3 out of 4 stars
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“Lagacy”, by Melissa Goetz McCaughan, is a historical fiction novel set in Cincinnati, Ohio. The story begins with the main character, Anna, at a crossroads in her life. She has become a very frustrated writer. She’s always wanted to write a novel since the age of eight, but has dispassionately followed where life has led her and isn’t happy with what her life has become because of the decisions she has made. She works at a “mind numbing temp job at the FedEx warehouse” to support herself and her live-in boyfriend, Patrick. He is an aspiring actor waiting for his big break. She has come to the realization that they are two people wanting completely different things in life.
Anna is trying to find herself and hasn’t given up on her writing. The place she feels most inspired is at the cemetery, however lately even the cemetery hasn’t helped with her writer’s block. Then one day she sees an apparition which turns out to be a relative from an earlier time. He has a mysterious mission for Anna.
The story evolves with the author’s use of each chapter devoted to a time in one character or the other’s life. There is well-balanced use of both dialogue and narrative to describe the characters and their situations and keep the story moving at a good pace. The story is well-written and the characters and plot are well-developed. Everything comes to a satisfying conclusion for all the characters.
This book was written for young adults and contains some adult content. That being said, the language used to tell the story seemed simple and for a much younger audience, like middle school or even upper elementary. I’m not sure if the story would hold the interest of a person old enough to handle the content of the story, but the adult content would not be suitable for a younger audience. Also, there were just a couple very minor mistakes in grammar, but they didn’t detract at all from the story.
The idea behind the story had good potential to be an exciting ghost/mystery story; however, it didn’t seem to be as much of a page-turner as I thought it would be based on the author’s synopsis. I’m not sure if the simple, day-to-day descriptions were intentional in order to emphasize how bored Anna was with her life, but the rest of the story continued with the same tone so there wasn’t really a build-up of tension. There was a nice resolution that made the story as a whole a pleasant read, but I felt like it could have been made a lot more interesting and exciting. If the story had started with a more dramatic appearance of the ghost at the cemetery to grab the reader’s attention, and then continued with a little more intensity, then I think the story would have been more exciting.
I also have a problem with the legacy that Anna was leaving. I can’t say why because it would spoil the ending, but the story gave the impression that what happened would be acceptable to have as a legacy and didn’t really explain why it was an acceptable legacy so young people might get the wrong idea about the situation. The story as a whole, for both Anna and her ghostly relative did show positive ways to deal with life situations, so in that sense it was an inspirational read.
I would rate this book 3 out of 4 stars because it was a nice, pleasant read for someone who is a young adult or older, and is looking for a short read that’s not too intense. People from the Cincinnati area might like to read this book also as it mentions places they might be familiar with in Cincinnati. This book was good in that it showed positive ways to deal with some of life’s problems, but I can’t give it 4 stars because although it is a pleasant read, it wasn’t amazing, and also because of the problem some people might have with the legacy.
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Legacy
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It's nice to know that the book has just the right mix of dialogue and narrative. I have read a few books recently where there was either too much dialogue or too much narrative. I am glad that you enjoyed the story despite the issues you mentioned.
