This One Is Mine

This One is Mine by Maria Semple is, simply put, the most engaging novel I have ever read. The prose sparkles; the plot surges forward from page one.

With its compelling depiction of class intersections and the compromises people make to achieve their own comfort, This One is Mine is part romance, part cautionary tale, and part tribute to the sunny, unique world of Los Angeles and its supporting canyons.

The characters are so fully drawn and compelling that I was halfway through the book before I realized that a main character shares a name with an extremely unpleasant colleague of mine. The character is such a completely separate person that I didn’t even make any real-life connections. The world of the book IS real life while you’re reading.

Violet, the main character, struggles to find her new identity after leaving her TV writing job for the less-defined challenges of being an at-home mother and supportive wife. Her husband balances the increasing strain of his music executive career against the fraying of his marriage. His sister, Sally, deals with not one, but two, life-threatening illnesses while searching for her Mr. Right and the social status she presumes he’ll bring with him. The other characters interact with them in fascinating trajectories along their own lives.

In a book that is completely readable and a gripping page turner, Semple deals with some surprisingly grim subjects: diabetes, infidelity, poverty, drug addiction, social climbing, Asperger’s syndrome and abortion. Yet, despite their many flaws, or perhaps because of them, the characters are likable, believable, and, most of all, forgivable.

This is a book that must be experienced. Believe me, purchasing This One is Mine and immersing yourself into Semple’s amazing story will be the best thing you’ve done this year.