Words for Patty Jo

by

Jill Arlene Culiner

Young love interrupted, but will life offer a second chance?

Words for Patty Jo by Jill Arline Culiner is an enthralling story of young love interrupted and of lives taking vastly different paths before converging once again. David Buckley, Jr., the high school scholar and scion of local wealth, is intrigued by the beautiful, painfully shy Patty Jo Lovelace, a girl from the wrong side of the tracks. Both see the other as different from those typical of the other’s social circle, and a secret summer romance flourishes until David heads off to further his studies in Switzerland in the fall. Patty Jo’s homelife is abominable; an adopted child, she is abused and treated like a servant, her only escapes are the books she and David had shared that summer and her part-time job as a waitress at Peeties Diner. After years of abuse, Patty Jo’s self-worth is nil, and, with David out of the picture, she marries a generous customer she met at the diner, salesman Don Ried. However, Don turns out to be even more physically violent and emotionally abusive than Pa, Ma, and her stepsister, Lizzie. Patty Jo, with two small sons who are quickly picking up their father’s attitude toward their mom, feels completely and utterly trapped, until she realizes that if things don’t change, her only way out may be on a gurney. 

Patty Jo is such a tragic figure: beautiful and curious, with the same hopes and dreams as others, slowly being beaten out of her by the very people who should be building her up and supporting her. The transference of Don’s attitudes and behaviors to her sons was gut-wrenching. Her solution is desperate and draws condemnation from so many. Homeless and broke in Toronto, Patty Jo uses her beauty and sex to find safety, security, and some measure of control over her circumstances. She shakes off the zombie-like demeanor she had been reduced to while married to Don, and takes on the personas of people she’s known or read about in a play who fit her current situation. I was glad to see she eventually regains her self-identity and drive, the one she’d had to hide away from Ma, Pa, and Lizzie. 

David is a young man of privilege with a life all mapped out for him by his ambitious parents. It is not the life he wants for himself, but he goes along, not ready to break out of their expectations. He has no real understanding of what Patty Jo has been dealing with and the hopelessness in which she is quickly sinking. While the story focuses more on Patty Jo’s trajectory, David’s life takes interesting paths as well, and he gradually follows the path laid out while maintaining thoughts and beliefs that run counter to those life choices. 

I enjoyed the dual point of view in telling the story, getting both Patty Jo’s and David’s impressions of shared experiences, and especially their thoughts and feelings about each other over the passing decades and as they reunited. The story is compelling, and I was drawn into the lives of both main characters, wanting to know how things would work out for them. There are sweet moments and shocking ones, and for those who appreciate a heads-up, there are a few graphic adult scenes as well. This story is going to stay with me for some time to come. 

I recommend WORDS FOR PATTY JO to readers of women’s or domestic fiction. 

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy from the author through Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tours.