Review: The Bright Side of Disaster

Title:  The Bright Side of Disaster

Author:  Katherine Center

Published:  April 8, 2008

# of Pages:  245

ISBN:  978-0345497963

My Rating:  4.5/5

Very pregnant and not quite married, Jenny Harris doesn’t mind that she and her live-in fiance, Dean, accidentally started their family a little earlier than planned.  But Dean is acting distant, and the night he runs out for cigarettes and doesn’t come back, he demotes himself from future husband to sperm donor.

And the very next day, Jenny goes into labor.

In the months that follow, Jenny plunges into a life she never anticipated:  single motherhood.  At least with the sleep deprivation, sore boobs, and fits of crying (both hers and the baby’s), there’s not much time to dwell on her broken heart.  And things are looking up:  Jenny learns how to do everything one-handed, makes friends in a mommy group, and even gets to know a handsome, helpful neighbor.  But Dean is never far from Jenny’s thoughts or, it turns out, her doorstep, and in the end she must choose between the old life she thought she wanted and the new life she’s been lucky to find.

I’ve had The Bright Side of Disaster on my shelf for several months now, and I was finally motivated to pick it up as I’m touring Ms. Center’s newest book, Everyone is Beautiful, next month.  So I figured that I’d better get a little exposure to her writing beforehand.  I’m so glad that I made that decision because this book was fantastic.

I loved Jenny and truly sympathized with her.  I felt for her when Dean left her – even though he was a complete jerk, I know that sometimes we are attracted to the wrong people in life (been there, done that), and even when we know they are not good for us, we mourn losing them all the same.  Compound that situation by about a million by adding a newborn to raise, and you have Jenny’s life throughout the majority of the book.  Readers will really enjoy all of the mommy moments in the book – the lack of sleep, food, and showers, the immediate bond with other new mothers, and the new-found reliance on one’s own family – all things that I have yet to personally experience, but I can only imagine, and I definitely enjoyed reading about all of Jenny’s experiences with this new little person in her life.

I was really happy with the conclusion of The Bright Side of Disaster.  I really rooted for Jenny throughout the book, and I was so proud of the decisions that she ended up making (generally speaking, of course – there were a few things that I personally would not have done; the kid’s name, for example, being one of those things).  This novel was overall a very fast-paced, enjoyable, and heart-warming story that truthfully brought tears to my eyes.  I really enjoyed it and I highly recommend the book.

More reviews –

• Natasha at Maw Books Blog
• Wendy at Caribousmom