Things Unspoken

The halcyon days of Los Angeles in the '50s are the seductive setting for this mesmerizing first novel. After her mothers death, four-year-old Jorie grows up with her two slightly older brothers and mostly absent physician father. As narrated with sardonic wit by an adult Jorie, the brothers become increasingly wild, while young Jorie becomes the central force holding the unorthodox household together. Although she treasures the little family time they share-walks in the golden Hollywood hills and dining with Errol Flynn-she gradually discovers that her father has a secret life with very threatening entanglements. As her father self-destructs, the strange-but-stable world she knows begins to unravel, and she enters into taboo sexual relationships that further undermine the family. An intense, vivid novel, "Things Unspoken" brings humor and insight to the tale of an unforgettable family. Anitra Sheen is an extraordinary new talent.

About the Author :
Anitra Sheen lives near Santa Barbara, California. This is her first novel. Read an interview with the author.

Review :
Jimmy didn't mention the incident, nor did I. It merely seeped into the groundwater of things unspoken. But we had learned something about each other: Not only were we growing up, but also each of us was capable of a secret life that excluded the other. Things Unspoken Jimmy didn t mention the incident, nor did I. It merely seeped into the groundwater of things unspoken. But we had learned something about each other: Not only were we growing up, but also each of us was capable of a secret life that excluded the other. Things Unspoken Reviews from: BOOKLIST ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE MARIE CLAIRE CHICAGO TRIBUNE by Ellie Barta-Moran Jorie, a woman looking back on her unconventional childhood, sees mainly family fun and dysfunctions. Like an unblemished piece of rotten fruit, seemingly perfect on the outside but corroding on the inside, the family appears to be happy and carefree, but the widowed father immersed himself in his work, women, and organized crime. Jorie and her brothers grew up independently, three children who lived by the tough maxims of never showing fear, sadness, or love. Their father's promise to "never interfere" created burgeoning adults who never really had a childhood. Jorie's early maturity caused her to seek love in other places besides her family, in situations that she had not been taught were inappropriate or illegal. The gradual disintegration of a family is never pleasant to witness, but the strength of Jorie's character is what makes this novel ultimately readable. When Jorie's mother dies, she leaves her three young children and doctor husband to fend for themselves. Their emotional survival is the subject of this lovely, subtle debut novel set in Los Angeles and narrated by the youngest child and only girl, Jorie. Her older brother copes by drinking, smoking, and skipping school; her middle brother bides his time until he can leave home; and Jorie tries to act the way she thinks girls are supposed to act, endearingly if ineffectively. The siblings exist ineffectively. The siblings exist in a sort of limbo, coming and going as they please, never knowing too much about each other, until their father has a heart attack. There isn't a trace of pop psychology in these pages; Jorie and her brothers may be dented characters but they remain whole ones, and as such they are remarkably touching. Jorie, the adolescent narrator of Anitra Sheen's debut novel, "Things Unspoken," is such a person. The publisher has signaled that Jorie's story was in great part lived by Sheen, but this is not the kind of semi-fictional memoir about growing up that asks us to share the author's self pity or anger. Instead, "Things Unspoken" is a meditation on the power and pitfalls the inevitability of filial love, even in a home where, as Jorie reflects, "each day was a blind alley." Sheen's complicated father-in-absentia might easily have made monsters of his children; instead, we have watched them grow aware of their shared "groundwater of things unspoken," an experience that ultimately proves nothing. Anitra Sheen's impressive first effort is a perfectly pitched novel about a resourceful girl growing up in a house full of men. ""As my father said, no woman could lay claim to us. We were free."" These are the words of Jorie, the young resilient narrator of this bittersweet coming-of-age story set in 1950's Los Angeles. Jorie's mother has recently died from polio and now she and her twin brothers face an uncertain future with a detached father who leaves them largely unsupervised, "with no woman in our house of set schedules, to define rules." As Jorie grows, she discovers the many secrets her father harbors, then begins a clandestine life of her own. Intense and moving, "Things Unspoken" vividly demonstrates the enduring strength of females, even those who grew up with no woman in the house.