Greetings from the Flipside

by Rene Gutteridge and Cheryl McKay
Hennepin County Library paperback 307 pages
genre: Christian fiction, realistic

This was a much lighter read than usual. Hope Landon is finally getting married and OUT of Poughkeepsie, NY. But when her fiance' stands her up on her wedding day, she runs out to the parking lot in a soaking rain . . . and the story diverges. In one thread, she is comatose in a hospital. In the other, she is living the life she dreamed of, going to New York City and getting a job at a greeting card company.

I like the background info on Poughkeepsie, especially the part about the game Scrabble and its literal meaning.
I laughed that the honeymoon trip gift from her mom was a trip to Idaho - especially after we had talked about what Idaho does and does NOT offer for visitors. (Makes me think of Stacie J and smile.)

page 47 - I'm struck by the description of her mother's run-down house. The "garage door hasn't worked since 1992" . . . some of us can relate! I love her observation that "I guess everyone needs their mothers when they're in a crisis." Yep. Miss my mom.

". . . give the ComicCon guys a shot, because you and I both know that Nerd is super-hot right now."

page 65, while talking to her pregnant friend Becca, "her belly is swollen with new life growing inside, which changes the chemistry in women's brains to believe they have insight into all life, in any form, in any predicament, regardless of their own life experience. It doesn't say that in What to Expect When You're Expecting, but I'm certain a lot of men can confirm my suspicions."

There were a lot of great laugh lines. Page 248 when her mother shows up in the NYC (coma) work place and grabs hands with all the employees . . . "'Lord!' Everyone but me ducks because nobody ever expects someone's first word in a prayer to sound like the shriek of a vulture."

And despite her mom's habit of praying in a somewhat crazy, super-loud manner, page 304 has a great observation. "Maybe I just saw what my life might have been if I hadn't had a mom who prayed so much for me."