Orange Mint and Honey

I finally received my copy of Orange Mint and Honey, Carleen Brice's fiction debut, last Monday from Amazon. I was in the middle of another book when it arrived, so didn't get started until late in the week. (Don't tell Ann Patchett, but I cheated and snuck a few chapters in early!)

Can I just say it was well worth the wait? I loved this book. I read until the wee hours Saturday morning, then was back at it again when I woke up later, and stuck with it until I finished.

Here's a description from Carleen's website:

What would Nina Simone do? That’s the question 25-year-old Shay Dixon asks of her de facto spiritual adviser, the late great High Priestess of Soul, when she finds herself depressed, evicted from her apartment, and about to flunk out of grad school.

The answer - move back home to live with her recovering alcoholic mother Nona - leads Shay back to Denver where she is shocked to discover a new Nona, sober, healthy, raising a 3-year-old, and growing a lush, healing garden.

Though reconciliation seems a hard proposition for Shay, something unmistakable takes root inside her, waiting to blossom like the flowers in Nona's garden.

Soon Shay finds herself facing her first real romantic relationship and exciting possibilities. But when a crisis hits, even the wise words and soulful melodies of Nina Simone may not be enough for solace. Shay begins to realize that, like orange mint and honey, life tastes better when
bitter is followed by sweet.

Writing teachers speak of "setting as a character." Well, let me tell you, for me anyway, setting was a major player in this story. It would be hard for me to make an unbiased determination of whether it was Carleen's doing or it was because these are the neighborhoods where I grew up. East High School, Five Points, Colfax Avenue, Colorado Boulevard, Park Hill, The Tattered Cover—if you could Mapquest my junior high and high school memories, these would be the physical boundaries. It's been nearly 20 years since I've been back to Denver, and it wasn't the best period of my life, but the unique experience created by that geography felt so familiar, I was homesick. I had a similar experience when I read Little Miss Strange by Joanna Rose—which is to say, I was mesmerized.

Orange Mint and Honey intersects the lives of women in so many ways, however, that I'm not sure any of us could read this novel without identifying at some point.* Mothers and daughters, sisters, addictions, trust issues, growing up, absent fathers, self esteem, identity, and most of all, forgiveness and reconciliation—these are a few of the issues the story touches on.

One scene that just won't leave my mind is a confrontation between Shay and Nona, her recovering alcoholic mother. The setting for this scene causes a hullabaloo for sure. I won't give it away, but when it's said and done, you think, "Yes. That's right. This is what should happen in this place."

Brice's characters are funny and quirky and human. On one page, you think, "Hey, I know that guy." Other times, you blush when you recognize yourself. My husband and I were eating out last night, and I pointed to a girl in a booth across from our table. I said, "That's exactly how I pictured the girl in the book I just finished this morning." She had no idea, but she was Shay (after she finally got her hair done).

And, of course, if you know me at all, you know that a book without music is somehow lacking. There is no shortage in Orange Mint and Honey. The story starts off when Shay is visited by the spirit of Nina Simone, and music really becomes another character as well.

What really grabbed me, though, is that for all its prickly issues, this is such a joyful story. My own work tends to be darkish, or as Diane Chamberlain put it the other day about her own work, s-e-r-i-o-u-s. I believe there is a place for mostly serious, heavy books, but if readers and writers lived there all the time, we'd all stick our heads in ovens, right?

Brice manages to weave a story that deals, at its core, with some heavy, heavy issues, yet I found myself grinning like an idiot for nearly 300 pages. Even smiling through my tears.

Run out and get your copy and read this book.

* By the way, this novel deals with some touchy issues. I would allow my own mature 14-year-old to read it, and would be glad I read it first. I'd want to talk with her about it when she was finished.