from When It Happens to You by Molly Ringwald
It took only a few minutes to realize that Ms. Ringwald can write, but I was hesitant just the same. She is a movie star, and that is not the best pedigree for writing, or so it seems. Who knows what she has been up to all these years since The Breakfast Club, a movie that defined my generation. I will bet it is a hard thing to live with if you were one of the stars. I have always liked her charming breezy style, and whimsical self-depreciating manners. It is nice to have this book to dig into. I read this story late at night and it has been following me around ever since.
There is a kind of strange coolness to “The Harvest Moon” and the title of the story reflects on the characters in a way that is both logical and tidal. The parents at the center are trying to have another child, and fertility rears its ugly head. The Harvest Moon is important because I think we’re being told it’s vital to conception, without it, they can’t get pregnant. At least that’s how I figure it.
They go in search of this moon, and when they don’t find it, we immediately learn that they are at the end of their rope with fertility drugs, shots, and turkey basters, the works. Having been down this very road myself, it is a grueling and emotionally devastating process.
Greta and her husband are willingly trying for a second child while their first is a wonderful amazement, bounding in and out of this story with great glee. I can’t figure out why she wants a second, when the first is so perfect, and her domestic foundation so comfortable.
Ms. Ringwald perfectly inhabits these characters with a kind of romantic oily magic that dips into melodrama but quickly emerges with sinister plans. I was convinced that Phillip was cheating on Greta, because he just can’t take the process of conceiving another child. Because it’s less about them, and more about the science, and at some point it becomes too difficult to endure. Why are they doing this? When will they have enough? Can’t they appreciate what they do have, instead of what they don’t? Ms. Ringwald answers these questions, and sometimes does not.
This is a novel in stories, so I wonder if my hunch on Phillip is right? More to come on this…
