SEPTEMBER 2012 - AudioFile
Five generations of women living together is rare. It’s even rarer that the oldest family member, Anna, 112, is still vibrant enough to pick olives. Yet this is the premise for Santo’s novel, narrated by Karen White. The Keller women have caught the attention of a scientist studying the longevity gene, and his research shakes up their lives, revealing secrets long hidden. White does not deliver significant variations of voice, other than for Anna, who is originally from Australia. But, thanks to her skill and the organization of the book, it is never a problem to know who is speaking. This is a moving novel, and White's heartfelt narration enhances it. J.L.K. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine
Library Journal
Anna Keller's most ardent wish is to be the oldest person in the world. She's 112 and her chances are pretty good. In fact, five generations of Keller women (mother Anna, daughter Bets, granddaughter Callie, great-granddaughter Deb, and great-great-granddaughter Erin) live together in California's Sacramento Valley, and a geneticist is coming to study their longevity. Although the women appear ordinary, they defy the odds with their unusual life span, and each has secrets that both define and threaten to derail their idyllic existence. When Erin, the youngest Keller, arrives, pregnant and alone, at Hill House after being in Italy for two years, her unexpected return stirs up long-dormant feelings among the women and brings all their guilt, remorse, and secrets to the surface. Her mother, Deb, will be up for parole soon, and Erin is determined to help her secure her release from prison. VERDICT Santo's debut offers a compelling look at five strong women. While the geneticist's findings, which are interspersed throughout the book, could prove distracting to some readers, overall this solid novel will appeal to fans of women's fiction. [See Prepub Alert, 5/5/12; library marketing; 100,000-copy first printing.]—Cynthia A. Price, Francis Marion Univ. Lib., Florence, SC
SEPTEMBER 2012 - AudioFile
Five generations of women living together is rare. It’s even rarer that the oldest family member, Anna, 112, is still vibrant enough to pick olives. Yet this is the premise for Santo’s novel, narrated by Karen White. The Keller women have caught the attention of a scientist studying the longevity gene, and his research shakes up their lives, revealing secrets long hidden. White does not deliver significant variations of voice, other than for Anna, who is originally from Australia. But, thanks to her skill and the organization of the book, it is never a problem to know who is speaking. This is a moving novel, and White's heartfelt narration enhances it. J.L.K. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
Five generations of unusually long-lived women have family troubles in Santo's oddly static debut. With fourth-generation Deborah just paroled after 20 years in jail for killing her husband, and her daughter Erin about to have a child with no husband in sight, not to mention matriarch Anna (age 112) only one death away from being the oldest person in the world, there ought to be more excitement in the house they share overlooking their olive groves in northern California. Instead, there's simmering resentment and whiny adolescent complaining, which sounds especially self-indulgent coming from 42-year-old Deborah. Granted, her mother, Callie, is thoroughly nasty almost all the time, despite the painkillers she constantly pops for a leg crippled in a bizarre accident, which the author refers to in frustrating fragments over more than 200 pages before finally deigning to tell us exactly what happened. Deborah's violent quarrel with Callie in the hospital where Erin is giving birth is the novel's only truly dramatic scene; the fact that Deborah then jumps parole, disappears and is barely ever referred to again is regrettably typical of Santo's clumsy handling of plot and character. Amrit Hashmi, the geneticist who comes to study Anna and her descendants in the hope of discovering the secret of their longevity, at first seems like something of a nut, judging by a Washington Post column jarringly inserted in the text. Amorous emails exchanged between him and Callie do little to improve our opinion of either, though we're later invited to think of their affair as a life-changing event. Other events that seem to merit attention, such as the birth of Erin's son breaking the line of four firstborn daughters, are not commented on at all. Transcripts of news videotape and a closing folktale are other examples of the author's failure to maintain coherent structure, pacing or tone. Some nice descriptions of the olive groves, but this is too scattershot to make for emotionally satisfying fiction.
