Book Review: The Fiction Class

At some point, I subscribed to the Gotham Writers Workshop site. In a recent newletter, they mentioned this book by one of their instructors, Susan Breen. The Fiction Class is billed as a book perfect for anyone who loves books or has a difficult mother. I love books and writing, but thankfully don't have a difficult mother at all.

Arabella Hicks, aged 38, is a single woman teaching a fiction class for a New York adult education program. Her class meets every Wednesday and contains a number of interesting characters and would-be writers. After every class, Arabella heads off to the nursing home for her weekly visit with her mother. Since the relationship is strained, their times together are often filled with tension and anxiety. The mother is dying and the daughter is desperate to make peace before that happens. Arabella is also somewhat interested in one of the older male students, adding a bit of romance to the tale.

For writers, the novel is full of tidbits of writing advice. Each chapter ends with a writing exercise to practice the tips communicated. Since I read this during a three day trip to visit my mother-in-law, I couldn't really take the time to attempt the exercises, but they were intriguing enough that I might have explored them had there been more time. For the general reader, it is a tale of relational struggle. Some of the conflict revolves around the years of the father's illness and paralysis. Arabella ends up encouraging her mother to attempt the writing exercises and the mother writes her own fiction account of a character hoping for a miracle for her incapacitated husband. Through the writing, Arabella learns more about her mother's perspective and comes to forgive her for some of their struggle.