Confessions of a Worrywart

AUTOBIOGRAPHY  Susan is a conundrum – as a young woman she worries about everything, yet she lives a devil-may-care life with a whirlwind of men, jobs, and travel. All this changes when she settles down with a husband, an adoption, biological children, living abroad, and writing. She embraces her role as a mother, and expresses herself through her writing. Tragedy strikes, divorce upends her life, and puts her back on the worry-about everything path, and trying to configure her new self.

Confessions of a Worrywart chronicles the events in Susan's life, and is a stream-of consciousness tale about her thoughts and feelings. While the writer has a great turn-of- phrase, the story skips around the events in her life, making it hard to follow. The story line also frequently moves from real events to Susan's thoughts, also interfering with the story's flow. One of the best parts of the book is when Susan, the older divorcee, imagines a meeting with her younger self, as she tries to remember the better parts of her youth and reconciling her younger years with the person she is now. Ms. Orlins pours her heart into this tale, and readers will find themselves caught up in the highs and lows of her journey, and identify with her delightful insights on life.

Victoria Z. Burg