Meeting Rozzy Halfway

Meeting Rozzy Halfway by Caroline Leavitt   294 pages

I first learned about author Caroline Leavitt from an article in the January/February 2017 issue of Bookmarks magazine. Her novels sounded like books I would enjoy so I decided to give her a try.

This is her first novel, published in 1980. It deals with two sisters, Rozzy and Bess, who are as different as night and day. Rozzy is a dark beauty and the oldest by four years. Bess is fair. Despite their age difference, they are close and need each other as if they were identical twins.

By the time Rozzy is ten years old, she hears voices, has vivid fantasies moments of disorientation. She is diagnosed as psychotic, and that diagnosis dooms their family.

A compelling read, this is the struggle of sisters, trying to desperately trying to hang onto each other until a shattering conclusion takes readers on a gasping ride to the finish.

The story did start to drag near the end. It seemed like the same scene was replayed over and over, using different words. That’s why Meeting Rozzy Halfway receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Miracle in the Rain

 

Miracle in the Rain  by Ben Hecht   52 pages

When I was a kid back in the late 1960s-early 1970s, I loved to watch old black-and-white movies on Sunday afternoons. One of those films that stuck with me was Miracle in the Rain, a rather sappy WWII romance. I hadn’t seen it again until recently when it aired on TCM.

The 1956 movie starred Van Johnson and Jane Wyman. Really I only remembered the final scene; it had stuck with me for all those years. 

Watching the credits, I saw that the movie was based on a “novel” by Ben Hecht, who also wrote the screenplay. I was excited to learn that the St. Louis Public Library had a copy.

The “book” turned out to be a short story---or as one is defined in 2015---of only 52 pages. The genre was current fiction when it was written in 1943, but now I would consider it historical fiction.

The film was true to the story. A lonely woman living in New York, caring for her mother, meets a lonely solider about to be sent overseas when she stops to wait out a rainstorm. He, Art Hugenon, inserts himself into her, Ruth Wood, into her life. And lickety-split, they are in love.

The movie had to add scenes to stretch it out but that didn’t take away from the storyline. It’s still a sappy WWII romance, but the plot is strong, the character well-developed, and the perfect amount of details.

I have to admit, I loved watching the old movie again, and reading Hecht’s story. It’s a great way to kill a couple of hours. Sentimentally, I give Miracle in the Rain, five out of five stars.