The Ten Best Days of My Life
Adena Halpern
Plume, Jun 2008, $14.00
ISBN: 0452289408
Four AM in Los Angeles, twenty-nine years old Alex Dorenfield was walking Peaches her Miniature Beagle whose bowel obstruction became unobstructed when a Mini Cooper ran them over. Doritos and Ambien aside, Alex finds herself in perfect Seventh Heaven with her beloved poop dog Peaches at her side. Her grandparents lovingly greet her and she can eat all the delightfully fatty carbos she wants with no weight gain or bad cholesterol issues. She has her choice of a designer wardrobe and a wonderful home. Finally Alex also feels she has met her soul mate after a decade plus of wondering where the hell (make that heaven) is he.
Of course like the way she died in which Peaches need to crap had a hidden celestial agenda inside it; she learns for her to remain in Seventh Heaven, she must defend her life in essay form; sheesh she feels she graduated years ago and never though she would ever write an essay again. However failure means demotion to the fourth floor where she would have a condo not a house, wear last year's off the wrack clothing, no loving grandparents to spoil her, no soulmate hunk next door, and most critical having her beloved Peaches with her; as dogs by their unrequited loving nature always go to Seventh Heaven. Alex must defend her life as being worthy of seventh heaven.
Any moment one would expect Albert Brooks to appear to mentor Alex on Defending your Life, as the heroine struggles to make a case that she is worthy and not clueless. Readers will enjoy Alex’s whimsical chick lit asides as she ponders why she deserves seventh heaven and writes the essay on THE TEN BEST DAYS OF MY LIFE. While working on it she realizes she must not just prove to the angels her worthiness, she must prove to herself she earned “Heaven On The Seventh Floor” (without Paul Nichols’ help). Amusing and poignant, Adena Halpern provides a fascinating look at a young woman defending her former existence to herself.
Harriet Klausner
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