20190817_143504.jpgWelcome to my stop on the Queen for a Day blog tour sponsored by Suzy Approved Book Tours! Thank you to Suzy for the invitation!

About the Book:

The reader knows by page one of Queen for a Day that Mimi Slavitt’s three-year-old son is autistic, but if anyone told her, she wouldn’t listen, because she doesn’t want to know—until at last Danny’s behavior becomes so strange even she can’t ignore it. After her son’s diagnosis Mimi finds herself in a world nearly as isolating as her son’s. It is a world she shares only with mothers like herself, women chosen against their will for lives of sacrifice and martyrdom. Searching for miracles, begging for the help of heartless bureaucracies while arranging every minute of every day for children who can never be left alone, they exist in a state of perpetual crisis, normal life always just out of reach. In chapters told from Mimi’s point of view and theirs, we meet these women, each a conflicted, complex character totally unsuited for sainthood and dreaming of the day she can just walk away. Taking its title from the 1950s reality TV show in which the contestants, housewives living lives filled with pain and suffering, competed with each other for deluxe refrigerators and sets of stainless steel silverware, Queen for a Day portrays a group of imperfect women living under enormous pressure. Rosaler tells their story in ironic, precise and vivid prose, with dark humor and insight born of first-hand experience.

My Thoughts:

Mimi has a three-year-old son named Danny who is displaying some unusual behaviors. Mimi is understandably in denial of what may explain his behaviors. 

Eventually Danny is diagnosed with Autism, and Mimi may be having a harder time now that she has the explanation. She is isolated and working herself to the bone to advocate for her son and his significant needs. 

The author really gets inside the head of Mimi, letting us know how she’s feeling and how difficult and challenging her life is. This isn’t just Mimi’s story, though. She shares the stories of other children with Autism and how their parents cope. 

Overall, Queen for a Day is a thoughtful, insightful, and introspective glimpse into the lives of some caregivers, especially those of children with Autism. I think so often we think of the child who has the difficulty (and thank goodness- that’s never a bad thing), but we often overlook the sacrifices of caregivers. 

Queen for a Day offers relatability and an enlightening perspective, and it’s done with clever humor and never taking on a serious tone to keep relatability in check.

I received a complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

About the Author:

Maxine Rosaler’s fiction and nonfiction have been published in The Southern Review, Glimmer Train, Witness, Fifth Wednesday, Green Mountains Review, The Baltimore Review and other literary magazines. She is the recipient of a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship for Fiction. Stories of hers have been cited in editions of Best American Short Stories and Best American Essays. She lives in New York City with her husband, Phillip Margulies.

Have you read Queen for a Day, or is it on your TBR? Happy Reading! ~ Jennifer THR