A Scattered Life by Karen McQuestion

      4 stars

The books I read seem to go from a warm and cozy feel good book to mystery, violence and sometime scary books.  I’m not sure why.   I put Karen McQuestion’s A Scattered Life on my Amazon Wish list in March of 2011 and read it last month.     I consistently seem drawn to books that have main characters that discover something.  If it is a “girly” book it is generally learning something about herself or her life.  Skyla, the main character, is no different.  She is a loner and the description of her life and thoughts at the beginning of the book made me wonder what it would be like to have a life without a family; a base to ground you and keep you from simply floating away.  I come from a fairly large family and the first time I was alone in my house I was seventeen years old and I think I was alone for 30 minutes.  Obviously, I haven’t a clue what not having a family is like at all.

The book centers around the female characters.  Skyla, a spirited woman that has married Thomas, the most serious, stable and unexciting man I could possibly imagine.  Roxanne, an unorganized maternal mother of five small children and still wanting more.  Finally, Audrey, Skyla’s mother-in-law, is a bit June Cleaverish and very judgmental.  The roles these different women play in each other’s lives is portrayed differently than you might expect.  Support, unconditional love and the ability to realize that “most people have everything they need to be happy” if they just open their eyes and look is the book’s premise.