About the Book
The drama is hot and the
drinks are flying in Wendy
Francis’s witty, warm, and quirky family drama, BEST BEHAVIOR (Graydon House; May 5, 2020; $17.99 USD). Heartfelt and relatable, Francis
cleverly portrays the nuances of a less-than-perfect but more-than-loving
blended family in all its messy glory.
Meredith
Parker and her husband Joel have been dreading the weekend of their twins’
college graduation. Not only does it mean that Dawn and Cody are flying out of
Meredith’s nest to live in Chicago and North Dakota, but it also means Meredith
will have to deal with her insufferable ex-husband, Roger, his pompous parents
and his new wife Lily, so young she could be the twins’ sister! But Meredith is
willing to be the Jackie O. of college graduations. She can handle that for
three days, can’t she?
Meanwhile,
Dawn, who has spent a lifetime cleaning up after her ‘golden boy’ brother,
discovers a mess even she may not be able to get Cody out of. He’s been acting
weird last the few weeks of school; picking up smoking, breaking up with his
girlfriend, but this... this is definitely a problem. She needs to figure out
what’s going on with her twin before he really
ruins his life.
About the Author
Wendy Francis is a former book editor and the author of three novels: The Summer Sail, The Summer of Good Intentions, and Three Good Things.
Her essays have appeared in Good
Housekeeping, The Washington Post,
Yahoo Parenting, The Huffington Post, and WBUR's Cognoscenti. Born and raised
in the Midwest, she now lives outside of Boston with her husband and son.
Author Links
Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5777788.Wendy_Francis)
My Thoughts
Best Behavior by Wendy Francis has
Meredith Parker along with her husband, Joel and her mother, Carol are heading
to Bolton College in Boston, Massachusetts for the graduation of her twins,
Dawn and Cody. Meredith is not looking
forward to seeing her ex-husband, Roger and his bride of six months, Lily along
with Roger’s extended family. Meredith has
a variety of emotions swirling through her.
She is proud of the twins graduating from college, but also upset
because they moving to different states.
Of course, Meredith is not the only one worried about the upcoming
weekend. The tension is palpable from
the beginning. Best behavior can only so
last so long and then watch out. Best
Behavior is a story about a blended family trying to get through seventy-two
hours. There is a banquet to attend, graduation, Roger’s elaborate graduation
party as well as get the twins moved out of their dorm rooms. They all want the weekend to go well, but
there is always tension when families get together. Meredith is especially touchy because she is
going to miss her children who will soon be living in different states. She resents her ex-husband, Roger who is now
wealthy and flaunts it (I believe Meredith needed a better divorce attorney). Meredith loved raising her kids and now is
not sure who she is without them. Best
Behavior has secrets, lies, anger, drugs, bitterness, jealousy, love, and vast
quantities of alcohol (they will need it to get through the weekend). I do want to mention there is foul language in
the book (I know people use it, but I still find it offensive). The point-of-view alternates between
Meredith, Joel, Dawn, Cody, and Lily. It
can be a little confusing at first until you adjust. It does allow you to see each situation from
different perspectives. You never truly
know what another person is thinking, feeling, or going through as we discover. The book is well-written with complex
characters. I liked that there was humor
sprinkled throughout to help lighten the tale.
Best Behavior shows the complex dynamics of a
blended family. Escape reality for a time by diving into Best
Behavior.
Excerpt
On Thursday morning, the temperature outside is seventy-one
degrees and climbing while Meredith Parker considers which of a thousand
recommended places she would like to visit before she dies. Not that she’s
anticipating dying anytime soon, but she needs a distraction. She figures she
has already seen at least a handful—Yosemite (breathtaking, as advertised),
Niagara Falls (overrated in her opinion ‒ and cold), and San Francisco (lovely,
with a charming hippie vibe). It’s the exotic locales that have eluded her over
the past forty-six years, places like Tahiti or Rome or the Swiss Alps.
Although, come to think of it, Meredith doesn’t really care for skiing, so she
can probably cross the Alps right off her list. But Rome would be nice—all that
history and pasta—and wine! A cheap fare must be available on one of those
best-deal websites, if she searches long enough. Yes, she’s fairly certain she
can persuade her husband, Joel, that Rome should be their first-ever
international destination, the new green pin on their Where Have You Been? map
that hangs on the wall in the den. That is, of course, once the kids have
settled into their new homes.
And with the thought of her children’s imminent departure,
Meredith’s throat tightens. What’s the use? she thinks. No number of mental
hijinks will make her forget the real purpose of today’s trip. She, Joel, and
her mother, Carol, are tracing the familiar route up from New Haven to Boston,
as they have dozens of times before, the trees beyond the window zipping by in
a curtain of emerald green.
But this weekend will be different.
Because this weekend marks the twins’ college graduation, an
event that seemed impossibly far away only a few years ago, even a few months
ago. Tomorrow her babies, the ones she used to cradle in each arm, will accept
their hard-earned diplomas and officially step out into the great wide beyond,
otherwise known as Adult Life.
Last night, when she’d gone to her neighborhood book club,
the room had been abuzz with excitement over the upcoming weekend. “You must be
bursting with pride!” her friend Lauren exclaimed. “I can’t believe that Cody
and Dawn are already graduating. It’s so exciting.” And Meredith had nodded, as
if she, too, were in a state of shock over this improbable fact.
