Book Review: "The Stuff That Never Happened" by Maddie Dawson

Title: The Stuff That Never Happened

Author: Maddie Dawson

Publisher: Shaye Areheart Books

ISBN, PUB Date: 978-0-307-39367-8, August 3, 2010

Reviewed by: Joan Hanna for Author Exposure

“I started crying at Crisenti’s yesterday, over by the frozen foods. This was not cinematic, attractive weeping either; it was full-frontal, nose running, eyes streaming near-blubbering. I had to pull my cart over to the side of the meat case while I searched through the lint in my coat pocket for a tissue.” (1)

So begins the journey of Annabelle McKay, Maddie Dawson's heroine in her stunning debut novel, The Stuff That Never Happened. And although many parts of this book read like a coming-of-age story, it’s really more of a coming-to-terms-with-your-life story. Dawson takes the reader on a journey that for many women mark the “empty nest” time in their lives. But, instead of the main character being overwhelmed and immobilized by this time in her life, Annabelle uses the time away from her life caring for her pregnant, bed rest restricted daughter to reevaluate her choices and look back on the path her life has taken.

But this is not a book about regret or the dread recollections of loss. The Stuff That Never Happened tells the story of a life examined with everything from the flush of young love through the everyday details of life, with the sadness of loss and reality sewn neatly onto the edges. Annabelle faces these stages of her life gracefully and unflinchingly as she unfolds more and more of herself with every turn of the page.

The characters that Dawson weaves together are the characters in all of our lives: mothers, fathers, husbands, girlfriends, children, tempting acquaintances, misunderstood affections and all of the confusing and dramatic influences that each personality brings into Annabelle’s life. The real testament to this story is that, on one hand, it is so accessible. On the other, the people and the story are uniquely portrayed and so well-rounded by Dawson that the reader never feels as though they are caught in a cliché.

In The Stuff That Never Happened, Dawson takes us on a journey with Annabelle that reminds us how the choices we make resonate in our lives for years. How the regrets we try to ignore only rest under the surface and eventually demand to be heard. Dawson reminds us that this is a road every woman must take to not only find out how she got where to she is, but ultimately to decide if it is where she wants to be. Annabelle will frustrate you; she will shock you; and finally she will settle into you like a friend sharing the deepest, darkest secrets of her soul.