarkable girl, wins the spelling bee at her school and gets noticed. And the season of this bee creates chaos in her family ... no, doesn't create. Brings to light.

And I realize my problem with reading is that I really get too much into the books. Too much empathy for imaginary people. Not a good thing. Despite what the author of Reading Lolita in Tehran said.

I guess it was a good book, if good means the characters come alive and you relive your own childhood with an emotionally absent mother, and you're compelled to finish to know what the hell happens. Good narrative structure, interesting plot twists, very plausible all of it even in extremely mystical and pathological moments. But not good like I would ever want to read it again. But good like it will haunt me. But not in the good way. Makes me call all the people I love and tell them that and regain emotional closeness so we do not all die inside.