Book History
Review
By Jonathan Herbert
Rutabagas For Ten
by Susan Hanafee
Susan Hanafee is a talented writer with a lot
to say. She is a powerful voice in a group
of smart, witty and engaging Florida
writers. Her latest collection will impact your
soul, make you pause, and remind you of
what’s important in life: Those little day-to-day
events such as friends, family, and associates
that sometimes interrupt your days and make
life worth sharing.
Rutabagas For Ten is a thought-provoking
collection of stories and blogs highlighting
everyday life with a pitch-perfect tone that
will tug at your emotions and make you laugh
out loud. As the global pandemic looms and
we continue to focus on the negative, these
stories will make you pause and appreciate
such a complex collection of characters that
have nothing to do with your reality and are
perfectly relatable to everyone at the same
time. Author Susan Hanafee fl exes her literary
muscle and delivers on every page.
Here is an excerpt from one of my favorite
stories, “Deciding Our Elderly Fate.”
At age 80, mother had sold her
three-bedroom home and moved into the
over-55 apartment complex with a dining room
and activities for seniors. I helped her pack up
40 years of belongings from the old house she
and my dad built. I was proud of her for making
this tough decision. The problem was that she
didn’t go far enough.
“What will you do if you need extended
care?” I should have asked her. She didn’t think
about it and neither did I. So, I was left to make
the awful decision for her.
What my mother’s situation taught me was
that we need to be masters of our fate. We
need to make plans so that our children won’t
be responsible for making the tough,
end-of-life decisions for us. We need more than
a living will and a do-not-resuscitate order.”
Things that have happened in Susan’s life
and on Gasparilla Island inspired the little
essays in Rutabagas For Ten.
“I have to tread carefully and change names
and details sometimes,” she said. “But I think
people get a kick out of recognizing
themselves in my stories. My favorite is the
one that prompted the name of the book; the
story about my friend Elise Elliott asking me to
bring rutabagas (ugh) to Christmas dinner. It
is followed closely by the episode about the
late Rosemary Bowler, the party with too much
wine and her missing cane. She loved it, and I
got a nice note from author Martin Walker who
attended the event.”
The recent state of our world has had an
affect on her writing.
“One reason for not doing my blogs this
summer is the pandemic. Everyone is writing
and reporting on the virus; I have nothing to
add. So while my next collection will include a
few commentaries on the outbreak, I look
forward to the day when it is a distant
memory, and life is better for the millions who
have suffered as a result.”