WHY STUFF MATTERS

by

JEN WALDO

  Sub-genre: Literary Fiction / Humor

Publisher: Arcadia Books

Date of Publication: June 4, 2019 (US)

Number of Pages: 212

When Jessica, a grieving widow, inherits an antique mall from her mother she also inherits the stallholders, an elderly, amoral, acquisitive, and paranoid collection.

When one of the vendors, a wily ex-con named Roxy, shoots her ex-husband, she calls on Jessica to help bury the body and soon Jessica is embroiled in cover-ups, lies, and misdirection. Into this mix comes Lizzie, Jessica’s late husband’s twelve-year-old daughter by his first marriage, who’s been dumped on Jessica’s doorstep by the child’s self-absorbed mother and it soon becomes apparent that Lizzie is as obsessed with material possessions as Jessica’s elderly tenants.

Why Stuff Matters is a compelling ode to possession, why people like things and the curious lengths they will go to keep them. Returning to her fictional Caprock, Waldo turns her wry wit on the lives of those afraid to let go.

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What happens when you take a small Texas town, a precocious twelve-year-old, a bunch of cranky senior citizens, and multiple deaths?  You get this book!

I enjoyed my visit to Caprock and found myself chuckling throughout especially at the senior citizens that ran booths within an antique mall with overpriced merchandise.  Jessica manages the storefront and all of the vendors, which can be a challenge most days.  Who’s kidding…it is every day that they are a challenge!  On top of that, her deceased husband’s first wife drops her daughter at Jessica’s and just expects her to take care of Lizzie.  Let’s just say Nicole is quite flighty.  There are times during the book that I thought Lizzie stole the scene with her antics, teenage drama, and just wanting to be included.

The antique mall was a family with all the good and bad that accompanies being a part of a family.  They bickered but had each other’s back when the situation called for support.  I’m not sure which of the seniors caught my eye but I have to say that Roxy was a pistol and knew how to play the “old lady” card with the detective.  Jessica is a mother hen to these seniors, settling their squabbles and sorting out their lives once they die.  I applaud her efforts to get them to leave a will or at least what they want to happen to their belongings in their booths should the unspeakable happen.  But the vendors are like most humans and do not want to address the elephant in the room.

This book has a little bit of everything and could be set in any smaller town, maybe even your own.  There is mystery, deception, romance, and friendship that will test all boundaries.

We give this book 4 paws up.

Jen Waldo lived in seven countries over a thirty-year period and has now settled, along with her husband, in Marble Falls, Texas. She first started writing over twenty years ago when, while living in Cairo, she had difficulty locating reading material and realized she’d have to make her own fun. She has since earned an MFA and written a number of novels. Her work has been published in The European and was shortlisted in a competition by Traveler magazine. Old Buildings in North Texas and Why Stuff Matters have been published in the UK by Arcadia Books. Jen’s fiction is set in Northwest Texas and she’s grateful to her hometown of Amarillo for providing colorful characters and a background of relentless whistling wind.

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