It’s true that she couldn’t be prouder of the twins, but the
moment is bittersweet. Soon, Cody will be off to Bismarck, North Dakota, to
teach high school history, and Dawn is headed to Chicago to work at an
advertising firm. Her kids will be so far away, they might as well be moving to
Bangkok. Even though she knows it’s irrational, Meredith is racked by the
feeling that after this summer she might never see her children again.
Admittedly, she is at a corner, or more specifically, at a
crossroads in her life. Images of a two-year-old, chubby Cody racing into her
arms or of a young Dawn asking for “one more good-night tuck-in” swim through
her mind. She can still feel those small arms wrapped tightly around her, the
love so palpable she used to think her heart would leap from her chest to
theirs. How is it possible that her babies are graduating from college this
weekend?
With Lauren’s comment, Meredith had cast her gaze around the
book group (who, truth be told, rarely ever discussed the book at hand) and
realized with a start that the difference between her own life and that of her
friends’ suddenly stretched before her like a giant yawning chasm: Meredith was
about to say goodbye to her kids once and for all, while her neighbors still
had years of child-raising ahead of them.
Lauren had offered her an affectionate pat on the shoulder,
as if she could read Meredith’s thoughts, and handed over a generous pour of
chardonnay, which Meredith accepted gratefully. Maybe, she allowed herself to
consider, Lauren was right. Maybe the graduation weekend would be exciting, as
pleasing as a perfectly folded fitted sheet. Tuck this person into that corner,
that person over there, smooth it, smooth it, and everyone would get along
swimmingly.
Given her patched-together, hybrid family, though, Meredith
sincerely doubts it. Her ex-husband, Roger, will be bringing Lily, his new wife
of six months. And as fine as Meredith is with the idea of Roger’s remarrying
after all these years, his new marriage somehow feels forced, as if he has just
purchased a new set of golf clubs that he’s eager to show off to the rest of
the family.
“I know. It’s crazy, right?” Meredith had managed to get out
after swallowing her wine. “The twins are officially all grown up.”
Lauren, a corporate attorney, has two young girls, six and
eight, whom Meredith adores and dreams of kidnapping one day (she tells herself
it wouldn’t really be kidnapping, though, since they’re all neighbors, and
obviously she would do Lauren the courtesy of asking before moving the girls
into her own home.). As it is, she helps out with the girls whenever she can,
usually after school when Lauren works late and Meredith is already back from
her shift in the NICU. The girls have her pegged for a softy and know full well
that she will buy them ice cream, bake chocolate chip cookies on a whim, and
watch every terrible mermaid movie that’s available for streaming. They call
her “Auntie,” which makes her heart swell and break simultaneously.
Some days she wishes she and Joel had tried for their own
children way back when, even though the timing was off—they didn’t meet till
Meredith was in her late thirties—and there would have been a considerable age
gap, more than a decade, between a new baby and the twins. But at least she
would still hear young voices in the house, would have someone to ferry to
ballet practice or help with a book report. As exhausting as it could be some
days (that Taj Mahal built out of marshmallows for fifth grade nearly killed
her), she misses the maternal responsibilities she was once counted on for,
feels the lack like an unfamiliar brittleness settling into her bones.
Theoretically, she understands that the twins flew the coop
four years ago when they left for college. But that was different. The kids
continued to call every Sunday night, and she and Joel could drop by on the odd
weekend. Luckily, both children had decided on the same college in Boston,
making spur-of-the-moment visits ridiculously convenient. But traveling so far
away for jobs where she might see them only once or twice a year for
Thanksgiving and Christmas? She honestly doesn’t know how—or if—she can handle
it.
Thankfully, no matter what faults she and her ex-husband,
Roger, might have had as a couple, their kids have turned out all right—better
than all right—and Meredith lets herself relax slightly with this thought now.
Dawn, hands down her most difficult child during the teenage years, has
blossomed into a bright young woman. Gone are the days when Meredith’s every
comment would prompt an eye roll from her daughter. And despite an unfortunate
hiccup with the Administrative Board last year, Dawn has managed to pull off
graduating with honors. Meanwhile, Cody (Meredith’s lips part into a smile when
she imagines him striding across the stage in his gown) is graduating Phi Beta
Kappa. Not only that, but he set the school record for all-time rushing yards
this fall, leading his football team to their best season in fifteen years.
Cody has become a rock star on his small New England campus, and as his mother,
Meredith can’t help but feel a bit smug. After all, she was the one who whipped
up protein shake after protein shake and lugged him to hundreds of high school
practices. She was the one who allowed her lovely den to be transformed into a
weight room filled with smelly sneakers and barbells for four years.
If she knows one thing deep in her bones, it’s that she is a
good mom, one who has raised hardworking, resilient children. She imagines
holding her breath as they parade across Bolton’s commencement stage, much as
she did when they took their first ungainly steps across the kitchen floor,
Cody wheeling ahead in wide, determined strides and Dawn following a few paces
behind, her tongue twisted into a tight coil of determination. Meredith is
enormously proud of them, and, quite honestly, of herself. She didn’t abandon
her kids like Roger did, when he’d seen fit to put his penis where it didn’t
belong. But that was nearly ten years ago, water under the bridge—more of a
tepid stream wandering through her mind these days than a charging river.
Kris
The Avid Reader
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