Are we fated to repeat the sins of our parents? This is the question Dori Ostermiller addresses in her debut novel OUTSIDE THE ORDINARY WORLD. In doing so she also has us examine family dynamics, loyalty, and infidelity.
Twelve-year old Sylvia is aware of the meetings between her perfect mother and Mr. Robert. At first not recognizing why things have become so tense at home. Her mother has her hide letters, her successful father has begun to drink too much and her older sister has become unmanageable. Too often she and her sister are used as an excuse for the clandestine meetings. The fact that Mr. Robert treats her nicer than her own father only adds to her confusion. Sylvia swears that she will never do such a thing to her family.
Thirty years later, Sylvia, now the mother of two daughters and with a husband who is obsessed with the renovation of an old farm house, finds herself repeating her mother’s choices. She is oblivious to the fact that her teenage daughter is aware of the secret relationship and that her resentment may tear down the whole family.
We first meet Sylvia and her family in 1968 and then we jump to 2008 when Sylvia is a married woman with her own family. By interspersing the chapters from her childhood with the chapters of her present life, the author gives us a chance to see the development of Sylvia and we have a better understanding of her choices as an adult.
Ostermiller is a gifted writer. She gets into the psychology of her characters extremely well and her use of language is beautiful at times. The use of alternating time sections is a perfect “show me; don’t tell me” device.
This was a case where I could admire the skill of the author and still not enjoy the book. Maybe having a whole story about infidelity and how unhappy it made everyone was just not my cup of tea. It was too easy to want to scream at everybody in the book that selfish, poor choices have far reaching consequences and love and lust are quite different.
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