[review] Keepsake by Kristina Riggle (2012)

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book, book review, family, hoarding, love, novel, promotion, romance, sisters, TLC book tours

Keepsake (2012)
by Kristina Riggle (Twitter.)
Publication Date: June 26th, 2012
Publisher: HarperCollins; William Morrow Paperbacks
Edition Read: Paperback ARC & Digital ARC from Edeilweiss (Many thanks to HarperCollins!), Read for TLC Book Tours

Buy a copy via Amazon.
Goodreads.

The Author Behind The Book (from Kristina Riggle’s Website):

Kristina Riggle lives and writes in West Michigan. Her debut novel, Real Life & Liars, was a Target “Breakout” pick and a “Great Lakes, Great Reads” selection by the Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association. The Life You’ve Imagined was honored by independent booksellers as an IndieNext “Notable” book. Things We Didn’t Say was named a Midwest Connections pick of the Midwest Booksellers Association.

Kristina has published short stories in the Cimarron Review,Literary Mama, Espresso Fiction, and elsewhere, and she works as co-editor for fiction at Literary Mama. Kristina was a full-time newspaper reporter before turning her attention to creative writing. As well as writing, she enjoys reading, yoga, dabbling in (very) amateur musical theatre, and spending lots of time with her husband, two kids and dog.

From the critically acclaimed author of Real Life & Liars and Things We Didn’t Say comes a timely and provocative novel that asks: What happens when the things we own become more important than the people we love?

Trish isn’t perfect. She’s divorced and raising two kids—so of course her house isn’t pristine. But she’s got all the important things right and she’s convinced herself that she has it all under control. That is, until the day her youngest son gets hurt and Child Protective Services comes calling. It’s at that moment when Trish is forced to consider the one thing she’s always hoped wasn’t true: that she’s living out her mother’s life as a compulsive hoarder.

The last person Trish ever wanted to turn to for help is her sister, Mary—meticulous, perfect Mary, whose house is always spotless . . . and who moved away from their mother to live somewhere else, just like Trish’s oldest child has. But now, working together to get Trish’s disaster of a home into livable shape, two very different sisters are about to uncover more than just piles of junk, as years of secrets, resentments, obsessions, and pain are finally brought into the light.
-synopsis from Amazon.

My Thoughts:
Trish is not abusive, and her son, Jack, absolutely adores her. But one day, Child Protective Services are at her door threatening to take her seven-year old Jack out of her custody–not because she hit her children, but because she has too much junk in her house.
Trish is a compulsive hoarder; her walls are lined up with columns upon columns of boxes filled with stuff she doesn’t even remember. She hasn’t seen her dining table in ages, nor the paint on her walls, and her fridge is filled with rotten food. To makes matters worse, the family she has long shunned out of her life comes back to “help” her organize her junk…and her life–whether she likes it or not.

Structure:
Kristina Riggle’s Keepsake mainly alternates between two sisters, Trish and Mary’s point of view, with the odd chapters dedicated to Trish, and the evens to Mary. While Trish represents the defensive, troubled hoarder, Mary represents the condescending judgments of someone who just “doesn’t get it.” Through Mary’s eyes, I can feel her disgust, but through Trish, I can also see her intentions. By using alternating viewpoints, Riggle opened my eyes to the inside world of a compulsive hoarder, their conflicts with their family members, and themselves.