The Book Of Essie by Meghan Maclean Weir – 336 pages
Book Blurb:
Esther Ann Hicks–Essie–is the youngest child on Six for Hicks,a reality television phenomenon. She’s grown up in the spotlight, both idolized and despised for her family’s fire-and-brimstone brand of faith. When Essie’s mother, Celia, discovers that Essie is pregnant, she arranges an emergency meeting with the show’s producers: Do they sneak Essie out of the country for an abortion? Do they pass the child off as Celia’s? Or do they try to arrange a marriage–and a ratings-blockbuster wedding? Meanwhile, Essie is quietly pairing herself up with Roarke Richards, a senior at her school with a secret of his own to protect. As the newly formed couple attempt to sell their fabricated love story to the media–through exclusive interviews with an infamously conservative reporter named Liberty Bell–Essie finds she has questions of her own: What was the real reason for her older sister leaving home? Who can she trust with the truth about her family? And how much is she willing to sacrifice to win her own freedom?
My Review: 4 stars
The Book Of Essie is about a young girl who has been brought up under the spotlight of a reality TV show. The family has a brood of six children who have been raised under the torment of sin. Think of the Duggar Family who had a reality TV show and you’ll get the idea. There was a time when I actually watched that show; the absolute novelty and absurdity of it had my attention.
I was totally wrapped up in this story. It is no spoiler that the book begins with Essie being newly pregnant thus the producers and her mother decide how to ‘handle’ it. There was so much I liked in this book. Told by three different narrators worked well but I’m not sure I fell for Roarke’s as much as others did. He was a much flatter and one-dimensional character. Through Essie, we can conjure her restless spirit and trying to do the right thing for her and her baby. I liked Liberty as her story intertwined with Essie’s in symbolic way.
There is so much to think about while reading this book: Who to trust? The ultimate power the media has over us. How to escape the family you were born into? Secrets. Fitting in. The lengths people go to for money or fame? What would you do? How to survive if you do escape your family?
The author is a medical doctor first and a writer second. With that background, I was expecting more brought to the forefront about the health of the baby (you’ll get this after you read the book). In a small way, not bringing those risks to light bothered me. As a debut author perhaps she thought best not to push the envelope, but I wish had brought everything to the forefront. Book Clubs will devour this book because there is so much to discuss!
Quotes I liked:
Our family rejected materialism and popular culture and yet we also produced it.”
-“Daddy would say that segments like this lend an air of humility to the show, but he says it while wearing a three-hundred-dollar tie, so I’m not entirely sure he knows what the word humility really means.”
-“People are funny that way. They remember only what they want to and manage to forget the rest.”
-“She is so staunchly pro-life, a position that I now realize is just another carefully crafted aspect of her public persona, but because her empire would come crashing down if we were ever caught.”
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